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Authority
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What is Authority?

Authority is one of the most broadly examined concepts across the humanities and social sciences, appearing in courses ranging from political science and sociology to legal studies, literature, and philosophy. It raises fundamental questions about where power comes from, how it is granted or taken, and what obligations it creates for individuals and groups. Works like The Crucible and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest give literary dimension to these questions, while legal frameworks around common law and judge-made law ground them in institutional practice. Historical episodes — such as Pope Boniface VIII's claims to papal supremacy and James Otis's challenge to the Writs of Assistance — show how disputes over authority have shaped societies across centuries.

Student papers on this topic approach authority from several distinct angles. Literary analyses examine how characters resist or submit to institutional power, often through close reading of conflict and consequence. Historical and political essays trace how authority has been organized, contested, or transferred across governments and religious institutions. Legal papers explore the relationship between different sources of law and who holds the right to interpret them. Psychology-oriented work, drawing on studies like the Stanford Prison Experiment, investigates how individuals behave when placed inside authority structures. Philosophical and epistemological papers question how authority claims are justified, including the nature of argument by authority itself.

A strong essay on authority needs a focused thesis about a specific form or exercise of power rather than treating the concept in the abstract. Evidence drawn from primary texts, legal cases, historical events, or documented social behavior tends to carry the most weight. The most common pitfall is conflating authority with raw power — a careful essay distinguishes between legitimate, institutionally recognized authority and coercive force, and explains why that distinction matters for the argument being made.

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Paper Doctorate

Representation of women in Jane Eyre, Great Expectations, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

This paper looks at the position of a woman during the Victorian era, their roles and the milestone women have passed to gain their freedoms and independence. The paper explores the readings, Jane Eyre, Great Expectations and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Other Tales, and explains the portrayal of the women.

Essay Doctorate

Genghis Khan's transformative leadership and empire-building strategies

Genghis Khan began his life as a member of a small tribe and created the largest empire the world has ever known. At its height, the Mongol Empire extended as far as Poland and Vietnam. This paper discusses the leadership lessons that can be learned from Khan and applied to businesses today, including Khan's administrative abilities as well as his military tactics.

Essay Doctorate

How forgery preserved authenticity in medieval manuscript culture

This essay describes three ways in which people have dealt with problems of information overload or retrieval--forgery, ideology, and historiography. Forgery is seen as not peripheral but central especially in the context of pre-literate oral-based cultures. Ideology is seen as not necessarily as tendentious as one might suspect for historical purposes, as it often records adversarial information to rebut it. Historiography is seen as the product of forces of power and hegemony, and necessarily incorporates elements of both forgery and ideology.

Essay Doctorate

NPDA debate analysis: Mercer versus Morehouse College finals

Critical to the success of any formalized debate is the direct feedback debaters receive from the attending judges, because debaters anticipate and value the appraisal of their contributions provided by a completed debate ballot. The process of improving one’s ability to persuasively present ideas is significantly enhanced when an objective opinion is provided, and by flowing a debate before submitting a decision via ballot, judges provide the impetus for aspiring debaters to hone their craft. Another crucial aspect of the balloting process is to assist the debaters – whether they have been declared the victors or the vanquished – to better understand the reasoning process used to inform each judge’s decision. To that end, anybody attempting to accurately judge a debate must be prepared to provide insightful commentary, a rigorous analysis of each completed round, and the ultimate basis for their ballot decision. Although judges also deliver a verbal critique of each debate, the act of writing commentary and feedback on a paper ballot serves to help debate coaches and their charges to understand the motivations and machinations of the debate judging process. There is no formally accepted structure for a debate ballot, but several crucial elements should be integrated into this process in the name of uniformity, accuracy and integrity. The reasoning process underpinning a judge’s decision should be fully explicated, direct commentary should be offered to debaters on an individual basis, and comparative analysis of argumentative merit from each round are extremely useful resources for debaters hoping to improve their oratorical skill set. The following flow and ballot was constructed while observing the NPDA Finals Debate between Mercer University and Morehouse College, which took place on September 21st of this year at the University of North Georgia’s annual Chicken and the Egg Classic.

Research Paper Doctorate

Anne Demars on race and gender in Chicago

Throughout this course we've examined the ways that various gender and race constructs manifest themselves throughout society and how they have an impact on women and minorities. We've looked at various forms of "othering" that have occurred as a response to society's ills. This paper focuses on the highlights of an interview with an African American woman named Anne Demars, and her perspective on face and gender in Ameirca.

Paper Doctorate

The ABC model of crisis intervention in elder abuse

For this project, one of the case studies provided, and, using the ABC Model of Crisis Intervention, a six-page paper is written on how a crisis-intervention worker will help the person who comes into the office with a crisis. A specific text is used as a guide. the case study is about elder abuse, and the ABC model is applied using specific questions and interventions based on the textbook example.

Research Paper Undergraduate

Ethical issues in deceptive advertising, unfair practices, and product safety regulation

Business often encounter legal and ethical challenges as they undertake their daily profit-oriented activities. This is seen from PharmaCare's case as ethical issues related to deceit and unfairness are identified. The study has also identified some of the legal hurdles that the company will have to overcome as it sets its operations in Colberia.

Research Paper Doctorate

Gangster rap as resistance to police brutality in Los Angeles

The order discusses the aura of the 1980s and early 1990s in regards to the increasing crime rates that demanded greater police action. Yet, this increased police action was often biased and unnecessarily aggressive. This often was used to subdue civilian unrest that resulted in increasing police brutality. Gangster rap was a direct result of unfair and brutal treatment of a community on behalf of law enforcement.

Research Paper Doctorate

Indira Gandhi's leadership practices and historical context

This paper focuses on the leadership model Indira Gandhi set for India and for the world. It analyses it in the political, social and historical context, taking into account some of the pros and cons followers and those who opposed her expressed over time. Undoubtedly, she was a remarkable leader who brought India further on the path to the twenty-first century.

Essay Doctorate

The Arabic literary renaissance and modern development of the form

The renaissance of Arabic literature was limited to the boundaries of Egypt and Lebanon until the 20th century. Afterwards, it spread to other regions and people started translating Arabic works into European languages so that many more people would have access to them. During this time, Arabic writers wrote about the changing political and social environment of the Arab world.

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