The Idea of Democracy

Short Paper Assignment

INSTRUCTIONS: You are to answer the following question with an essay. FOUR single-spaced pages with 12-point font and 1-inch margins should suffice. This short paper assignment is worth 30% of your course grade.

Modern democracy might have borrowed the term “democracy” from the ancient Greeks, but it did not inherit much of its substance. Write an essay in which you compare and contrast the ancient Athenian understanding of democracy with the modern understanding of democracy. Be sure to include specific examples from the readings.

IMPORTANT: Please Read Carefully

1) This short paper assignment is simply a take-home test masquerading as a formal paper.

2) Because this is NOT a formal research paper, other than the assigned readings NO OTHER SOURCES (textual or internet) are to be used. If your paper is found to contain any secondary material, it will receive a ZERO.

3) Because this short paper assignment is designed as a take-home test, it has a definite due date and time. As such there will be NO EXTENSIONS to the due date or time, and late papers will not be accepted. NO EXCEPTIONS.

4) This short writing assignment is due NO LATER than 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 08.

5) Use consistent citation style (e.g. in-text citations) when necessary.