EE: Is America still the child of Europe

[Dennisyoyo]

Hey guys,

My EE Research Question is: "Is America still the child of Europe". I am planning on analyzing to what extent this is true. All of us know that America was founded by Europeans. Now I want to examine to what extent in America some European roots are still visible.

Now I was searching for some internet websites, which I could use to answer this question, however I wasn't that successful. Does someone of you have some websites which are helpful for this question and if possible even some books?

This would help me a lot.

Thank you in advance

All the best

Dennis

Edited September 22, 2009 by Dennisyoyo

[Sandwich]

Firstly, what subject do you intend to do this in? It's not instantly clear to me - and remember it's really essential you stick to the subject-specific guidelines for whichever subject you end up choosing.

Secondly, that is potentially a massive question! You'll really, really need to cut it down somehow and channel it into something far more specific. EEs are about being thorough and discussing more or less everything relevant to your question within 4,000 words. No way could you talk about everything - the culture, the language, the social structure, the customs, the festivals, the buildings and architecture, the religion... the list goes on and on! - in 4,000 words, notwithstanding the fact that (assuming by "america" you mean specifically the USA) the whole thing is split up into states with very different points of interest and cultural influences. Then on top of that, Europe is even more vastly different from one country to another! You will need to seriously hone it down to something more manageable.

Thirdly you're going to need to pick out some features by which you will measure how you work out if america is the child of Europe. The EE is about analysis and argument, not about discussion, and you'll need to find objective features to analyse. How do you decide whether it's the "child" of Europe, still? What features would mark it out as the "child", and how could you justify them? Arguably, was it ever the "child" of Europe when you consider that it wasn't "made" with much intent besides earning money from it?

In my opinion this question is A) too big and B) possibly unmanageable even if you did slim it down to a single feature which you felt made it the "child" of Europe still. If you can't make it into something more efficient (have you spoken with your EE Supervisor about the topic at all?), you may wish to find a better question if you want the top grades.

[sweetnsimple786]

I agree with Sandwich. I would say that this is a history EE, but I'm not sure. You'd have to keep your argument relevant in a way that doesn't touch anything from the last 10 years if you're doing history. I don't know how the "still" in your RQ would affect it. It could be under politics, but don't do a Politics EE if you haven't taken an appropriate class. You'd be at a serious disadvantage.

I don't know if you were thinking of taking the essay in this direction at all, but you could talk about the British legacy in the US. In the government [laws and the representative, parliamentary-type body], literature, or language, all of which are common points and you could easily write an EE on any of them, I think.