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Students’ and Teachers’
Non-China-Related Resources
Available on This Site
(Link to China Resources)

Nearly all the files on this web site were developed over the years for the use of students in my classes, in some cases to provide supplementary explanation, in other cases to replace textbook materials that struck me (and students) as tedious and insipid. Students and teachers should feel free to use these pages as desired. No further permission is needed.

A similar listing of China-related materials, from reference tables to full on-line books, derives from the same effort to eschew insipidity, but with an additional goal of reinforcing language skills of students studying Chinese. (Link)

A few utility pages intended for the use of teachers are listed at the bottom of the page, including on-line programs (on this server) to generate on-line quizzes (for placement on your own server). (Link)

Page Outline: Categories of Materials

Advice to College Students for Academic Success

  1. College Study Hints
    ("How to Prevent Homework From Screwing Up Real Life")
  2. Academic Integrity & Cheating
    (This is a more detailed —and useful— discussion than a student is likely to find elsewhere. It even includes the infamous "Disastrous Adventures of Jimmy Gimmie." Although it focuses on UCSD and is based in my experience as professor and administrator at UCSD, pretty much all of it is broadly applicable elsewhere.)
  3. Ethical Dilemmas of College Students
    (Cases of troublesome behavior for discussion.)
  4. Logical Errors That Can Be Hard To Avoid (and how to avoid them)
    (An awful lot of academic writing suffers from petitio principi. What does that mean?)
  5. How To Avoid Sounding Like an Idiot: Avoiding the Pet Peeves of People Who Read Your Stuff
    (This is the famed and dreaded "gorilla paper." Since people will judge you by your writing, you might as well know what they are going to be annoyed by.)
  6. How to Cite Sources As Painlessly As Possible: Bibliographic Format Specimens (& stuff your English teacher never told you)
    (This is a very useful guide to doing citations and bibliographies in termpapers and articles in the simplest way possible. Examples include kinds of sources that writing teachers never tell people about.)
  7. Quick Tips for Ethnographic Interviewing
    (Many anthropology classes ask students to find informants and interview them, but few give any guidance on how this is done. Here is a quick and easy starting point.)
  8. Etiquette at Classical Chamber Music Concerts (Occasionally Asked Questions from Puzzled Students)
  9. Advice to Anthropology Graduate Students Applying for Academic Jobs
  10. Advice to Candidates Applying for Academic Support-Staff Jobs
  11. Recreational Trivia Quizzes for use in masochistic procrastination and/or sadistic harassment of roommates

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China Resources

  1. Huge Collection of China-Related Resources (Separate Index Page)

General Anthropology: Miscellany

  1. Annotated Dictionary of Anthropology
    (A page of links to definitions of terms frequently occurring in anthropology classes.)
  2. Quick Essays on Theory
    (Aggressively simple introductions to several major concepts: Definitions, Models, Classification, Motivation, Cross-Cutting Ties, Symbols & Mystifictation, Evolution)
  3. Inuit Shamanic Healing
    (Transcription of a shamanic healing séance recorded by Knud Rasmussen during Fifth Thule Expedition, 1921-24)
  4. Background Note on Tea

General Anthropology: Broad Portraits of Pre-Modern Societies

See also Miscellaneous Texts or Translations for Class Discussion, below.
  1. The Ancient Hebrews: A Brief Introduction for College Students
    (Overview of the Ancient Hebrews intended to link the associated primary sources.)
  2. Ancient Greece: A Brief Introduction for College Students
    (Overview of Greek History from Mycenaean to Hellenistic times, with links to extensive additional Greek materials on this web site. Item 4 summarizes words frequently used to describe Greek values.) Sections include:
    1. Greek History: Part I (1600-500 BC) (link)
    2. Greek History Part II (500-0 BC) (link)
    3. Philosophers: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle & Alexander (link)
    4. Appendix: Seven Keywords in Greek Thought (link)
    5. Appendix: The Aegean World (link)

