Advice on tools and methodology?

Textkit Community Open Board
1

I wanted advice on tools and methodology, so I googled “classical research tools” and “classical research study guide”. I perhaps found a few links worth posting:

There seems some agreement on tools in the study guides, but I thought that I might augment that knowledge by asking for the advice of experienced users here. For example, I’m more interested in meaning than language, so learning the language, while important, is perhaps less immediately productive than reading secondary sources. In Marshall’s paper [https://doi.org/10.1017/S007542691700012X], I noticed that she resorted to TLG (pdf p.4, footnote 20):

A TLG search for forms of μύωψ returns just two other instances of the word in fragmentary tragedies, but both of these are conjectures.

Thus far, I’ve found the Perseus 4 Hopper easier for me to use than TLG or Scaife Viewer, but perhaps only because I haven’t read any user guides. I suppose that I’d like to know which tools do what best, so that I might better invest time learning their use to do what each does best. For example, at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0170%3Atext%3DApol.%3Asection%3D30e, by clicking “load” (upper right), I had parallel Greek and could click each Greek word to navigate to LSJ (and sometimes other) definitions. If other tools are more capable, I’d like to know, especially if they’re open source. Perhaps I could avoid building the additional automation I want.

2

None of those tools are appropriate for someone at your level. (Ie., someone who has not yet begun to learn the language). I’d recommend going through this or similar, as a first step:

https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Greek-Dover-Language-Guides/dp/0486470563

3

Thanks for that sensible reading recommendation. I ordered a used copy of a 2003 edition from eBay. I downloaded free electronic copy of a 1959 edition (and what might be a corresponding teacher’s manual) from archive.org.

I seem to be surveying the online tools to identify use cases and opportunities for software asset reuse. For my foreseeable future, I less hope to understand Greek syntax and semantics than extend correlations of primary source to various secondary source translations. Before I fixate on the Perseus Digital Library, I wondered if I should consider other open source or system capabilities, so that I might anticipate what my predecessors want. Perhaps someday I’ll share their interests. That anticipation might help me avoid design limitations that impede improvements.