Ostraka Undergraduate Journal Submission Guidelines:
We accept submission from individuals who meet the following criteria:
1. The author is currently pursuing an undergraduate degree
2. The submission is either an academic paper, a creative writing piece or a translation.
3. The work is entirely the author's own work.
4. The submission is on the subject of Classics and/or Ancient History.
Academic papers must focus upon the Classics or ancient history. Any period or region of the world is accepted and we welcome discussions on ancient languages as well. Papers must meet the minimum of 2,000 words and the maximum of 4,000 words. If your paper falls outside this word limit, please contact our Head Editor, Madeline Hourigan, at qvsm94@durham.ac.uk with an abstract before you submit.
Creative writing and poetry must revolve around the ancient world in its primary capacity. This includes reception of the Classics, as well as mythological content and figures. The word limit for your creative piece must meet the minimum of 20 words and a maximum of 3,000 words. If you are unsure whether your work will adhere to our guidelines, or wish to submit a piece outside of the word limits, please contact our Head Editor, Madeline Hourigan, at qvsm94@durham.ac.uk and we will be happy to clarify.
Translations must engage with ancient languages and must meet the word count parameters, being a minimum of 20 words and a maximum 1,000 words. If you wish to submit a translation for review that is any other language than Ancient Greek or Latin, or falls outside of these work limits, please contact our Head Editor, Madeline Hourigan, at qvsm94@durham.ac.uk with an abstract so we can organise our review panel to include someone who reads the specified language. All translations must include an explanation of the translation to a minimum of 400 words and maximum of 3,000 words.
Papers to be considered for the journal must make use of secondary scholarship. Footnotes and a bibliography must be included in your submission, but they are not included in the total word count. Papers accepted to the journal must be in Chicago referencing style and you will be expected to submit in this format.
You may submit papers written as part of your degree program; however, your work must stand independent of a classroom context, presenting its own academic argument. Undergraduate theses and BA papers are accepted in shortened, or excerpted form. You may choose to provide an abstract for the entire paper to go along with the excerpt, but this is not a requirement.
All submissions must be completely anonymized. We ask that you remove any identifying information your submission may contain, including but not limited to your name, the name of your school, course titles, and names of professors, mentors, or peers. Our review process relies on the anonymity of pieces.
You may submit up to three pieces to Ostraka Undergraduate Journal per submission academic year, with no more than one in any category of submission (academic papers, creative pieces, translations).
You must submit your work in .doc or .docx format.