    (Related item: The Statues’ Story (The Evolving interpretations of Aristogeton and Harmodius)
    (Related item: A Beginner's Guide to the Iliad & the Trojan War: An Introduction for Non-Literature Students.)
    (Related item: Chronology of Troy.)
    (Related item: Greek Text Materials, listed below.)
    (Related item: Slightly Geeky Guide to Pronouncing Ancient Greek.)
  3. The Aztecs: A Tributary Empire
    (Equivalent to about 50 printed pages. The associated glossary includes sound files.)
    (Related item: Aztec Folio, providing selected Spanish and Nahuatl source documents.)
    (Related item: Chronological Table of Mesoamerican Archaeology.)
    (Related item: Aztec Chronology with Imperial Genealogy and Reign List .)
    (Related item: Map of Mexican State Names for use in any course related to Mexico.)
    (Related item: Slightly Geeky Guide to Pronouncing Classical Nahuatl.)
  4. Organization & Mystification in an African Kingdom
    (Equivalent to about 28 printed pages. Describes how Nyoro myth supported traditional kingship.)
  5. Hopi Social Order
    (Equivalent to about 17 printed pages.)
    (Related item: Chronological Table of Southwestern Archaeology .)
    (Related item: Map of Southwestern River Systems .)
  6. Budge: Babylonian Life & History (Chapters 5, 7, 9)
    (By E. A. Wallis Budge)
    (Includes summaries of the Gilgamesh Epic and the Laws of Hammurabi —equivalent to about 7 pages each— and an overview of Babylonian life.)
    (Related item: Egyptian & Mesopotamian Materials, listed below.)
  7. Most Ancient China: A Beginner's Guide for College Students
    (Equivalent to about 12 printed pages. Also listed on China page.)
  8. Egyptian Origins
    (Equivalent to about 30 printed pages; allows toggling between full and abridged versions. Content addresses the consolidation of the earliest Egyptian state and the emergence of divine kingship.)
    (Related item: Egyptian & Mesopotamian Materials)
    (Related item: Slightly Geeky Guide to     Pronouncing Near Eastern Languages.)
  9. Breasted: History of Egypt (Chapters 18-19)
    (By James Henry Breasted; allows toggling between full and abridged versions. These chapters deal with Akhenaten and the Amarna period.)

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Biological Anthropology

  1. Ten Essays on Human Evolution
    (These essays were written by the staff of the Making of the Modern World sequence in Eleanor Roosevelt College, UCSD for use in that sequence. They are publicly available for non-profit educational use.)
  2. Mitochondrial Eve: An Overview
  3. Human Birth and Bipedalism: An Overview
  4. Essential Fossils: A Folio
    (Related item: Reference Table of Hominid Classification.)
  5. Epidemic Disease
    (A brief overview for college students of four historically significant epidemic diseases —smallpox, flu, plague, and cholera— and their cultural interpretations and implications.
  6. Food and Nutrition
    (A provocative table of cross-cultural data from, alas, an unknown source.)

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Archaeology

  1. Tables & Maps
    1. Chronological Table of Mesoamerican Archaeology
    2. Aztec Chronology with Imperial Genealogy and Reign List
    3. Chronological Table of Southwestern Archaeology
    4. Chronology of Troy
    5. Geological Time & European Prehistoric Assemblages
    6. Map of Mexican State Names for use in any course related to Mexico
    7. Map of Southwestern River Systems
  2. Essays
    1. Basic Stone Tools: A Beginner's Guide
    2. Paleo-Indian Spear Points: An Overview
    3. Ancient Metallurgy: A Beginner's Guide
    4. Ancient Cloth: A Beginner's Guide
    5. Prehistoric Beringia: A Beginner's Guide
    6. The Bantu Expansion: An Overview
    7. The Neolithic & the Metal Ages
      In recent years I have tended to use only the first three or four of these, depending upon what other materials were available. The fourth and fifth are intended to be independent.
      1. The “Agricultural Revolution”
      2. Beyond Wheat & Barley
      3. Living the Revolution
      4. After the Neolithic: The Metal Ages
      5. Mesopotamia As a Bronze Age Civilization

      (Related item:       Geological Time & European Prehistoric Assemblages.)
    8. Writing: How It Started, What It Does, & How It Works
      (This essay gives a general overview of how writing systems work, including examples showing that Chinese and Egyptian are more similar than people think. It includes arguments about the disadvantages of writing.) (Also listed under Language & Linguistics.)

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Language & Linguistics

  1. Slightly Geeky Beginner's Guides for Pronouncing Various Languages Without Knowing Them
    (Includes: Ancient Greek, Croatian, Esperanto, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Mandarin, Nahuatl (Aztec), Near Eastern Languages, Taiwanese Hokkien, Sanskrit, Turkish.)
    (These languages have turned up in the course of my teaching. In the case of the modern languages, UCSD has native speakers among its students, so and I developed these guides over the years to help TAs avoid looking silly in discussion sessions. Many chose to look silly anyway.)
  2. Grammar Terms
    (A quick overview of the terms you forgot from middle school, with expansion pages containing more detail, more terms, and lots of examples.)
  3. Writing: How It Started, What It Does & How It Works
    (A general overview of how writing systems work, including examples showing that Chinese and Egyptian are more similar than people think. It includes arguments about the disadvantages of writing.) (Also listed under Archaeology.)
  4. Linguistic Anthropology
  5. Esperanto (Entry Link)
  6. Classical Nahuatl (Aztec)
  7. Materials Relating to the Chinese Language(s)
    (Located on China-Related Resources Index Page)

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Miscellaneous Texts or Translations for Class Discussion

See also Broad Portraits of Pre-Modern Societies, above.

