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What is American?

The concept of "American" as a subject of study spans disciplines ranging from history and sociology to literature and cultural studies. It invites students to examine what defines American identity, society, and values — questions that resist simple answers. Courses in world studies, American history, and cultural analysis regularly ask students to interrogate the idea of America as both a geographic place and an evolving set of ideals. Works like J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur's 1782 letter posing the question "What Is an American?" and figures such as Benjamin Franklin and Amiri Baraka serve as anchors for exploring how American identity has been constructed, contested, and redefined across centuries.

Student papers on this topic take a wide range of approaches. Comparative essays examine American values alongside European or Asian counterparts, or place historical periods like the Progressive Era and the New Deal in direct contrast. Other papers use case studies to analyze specific social and political developments — the Abolition Movement, the Americans with Disabilities Act, or the influence of Latin migration on American life. Cultural and media analysis appears as well, with papers exploring pop music in the 1980s, advertising's effect on dietary choices, and the evolution of the cell phone as a lens into American society.

A strong essay on an American studies topic works best when it anchors a broad theme in a specific argument. Effective evidence draws on policy documents, literary texts, historical events, or cultural artifacts rather than vague generalizations about national character. The most common pitfall is treating "America" as a monolith — successful essays acknowledge the diversity of voices, regions, and experiences that shape any aspect of American life.

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Paper Doctorate

Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum in the 2012 GOP primaries

The 2012 Republican primaries have been exceptionally heated this election cycle. Compared to four years ago, John McCain had already clinched his nomination by sidelining Mitt Romney by this point and seemed to be in a good leveraging position against the still competing democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. This year, however, Mitt Romney is back in the contest and is facing off against three Conservative candidates, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, and Rick Santorum. Of these three, Rick Santorum has given Mitt Romney the most trouble in his two year march to the nomination, and has spent countless hours trying to frame Mitt Romney as an opportunist politician who is spending his way to victory. All three Republican candidates have suggested that Mitt Romney is far more centrist than the party can handle, and that Mitt Romney's passing of Health Care reform in Massachusetts while he was governor was a bad decision ultimately. Considering President Obama's Health Care bill is based directly off of the bill passed by Mitt Romney has not helped Romney's presidential campaign.

Essay Doctorate

Sartrean alienation and identity loss in Philip Roth's American Pastoral

The novel "The American Pastoral" by Philip Roth represents an important literary work that basis its construction on elements of literary existentialism through the way in which characters and their universe are created.

Research Paper Undergraduate

Western oil dependency and the failure of sustained energy reform

Problems Caused by Using Oil and the Increasingly Serious Consequences of Western Oil Dependency

Research Paper Undergraduate

Gestational surrogacy: ethical, legal, and moral considerations

Even though it seems to be a practice of the modern world, whose fertilization is thought to have been affected by many factors, the concept of surrogacy is actually mentioned for the first time in the Old Testament,…

Research Paper Undergraduate

Assimilation and identity in Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club

The Joy Luck Club describes the experiences of four women who emigrated from mainland China to the United States. These women get together to play Mahjong and reminisce about their life experiences.

Paper Undergraduate

Media violence in Slumdog Millionaire and audience desensitization

The mass media has grown to become a part of every American's daily life. Due to the increasing exposure to media not only in the United States but everywhere else in the world, scholars have theorized and researched on…

Paper Undergraduate

Frederick Douglass's pursuit of freedom through literacy and activism

While Frederick Douglass is most well-known for his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, he is much more valuable to American history because he was much more than a writer.

Paper Undergraduate

The strategic significance of the Iwo Jima invasion in World War Two

Invasion of Iwo Jima During World War Two

Essay Doctorate

HIV and AIDS infection rates among homeless African-Americans

¶ … HIV / AIDS epidemic among the homeless

Essay Doctorate

Chicano identity and gender oppression in Cisneros' "My Name"

In "My Name" by Sandra Cisneros, the principle character's name is Esperanza. Esperanza's problem, at first, seems only to be displeasure with her name. She is certainly displeased with her name. She is disappointed with the meaning of her name in her native tongue, Spanish. She is frustrated and perplexed with the persistent difficulty that Americans have pronouncing her Chicana name. Esperanza wishes she could be lucky, like her sister, who can come home and have a different name, a prettier name, an easier name than her proper first name.

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