Essay Topic Hub

American
Essays

6,541+ paper examples, study guides & outlines

6,541 papers
1 subject area
UG & Grad levels
Free to browse
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.

6,541 papers
Sort by:
Research Paper Doctorate
United States, From Its Beginnings,
¶ … United States, from its beginnings, has always existed as one of the most appealing destinations for the immigrants of the world. Naturally, this should come as no surprise considering that over 99% of its…
Paper High School
Los Angeles Preface / Introduction
The document considers the various ways in which authors portray Los Angeles. The city contains a wide diversity of people and lifestyles. What unifies them is their suffering.
Paper Undergraduate
Marketing and services marketing overview
Mattioli, D. (2011). Grocers Are Testing Smartphones. Wall Street Journal. Accessed 10 October 2011. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903532804576568811114380144.html
Research Paper Undergraduate
Global Warming in Canada --
Global Warming in Canada -- an environmental, economic, and cultural meltdown
Research Paper Undergraduate
African-American Adolescent Females Have More
African-American Adolescent Females Have More Positive Self Body Images Due to Positive Media and Closer Family Relationships
Paper Undergraduate
Global financial investment strategies and market dynamics
Globalization has allowed economic agents to transcend boundaries and expand their operations to various global regions. But this ability has also materialized in the need to face risks of larger degrees and to develop…
Essay Doctorate
Industrialization After the Civil War Introduce Your
The Civil War that occurred in America in the 1860 shaped the nation's direction in terms of industrialization. Many people practiced farming before the war but later resorted living in urban centers and industrial towns. Industrialization changed the way farming and livestock keeping was done. This study has shown that industrialization led to increased capitalism, where the average working American had to work extra hard to satisfy their life needs.
Paper Undergraduate
Myth of the American Dream:
¶ … myth of the American dream: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Dumbo
Paper Undergraduate
Secretary of State Transition From
Transitioning from Clinton to Kerry in the Secretary of State position will bring upon a new perspective in terms of foreign affairs. Ed Koch was a political figure that gained notoriety as mayor of New York City and brought forth many changes that benefited NYC residents. Gun control requires for a common middle ground to be found by both extreme conservatives and liberals in order to protect our children. The Presidential Inauguration allows citizens to hear what they should expect in the next four years. Wilkerson's book 'The Warmth of Other Suns' depicts the Great Migration and its great contribution to American society.
Paper Doctorate
Technology Updates the Cost of Technological Advances
The development of technological advances has been significant in the last 50 years but more so in the last 30. According to Moore an early pioneer in silicone technology, the capacity for engineering technology innovation is clearly rapid. Moore set a benchmark for silicone technology claiming that capacity would double the number of transistors on a chip, which determines the capacity for memory every 24months. This law served as a standard for Intel and other chip manufacture companies, creating a demonstrative goal that was followed almost to the letter from its inception to now (Intel, 2011). This rapid advancement of technology has made many functions and aspects of technology capabilities possible as computers and servers can process more and more tasks and information more rapidly than ever. The result of these advances has been both an extreme learning curve cost as well as an extreme financial outlay for many organizations, both as a response to legal and legislative mandates and the need for competitive advantage development. Though the development of so much capacity and possibilities has made it possible to do and make many things faster and more efficiently than ever before people rarely if ever look specifically at the cost of such technology with regard to human attrition, due to inability to learn and update rapidly enough (Russell, 2011), the loss of organizations based on size and productivity and inability to shoulder costs of upgrading technology and of course likely the most looked at but still neglected financial burden of upgrading technology on a near constant basis. This work will look specifically at these three areas of the cost of technological advance, financial, individual attrition and small organization loss.