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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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Jimmy Carter's presidential diaries and administrative focus

Jimmy Carter's Diaries could have been entitled more about his habit of carrying too much about details. It becomes clear how, even as a down-home politician, he was ahead of the public on many issues but how he also seemed more interested in being an successful Administrator in Chief rather than a leader of the times.

Essay Doctorate

Symbolism and conflict in Hemingway's "Hills like White Elephants"

Hills like White Elephants is one of the most discussed works of Ernest Hemingway primarily due to excessive use of symbolism in the story to depict conflict of interest of a young couple on the subject of abortion.

Paper High School

3G cell phone dependence and social connectivity among teenagers

The paper talks about the impact of 3G mobile technologies on the teenagers. The paper talks about the penetration and dependence of teenagers in their daily lives and how it has impacted their social standards and interactions. The paper also focuses on the incorporation of broadband technology and 3G mobiles.

Paper Doctorate

Immigration, identity, and disillusionment in Naipaul's "One Out of Many"

Nobel Prize-winning author Naipaul published the story "One Out of Many" in 2001. This story was published the same year as the terrorist attacks upon the World Trade Center in New York City. It is no coincidence that he published the story with the protagonist of South Asian, and stereotypically, terrorist descent during this year. The story is a somewhat familiar one, of a man, Santosh, from a foreign (to Americans) country when his life changes. The man he serves and works for receives a transfer to Washington D.C. What is familiar about Santosh's plight is that he is one of millions of immigrants from countries far from the United States that have an intense American dream.

Paper Doctorate

Bill Moyer's documentary analysis of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal

This paper discusses the documentary "Capitol Crimes." In this film, the crimes of Jack Abramoff are researched and analyzed. Abramoff was found guilty of having committed both fraud and conspiracy. It was found that he used campaign funds from individuals in order to bribe people in positions of political power and subvert justice

Paper Undergraduate

NASA's Gemini program objectives and space flight contributions

NASA reports that the second manned space program was named Gemini and was announced in January 1962. The project was named Gemini for the third constellation of the Zodiac with its twin stars Castor and Pollux. The Gemini project was inclusive of 12 flights, two of them unmanned and was a project with clear objectives including those as follows: (1) subjecting man and equipment to space flight up to two weeks in duration; (2) to conduct a rendezvous and dock with orbiting vehicles and to maneuver the docked combination by using the propulsion system of the target vehicle; (3) to perfect methods of atmosphere entrance and landing at a specific point on land. The goals of this project were met except for the goal of landing on land, which was cancelled in 1964.

Paper Doctorate

George Bellows' "Stag at Sharkey's": violence and spectacle in boxing

George Bellows Identification of Painting The George Bellows painting that will be reviewed and critiqued in this paper is "Stag at Sharkey's 1909." The painting is oil on canvas, 36 ¼ x 48 ¼ (91 x 112.6 centimeters). The painting was done in 1909. Description of Painting What Bellows has done with this painting is create an exaggeration of two boxers going at it. The boxers are locked in a bloody battle. It is a brutal image. There appears to be blood on the arms and shoulders of the boxer on the left, and it seems as though the neck and part of the back of the boxer on the right shows blood as well. The faces in the audience are twisted, grotesque, and only a very few are even discernible. Just above the boxing mat, under the right shoe of the boxer on the right is a pair of eyes and eyebrows of a face partially hidden. Likely this face belongs to a young boy. The eyes on that face show either fear or concern. To the left of that half-hidden face is a full face of a man with a cigar; when a magnifying glass zeros in on that man with a cigar his eyes are distorted and he has that same ruddy blood-like color on his right cheek and chin.

Research Paper Doctorate

Parent expectations and high school students' learning styles

Learning Styles and Academic Achievement: Are Parent's Expectations Too High?

Research Paper Undergraduate

The U.S. debt ceiling crisis and fiscal-monetary policy responses

This study addresses various current issues in America and their impacts to the economy. It also focuses on policies and strategies that the government can apply to remedy the situation. These policies include monetary and fiscal policies where application of either policy relies on the economic approach that the government adopts.

Paper Undergraduate

James Baldwin's "Giovanni's Room" and male homosexuality in 1956

Giovanni's Room is, on closer examination, a more unusual novel than it appears at first glance: its author, James Baldwin, is routinely counted among the greatest African-American novelists, and yet if one were asked…

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