Machiavellis Minor Works Ideas from The Prince 1) Please limit Machiavelli’s minor works to: The Discourses, The Mandreake Root, Clizia, Belfagor.
2)Format: Formal essay style with footnotes, endnotes or imbedded notes, and bibliography (divided into “Works cited” and “Works consulted”).
The essay should have an introduction and a conclusion. Grammar, spelling, organization and style all count.
3)You will need to consult secondary sources.Edu domains preferred. At least a couple of these need to be print sources (you can access these on line, but
they have to be from scholarly journals and academically sound source). A bibliography is provided on the course web site.
4)It is impossible to quantify the extent to which you use your primary source and the number of secondary sources. It all depends on what you do with these
and on what you read. I do want to emphasize that this is a research essay on Machiavelli’s texts and ideas, rather than, say, an essay relating specifically
to history. You can, however, make reference to historical events if it has a direct bearing on your argument. Also, this is, precisely, a research essay and
not a reaction paper, which typically asks for your personal opinions, reactions and reflections. This does not mean that you cannot give me your opinion,
but that it has to be based on a solid philological basis (on what the author says, how he says it, his imagery, his rhetorical devices, and so on). You will
have to prove what you say by making references to the texts under examination.
