WRITING ALERT! "Classical" is used as a proper noun that defines a set of styles and cultures. Thus, it should be capitalized.

FACT CHECK: Though we do have inscriptions of the Etruscan written language and can read some of it. It is not fully deciphered.

WRITING ALERT! This is a sentence fragment. The issue is the verb."Bringing" is a present participle (verb form ending in -ing), not a finite verb (a verb that can stand alone as the main action of a sentence). There is no auxiliary verb (e.g., is, was, has) to make it a complete verb phrase, like "Caravaggio was bringing..." Even if you made that edit, the sentence would not be correct. In fact, Carravaggio "brought" the vision the author identifies.

FACT CHECK: While these characteristics are seen in Mannerist works, they are not universally seen. There are Mannerists works that focus on emotional intensity of movement that may be very passionate or heated.

WRITING ALERT! Even though this sentence is short, it is a run-on because it includes two independent clauses (phrases that can be a sentence on their own) without separating them by a semicolon. A comma doesn't cut it.

"Mannerism was stylish; it was fashion."

WRITING ALERT! These transitionary prepositions are tough. Because "where" refers to locational information and Mannerism is not a location, the better preposition would be "in which."

"Mannerism was the next logical step, in which virtuoso painters..."

WRITING ALERT! Renaissance is a proper noun and should be capitalized.

WRITING ALERT! The author needs to provide more direction to the reader so they understand this sentence right off the bat. As is, it seems like the term Maniera coined something. The author either needs to add a comma between Maniera and coined or add "was" (and then also remove the comma and add "and" between Vasari and meant).

There is no text in this section except for the reminder about the printing press in the subtitle. It is important to remember that the printing press was created in Germany (a part of Northern Europe) and influenced Northern Renaissance artists before the technology migrated south to Italy.

Scroll through the artists and artworks featured here to see if any are familiar.

WRITING ALERT! This is a sentence fragment. The entire sentence is a DEPENDENT clause without anything in the sentence to depend on. Without an independent clause (primary subject-verb combination) to depend on, it is an incomplete thought and thus, not an actual sentence.

This sentence leaves the reader wondering what happened until 1440. The sentence doesn't state it.

A complete, revised version might look like: “The printing press did not exist until 1440, when the German blacksmith Johannes Gutenberg revolutionized printed communication with the invention of movable type.”

FYI: This is a good way to indicate that you are not directly quoting a source but using their idea in relatively similar words. In academic writing, paraphrased ideas must be cited just like quotations.

WRITING ALERT! Humanist, like Humanism, is a proper noun and should be capitalized.

WRITING ALERT! Typo: There is a missing space between "Botticelli's" and "Birth." Also, as an artwork title, Birth of Venus should be italicized.

WRITING ALERT! Humanism is a proper noun that describes a social and intellectual movement. Thus, it should be capitalized.

WRITING ALERT! Classical is a proper noun as a term that defines a set of styles and cultures. Thus, it should be capitalized.

WRITING ALERT! Middle class should not be hyphenated unless it is used as a compound adjective before a noun, like: "a middle-class family."

WRITING ALERT! The repetitive use of "and" here makes this sentence read like a run-on (a sentence that tries to incorporate too many ideas and should be broken into multiple sentences for better readability).

WRITING ALERT! Gothic is a proper noun and should be capitalized.

WRITING ALERT! Western is a proper noun describing the part of the world intended. Thus, it should be capitalized.

WRITING ALERT! Byzantine is a proper noun and should be capitalized.

WRITING ALERT! Renaissance is a proper noun and should be capitalized.

WRITING ALERT! Typo: incorrect capitalized. This "i" should be lowercase.

FYI: Arabesque ornaments were another thing that European arts adopted from Islamic art and architecture.

WRITING ALERT! Typo: "the" is missing between "with" and "newest."

FYI: Delicate, slender columns also gave the visual impression of height. So, even if they weren't actually that tall, they appeared tall than bulkier column designs.

WRITING ALERT! Number agreement is an issue here. Styles is plural but the only style identified after the comma is Romanesque (singular). These need to agree so "styles" should be "style."

WRITING ALERT! Medieval is a proper noun and should be capitalized.

WRITING ALERT! Gothic is a proper noun and should be capitalized. The author has capitalized it many times before this statement. After this sentence, it is uncapitalized. Each instance will be highlighted below without further explanation.

WRITING ALERT! Latin is a proper noun (a language) and should be capitalized.

WRITING ALERT! Dark Ages is a proper compound noun and should be capitalized.