These are texts I have put into HTML format for class use, usually with added introductory orientations ("procursi"). To the best of my knowledge all are available for free educational use by anybody, and interested instructors can refer students here or download copies as needed. China-related texts (including Taiwan materials) are indexed instead on the China Resources page. This site includes a great many popular tales. See Stories for College Teaching.

  1. Ancient Near Eastern Text Materials
    (Related item: Slightly Geeky Guide to Pronouncing Near Eastern Languages.)
    1. Three Egyptian Tales
      (Modified from Petrie, Egyptian Tales, with links to original.)
      1. The Eloquent Peasant
      2. Taking Joppa by Ruse
      3. Prince Setna and the Magic Book of Thoth
    2. The Epic of Gilgamesh
      (Retold by E. A. Wallis Budge. Extracted from Babylonian Life & History ch. 5, formatted for independent use.)
    3. The Code of Hammurabi
      (Described by E. A. Wallis Budge. Extracted from Babylonian Life & History ch. 7, formatted for independent use.)



  2. South Asian Text Materials
    (Related item: Slightly Geeky Guide to Pronouncing South Asian Languages.)
    1. The Story of Rama & Sita, a north Indian epic
      (The Ramayana, retold, with an introduction)
      (Equivalent to about 5 printed pages.)
    2. The Story of the Anklet, a south Indian epic
      (The Shilappadikaram, retold, with an introduction)
      (Equivalent to about 6 printed pages.)
    3. Scary Mauryan Ogresses
      (Equivalent to about 2 printed pages. Very brief description of monsters that prey on erring youth.)

    4. A Jataka Tale: Prince Vessantara, an earlier incarnation of the Buddha
      (Retold, with an introduction)
      (Equivalent to about 5 printed pages.)
    5. Life of the Buddha
      (Retold, with an introduction)
      (Equivalent to about 38 printed pages. Heavily illustrated by students.)



  3. Jewish & Christian Text Materials
    (Also listed on the Ethnography of Christianity index page)
    (Related item: Slightly Geeky Guide to Pronouncing Near Eastern Languages.)
    (Related item: Slightly Geeky Guide to Pronouncing Latin.)
    1. The Ancient Hebrews
      (A quick orientation leading to the texts.)
    2. Hebrew Sacred History
      (Selected extracts from Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Isaiah, and Jeremiah to provide a world civilization class with a general sense of the ancient Hebrew "contract with God.")

    3. Four Hebrew Tales
      (Reformated or re-edited from public-domain bibles, with pictures, introductions, and notes added. These four tales have been selected to complement the themes in the Sacred History readings in the previous section.)
      1. Tobias & the Angel (The Book of Tobit)
      2. Jonah & the Great Fish (The Book of Jonah)
      3. The Story of Judith (The Book of Judith)
      4. Susanna & the Elders (from The Book of Daniel)
    4. The Life of Jesus
      (Gospel extracts combined to make a quick overview of the canonical account of Jesus' life and ministry.)
    5. Voragine: The Story of St. Nicholas (Tr. by DKJ. Bilingual.)
    6. Muirchu: The Life of St. Patrick (Tr. by N. White.)
    7. Christian Documents for Class Discussion
      (Credos & Common Prayers, most in Latin and English. A link leads to a useful overview of influential heresies.)
    8. Nican Mopohua: Thus It Is Told
      (The original text of the alleged apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe in 1531. Bilingual presentation, with pictures, originally intended for use with the Nahuatl materials listed elsewhere, hence a very literal translation. A sparate file provides a more flowing English rendition.)
      (Related item: Slightly Geeky Guide to Pronouncing Nahuatl.)



