RESEARCH & METHODOLOGY II
(CLA 5902)
Professor:
Office:
Telephone:
E-mail:
Classes:
Office Hours:
Jitse H.F. Dijkstra
ARTS, room 012 (ground floor)
562-5800 (ext. 1325)
jdijkstr@uottawa.ca
Monday, 2:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Tuesday, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Thursday, 10:00 - 11:00 p.m.
or by appointment
Aims of the course
This course is a sequel to ‘Research and Methodology I’ given in the first semester.
Whereas the latter focused mainly on the third and fourth centuries, this course continues
with the fifth and sixth centuries. In addition to the historical background, in this course
the basic methodological classes in the first term (on topics such as papyrology,
numismatics and epigraphy) will be deepened with detailed discussions of several larger
themes of study (such as religious transformation and Late Antique archaeology). A
further aim of this course is to prepare the students for the writing of the MA Research
Paper (‘Mémoire’) through the presentation of a chapter in a seminar.
Text Book
Mitchell, S. 2007. A History of the Later Roman Empire, AD 284-641. The
Transformation of the Ancient World [Blackwell History of the Ancient World]. Oxford,
Blackwell Publishing.
Evaluation
Oral presentation and outline MA Research Paper:
Mid-term test:
Seminar presentation:
Paper:
10 %
30 %
20 %
40 %
Classes
This course consists of two parts: one in which the students’ research for the MA
Research Paper is central, and the other in which the students are instructed in order to
gain a better insight into the Late Antique World and the methodological problems that
occur in the field of Late Antique studies. In the first range of classes, the book by
Mitchell will be discussed and illustrated by the professor, eventually leading to the midterm test. After the mid-term test some presentations of selected themes in Late Antique
studies follow.
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After the first two weeks of theoretical classes, the students have 2.5 weeks for collecting
the materials for their research before the oral presentations. Work should then continue
on the thesis outline, which is to be handed in after the reading week. After the reading
week there is less time to prepare for the classes, which the students are supposed to use
for writing on their research papers, which should eventually culminate in the seminar
presentations at the end of the course.
Oral presentation
After the 2.5 weeks available for collecting the materials for research, the students have
to present the primary and secondary literature they have collected for the topic of their
MA Research Paper in an oral presentation of no longer than 10 min. The source material
should be presented in the form of a hand-out, which is given to both the professor and a
referee (to be announced) the class before the presentation. Secondly, the students need to
present a logical question emanating from their material and give clear directions as to
the ways in which they are going to answer this question (= a first draft of outline of MA
Research Paper). The presentations are followed by a short discussion started up by the
referee.
Outline MA Research Paper
With the feedback of their fellow students and the professor, they can then modify the
ideas they have on their topic and make it into an outline of the MA Research Paper,
which has to be handed in the week after the reading week. The outline should contain
more detailed information about one specific chapter of the Research Paper, which they
will then turn into the final paper of this course. The presentation of the first draft of the
outline, the amount of literature collected, the participation in class and during the
presentation, the clarity of the outline and arguments will all be factors in coming to the
first mark, which is, essentially, a progress report. The mark will be given after
consultation with the supervisor of the Research Paper.
Mid-term test
Directly after the reading week the assigned parts of Mitchell’s book, articles and other
book chapters with accompanying class notes will be tested.
Seminars
In the last class the students have to present preliminary versions of their papers. This
means that the student has to pretend that he/she is already handing in the final version of
the paper. After a summary of the project by the presenters not exceeding 15 min.,
referees will be appointed (to be announced) who have to ask at least one question. The
referees should briefly state in their comments what they find attractive/not so attractive
about the papers, leading to one or more questions (in total not exceeding 5 min.). After
these 20 min. there is ample room for a group discussion, in which both the professor and
supervisor of the student in question will participate.
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The papers need to be circulated before class. The student must hand in the preliminary
version of his/her paper to the professor and the referee at least one week before the
presentation (one could think of sending the paper to the others by e-mail). The professor
will mark the presentation on how it summarises the main line of thought in the paper
(the student has to concentrate on: 1. the main question of the paper; 2. the evidence
collected, eventual problems with collecting and the limitations to the evidence; 3. the
results of the research/answer to the main question), originality and familiarity with the
subject, and the way the questions from the audience are answered. In addition, the
quality of the remarks by the referee will be taken into account for his/her mark.
