• Ungraded assignments that count for full credit if you do them in good faith
  
• daily comments, one every class session before class. Done on Blackboard.
• letters (250 words minimum): several during the semester.
  
• Formal Prose Graded assignments
• explanatory paper (4 pages maximum in standard paper format): at least one.
  
• report (4 pages maximum in standard paper format): at least one.
• If you don't like your grade on one of these, you may be able to do another if there is time, which will fully replace your previous grade. Note: those of you whose assignments are due toward the end of the semester will not have time to avail yourselves of this option. This option is not extra credit: it is merely a second attempt.
  

• Daily Comments are to be handed in by everyone every class day. They should be an observation or question or answer about a substantial and important course-content-related topic. They can be about anything class-related. Although I will not always read all of them immediately, and won't have time to reply to them, I will read them all eventually. You will not get any of them back. At the end of the semester, I will count how many you handed in, and that will count toward your grade (see grading).
• YOU MUST PUT YOUR NAME AND DATE BESIDE YOUR COMMENT.
• Note that these will be posted on a document on Blackboard. I will simply archive all the current comments whenever I chose, at which point they cannot be changed or added to any more. Sometimes that will happen right at the beginning of class: sometimes I will forget and do it later. Sometimes I will so enjoy your comments to each other that I will leave them up for a longer time so people can react to older comments.
• Letters are to be written to two classmates and me: email me and two classmates: THE SUBJECT LINE MUST START WITH "STOICISM LETTER" or it won't count. Letters should be about any Stoic issues and afford an opportunity to bridge the gap between daily comments and the formally structured assignments below: please use them to explore ideas. They will count towards your grade. Simply writing a letter of the required minimum length that is on-topic will get you full credit. Ordinarily, I will simply acknowledge receipt and that they fulfill the assignment and I might make some minimal comments on them. Students will be divided into 2 groups, Groups I and II. Letters will be due from one group per week on Thursdays. See the schedule to see which group is due which week.
  

• 10 days before: begin reading and planning your paper and presentation. Meet your fellow presenters, etc.
• 6-10 days before: write draft of your paper, redraft it, redraft it, ..., and come up with a final draft.
  
• 5 days before: email a complete polished draft to Prof. Bailly with "Final Draft of Explanatory Paper" or "Final Draft of Report" as the subject line.
  
• 5-6 days before: email Prof. Bailly to find a time to meet with him as a group.
• 3-5 days before: Meet as a group before you meet with Prof. Bailly to decide what sort of visual aids you need, who will do what, etc.
  
• at least days before: Meet with Prof. Bailly for a full dress rehearsal of your presentation: this may be done remotely.
  
• Day of: Present the material in class (this can be pre-recorded) and post the final version of your written assignment on Blackboard.

1. Efficiency (25%)
   
1. Is a lot of thought packed into a few words?
2. I put a great deal of store by efficient prose! Impress me.
• Think about the writing you will do later in life: you will need to pack as much into as little space as possible. Rather than trying to get up to the 3-page or 10-page mark, you will more often have to pare down to the desired length. Efficient clear prose can get you far in life: bloated prose that just barely reaches the required length is pointless.
3. In these papers, the introduction and conclusion should be briefer than brief: sometimes just the title is intro enough. Dive right into the topic. And the conclusion should be short and sweet too. When you are done with your final draft, consider omitting whatever intro you have written and substituting "In this paper, first I ..., followed by ..., and finally, ....is discussed." Or some other one-sentence intro (this ties in with #3 below).
   
2. Explanatoriness: this is about the content (40%)
   
1. Is the explanation adequate to the topic? I.e. does it fully explain it from the ground up?
   
2. Could someone who is intelligent but does not know about your topic or its importance acquire a solid understanding of the topic from your paper?
3. Be sure not to leave gaps, make assumptions about knowledge, etc.: think of this as an in-depth introduction to the concept you are assigned.
4. You have to select what to include and what to exclude.
5. Did you include the most important material?
6. Did you exclude appropriate material?
7. Did you choose and construct a manageable topic? You can't explain everything in a short paper. You have to choose. You have do decide how much to do.
3. Clarity and Coherence of your paper: this is about how you structure the content, how you make it clear what you are doing and how. (15%)
   
1. Does the paper clearly identify what it is explaining? It should.
   
2. Does the paper say explicitly what its procedure will be? It should.
   
3. Does the explanation fit together well and account for the  most relevant issues?
4. Is the logic or structure evident and sensible?
   
4. Accuracy. (10%)
   
1. Does the paper accurately reflect the primary ancient sources we have read?
2. Are those sources accurately, consistently, correctly identified?
3. Are sources correctly cited (cite them the way L&S do or the way I&G do)?
4. Are they cited everywhere they should be (if in doubt about whether to cite it, CITE YOUR SOURCE)?
5. Good Prose (see below) (10%)
   

Note: do not waste space with quotations unless it is vital that you do so: if the actual words of the quotation are important and require explanation, then quotation is OK. If it "speaks for itself" and "needs no explanation," then don't quote it. Make the point in your own words and cite the relevant text instead. If you do quote, you MUST explain the quotation: no quote explains itself. All ideas should be explained in your own words.

