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What is Life?

Life as an academic topic appears across nearly every discipline because it touches the fundamental conditions of human existence — how individuals develop, make choices, navigate systems, and find meaning. In personal issues courses, sociology, nursing, literature, and ethics, students are asked to examine what shapes lived experience and how institutions, relationships, and culture either support or constrain individual ability. The topic resists easy definition, which is precisely what makes it intellectually rich: it forces writers to clarify terms, interrogate assumptions, and connect abstract concepts to concrete human realities.

The papers archived here reflect a genuinely wide range of approaches. Literary analysis appears in essays on works such as Bernice Morgan's fiction and Bessie Head's "The Prisoner Who Wore Glasses," where writers examine how characters construct identity, belonging, and personal freedom. Policy and ethical frameworks drive essays on abortion, DNR legislation, and prison overcrowding, while sociological and cultural analysis informs work on parenting styles, family therapy, and soccer hooliganism. Observational and practice-based writing — such as operating room reflections and evidence-based nursing — grounds the topic in professional experience, showing how the concept of life plays out in direct care and institutional settings.

A strong essay on this topic begins with a focused, arguable thesis rather than a broad statement about life in general. Evidence drawn from specific texts, case studies, policy documents, or observed practice carries far more weight than vague generalization. The most common pitfall is treating "life" as self-evident — a compelling essay defines its scope early, specifying which dimension of individual experience or social process it actually intends to examine.

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Paper Doctorate

The nature versus nurture debate and human identity formation

Conversely, advocates of the "nurture" perspective believe that people are essentially blank slates, devoid of any preset programming inherited from their forbearers, who are shaped instead by the multitude of environmental factors which affect them from birth onward. In the case of Jamaican sprinting dominance, the nurture argument would claim that "any gene-centered explanation also dismisses the importance of a whole host of psycho-social and cultural factors that are likely to be major contributors to the success of Jamaican sprinters" (Kelland, 2012), including the prominence of short-distance sprinting in Jamaica and the country's substantial investment in training programs for promising young sprinters. This conception of identity also serves to explain one of history's more confounding conundrums, that of siblings, or even twins, who while sharing the same genetic makeup, end up following distinctly dissimilar paths through life. The nurture side of the debate was eloquently stated in 1973 by Ashley Monatgu, who stated in her book Man and Aggression that "man is man because he has no instincts, because everything he is and has become he has learned . . . from his culture, from the man-made part of the environment, from other human beings" (Montagu, 1973).

Paper Doctorate

Gender and lifespan changes in colonial Massachusetts graveyards

More than four centuries of continual human inhabitance in around the region of New England, and especially Eastern Massachusetts, has created one of America's richest archeological areas in terms of concentrated colonial graveyards. The slow but steady progression of scientific advancement, medical sanitation, and social structures obviously leads to the lengthening of one's lifespan in connection with modernity, but due to the particular gender inequities in place during this era, it is reasonable to assume that females did not benefit in equal proportion to their male counterparts. The average age at the time of death has undoubtedly changed as time has progressed, but further study is needed to test for correlations between gender and the lengthened lifespan afforded by living in later eras. By studying the dozens of colonial headstones collected within Medford's Oak Grove Cemetery, and recording pertinent data regarding birth and death dates, gender, and family affiliation, an informative table has been developed from which broader theories on this hypothesis can be extrapolated and tested.

Paper Doctorate

A fifteen-year-old Russian-American boy's understanding of horror and fear

This is a three page paper. It is an interview paper, with three different interviews described in detail. Each of the interviews is of a person in a different age bracket. The interview questions are about horror and das Unheimliche, the experience of mediated horror in film, television, graphic novel, versus the experience of horror in real life. Issues related to personal experience, demographic, and age are discussed.

Essay Doctorate

Ethical conflicts between utilitarian government orders and individual soldiers

This paper discusses the philosophical theory of utilitarianism and how it is applied to military orders. When a soldier is ordered to do something which he or she finds morally objectionable then it creates a conflict. There are also dangers such as with Nazi Germany and other historic incidences where a refusal to apply individual ethics led to tragedy.

Paper Doctorate

Privacy rights should supersede media freedom in journalism

The right to privacy should be protected more than the freedom of the press to avoid more harm to victims of crimes and to allow celebrities to enjoy private lives with family. the courts have upheld a broad view of the right to privacy and interpreted amendments where journalists do not have special privileges. The press should be made to uphold the right to privacy as well.

Paper Doctorate

History of tobacco and smoking regulation in US and Washington state

There are numerous legislative actions that have been addressed at the federal level. Both these laws, and the State of Washington's rules and regulations regarding tobacco and smoking present a complete overview of how…

Essay Doctorate

Person-centered care and autonomy in nursing home settings

"Person-centred care is underpinned by values of respect for persons, individual right to self-determination, mutual respect, and understanding (McCormack, Dewing, & McCance, 2011).

Paper Doctorate

The 1960s counterculture and its lasting impact on American society

The paper primarily revolves around the changes that took place in the decade and era of the 1960s. The paper talks about how two theories developed in the 1960s, the theory of positivism and structure, have helped shape the author's life or even influence it to be what it was today.

Essay Undergraduate

NSA domestic surveillance and the erosion of citizen privacy rights

In recent news Eric Snowden sent shockwaves through America by revealing in-depth details about NSA surveillance practices. He exposed the many ways that the government tracks the calls, communications and movements of everyday citizens. This paper discusses tactics used by the government to covertly monitor Americans and raises the question of whether or not this is constitutional. It offers a wide view of perspectives on this topic.

Paper Doctorate

Differences between manual and computerized accounting systems

This essay compared and contrasted manual accounting systems and computerized computing system. Both categories are explained and their history is presented. Next, the advantages and disadvantages of both systems are also analyzed. The future of accounting is also considered in this essay as it argues that both are still relevant and practical.

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