Ok, this is the essay question for my summer essay:

To what extent had one single "American" way of life emerged in the original 13 British colonies of North America between the settling of Jamestown in 1607 and the eve of the American Revolution?

Now, from the way I see it, I can have my three body paragraphs be three different topics [religion, economy, and heritage for example] and then explain how each of those three helped to form the American way of life.

Make sense?

But some of my friends see it as each body paragraph being about ONE topic and then three different examples about it.

How do you see it?