FYI: This is okay here because it is an informal context but when you are incorporating quotations into academic writing, the should not stand alone like this. Quotations must be introduced and contextualized within a sentence in academic writing.

FYI: Secularization refers to a process when society moves from being primarily focused on religion or spirituality (the sacred) to focusing on secular concerns (governance, economics, science, etc.).

WRITING ALERT! Age is part of a proper compound noun with Byzantine and should be capitalized.

See above.

WRITING ALERT! It is generally considered poor form to start a sentence with a numeral like this. It can confuse the reader. It would be worthwhile to revise this sentence so that "11th" was not the first word or to write out "Eleventh century."

WRITING ALERT! The dates need context. Are they BCE or CE? In this case, the author is writing about events that occurred between 430 and 570 CE.

WRITING ALERT! Classical is a proper noun as a term that defines a set of styles and cultures. Thus, it should be capitalized.

WRITING ALERT! Empire is part of the proper compound noun with Roman and should be capitalized.

WRITING ALERT! Dark Ages is a proper compound noun and should be capitalized.

WRITING ALERT! Keep consistent. Art was capitalized in this same phrase in the sentence above and so should also be capitalized here.

FYI: This is a good use of everyday language to engage readers. Writing projects have to speak to their specific audience. For an academic audience, this wouldn't be good.

WRITING ALERT! A comma is needed here to separate the introductory phrase "In 476 CE" from the primary phrase of the sentence "a soldier named..."

WRITING ALERT! Typo. This should be "throughout."

FYI: In this case, classical is not capitalized because it is not referring to styles or periods (that are proper nouns). It is modifying Byzantine.

WRITING ALERT! This phrasing is odd. The preposition here should be "on." "... and a fixation on the..."

WRITING ALERT! Empire is part of a proper compound noun with Byzantine. Thus, it should be capitalized. Correct capitalization can be seen in the next paragraph. Academic writing should be consistent in mechanics.

FACT CHECK: This sentence makes it sound like Orthodox Christianity began in Russia or that Orthodox Christianity is only a Russian thing. In fact, what we now call Orthodox is an outgrowth of the religious divide of the Eastern and Western Roman Empires (Orthodox in the East, Catholic in the West). Orthodox Christianity started among Byzantines and then spread to Russia.

WRITING ALERT! "Its" and "it's" can be tough. "It's" is a contraction of "It is" and doesn't work in this sentence. "Its" is the possessive form of "it" and works in this sentence. "... of its more than..."

WRITING ALERT! If you were incorporating this quote into an academic essay, you would have to cite it in-text and provide a reference to the source in your bibliography.

FYI: This is important. At this time, Christianity was considered "fringe" compared to the official and unofficial polytheistic traditions across the Rome Empire and Judaism.

WRITING ALERT! This is a typo. No comma needed here.

WRITING ALERT! In academic writing, when referring to a leader with the title of "the First," we use Roman numerals instead of writing it out. Like this: Licinius I and Constantine I

There is no text for this one. Scroll through the artworks to see if anything catches your eye!

FYI: Much of the land that the Etruscans occupied is known as Tuscany today. The Etruscans called it something similar to Etruria.

WRITING ALERT! Misspelled.

FACT CHECK: By 3000 BCE in Uruk, the Neolithic period was over. Uruk society had transitioned to the Bronze Age. So, this example shouldn't be in this section.

WRITING ALERT! Venus is the name of a goddess and so is a proper noun (even when made plural). Like Neolithic, it should be capitalized.

WRITING ALERT! Göbekli Tepe is an archaeological site that should be spelled as two words. There is a space missing here.

WRITING ALERT! There's no need for this preposition within this list. "From" starts the list in this sentence and so it is implied for each of the components of the list. "... from the seeming impossibility of their construction, [implied from] the palpable sense of physical weight, and [implied from] their mysterious purpose."

WRITING ALERT! In the previous reading (Paleolithic), the author hyphenated this term (hunter-gatherer). It is important to be consistent. Both are correct. Choose one and stick to it.

WRITING ALERT! Neolithic is a proper noun and so should always be capitalized.

WRITING ALERT! While this isn't a huge issue, the punctuation between these two words should be a colon. "... mind: Stonehenge." This eliminates the sentence fragment of "Stonehenge."

FACT CHECK: (Since these are all Non-Western contexts, they do not apply to our class. Nonetheless, there is something to clarify:) Indigenous Australians did not develop agriculture or pottery, thus we can't identify a Neolithic period among them. The Three Age System (Stone/Lithic, Bronze, Iron) doesn't apply to Australia because Indigenous history there is so distinct. Thus, including these examples in the Neolithic section is an issue.

