Citations

General Information

Citation has two primary purposes. First, it helps the reader follow your argument and explore outwards from your work, while at the same time confirming that your arguments and attributions are accurate and valid. Second, you have an ethical obligation to cite the work and ideas of others that you rely on in developing your own. There is no standard format for citations across all types of writing in Classics. Each professor or journal you submit your work to may have their own preferred style, but nearly all will include the elements laid out below. You will probably use a combination of in-text/footnote citations and a bibliography. In-text citation and footnotes are a convenient way to give a precise reference without all of the detail, but must be supported by a full bibliography. The bibliography is where everything lives, and through it a reader should be able to find the exact work to which you refer. The following examples deal primarily with in-text and footnote citations. For full bibliographic formats consult your professor, a librarian, or any number of style guides (MLA, Chicago, etc.). Consistency and thoroughness are key to a good bibliography.

How to cite based on source material

Primary Sources

Primary sources in Classics are most often ancient texts, documents, or artifacts.

 

The general standard for citing ancient sources is as follows: Author, Title book or section.line number(s)

Example 1.1: Homer, Iliad 3.1-50.

Note that you can also use abbreviations for ancient works and authors often follow the standards of the Oxford Classical Dictionary (OCD). The example from above work, with abbreviations would be cited as:

Example 1.2: Hom. Il. 3.1-50.

For authors with only a single primary work, you can omit the title.

Example 2: Thucydides 2.14., or Thuc. 2.14

N.B.: Thucydides only has one main work, The History of the Peloponnesian War, so there is no need to include this title, as anyone reading a paper in this field knows that you must be referring to this work.

Secondary Sources

Secondary sources are any works that discuss or refer to the primary sources. The particulars of your bibliography for secondary sources may change based on submission requirements, but in general you should include everything that a reader needs to know to find the specific text you cite. This will include: author, title, date, and journal/publisher.

You may have other elements as well, like page numbers for journal articles or edition number if a work has been republished. In-text and footnote citations of secondary sources should provide quick reference to the work you are using, information for which is given in full in your bibliography.

A recommended format is as follows: Author Date: page(s).

Example: Barrett 2002: 19-23.

In your bibliography the reader would find the full bibliographic details:

Example: Barrett, Anthony A. 2002. Livia: First Lady of Imperial Rome. New Haven: Yale University Press.

 

Tips and Tricks

As a matter of economy many Classics writers choose to use parenthetical citations for ancient works and footnotes for secondary sources. This makes for cleaner writing and easy reference without amassing footnotes or losing your reader.

Example of a parethetical citation

Tacitus (Ann. 3.76) marks the enduring memory of Caesar’s assassination at the death of Junia Tertia in 22 AD, when images of Brutus and Cassius were conspicuous by their absence.

Example of both a parenthetical citation and a footnote

Tiberius refused a number of divine honors at Rome, but allowed them occasionally in the provinces (Tac. Ann. 4.37-8, 4.55-6). But it was not a blanket policy of acceptance, as he rejected one petition the following year from Spain.1 

 1. Gradel 2002: 59.

Tools

There are a number of bibliographic tools you may choose to use (e.g. Zotero, Endnote, etc.). The library may offer short courses and seminars on how to use these tools. Note that these tools are not perfect and it is your responsibility to make sure your work conforms to the standards set by your instructor or the publisher. Be especially careful with citation managers for Classics-specific items like translations. 

Helpful Links and Guides

Haverford College maintains an excellent guide to citation in the Classics, and addresses both in-text citations and bibliography.

Harvard Library provides help with citation guides and bibliography management tools.

 

Academic Integrity

Accurate and thorough citation is one way of ensuring your work maintains the academic integrity expected of all students. Any time you borrow content, concepts, interpretations, or ideas from another source it is crucial to credit the author appropriately. Harvard’s Honor Code emphasizes the importance of academic integrity:

Members of the Harvard College community commit themselves to producing academic work of integrity—that is, work that adheres to the scholarly and intellectual standards of accurate attribution of sources, appropriate collection and use of data, and transparent acknowledgement of the contribution of others to their ideas, discoveries, interpretations, and conclusions. Cheating on exams or problem sets, plagiarizing or misrepresenting the ideas or language of someone else as one’s own, falsifying data, or any other instance of academic dishonesty violates the standards of our community, as well as the standards of the wider world of learning and affairs.