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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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Comparing the Mesthene-McDermott and Joy debates on technology

Technology, a very familiar phenomenon of modern world, is continuously enhancing its ways towards comforts and luxuries. New thoughts and ideas are coming with every passing second, and what started as only a blurred vision, now became a necessity for all mankind. These have become a need of today's society making the society very much involved in these technological reforms. Several debates have been made on the topic that although the level of our technology keeps on improving day by day, but do all of these hi-tech gadgets give us the proper advantages? Are we really aware of the two different sides of the same mirror, or are we just so much accustomed to all such things around us that we don't bother to look upon the other side? Amongst these debates, two of the very famous are classical McDermott vs. Mesthene debate of 1960s and contemporary debate of Joy vs. Brown/Duguid in the start of 21st century. In this essay, the compare and contrast between these two debates will be presented along with the work of James Burke in this regard. Before describing the compares and contrasts, a brief look at both debates is provided for better understanding.

Research Paper Doctorate

Cappelli and Rifkin on work's future: change versus end in the 1990s

Business History and book Comparison: Is it the change of work or the end of work that we face today?

Research Paper Doctorate

Racial socialization practices and cognitive development in African-American preschoolers

In the September issue of Child Development, the article The Influence of Racial Socialization Practices on the Cognitive and Behavioral Competence of African-American Preschoolers discusses how African-American…

Research Paper Doctorate

Racial profiling in United States law enforcement and police practices

Enforcement of law and order in the most efficient manner is one of the crucial and most challenging tasks. In order to keep the social environment peaceful and progressive, it is important for the law enforcement…

Research Paper Doctorate

Racism and segregation in Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

¶ … Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou, she illustrated her coming of age as an intelligent but unconfident black girl in the American South during the 1930s and afterwards in California during the 1940s.

Research Paper Doctorate

Political parties' roles in U.S. bilingual education policy and implementation

Political Parties and Bilingual Education

Essay Doctorate

Itemized deductions in federal income tax returns and IRS compliance

This essay examines the significance of itemized deductions and how they factor in with the United States Tax codes. The history of this idea is examined in the article as advice is presented to taxpayers on how to fully take advantage of these rules. The essay concludes with real-world examples of triggers associated with these deductions that increase your chances of an audit.

Thesis High School

Public health crisis: food subsidies and rising obesity in America

This paper deals with the increasing obesity rates that can be found in the U.S and many other industrial nations. The United States has one of the lowest cost food options available to its consumers in the world. For an extended period, people assumed that this was a benefit of capitalism and that competition had helped push down the prices and made food available at lower costs through the market. However, many externalities have arisen in these circumstances that are now pointing researchers to question the consequences of having mass processed food available to consumers.

Essay Doctorate

Experiencing Indian culture through participation in the Holi festival

This paper is on culture. Surely, before I went to the festival, I had a slight idea about the mess I was getting into. I wasn't really eager to participate and was going to be a quiet observer as people crazily went on to throws color at each other. However, as I was there around different people having the time of their likes, I could not help myself. It was very nice to see people of different ages and different backgrounds act the same way and just enjoy themselves. There was no class or sect division. People were playing around and throwing color even if they were ten or sixty. This showed me the importance of culture and tradition in this group of people.

Paper Doctorate

Poverty as a recruitment factor in organized crime groups

Poverty is often a significant element influencing individuals to take on a life of crime, taking into account that organized crime leaders tend to recruit their subordinates from underprivileged environments. Poor persons have lesser options in comparison to others and gradually come to consider that committing criminal acts is the only solution they have in order to survive. From the perspective of organized crime leaders poor areas are thus perfect recruitment spots. There is a complex relationship between poverty and organized crime and by analyzing a series of organized crime communities from around the world one is likely to observe that many tend to focus on recruiting underprivileged individuals. The Mara Salvatrucha criminal organization has expanded throughout the American continent and it appears that borders are not necessarily an impediment when considering its presence in countries other than its home. It is currently present in a series of areas and on several continents, as it appears that the principles it promotes have influenced a great deal of individuals to express interest in joining the gang. While the organized crime group has initially been present in Los Angeles only, a number of deportations involving high-ranking officers and the fact that these respective individuals have taken the gang's name further made it possible for them to recruit individuals in a series of other areas.

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