For this essay of several typed or wordprocessed pages (at least five, in a font size between ten and twelve, and not counting the Works Cited page), use the full MLA format to be found in Ch. 53 of SFHW ("How Do You Use MLA Documentation"), including a Works Cited page. You should have at least three secondary sources; your sources must include one from online (see the information about finding and documenting such sources in SFHW, Chs. 47-50), one from a print periodical, and one from a book (not online). (A book might include a reference work to be found in the reference room of the Reese/ASU Library; some good reference sources include the report on religion in annual world almanacs and the annual books of the year for various general encyclopedias -- e.g., the Encyclopedia Britannica book of the year always has a section entitled "Religion.") Along the way and before turning in the essay, carefully study and review the chapters of SFHW that have been noted.

        From the knowledge you have, as well as gain from secondary sources, of current events, as well as from your own personal observation and experience, compare and contrast how religion, including toleration, is treated in today's world ("today" meaning the last five or ten years) with Gibbon's analysis of it in the ancient world -- that is, the Rome and Roman empire of Trajan and the Antonines Gibbon discusses in the opening of Chapter 2 of Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Today's world should include the countries that comprised the Roman empire in the time of Trajan and the Antonines (the subject of the excerpt from Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire). Some research will be required to ascertain or determine what countries, as defined by today's names and borders, were included in the Roman empire of Trajan and the Antonines, though some of these are mentioned by name in the excerpt. Be sure to demonstrate mastery of the assigned reading by adhering to the directions in NNRRE, as you would for an in-class essay.

        Your secondary sources are only to deal with today's world.  Your source about the ancient Roman empire (other than the specific areas or countries included in the empire of  Trajan and the Antonines) is strictly to be the excerpt from Ch. 2 of Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, which is the required reading.
 

    1. Personal application should be only a small part of the essay, with the main emphasis being on the world today (the eastern and western hemispheres), but the personal application should include such issues as how religious or tolerant you are, yourself, family, acquaintances, and others in the Augusta area. For example, are all denominations of Christianity generally regarded alike, in the Augusta area? How do you (and those you know about) compare and contrast with what Gibbon talks about in his writing?

    2. How about the above basic questions regarding Europe (e.g., attitude toward Jews in Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and Russia; Muslims in Britain) and the Middle East (e.g., Egypt, Israel, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria)?

    3. Remember to explicitly use the components and specifics included in the required reading: e.g., the three main components of society that Gibbon discusses, and how or why they were tolerant toward religion in the Roman empire of Trajan and the Antonines..

    4. Carefully study and apply to this out-of-class essay all relevant material from "Norm's Notes on the Reading-Response Essay," which includes not only pertinent information about all reading-response essays but also information about the out-of-class reading-response essay.