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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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Research Paper Undergraduate

Bridges, Amy. Morning Glories: Municipal

Bridges, Amy. Morning Glories: Municipal Reform in the Southwest.

Research Paper Undergraduate

Autobiography All About Me Because

Because I immigrated to America at the cusp of adulthood, I have found that many of the people that I encounter focus on the fact that I am different from them. I immigrated to America six years ago from Moscow, Russia,…

Paper Undergraduate

Coming of Age in Mississippi

Martin Luther King Jr. said that the throbbing desire for freedom inside every man could no longer be denied and to rob a man of his freedom is to take to him the essential basis of his manhood.

Paper Undergraduate

Marketing and promotion strategies in business

Campbell Soup Company Strategy for the UAE Market

Paper Doctorate

Margaret Fuller and the 1848 revolution in Rome

Margaret Fuller's account relating her stay in Rome during the 1848 riotous events tells the story from the perspective of a foreign correspondent who is interested in putting across an impartial report.

Essay Doctorate

Indigenous Populations in Republican Rome (Ca. 500

Indigenous populations in Republican Rome (ca. 500 BCE – 31 BCE) There were number of indigenous populations that were conquered by the Roman Republic whilst on the expansionary course. The fundamental issues that these populations, isolated ethnic minorities faced were regarding the preservation of their culture, their economic life, and their right to the properties in which they lived since centuries. Equality is the paramount notion that comes to mind regarding ‘citizenship'. Race and gender have been predominant factors that have enabled the elites to exclude the indigenous people from their right to their properties and the lives they live.

Essay Doctorate

Psychology of consumer behavior

Psychology of Consumer Behavior Introduction The research into how young women perceive their own bodies – in response to constant exposure to media images of un-naturally thin and extraordinarily beautiful females – has been a popular topic for many years. But when it comes to male models that are nearly perfect, handsome and muscular in exactly the right places, there has not been as much attention or research. This paper reviews the potential of – and reality of – dissatisfaction in males based on the media's model images of males. Body Image for Males – Background Annette La Greca is Professor of Psychology at the University of Miami and Gerald Koocher is the Dean of the School for Health Studies at Simmons College. As co-authors of The Parents' Guide to Psychological First Aid: Helping Children and Adolescents Cope with Predictable Life Crises they assert that the research for body dissatisfaction among youth has "focuses more on girls." But boys are often dissatisfied with their body shape too, and this leads to "…feelings of inferiority or low self-esteem" (Koocher, et al, 2010, p. 317).

Research Paper Doctorate

Discrimination of gays in the workplace

Discrimination in the workplace has long been a topic of debate. Most employers agree that discrimination of any kind is unacceptable in the workplace however as it relates to homosexuals discrimination is often…

Research Paper Doctorate

Canada's relationship to the United States in Margaret Atwood's Surfacing

For Americans or Europeans who are oblivious to the justifiably pessimistic feelings many Canadians have toward the U.S. In particular and Western attitudes in general, reading Margaret Atwood's book Surfacing should…

Paper Undergraduate

Macroeconomic concepts and analysis

A review of Rana Foroohar's Time Magazine article "What Ever Happened to Upward Mobility?" (Nov 14, 2011) from a macroeconomic perspective. Outlines the reasons that the U.S. has fallen behind many European countries economically from the standpoint of socioeconomic upward mobility.

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