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America
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What is America?

America as a topic of academic study spans nearly every discipline, from history and political science to public health, literature, and cultural studies. Its breadth makes it a common subject in introductory college courses as well as upper-level seminars, where students are asked to examine the nation's political institutions, social tensions, and evolving identity. What makes the topic academically rich is precisely its complexity: the United States has served as a site of competing visions, from debates over economic policy and national power to questions of individual rights and social change. Papers touching on figures like Edward M. Bannister, Sam Patch, and Heather Whitestone illustrate how individual stories can illuminate broader national narratives.

The papers archived under this topic reflect a wide range of approaches. Historical analyses trace developments across defined periods, such as America's rise to world power during the Gilded Age or the military origins of the republic from 1763 to 1789. Policy-focused essays examine specific controversies, including welfare from a libertarian perspective, same-sex marriage, and the Cuba-related Helms-Burton legislation. Other papers take a social or public health angle, addressing issues like childhood obesity or health promotion strategies. Comparative and philosophical approaches also appear, as in contrasting the theories of David Hume and William James within an American intellectual context.

A strong essay on America establishes a focused thesis rather than attempting to survey the entire nation's history or character. Evidence drawn from primary sources, policy documents, historical events, or specific case studies carries more weight than broad generalizations. The most common pitfall is treating "America" as a monolithic subject — the strongest papers define a precise time period, population, or issue and argue a clear, defensible position about it.

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Research Paper Doctorate
Manifest Destiny and Slavery: An 1820 Southern Perspective
¶ … 1820, this nation has two distinct characteristics, both of which are destined to come to conflict. Firstly, this is a vast landmass of frontier, all of which is integral to the growth and future of America.
Paper Undergraduate
The Gilded Age and the Progressive Movement Explained
This paper examines the economic, political and social conditions during two periods of American history. The Gilded Era, from roughly 1868 to 1901 was a time of unprecedented expansion and excesses. The Progressive Era was a reaction to the excess of the Gilded Era and a movement to make thing more equitable for the common man.
Essay Doctorate
NASA Budget Analysis: Payroll, Trends, and Expenditures
As with any massive bureaucratic entity in which thousands of employees work collaboratively on hundreds of individual projects, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) devotes a healthy percentage of its annual budget to maintaining its permanent and temporary workforce. With an annual operating budget of approximately $17.8 billion for fiscal year 2013, calculating the exact amount paid as compensation to employees is a difficult prospect, but using conservative estimates which take into account budget items like Space Operations ($4 billion) and Cross-Agency Support ($2.8 billion), it is likely that NASA spends well in excess of $12 billion per year on salaries, pensions, and other employee-generated costs.
Paper Undergraduate
UK vs US Obesity Health Policy: Prevention Strategies
Obesity is one of the most prevalent forms of malady in the European and American continents. The ranks of obese individuals are augmented each year to the extent that obesity is now very often referred to as pandemic in either first-world or undeveloped countries from across the world. The purpose of this paper is to observe, compare and contrast the health policies of the United Kingdom and the United States of America, with special focus on the measures allocated to preventing and decreasing the obesity rate among the countries' inhabitants.
Research Paper Doctorate
Republicanism in The Federalist Papers: Hamilton, Jay & Madison
Within this paper, the general theory of republicanism will be presented. The conceptualization of republicanism discussed within the paper as an American political philosophy will be based on The Federalist Papers…
Paper Doctorate
City Symphonies of the 1920s: A Silent Film Comparison
Film comparison: City symphonies of the 1920s
Essay Doctorate
Walt Whitman vs. Chana Bloch: Contrasting Poetic Visions
Walt Whitman -- From a Different Perspective
Paper Doctorate
Gender and Orientalism in Hwang's M. Butterfly
This paper analyzes David Henry Hwang's Pulitzer-Prize-winning drama "M. Butterfly" in terms of how it constructs a drama out of cultural preconceptions. The paper uses the argument made by Edward Said in "Orientalism" to understand the cultural differences in "M. Butterfly" as being imagined largely in terms of gender differences. The way in which "M. Butterfly" constructs itself in terms of gender-reversal is shown to be part of the way whereby a Chinese-American author appeals to a largely white American audience.
Research Paper Doctorate
African Americans in the Revolutionary War and Civil War
¶ … African-American Roles in the War for Independence and the Civil War
Research Paper Doctorate
Factors Influencing Teenage Abortion Decisions: A Literature Review
Abortion among teenage girls has been an issue of much debate for many years. Many people believe that all abortions should be illegal while others believe that there are circumstances that warrant the right to choose.