#tuesday theme

We’re fortunate as classicists that so many texts have survived the centuries. They give us valuable insight into the everyday lives of ancient (usually elite) citizens and their perceptions of their world. 

Reading these texts in their original language, however, isn’t always possible. I’ve been studying Classics at a university level for six years, and even as a PhD candidate, I’m not ashamed to admit that I still regularly rely on translations of the ancient texts in my research. For me personally, there are two main reasons why. First, while I have a minor in Latin and regularly study the language, I simply do not have the necessary skills built up to read the original texts cover to cover, especially without a commentary. It takes years to develop any level of fluency and confidence, and I’ve only completed two years of formal study. So, translating even short passages takes up a lot of time; I tend to save translating for excerpts I am actively using in research. Second, I can’t read any Ancient Greek. At all. I’m starting to work on the alphabet, but that’s about all I have time for at the moment. I simply didn’t have the room for it in my Bachelor because I double majored. This didn’t change when I did Honours or when I started my PhD - focusing on Latin was a better use of the few electives I was allowed, as I am first and foremost a Roman historian. 

Translations, then, are an incredibly valuable resource for Classicists at all levels - but you have to find the right ones. You can’t simply throw some Latin into Google and expect to get a good - or even readable - result. Let’s take a look at an example. I put Propertius 1.1 through Google Translate, and this is what it came up with:

Cynthia his unhappy with her eyes,    no desire. Then my ankles drooped    The head pressed on my feet Till taught me to hate girls     That wicked and wily. to him, to me, the frenzy has not already been a whole falls short of the year,    are against gods. Milanion, Tullus,    crushed hard Iasid.  For Parthenian girl wandered into caves;    on the other hand, in their shaggy hair along as he went: and the wild beasts; He also wounded Hylaecius    Arcadian cliffs sighed. That's how he was able to tame the girl,    are they in love, faith and good deeds prevail. In my latest love does not stimulate any arts    and he forgets to, as before, to go to his ways. O, whose deceit moon    and work with magical alter fire,  Come on mind,    And what do sacrard more! to you, then I'll believe in ghosts and the stars,    Cytinean songs. Or you are late fall, friends,    Seek the help for the insane. bravely and iron crule fires;    just let me say whatever I want in my rage. Take me to exotic lands and bring waves    which no woman may know my path.  You stay, for whom God consented;    drought, and of the love of their peers is always in safe hands. For me, Venus works bitter    And in no time absent. I warn you, avoid bad one linger    his sweetheart and not change the nature of the love of an accustomed us a bed. Because if anyone should slow ears    Alas words to him!

It’s a bit of a disaster, isn’t it? Let’s compare the Google translation to one by Katz (1995):

Cynthia was the first. She caught me with her eyes, a fool who had never before been touched by desires. I really hung my head in shame when Love pressed down on it with his feet. He taught me to hate chaste girls! He was cruel when he told me to live without plan. It's already been a whole year that the frenzy hasn't stopped. Even now, the gods are against me.

Milanion wasn't afraid of anything, Tullus, when he crushed hard Atalanta's savagery. He wandered mad in Parthenian caves, face to face with hairy beasts. Another time, shocked by a wound from Hylaeus' stick, he groaned loudly on the Arcadian cliffs. That's how he was able to dominate that brilliant girl: in love, you've got to pray a lot and do a lot.

But in me Love is slow, does not stimulate any art, and he forgets to go on ways he used to know You who do that trick with the moon, who perform rites on magic altars, change my mistress' mind, make her face more pale than my own! Then I'll believe in you, that you can lead stars and Medea's streams from their paths with songs.

But you, who called me too late as I was slipping, friends, get help for the insane. Bravely will I endure knife and savage fires, just let me say whatever I want in my rage. Take me to exotic peoples, across the waves, where no woman may know my path. You stay, to whom the god has easily consented, stay equal always, throughout your love. On me old Venus works bitter nights, and Love is at no time absent.

Don't do what I do, I'm warning you. Keep to yourself, don't move from an accustomed love. Because if anyone should turn slow ears to my warnings, you'll see how they'll come back to haunt him!

I don’t think I need to tell you which version is the better option, especially when we’re fortunate that so many quality translations are freely available online. Here are just a few resources:

Perseus Digital Library A large catalogue of ancient texts, both in the original Latin or Greek, and in translation.

