Thoughts of the Founders and Tocqueville (Political Science Term Paper)

Hello,

I need some ideas for a term paper on the following topic:

Compare Tocqueville's and the Founders' conception of human nature, human equality and good government. Would Tocqueville's analysis point to the same view of democracy and the same kind of Constitution as that of the Federalists? Why or why not?

The paper has to be a minimum of 8 pages, and I have no idea what to write about right now. So, any ideas or thoughts would be very helpful!

Thanks in advance!

Okay, the first thing to do is dive into Tocqueville's work and really enjoy it. Google around for an analysis of his view of democracy. Google around for an analysis of his writing. When you find a good description of his conception of democracy, write a sentence about it.

Let that sentence be a topic sentence, and elaborate so that it becomes a whole paragraph.

Repeat that process until you have several paragraphs about his view of democracy.

Do all the above steps for the federalists.
Do all of the above with ideas from class readings and other readings you find.

Approach this as if you are making a "paragraph collection." Cite your sources at the end of every paragraph, and include any good quotations. When you have about 16 paragraphs, organize them into a few subsections of the paper, and look at it all together. Write a few paragraphs about similarities between the 2 versions of democracy, and write a few paragraphs about the differences.

See what main idea emerged in your comparison. Whatever it is, proclaim it in an intro paragraph at the very beginning. Then, go to the end and add a conclusion paragraph.

Don't forget to ENJOY the process!! :-)

Perhaps the essay matrix suggested could help...