Final Paper
After the seminar, the student has two weeks to adjust the paper, and in support of that
he/she will receive the comments by the referee and the professor. This final paper
consists of 15 to 18 pp.’s with line spacing 1.5, which conforms to the regulations of the
MA Research paper. The paper will be marked on the basis of clarity of style, the
adduced material and the argumentation. Markers will be both the professor and the
supervisor of the MA Research Paper.
Schedule
Tuesday, January 5: course outline; What is expected of my Research Paper? Where to
start?
Explanation
of
style
sheet
of
Phoenix
(also
online
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~phoenix/style.sheet, with referencing in Phoenix 49.1
(1995) 1-2)
Thursday, January 7: the Roman Empire from Theodosius I to Anastasius (395-518)
Required reading: Mitchell Ch. 3 (pp. 89-96), 4 (pp. 101-24) (= 32 pp.)
Monday, January 11: Barbarians and Empire; The ‘Fall’ of Rome in 476: a Turning
Point?
Required reading: Mitchell Ch. 6 (pp. 191-221 = 31 pp.)
Further reading:
- G.W. Bowersock, ‘The Vanishing Paradigm of the Fall of Rome’, Bulletin of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences 49.8 (1996) 29-43
- P.J. Heather, The Fall of the Roman Empire (Basingstoke and Oxford, 2005)
- B. Ward-Perkins, The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization (Oxford, 2005)
Thursday, January 14: the age of Justinian (518-602)
Required reading: Mitchell, Chs. 4 (pp. 124-49), 11 (pp. 371-99) (= 56 pp.)
Monday, January 18: NO CLASS
Monday, January 25: NO CLASS
Monday, February 1: NO CLASS
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Thursday, February 4: Oral Presentations
Monday, February 8: The religious transformation of Late Antiquity; Church History
Required reading: Mitchell, Chs. 7 and 8 (pp. 225-51, 256-95 = 67 pp.)
Further reading: P. Garnsey, C. Humfress, The Evolution of the Late Antique World
(Cambridge, 2001) Ch. 7 (‘Religion’)
Thursday, February 11: The Final Reckoning of the Eastern Roman Empire
Mitchell, Ch. 12 (pp. 402-22 = 21 pp.)
Monday, February 15: NO CLASS, SPRING BREAK
Monday, February 22: MID TERM TEST! Hand in thesis outline
Monday, March 1: the conversion of Constantine (texts from Panegyrici Latini,
Lactantius, Eusebius)
Monday, March 8: Late Antique archaeology: the birth of a (sub)discipline
Required reading: TBA
Further reading:
L. Lavan (ed.), Recent Research in Late Antique Urbanism (Portsmouth, 2001)
L. Lavan, W. Bowden (eds), Theory and Practice in Late Antique Archaeology (Leiden,
2003)
W. Bowden, L. Lavan, C. Machado (eds), Recent Research on the Late Antique
Countryside (Leiden, 2004)
Monday, March 15: The Legal Codes and the effect of Laws on Late Antique Society
Selected texts from Codex Theodosianus and Codex Justinianus
Required reading: to be announced
Monday, March 22: the present state of Late Antique studies; concluding discussion
Required reading:
- Mitchell Ch. 1 (pp. 1-12 = 12 pp.)
- Averil Cameron, ‘The “Long” Late Antiquity: A Late Twentieth-Century Model’, in
T.P. Wiseman (ed.), Classics in Progress: Essays on Ancient Greece and Rome (Oxford,
2002) 165-91
- J.H.W.G. Liebeschuetz, ‘Late Antiquity and the Concept of Decline’, Nottingham
Medieval Studies 45 (2001) 1-11
Monday, March 29: Seminar presentations
Monday, April 5: NO CLASS (EASTER)
Monday, April 12: hand in final papers!
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