The Great Gatsby Preview Journals: Regular English:

Journal Prompt 1:
American Dream

Prior to reading The Great Gatsby, I feel that it is important to be well-acquainted with
the era that it was not only written in, but also represents. As a result, you answer a series
of journal prompts that explore the American Dream concepts significantly described in
the later chapters and context of the book.

During this portion of the course, we are exploring popular culture and the “American
Dream.” At this point, we will consider how popular culture has represented the
American Dream over time, and how that dream has changed. We will also consider how
the reality of the American Dream differs from the popular culture representation.

Assignment: For this journal, you will use argumentative and cause and effect writing
techniques to respond to the following question(s): What is the modern American Dream?
How has the American Dream changed since the 1920s? What caused this change to
occur? What are the effects of this change? Utilize your notes and information explored
in class through the Anticipation Guide, PP, and lecture to support your points. This
journal must be 1 page in length, double spaced, following the MLA paper guidelines,
and answer the questions listed above.

As a note: Cause and Effect Writing: A cause-effect essay tells how one event (the
cause) leads to another event (the effect). In other words, your essay may focus more on
the effects of a cause or more on the causes of one effect. Either approach provides a
useful means of discussing the possible relationship between the two events.
MLA Checklist:
1. Is the heading in the upper left-hand corner of the first page?

2. Does the heading include:

Your name?
Your Instructor's name?
The course names?
The date?

3. Does the paper have an original title (other than something like "Final Paper")?
Is the title presented without being bolded, italicized, or placed in quotation marks?

4. Does the paper have 1" margins on all sides?

5. Is the paper written in Times New Roman and in 12-pt. font?

6. Is everything double-spaced (including any notes and the works cited page)?

7. Are your last name and the page number in the upper right-hand corner of each page
(0.5" from the top, or inserted using the "header" function in Word)?

8.If you've used outside sources, do you have a works cited page? Is it titled "Works
Cited" (without the quotation marks)? Does it have a page number (that follows the last
page of your paper) and your last name?

9. Are the entries in your list of works cited in alphabetical order by the author's last
name?
 Does each source have an entry on the works cited page?
 Are all direct quotes in quotation marks?
 Do all paraphrases and summaries clearly indicate that they come from other
sources?
 Does each in-text reference include a parenthetical citation that includes the
author’s last name (unless it is obvious from the context of the sentence who you
are referencing) and the page number from which the information was taken?
 If a quotation is 4 lines or more, is it block-quoted? (i.e. double-spaced, indented
1 inch from the left margin)
 Have you clearly indicated where you found all information you did not
previously know?
 Does your works cited page conform to MLA format?