How ‘Roman’ was Italy by the late first century BCE?
There are a number of common mistakes that students make that can be easily avoided if you read the guidelines for essays. These include:
Not answering the question set – make sure all your arguments and examples are relevant to the question you are answering, and never make up your own question.
Poor referencing and bibliography structure: these are covered in your course handbook (on Blackboard), but if you have any queries please contact your tutor for advice.
Make sure you analyse the material you present, and do not simply describe sites, pottery and so forth – you need to explain why such things are important with regard to the question.
These essays are designed to test the breadth of your understanding. You must show us that you have read your textbooks in depth and are able to identify and use relevant information and examples from them. You can use the indexes in each to identify the starting point for reading about particular sites and topics, and of course refer back to particular issues in this workbook. The questions have been devised in order to help you to think about the material covered by the module as a whole, rather than necessarily a single section. You are advised to consult the reading for more than one section when preparing your essay.
Please do not try to include every bit of information on the topic – you have a word limit that you are expected to stick to. It is an important part of academic writing to select the most appropriate and informative material from the sources available to you.
If you have access to additional sources, whether books, journals or web pages, feel free to use them in your essay, but do make sure that they are referenced correctly.
Planning
Once you have all your data together, sit down and put it into order. Plan out a structure for your essay – not only will this lead to a well organised piece of work, it will also save you time as it will help you identify what is important and worth pursuing, and what is largely irrelevant. It will also help you to pinpoint any problems early in the writing process.
Organisation
Make sure that you begin with an introduction that places the essay topic in context as well as outlining what your essay will cover and in what order. Sometimes you may wish to complete your introduction after you have written the essay, as your argument may change or develop while writing. Do go back and check what you have written in your introduction once you have finished, making sure that this agrees with your essay.
In the main part of your assignment you will present information (keep description to a minimum) and then go on to develop your main argument or discussion. You can use section headings if you wish – they are often useful in ensuring you cover all the main points in a logical order, and can be helpful signposts for your readers. Make sure you write in paragraphs – a paragraph should cover a new topic or sub-topic; and all sentences within a paragraph should contribute coherently to the argument being developed.
You should always give a conclusion that summarises all your main points and arguments. Make sure this relates to your introduction.
When you have this first draft you can then go on to revise it, and make sure you read all your drafts for sense, grammar, spelling and so forth.
Finally, never be afraid to put your own ideas forward, even if they contradict the views expressed in this workbook or your texts. But do be aware that you must back your views up with supporting evidence and/or reasoned argument.
Essay questions
Choose your essay from one of the questions below. Your essay should be approximately 3000 words long, and will comprise 70% of your total mark for this module.
‘The army was the Roman institution that had the most direct and most profound impact on the indigenous peoples of temperate Europe’ (Wells 1999, 134). To what extent do you agree with this statement?
To what extent was the monumental landscape of the city of Rome a product of the wider Empire?
Why did people in the Roman world choose to erect stone funerary monuments? Make reference to at least three different social/identity groups in your answer.
What role did cities play in the economy of the Empire and what problems do archaeologists face when attempting to reconstruct this?
Can ‘Romanization’ still be used as a legitimate analytical tool for understanding the Roman world? Assess the strengths and weaknesses of the alternatives.
How important was religion for the development of senses of Roman identity and did Christianity bring about the end of traditional forms of Romanness?
How ‘Roman’ was Italy by the late first century BCE?
NB: At level two we will deduct marks for incorrect or inadequate referencing and incorrectly structured bibliographies. See below for more details about structuring these.
If you have any queries, thoughts or problems then contact your tutor– that is what we are here for.