  4. Greek Text Materials
    (Related item: Slightly Geeky Guide to Pronouncing Ancient Greek.)
    1. A Beginner's Guide to the Iliad & the Trojan War: An Introduction for Non-Literature Students
      (Equivalent to about 35 printed pages. Includes summary, relevant mythology, dramatis personae, archaeological findings, &c.)
    2. Texts About Socrates
      1. Plato: Charmides (Chapters 154-160) (Tr. by Benjamin Jowett)
      2. Plato: The Republic (Beginning of Book I) (Tr. by Benjamin Jowett)
        (Two works intended to be read together as an introduction to Socratic reasoning.)
      3. Xenophon: Oeconomicus (Chapters A.1; A.2.1-5)
        (Tr. by R.C. Marchant)
        (More Socratic reasoning: Wealth and how to achieve it.)
      4. Xenophon: Memorabilia (Chapters I.3.5-14) (Tr. by R.C. Marchant)
        (How to live on very little.)
      5. Plato: Phaedo (Chapters 59-64) (Tr. by Benjamin Jowett)
        (Socrates' trial and death.)
    3. Hippocrates: Comments on Medicine (Various Translations)
    4. Aristotle: Two Selections
      1. Meteorology III:2-4 (Tr. by Erwin Wentworth Webste)
      2. Poetics Chapters 4-5 (Tr. by Webster, Bywater)


  5. Roman Text Materials
    (Related item: Slightly Geeky Guide to Pronouncing Latin.)
    1. Caesar: The War in Gaul (Book 1) (Tr. by W.A. MacDevitt)
    2. Augustus: The Deeds of the Divine Augustus (Tr. by T. Bushnell)
    3. Three Stoic Writers:
      1. Cicero (Bilingual. Tr by William Armistead Falconer)
      2. Marcus Aurelius (Bilingual. Tr. by George Long
      3. Epictetus (Bilingual. Tr. by George Long)



  6. Aztec/Nahua Text Materials
    (Related item: Slightly Geeky Guide to Pronouncing Classical Nahuatl.)
    1. An Aztec Folio
      (Most of these items, although presented here bilingually, are offered with additional linguistic aids as part of a more linguistically focused Aztec chrestomathy referenced on the main Nahuatl page.)
      1. The Death of Quetzalcöätl (Tr. by DKJ. Bilingual.)
      2. The Wonderful Toltecs (Tr. by DKJ. Bilingual.)
      3. Bernal Díaz: The Tlatelolco Market (Tr. by DKJ. Bilingual.)
      4. Diego Durán: The Flaying of Men (Tr. by DKJ. Bilingual.)
      5. Mictlanteuctli: Lord of the Land of the Dead (Tr. by DKJ. Bilingual.)
      6. Three Aztec Poems (Tr. by Daniel Brinton. Bilingual)
      7. The Murders of Coatlicue and Coyolxauhqui (Tr. by DKJ. Bilingual.)
    2. Nican Mopohua: Thus It Is Told
      (The original text of the alleged apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe in 1531. Bilingual presentation, with pictures, originally intended for use with the Nahuatl materials listed above, hence a very literal translation. A linked file provides a more flowing English rendition.)

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    Miscellaneous On-Line Utilities for Teachers

    1. Very Useful Interactive Quiz Generators for Your Web Site & Suggestions for Quiz Use
      (Quizzes made with these pages are designed to be mounted on a teacher's site, but can also be downloaded from the teacher's site to a student's own computer. Each quiz is entirely self-contained and fully interactive, but the quizzes do NOT report results to anybody but the quiz taker and cannot easily be used to influence grades. Probably for this reason, they have been very well received by students. Several teachers have emailed me to the effect that they prefer them to commercial products because of this student-friendly limitation. Details are provided on the linked group of pages.)
    2. Less Useful Interactive Glossaries for Your Web Site
      (Glossaries made with this page can be used on a teacher's web site or downloaded from the teacher's site to a student's own computer. They provide study aids roughly on a par with flashcards. The script here works fine, but I have decided that, like flashcards, I don't think it is very effective educationally.)
    3. Not Very Useful Unicode Maker
      (This converts a word or phrase in Chinese, Greek, Russian, or Esperanto into the UTF-8 codes, decimal or hex, sometimes needed for use in non-unicode-compliant web pages.)
    4. Not Very Useful General Diacritic Screen
      (This screen converts text that uses numbers to show tone into standard diacritics for Mandarin or Cantonese (Hong Kong or Guǎngzhōu). It also converts Esperanto X-formats into standard orthography. For more extensive page for other Esperanto input conventions, click here.)
    5. Not Very Useful Color Tester
      (This page can check codes for background and text colors on your web pages. It is very primitive, but occasionally useful. Works fine off-line.)

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    Background design: Motif from traditional canoe painting of the Yami of Botel Tobago