LacusCurtis Includes a photosampler of Roman and Etruscan cities and monuments; a site for teaching yourself to read Latin inscriptions; a collection of complete Latin texts; several complete Greek texts in the original Greek; a selection of secondary source texts; some maps of the Roman Empire, and lots more.

Loebolus “Loebolus is based on Edwin Donnelly's “Downloebables” , aiming to make all the public domain Loebs more easily downloadable by re-hosting the PDF's directly, without the need to enter CAPTCHA's.”

Attalus   “This site contains detailed lists of events and sources for the history of the Hellenistic world and the Roman republic. It includes links to online translations of many of the sources, as well as new translations of some works which have not previously been easily available in English."

eBooks@Adelaide Contains a large variety of out of copyright primary source texts and translations in an easy to read format. 

Tips for using translations:

With every translation, be aware that the translator may be taking some artistic liberties. Often, this is subtle, such as using ‘flowery’ language, but it could also be a significant change, such as using rhyming language in poetry. This is particularly concerning when it comes to Latin translations, as Latin poets purposely avoided rhyming.

Partner your study with a commentary. Commentaries often give insight into the historical contexts of the text and discuss contentious words, making them valuable for broadening your understanding of the text.

Don’t be afraid to ask a mentor such as a lecturer if there are translations they prefer. Often, they’ll know which are reliable and/or faithful to the original text.

It’s now only four days until I depart for my first conference trip to Amphorae XI in Auckland, New Zealand! With this in mind, I thought I would use today’s #TipTuesday to continue the conference theme and talk about conference paper preparation. Conferences are a great opportunity to present your research to peers outside your immediate university sphere, so it’s wise to take advantage of the opportunity and present a paper. Here are my top four tips for preparing. 

Choose your topic wisely

Suggesting you pick a topic is the most obvious tip but it can also be one of the hardest things to do when you’re a postgrad student! When 99% of your time is spent focusing on your thesis topic, it can be difficult to decide what aspect you could draw on to create a 20-minute paper. You can certainly find something else to present on (I recently presented a 20-minute paper on the paraclausithyron - a lament beside a door - in Latin elegy) and I encourage you to have side projects along the way, but conferences are a rare opportunity to receive feedback and discuss your research as you develop it. The paper I am presenting at Amphorae is actually derived from a short essay topic I designed as part of my Graduate Research Certificate coursework, which I’ve then further developed over the last six months. While it is technically not part of my thesis, its themes - imperialism, the history of emotions, provincial management - are. This means a lot of the research I’ve done is useful for my thesis, so I’m not over-extending myself trying to juggle too many research topics at once. 

Write it!

Perhaps another obvious point, but nevertheless the largest component. It is, after all, hard to present a paper you haven’t written. The beautiful thing is that you can essentially write your paper in any way you like. I personally write mine in a relaxed essay style, but I know many academics who can simply write their paper as dot points and talk for days. Here are some general rules I follow when writing a paper:

Work out your word limit. Find an article online and copy it into a word document. Then time yourself for a minute as you read out loud at an appropriate speed for presenting to an audience. Do this a couple of times and you’ll be able to find out how many words you say per minute. This can then be used as a guide for the length of your paper depending on time. For example, a 20-minute paper as I read it is between 2,700 and 3,000 words.

Draft an outline. Once you have your topic, jot down a simple outline so you have some direction. This outline may change as your paper develops, but it will keep you on track and prevent you from getting lost in your topic.

Don’t over complicate it. Depending on your audience, there may be people who won’t understand the concepts and jargon you take for granted as common knowledge because you deal with them every day. If you’ve got a friend in a different department, it’s often useful to have them flick through your paper; they’ll point out any concepts or phrasing that may go over the heads of people outside your specific field.

Include cues. If you’re making a slide presentation to partner with your paper, make sure you include cues for slide transitions or animations. This can be whatever you like, such as a ** or a ----. As long as you can differentiate it from your writing, you’ll have clear indicators so you don’t accidentally miss important slides. I make my slides as I go so also write the cues as I go, but they can easily be added after.

Read it. Once you have drafted your paper, make sure you spend some time reading it aloud. It’s the best way to notice awkward syntax that might trip you up on the day.

