This short paper should be about 750 words in length, double-spaced, and well organized and edited. Like all collegiate writing, it must contain quotes and direct references to demonstrate you have read and thought about the works from this class that you use to discuss your topic. The point here is to show you have read closely and thought about the course content you have selected to write about. Thus you must use direct references from our reading to illustrate your ideas. Cite sources using APA and edit mercilessly before uploading your work. I will be looking for your thesis or main idea statement in the opening paragraph. This statement should provide a focus for you as writer and for your reader. Note the texts you will use in your essay in the opening paragraph as well. There is a word count available in Word so that you can keep yourself to 750 carefully chosen words. If you are not using Word, this translates to about two and a quarter pages.
Have you even considered what does make humans happy? Every time I think about the “pursuit of happiness” I wonder what the founding fathers meant. I understand that they were writing from a long ago time and I suspect that their ideas about life were far from our own. Today there are even scholarly journals that publish articles that explore human happiness. What does make humans happy? What would Alger, Cather, and/or Emerson say about the concept of happiness? Is this even an achievable or worthy goal? What are you thinking?