AGAIN! See above.

SAME! See above.

WRITING ALERT! The use of "our" here seems out of place. Since the sentence refers to the ancient obsessions of the Greeks, ending with "our" feels inconsistent. Replacing with "the" would be more straightforward and reduce the likelihood that readers will stumble over this ending.

WRITING ALERT! "Classical" should be capitalized as a proper noun describing a period and style.

WRITING ALERT! Typo. No period here.

FYI: These four phases correspond to art historical periods as well (Geometric, Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic).

WRITING ALERT! Ruler titles that include descriptors like "the first" are typically written with Roman numerals, like this: King Darius I

WRITING ALERT! "Greek" should be capitalized as a proper noun.

WRITING ALERT! "Pythagorean" should be capitalized as a proper noun deriving from the name Pythagoras.

FYI: "the Hellenic world" refers to the Greek world. "Hellenic" derives from the ancient Greek name for their homeland:Hellas.

WRITING ALERT! In previous sections and later in this section, the author used "BCE," which is preferred among scholars, instead of "BC." In academic writing, you need to keep consistent.

WRITING ALERT! "Western" is a proper noun describing a specific geographical region and so should always be capitalized.

WRITING ALERT! The repetitive use of "it" back-to-back here can make readers stumble. It would be more effective to edit this sentence to avoid the repetition.

FACT CHECK: There are no frescos depicting women dancing with bulls in the Aegean region. This is likely a misunderstanding of frescos depicted young men engaged in bull-leaping. Check out this famous example.

WRITING ALERT! In academic writing, using "&" is considered informal.

WRITING ALERT! The preposition "at" would help this sentence flow better ("... Peninsula, at Knossos...") and ensure consistency with other components of this list.

WRITING ALERT! This phrase is Latin and should be italicized to ensure readers are aware that it is a different language.

FYI: lex talionis literally means "the law of retaliation."

WRITING ALERT! This sentence can confuse a reader without proper punctuation. The introductory phrase ("Engraved on a seven-foot-tall basalt stone") needs to be separated from the main phrase ("the 282 laws...") by a comma. This ensures that the reader pauses while reading and doesn't go too fast through these distinct ideas.

Also note that "seven-foot-tall" should be hyphenated because it is a compound modifier describing "stone."

WRITING ALERT! "the" is not needed here. The end of this sentence should read ..."and reinforced Gudea's authority."

WRITING ALERT! "City's" indicates possession of something. That is not appropriate for this sentence. The possessive has been mistaken for the plural "cities," that should be used here.

FACT CHECK: This is another exaggeration. Scholars indicate that between 500,000 and 2 million cuneiform tablets have been recovered archaeologically. Taking the larger end of that estimate only is going too far.

FYI: The estimate is more generally about portable clay texts, many of which are tablets but not all.

FACT CHECK: While Burnoff contributed to the process of decipherment, cuneiform was not fully understood until the 1850s through work on the Bisotun Relief of Iran.

WRITING ALERT! In academic writing, you need to be careful of exaggeration. In this case, it would be better that state it "is one of the most..." because there are many important milestones.

WRITING ALERT! The tern hieroglyphics is not a proper noun and so should not be capitalized here (and in the several instances below).

WRITING ALERT! Upper and Lower Egypt should be capitalized because both Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt are proper nouns (place names).

WRITING ALERT! The subordinate clause at the beginning of this sentence ("For over 3100 years") needs a comma before moving into the primary clause of the sentence. "... years, Egypt..."

FACT CHECK: See above...

FACT CHECK: The desert surrounding the Nile River is part of the Sahara Desert. The Arabian Desert is located in the Arabian Peninsula, across the Red Sea from Egypt. They are not the same.

Fun fact: In ancient times, Egyptians differentiated their portion of the Sahara Desert: the Eastern Desert and the Western Desert, based on the Nile.

WRITING ALERT! In academic writing, species names should be written according to biology's convention: Homo sapiens Capital "H" on the genus name (first one), and "s" on the end of sapien, and italicized.

Make sure to scroll through the artworks below to get a taste of the Paleolithic!

FYI: The controversies go beyond whether these examples are truly human-made sculptures. We'll talk about this in class.

FYI: It may seem odd, but when labeling the most ancient periods of human social history, "Upper" refers to later parts of major periods like the Paleolithic or Mesolithic. "Lower" refers to the earliest parts of those periods.