Practice. As Bob Ross says:

Write the abstract

An abstract is a short descriptor of your topic, usually between 200 and 300 words. An abstract doesn’t just summarise your paper; it introduces your topic, points out gaps in scholarship (that your paper addresses), and outlines the significance of your research. This is (for me at least) the hardest part about writing a paper, mostly because there’s no one outline’ for writing an abstract in the humanities discipline so I won’t attempt to provide one. Instead, I’ll point you in the direction of some of the best resources I have found with some very useful tips:

“Tips for Writing Conference Paper Abstracts” from the Department of History at the North Carolina State University.

“How to Write an Abstract: Tips and Samples” by Leah Carroll from the Berkley University of California.

Make a slide presentation

Slides are an excellent visual aid for any paper presentation. Everyone learns differently, so having a visual aspect broadens your ability to engage with your audience. This doesn’t mean that you put your whole paper on your slides, though. They should always be an accessory used to enhance your presentation, not draw attention away from it. This is also why you should use backgrounds that are aesthetically pleasing but not overpowering. Choose softer colours or white backgrounds with coloured detail on the sides: the focus should always be on the content, not the slide itself.

Here are some example slides from my recent presentation about the paraclausithyron in Latin elegy. I could tell you I chose blue as my background colour because it is often associated with performance, confidence, or optimism, but really I chose it because it provided an attractive background that isn’t as stark as white, but is also not overbearing when put through a projector (which usually makes a colour lighter). 

This slide has concise points that both signpost the direction of my discussion and summarise the key points. The font is large so it was visible even from the very back of a room, and I chose a sans serif font because it is easier to read from a back-lit screen (while serif fonts are best for printed work).

This slide provides the text I was analysing, allowing the audience to follow along as I read out this portion of the poem, and when I conducted a close reading I could draw the audience’s attention to specific points rather than rely on them to remember the wording.

I hope you find these tips useful. Now go write that paper - you never know when you might have an opportunity to present!

It is now less than two weeks until I depart for my first Classics conference in Auckland! With this in mind, I thought it would be a good idea to use this #TipTuesday to talk about three tips for staying on top of conferences. If you’re not a Classics student please read on anyway - these tips are useful for postgraduates studying in any field!

1: Know your conferences

The most important step is, of course, to know which conferences are available for you to attend in any given year. For me, the most obvious choices are: 

Amphorae (Annual Meeting of Postgraduates in Hellenic Or Roman Antiquities and Egyptology), a yearly Classics postgraduate conference held in either Australia or New Zealand.

ASCS (The Australasian Society for Classical Studies), a yearly Classics conference held in Australia. 

It’s best to sign up to newsletters where possible so you can stay up to date about conference information. If possible, it’s also a good idea to join societies. ASCS, for example, has a student rate, which offers a significant discount to the membership price. And, in a world of social media, it’s not uncommon for conferences to have pages - join them for a convenient way to access the latest news and ask questions. 

There are also numerous smaller events which happen throughout the year in every field. While it would be great to attend all Classics events, for most students it is simply not possible, so keep an eye out for events in your state. If you are travelling to a conference, be sure to look into any other seminars which may be held close to your conference dates. Usually, these will be listed on the department website of the local university. 

2: Make a note of key dates

If you’re planning to attend a conference you’ll need to know the key dates. This is particularly important if you plan on presenting because many conferences require abstract submissions months in advance. The ASCS conference, for example, requires submission a full six months before the conference. 

While the ‘key dates’ list for a conference can be very long, here are the items which are most important for any conference:

Call for papers closing date.

Conference registration opening/closing date.

Conference dinner registration opening/closing date.

Always have a list of important dates pinned up at your desk or put them into your calendar so you don’t miss them. I include the conference dinner as an important item because the dinner is a great way to network in a setting outside of the formality of the conference. 

3: Look into funding options

Like many of you, money has been very tight for me as a postgraduate. There haven’t been a lot of opportunities for work that don’t impact research commitments. This is why most universities have funding available for postgraduate students specifically for research or conference travel, and this funding can often be accessed in a variety of ways. Funding for my trip to Auckland comes directly from my faculty and although I had to fill out a few forms it was relatively easy to secure, and there is still some available for me to request for the ASCS conference next year in late January. 

