The reflection essay should address the following prompt: This semester, we’ve examined democratic practices, institutions, and ideologies from ancient Athens to today. We have read various primary and secondary sources of information to trace the history of democracy as a political ideology and a social practice. Where does democracy stand today, how is it similar/different from the ancient Athenian model, and where do you fit into the story of democracy? What about “Open Democracy”–what is it? How feasible do you think it is, and what can you envision working? If you do not like it, what other ideas do you have to make democratic institutions and practices better?
Content and organization: The essay should contain discussion of at least five readings from this semester, at least two from ancient Athens (weeks 1-7) and at least two from the rest of the semester (weeks 8-15), as well as Hélène Landemore’s Open Democracy. It is strongly recommended that the paper is organized by sections: Introduction (1 paragraph), Discussion (6-8 paragraphs), Conclusion (1 paragraph). The Discussion section can contain shorter sub-sections as needed. There are numerous ways to organize the Discussion section: by chronological period, by topic, or by institution, etc. It is not recommended to arrange the discussion by individual source/reading–weave documents together to tell a coherent story through analysis of topics and ideas. Additional readings beyond what have been assigned in this class are not necessary, and in fact, they are discouraged in this assignment.
Citations: Citations (either footnotes or in-text parenthetical citations) must be included when including paraphrases or quotations of primary or secondary sources. There should be at least 1-2 citations per paragraph (except for the intro/conclusion, though these may have citations, too). Choose quotations carefully, as they should not be longer than 3 lines on the page. If a quotation is longer than 3 lines on the page, strongly consider paraphrasing. There should be no naked weblinks in citations–remember that websites are not sources; websites host sources. See the UNLV Library website Links to an external site.for more information on how to cite sources. When in doubt, use our secondary source r