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Fortune
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What is Fortune?

Fortune as a subject of study spans an unusually wide range of academic disciplines, from literature and philosophy to business, economics, and political science. The concept carries multiple meanings — material wealth, luck, fate, and the unpredictable forces that shape human outcomes — which makes it fertile ground for analysis across many courses. Works like Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince treat fortune as a political and philosophical force that leaders must learn to confront, while literary texts such as Oedipus Tyrannus and The Beaux' Stratagem dramatize how chance and circumstance overturn human plans. Business contexts, including case studies of companies like Harley-Davidson, frame fortune in terms of risk, strategic decision-making, and the role of past actions in shaping future success or failure.

The papers collected under this topic reflect a genuinely diverse set of approaches. Some take a literary or philosophical angle, examining how characters and thinkers have understood fate, agency, and the reversals of luck. Others adopt a business case-study approach, analyzing how organizations navigate uncertainty and change. Still others engage with financial systems, American politics, and media figures, treating fortune as a lens for understanding power, money, and social mobility in real-world settings.

A strong essay on fortune begins by defining which dimension of the concept it addresses — luck, wealth, fate, or strategic risk — and commits to that focus throughout. Evidence drawn from close textual analysis, historical examples, or concrete business cases carries the most weight. The most common pitfall is treating fortune as a vague background theme rather than developing a specific, arguable claim about how it operates within the chosen subject.

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Research Paper Undergraduate
Carolly Erickson's biography of Josephine Bonaparte and her rise to power
The purpose of this paper is to introduce and analyze the book "Josephine: A Life of the Empress" by Carolly Erickson. Specifically it will contain a book review and summary of the book.
Essay Doctorate
Common misconceptions about Mormonism explored through religious interviews
Religious Field Research – Interview with a Mormon Introduction There are many myths and misunderstandings about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints – also known as Mormonism – that are based in many cases on a lack of knowledge. The misunderstandings are also the result of the fact that the Mormon faith is – to the traditional Protestant, or Catholic, or Muslim or Buddhist or Jew – somewhat mysterious. Perhaps the Mormon faith is mysterious because it is so very different from other faiths. When there are misunderstandings about a particular philosophy or religious practice myths and even hateful stereotypes can emerge from society. In this paper some of the most common misconceptions and misunderstandings will be presented along with an interview with a Mormon, a person that will respond to questions and be authoritative in his responses.
Essay Doctorate
Thomas Wyatt's "They Flee from Me": unrequited love and misogyny
Thomas Wyatt's poem "They Flee From Me" is enigmatic in its use of metaphor. This is a five-page essay that thoroughly analyzes and explores this poem in terms of its central meaning and metaphors. Structure, rhyme, and rhythm are discussed briefly. The bulk of the essay is about the content and tone of the poem, which is misogynistic. The speaker has been unlucky in love and his bitterness causes him to harbor misogynistic feelings.
Research Paper Doctorate
Gogol's contrasting use of narrative perspective in "Diary of a Madman" and "The Overcoat"
¶ … Diary of a Madman" versus "The Overcoat"
Research Paper Doctorate
Campaign issues in the 2004 presidential election: gay marriage, malpractice, and guns
Maybe Same-Sex Marriages Didn't Make the Difference: New York Times. Nov. 7, 2004.
Research Paper Doctorate
Lehman Brothers' role in junk bonds and leveraged buyouts during the 1980s
Lehman Brothers was one of the most important and old banks in the United States, with its history going back to the 1840s. However, 'greed' began to seriously take over during the 80s and the company began to speculate…
Paper Doctorate
The cavalry's crucial role in the American Civil War
The military of the United States of America is currently comprised of four branches: the Army, the Navy, the Marines, and the Air Force. This, of course, was not always the case. Before the era of modern vehicles and…
Research Paper Doctorate
The relationship between corporate governance and business ethics
It is quite interesting to note that, academic research in business ethics was a totally distinct discipline from research in corporate governance, and the application of the word 'ethics' was uncommon in available…
Paper Undergraduate
Aristotle's tragic formula applied to the endangered California condor
anguage and What it Does Introduction Where are all the humbling, memorable, well-crafted stories about believable characters fighting for hope and survival in our climate-changing, globalized and fragile world? What's happened to the screenwriters who once upon a time craftily juxtaposed compelling characters with down-to-earth and / or tragic Earthly events? Is it now considered passé to employ character-powered narrative that helps the underdog overcome conniving, selfish culprits and extraordinarily complex situations in lusty scenes from today's changing world? When it comes to embracing 2012-style pragmatism – which could and should branch out to naturalism and realism – has quality storytelling disappeared forever from the entertainment genre called film?
Research Paper Undergraduate
Osama bin Laden and the formation of Al Qaeda
¶ … Terrorism and Osama bin Laden [...] history and structure of Osama bin Laden's organization, explain his connections to fundamentalism, and his links with other known terrorist groups.