This week’s Tip Tuesday is all about desks. No matter what set up works for you, one of the biggest things you can do to improve focus and productivity is to ensure you’re comfortable in your workspace, whether you’re working from home or in an office. For me personally, I know that I am easily distracted - by shiny things, interesting things, stuff beyond my current research field - so it’s important that I maintain a tidy, organised space to get the best out of each day I spend working on my thesis or related projects. 

Here are a few photos of my desk at my University (one of seven in the room):

I can hear some of you calling me a neat freak. This is true... of my University desk alter ego. My desk at home is more like a game of Jenga: touch the wrong thing and it all comes tumbling down. 

Why such disparity, then? Well, my desk at home is a space reserved first and foremost for relaxation: I play games, I write fiction, and I binge watch Netflix. It doesn’t matter if I get distracted by a pile of comics or another item. When I’m at Uni, though, I need to be working on my thesis, my article, my presentation, my coursework; any number of things may need completing on any given day, and if I’m getting distracted all the time because a pile of books is in my way or I can’t find that thing I just printed beneath the other pile of things I recently printed, I simply won’t get anything done. 

Now, I’m not suggesting that everyone organise their desk like I do - as I said, everyone is different and the important thing is to ensure that you are comfortable in your workspace - but I will share a few useful tips and items that make my life easier. 

Labels 

You’ve probably noticed that I have a lot of books. I’m currently four books shy of my University’s generous postgraduate borrowing limit, and I have a personal collection which I also keep on campus. However you choose to organise your books (for me it’s alphabetically by author), label the different sections. I currently have five: 

Personal (books I own that are relevant to my research).

Library (books from the University library). 

Bonus+ (an inter-library borrowing service with shorter loan times).

Classics Collection (books from my department’s Loeb Classical Library collection). 

Article (select texts I need to finish a paper for publication, separate from my thesis).

Not only do labelled sections make it easier for me to find the text I’m looking for, they also prevent me from mixing my personal collection of texts in with library books and potentially returning them accidentally.

Labels are also useful in other areas, such as document trays. I have four different document trays: 

Thesis (articles or chapters relevant to my thesis).

To read (texts I need to read).

Presentation (drafts and notes for my Confirmation of Candidature presentation).

Article (select texts I need to finish a paper for publication, separate from my thesis). 

The best thing about labels is they aren’t permanent. When I finish my presentation, for example, I can file away the documents in that tray and relabel it. This is especially easy in my case because I’m lazy and cheap, so I use post-it flags with sticky tape: easy to peel off without residue, easy to replace. 

Book/Document Stand

If you’re doing any sort of writing - for a thesis, a paper, anything - you’ll likely have a lot of reading to do and notes to take but it can be difficult to be constantly looking down at a book, and there is nothing more frustrating than losing your page because a big book flips shut unless you have something laid over it. 

This is where a book stand comes in. They hold up your documents to make them more comfortable to read, and most models come with arms to hold open book pages. They’re all over eBay (I paid $14 for mine, which has a lightweight but sturdy metal construction, rather than purchase a plastic one for $40 locally) and very much worth the investment at any level. 

Screen Stand

In the same vein as the book stand is the screen stand, which gives your primary screen a boost. I was fortunate that there was one available in the office I share, and although simple, it makes a big difference in overall comfort and my ability to work longer hours (with breaks to stand, move, and stretch, of course). Mine is very simple, but there are many designs available, including some which allow you to convert your desk to a standing desk. 

Conclusion

If you’re in academia in any capacity it’s impossible to avoid time at a desk. For most of us, they’re a necessary part of productivity so it’s important to ensure you make the most of your space. Don’t be afraid to add personal touches. I keep a Pusheen on my desk, and beside my name card (not pictured) I have images and posters. You’ll spend a lot of time at your desk, particularly if you’re a postgraduate student, so turn it into a little home away from home.

Headfirst lost this week, so it's between these two.

I'm also open to suggestions for future weeks.

I like this whole theme thing, and I want to keep it going, but I need you guys for suggestions!

This Tuesday's theme is The Sharpest Lives.

This is my first theme Tuesday, if I like it, I'll do one every Tuesday.

Thanks to  Hailey , (http://suicidalsmile.tumblr.com/) today's theme is Teenagers.