QUESTION on Ancient History sources. (1 Viewer)

[what971]

With the Ancient History sources - do I just use quotes of historians or do I have to read their books and other stuff? And when I quote the historian on an essay do I have to attribute it to a particular source text? Or can I just get away with it by saying for example 'Aristotle believed that the death of Pericles signalled the decline and eventual death of Athenian democracy' ??

I just can't believe how much harder I have to study for Ancient when Modern is much more easier and gets scaled up in the UAI much higher than Ancient....

Please respond and Thanks in Advance.

 

[grk_styl]

With the Ancient History sources - do I just use quotes of historians or do I have to read their books and other stuff?

it is good to read historians books, as wide reading is always effective. however, during hsc you never get time to scratch ur arse, let alone read extra. but u may however have u read their books in order to get their opinions and quotes. (unless you have a wonderful teacher like the one i had who gives you all the quotes from heaps of historians)

And when I quote the historian on an essay do I have to attribute it to a particular source text? Or can I just get away with it by saying for example 'Aristotle believed that the death of Pericles signalled the decline and eventual death of Athenian democracy' ??

yes, that's all the markers want u to do. sometimes u may need to say, "on an inscription of a rock blah blah". if it's just an historians opinion then just say "aristotle believed..." or "according to herodotus" etc

I just can't believe how much harder I have to study for Ancient when Modern is much more easier and gets scaled up in the UAI much higher than Ancient....

ancient is a pain in the arse. but if u work hard and adopt a good study approach, then you're set. it ends up being quite easy to gain marks, as long as uve memorised and uve done the work.

good luck!

 

[xeuyrawp]

With the Ancient History sources - do I just use quotes of historians or do I have to read their books and other stuff?

I'd read the books, too, but quotations and paraphrasing of ideas is necessary.

And when I quote the historian on an essay do I have to attribute it to a particular source text? Or can I just get away with it by saying for example 'Aristotle believed that the death of Pericles signalled the decline and eventual death of Athenian democracy' ??

grk_styl answered this partly, but if you mean "Do I need to quote the book/article", the answer's "no".

Say if you quote Gardiner's The Egyptians, in the exam you don't need to do more than cite the historian's last name; not the book. Similarly, if you're quoting Ath. Pol., you don't need to do it, but I've heard that some markers like if you cite the primary ancient text. Generally speaking, you shouldn't bother with the book's name; tomb inscriptions, stela names, primary works are sometimes good to cite if you remember where they're from. Don't bother with book numbers or line numbers etc.

 

[what971]

it is good to read historians books, as wide reading is always effective. however, during hsc you never get time to scratch ur arse, let alone read extra. but u may however have u read their books in order to get their opinions and quotes. (unless you have a wonderful teacher like the one i had who gives you all the quotes from heaps of historians)


yes, that's all the markers want u to do. sometimes u may need to say, "on an inscription of a rock blah blah". if it's just an historians opinion then just say "aristotle believed..." or "according to herodotus" etc


ancient is a pain in the arse. but if u work hard and adopt a good study approach, then you're set. it ends up being quite easy to gain marks, as long as uve memorised and uve done the work.

good luck!

Thanks heaps for clearing that up greek style! I've got Ancient Trials Test next week and as soon as I saw 'use sources' in the Pericles question, I was like WHHHAATTT..

Anyways Thanks a lot. I can finally calm down and get on with studying for this damned test now that I know better of what I'm supposed to do.

 

[grk_styl]

no problem

make sure that you've covered the syllabus (u can get this at the board of studies website if ur teacher hasn't given it to u). a great way of studying is writing down all the info u have under each appropriate dot points then writing quotes from historians that go with the info. the worst thing u can do is stress and freak out, SO JUST RELAX!