1. Efficiency: 25%
   
1. Is a lot of thought packed into a few words?
2. I put a great deal of store by efficient prose! Impress me.
• Think about the writing you will do later in life: you will need to pack as much into as little space as possible. Rather than trying to get up to the 3-page or 10-page mark, you will more often have to pare down to the desired length. Efficient clear prose can get you far in life.
3. In these 3-4 page papers, the introduction and conclusion should be as brief as possible. The introduction should dive right into the topic, and the conclusion should be short and sweet. Simply say what you will talk about as the introduction and say what you talked about and perhaps what further interesting issues it leads to as the conclusion.
2. Clarity of Key Elements: 15%
   
1. Is the topic clearly identified?
   
• A sentence like, "______ is the topic of this paper," helps. In fact, I would make it the first sentence of my paper.
  
2. Is what the author says about the topic clearly stated?
3. Is the author's evidence for his claims clearly identified?
   
3. Structure: 15%
   
1. Is your report well structured?
1. A paper should have a good plan behind it.
   
2. Is the structure obvious and clearly identified?
1. I should not have to work to figure out what the plan is/was or why one paragraph follows another: I should be told these things directly and explicitly.
   
3. Is the structure of Long's paper clearly laid out?
   
1. It's a good idea to say things like: "This article has three basic points. First.... . Second, ... . etc." or "This chapter as a refutation of X and a suggestion about Y." or "Long's paper falls into 4 parts: 1) ... ; 2) ...; 3) ...; and 4)... ."
   
4. Understanding/intelligence/interest: 35%
   
1. Do you show a clear understanding of what you have read?
   
2. Do you make it interesting and relevant?
   
5. Good Prose (see below) (10%)
   

• These papers are meant to be 750-1000 words long. If you write only 600 words, that is 80% of 750, and so a perfect paper of 600 words would be worth a C+, 80%: the paper will probably get a lower grade than that. If you write 1100 words, you have exceeded the length by 10%, and so a perfect paper could get at most a B+, 90%: the paper will probably get a lower grade than that if all else is not perfect.
  

1. Words are not wasted.
1. Illustrations of verbal economy
   
2. Basic Details are correct. Mechanical errors are avoided.
   
1. Grammatical rules such as those used by NYT or National Review or most printed writing is followed.
   
2. Spelling, punctuation, citation, word choice, formatting, etc. are all consistent and correct.
1. I do not care what citation format you use, but use only one format and be sure it includes all the information needed to direct me to the sources you are citing.
3. This requires rereading, proofreading, and multiple drafts are usually necessary.
   
3. Structure
1. There has to be a structure
1. In other words, there has to be a reason why each part of the paper needs to exist (and you should state that reason or make it otherwise obvious)
   
1. Ask yourself "Why is this paragraph here? Why does it follow the previous one? Why does the one after it come after it?"
   
2. Then ask yourself, "Have I made all of that explicitly clear to my reader in my paper?"
2. Think of it as a beginning, middle, and end that flow easily and naturally.
3. The tried and true 5 paragraph paper is an OK starting point if you wonder how to go about it. It goes as follows:
• Paragraph 1: "X is the topic of this paper. To explain and explore X, three (or 2, or 4) points, P, Q, and R must be explained."
• Paragraph 2: "P. blah blah blah (all about P). And so P, which leads naturally to Q, because ....."
• Paragraph 3: "Q. blah blah blah (all about Q). ...And thus Q, which leads naturally to R, because ......" or "... . The next point is R: ... ."
  
• Paragraph 4: "R. blah blah blah (all about R). So R, which leads to the conclusion."
• Paragraph 5: "P + Q + R add up to an explanation of X. An obvious objection is M, but that is dealt with by ... . OR MAYBE Further exploration of this topic would lead to Y and Z, which must be left for another time. OR MAYBE This ties in to the following topics we have covered so far...."
• Obviously, there are livelier ways to write, and you can use them, but be sure they include explicit structures.
  
2. You have to tell your reader what the structure is:
   
1. After the first paragraph, it should be utterly clear why each paragraph follows the previous paragraph. This is called "signposting."
   
1. Sentences like the following help a reader to know what you are doing in a paper:
   
• "First, stoic position X will be explained, then I will explain my position Y on it." or
  
• "In order to understand stoic position X, first position Y must be explained." and then after Y is explained, "Stoic position X follows from Y" or "NOw that we understand Y, we can move on to X."
  
2. Note that the 5 paragraph paper explained above clearly includes such signposting.
2. Within each paragraph, it should be utterly clear why each sentence follows the previous one.
3. Within each sentence, it should be utterly clear what thought is expressed.

• Citation is when you simply give your source's name and enough information for me to find the exact page on which to find your source. For example, "Long and Sedley, P. 210." or better yet "L&S §34A." As a general rule, cite more often than you think you need to. Every claim or fact that comes from an ancient source should be cited.
  
• Quotation is when you quote someone else's words: you must use quotation marks and cite the source then. Generally speaking, you don't need to quote.