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Basketball
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What is Basketball?

Basketball is a widely studied subject across sports management, physical education, sociology, and media studies courses. Its appeal as an academic topic comes from the way a single sport intersects with culture, economics, psychology, and public policy. Students explore how the game shapes and reflects broader social forces, from the opportunities it creates for players to the commercial systems built around it. The sport's prominence in American life, as well as its growing global reach, makes it a productive lens for examining themes like success, competition, and inequality.

The papers archived on this topic take a range of approaches. Some focus on motivation and player psychology, examining what drives individual athletes and how coaches influence performance. Others analyze real-world cases involving sports management and organizational decision-making. Film and media analysis also appears, with works like the movies Coach Carter and Glory Road serving as texts for exploring how basketball narratives frame race, ambition, and teamwork. Additional papers address broader sports contexts such as violence in sport, sports medicine, and the policies that govern player transitions, including early entry to the NBA draft.

A strong essay on basketball benefits from a focused thesis that connects the game to a specific social, institutional, or psychological question rather than describing the sport in general terms. Evidence drawn from documented cases, policy analysis, or close reading of media tends to carry the most weight. The most common pitfall is treating basketball as a backdrop rather than as the actual subject — the strongest essays show how the sport itself, its rules, its culture, and its structures, directly shapes the argument being made.

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Research Paper Doctorate
The relationship between fast-food portion sizes and obesity
Whole books have been written (and movies made) about why Americans are becoming the obesity leaders of the Western world. Some people point to biology. Others blame the restaurants, particularly the fast-food ones.
Essay Doctorate
Family wellness diagnosis and nursing intervention plan
A Family wellness diagnosis by a nurse can be different from a medical diagnosis. This is true when otherwise healthy families express concerns about what they can do. This exercise presents a nursing review of the family's perceptions and makes functional recommendations. It is based on a family selected for their health concerns but that otherwise have no specific health issues at the time.
Essay Doctorate
Community policing philosophy, origins, and shared responsibility in America
The History and Concept of Community Policing in the U.S.
Research Paper Doctorate
Fairmont Hotel and Resort marketing strategy and competitive positioning
¶ … resort is visioned to be a place that is rich with different kinds of facilities where spending of days and nights is aimed to be lively and worthwhile, the potential customers of the resort are generally everyone,…
Paper Doctorate
Do intercollegiate athletics programs guarantee college success?
Intercollegiate athletics programs are a common feature in most colleges, and many of these programs have been shown to contribute to the education and development of the young people who participate in them. Moreover, intercollegiate athletics programs, especially men's football and basketball, are major revenue generators through ticket sales for many educational institutions. In many cases, colleges that feature high-profile intercollegiate athletics programs enjoy the benefits of these programs through increased revenues and publicity. Even the best intercollegiate athletics program, though, cannot guarantee the success of a college for the reasons identified through a review of the relevant peer-reviewed and scholarly literature which is provided below, followed by a summary of the research and important findings in the conclusion.
Paper Doctorate
Organizational structure and leadership challenges at Appex Corporation
Appex Corporation has experienced hyper growth as a result of favorable market dynamics in the management information systems and intercarrier network services industry for cellular telephone companies. The company founder and CEO, Brain Boyle, who was primarily a technologist, was not prepared or trained for the many leadership and organizational challenges the company's explosive growth would present. As company culture will often reflect structure over time, the continual lack of focus on these factors can eventually lead to a chaotic condition within many businesses (Morgan, et.al.). The lack of structure was also leading to critically important business processes also breaking down and not working correctly. As the case's short vignettes illustrate, customer service workers would start the day with a vigorous game of basketball for two hours then come to work at 10am. Only after the CFO of a leading customer came in at 8am to meet with service did this situation get resolved. This story shows that there is a lack of purpose in the roles of service at the time. Lack of leadership and the ability to infuse work with meaning leads to lost productivity and lack of focus as well (Wheatley, 122 - 123). The continued lack of focus on roles and responsibilities due to the non-existent structure began to manifest itself in many other areas of the business as well. These are all symptoms of systemic structural problems in the core operations of the business. Lack of follow-through with customers, missed delivery times and installation dates, and a complete lack of financial planning all signal a structural breakdown in the business. While competitors in this industry worried about having an agile and flexible enough organizational structure to stay in step with rapidly changing market conditions and customer demand, Appex was just trying to get the basics of being a business completed. The experimentations by Shikhar Ghosh did little to solve the problems, with the circular structure initially implemented doing little to solve the complex structural and performance problems of the company. The circular model, ironically meant to create egalitarianism, only created division and discord. The hierarchical functional structure created silos that often did not speak with each other, eventually leading to a reduction in innovation and cross-pollination of ideas. Enterprises that have a very high level of innovative thought and action typically are very well attuned to each department's information needs, wants, preferences and most importantly, strengths (Morgan, 235). This had also broken down in Appex, further multiplying the many coordination, communication, collaboration and leadership challenges throughout the company. Ironically only after Appex adopts a divisional structure does it return to a level of performance that can sustain its existence as a business.
Research Paper Doctorate
Workplace democracy at Google, eBay, Starbucks, Nike, and JetBlue
The issue of workplace democracy has long been a topic of debate. Some companies have developed a corporate structure with the concept of workplace democracy as its nucleus. The purpose of this discussion is to describe…
Research Paper Doctorate
How family upbringing shaped attitudes toward diversity and equality
Self-reflect on how your family affected your beliefs and values. Describe at least two specific examples from your memory. Also include reflections on how your family shaped your views, and how that affects your…
Research Paper Doctorate
Racial and ethnic diversity in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C. And the Maryland area are one of the most diverse sections of the United States, equaling and/or surpassing most major metropolitan cities in terms of ethnicity, education, community services, museums,…
Paper Doctorate
Bass Pro-Shops strategic positioning and competitive analysis
This project presents Bass Pro Shop's vision and mission statement as well as the extent to which the company is achieving these. The paper then presents an external assessment using Porter's model for a competitive analysis and an evaluation of the organization's market penetration, market development and product development strategies. Finally, a SWOT analysis of the organization is followed by recommendations for corporate strategy for Bass Pro Shop for the next five years of operations and a summary of the research and important findings in the conclusion