Literature Essay Prompt:
1. What is Modernism in the context of the post-World War literary movement? Provide an explanation on what is meant by Modernism, including some of the characteristics of the movement, using examples from the short selections in the Language and Literature Resource Guide to illustrate your answer.
2. Compare the three women spanning Yurii Zhivago’s love life and discuss what made them appropriate (or not) for the setting in which they appeared in the story. Use details from the novel Doctor Zhivago to support your response.
3. Compare Tolstoy’s “After the Dance” and Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago in terms of how the two authors illustrate socio-economic inequality in Tsarist Russia.
4. Discuss the impact of Conrad’s personal experiences and beliefs in The Heart of Darkness and its representation of imperialism. How accurately does the novella portray imperialism and its impact on Africa?
5. Some of the language and literature selected readings for The Age of Empire explore the ideas of freedom and the lack of freedom. Discuss at least three of the readings and show how freedom (or the lack of) is portrayed and how it relates to the idea of colonialism.
6. Discuss the spiritual journey of Jim Casy in The Grapes of Wrath. How does this journey tie into the overall theme of the novel and the reoccurring philosophies that drove Steinbeck’s fiction?
7. People all over America struggled for survival during the Great Depression. Do you believe that it would be harder to survive in the city like in “Women on the Breadlines” or in the rural areas like in The Grapes of Wrath? Compare and contrast the suffering of the characters in the two readings to support your answer.
8. Describe at least three events in Bless Me, Ultima which cause Antonio to lose faith in the Catholic church. Why does Antonio continue to attend church? What are his conclusions about religion? Do you believe he will ever become a priest? Why or why not?
9. What is the tone of Gabriela Mistral’s The Stranger (La Extranjera)? What images does she use to express these feelings? How would Mistral personally understand these feelings, based on her biography?
10. Malcolm Cowley described The Good Earth as “a parable in the life of man in his relationship to the soul that sustains him.” In a well-organized essay, defend or dispute this statement using specific examples from the novel.
11. Compare and contrast Li Po’s “Sent to My Two Little Children in the East of Lu” with Ezra Pound’s translation of “The River-Merchant’s Wife: A Letter”. In a well-organized essay, discuss format, narrator, imagery, and theme for both poems.
12. Many of the minor characters in The Red Badge of Courage act as important foils to the central character. In a well-organized essay, show how Crane uses these minor characters to contribute to the development of his main character, Henry Fleming, using specific examples from the novel.
13. Both poets, Walt Whitman and Paul Laurence Dunbar, address the future but in different ways. In a well-organized essay, compare and contrast their views, using specific details.
14. Compare andcontrast the messages in William Wordsworth’s “Steamboats, Viaducts, and Railways” to that of Robinson Jeffers’s “Carmel Point.” Be sure to use examples from each of the poem to support your points.
15. Indians’ relationships with India as part of their identity is a theme that is explored in several of the short selection works. Describe the different types of relationships that the short selection authors or characters have with India, using at least three examples from their works to illustrate your answer.
16. Loyalty and betrayal is a major theme in Anna Seghers’s Transit. Given the historic “betrayals” that took place between France and its people prior to and during the early years of WWII, discuss loyalty and betrayal between characters of the novel. Provide details and your knowledge of historical events from the USAD Literature Resource Guide and novel to support your answer.
Science Essay Prompt:
1. Germ cells are unique in that the end products are not identical to the parent cells. Discuss how genetic variation contributes to this outcome in reproducing species. Use details from the Science Resource Guide to support your essay.
2. Not all spacecraft are sent to the same location or distance above Earth. Discuss the different types of orbits, their
locations, and what they are used for. Use details from the USAD Science Resource Guide to support your answer.
3. Humans extract groundwater for subsistence—both for immediate needs and subsequently for agricultural progress. Humans have gained extensive knowledge of subsurface features through the drilling of water wells. Describe the subsurface zones and layers commonly encountered during the drilling of a groundwater well. How does the scientific analysis inform modern practices and their ecological repercussion?
4. Describe Hox genes and their role in animal development. How might these genes have played a role in the evolution of early tetrapods, such as Tiktaalik?
5. Human life impacts and is impacted by climatic changes. How can a study of climatology teach us about the world, including human history? Use specific details from the USAD Super Quiz Resource Guide in a well-supported essay to defend your position.
6. What is electronegativity? Describe how electronegativity is related to the nature of interatomic bonding between ionic and covalent species. As an example, explain why diamond (Chemical composition: C) is a covalently-bonded and table salt (NaCl) is ionic. Use your knowledge from the USAD Science Resource Guide to support your answer.
7. What is the range of an organism? Describe how an organism is limited to dispersal by different conditions. Be sure to use details from the USAD Science Resource Guide to support your essay.
8. Select one example of non-ionizing radiation and one example of ionizing radiation, and discuss the similarities and/or differences between the two forms of radiation. Be sure to discuss whether each type of radiation you have selected has an effect on human health using your knowledge from the USAD Science Resource Guide.
Social Science Essay Prompt:
1. Compare and contrast nineteenth-century European expansion in Africa and East Asia. Use details from the USAD Super Quiz™ Resource Guide to support your essay.
2. The American Civil War is divided into three major periods that show crucial connections between the war and the two societies that waged it. How are these periods divided, and what does each period show us about these two societies at war with each other? Use specific details from the USAD Super Quiz Resource Guide in a well-supported essay to defend your position.
3. Each year human activities discharge over twenty-five billion tons of CO2. Describe how these discharges change the atmosphere. Explain two consequences of altering the atmosphere and analyze their significance. Use details from the USAD Social Science Resource Guide to support your answer.
4. Describe the founding of the Indian National Army (INA). Be sure to discuss the role that a prominent leader of the Indian National Congress played with the INA, the origins of the INA, the state of Indian society at the time of the founding of the INA, the composition of the INA, and the INA’s impact on the British-Indian relationship in your response.
5.Describe the Nuremberg Laws. Explain how the Nuremberg Laws, which were government sanctioned, effectively singled out Jewish individuals in Germany. Be sure to cite examples from the USAD Social Science Resource
Art Essay Prompt:
1. Many artists responded to emerging social and political tensions in the context of World War I. List two of the artworks you have studied in which the response to war is a motivating factor. Compare and contrast how the response manifests itself in the two works. Use details from the Art Resource Guide to support your essay.
2. Define postcolonial theory. How is the postcolonial perspective relevant in the art world today? Be sure to cite examples from the USAD Art Resource Guide to support your essay.
Music Essay Prompt:
1. Describe and summarize the development of media in India from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present, concentrating on two of the following: recording, radio, television, internet, and the film industry. Use your knowledge from the USAD Music Resource Guide to support your essay.
Economics Essay Prompt:
1. Describe the significant events in the 1990s that led to Indian economic reform. Discuss those events and the reforms that followed. Use your knowledge from the USAD Economics Resource Guide to support your answer.