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American Dream Essay
The concept of the American dream is well-known to many people, and it is about getting equal chances for success no matter what historical or cultural background they have. Students are often assigned to write an American dream essay, especially when their professors want to evaluate their knowledge and understanding of values, the American history, ethnic and cultural background of people, and history in general. If you study at one of the American colleges or universities, you will surely be assigned this piece of writing. Even though this concept is widespread, many students find it hard to understand what they are expected to write. The American dream has already become a cliché to some extent with a change to its initial meaning. Another reason why students may be challenged is that working on the American dream essay demands far more than expressing some reflections on the topic. Apart from philosophical contemplation, students are required to demonstrate in-depth skills and knowledge in history, economics, culture, ethnic, and social processes that contributed to the development of American society. If you have encountered writer’s block when working on the AD essay, you are welcome to take a look at professional guidelines and check out some samples in the article below.
What Is the American Dream Essay?
As it can be inferred from the title, this is a composition about the AD concept. Thus, it would be prudent to define what this term means. Unfortunately, there is no one specific and clear definition of the American dream hence these essays aim at revealing your personal thoughts and opinions about this concept. When you are writing an essay about the American dream, you are expected to share your understanding in an appealing and profound way. Regarding the aspects worth discussing, these may relate to endless opportunity and freedom. These are the underlying concepts since they play a critical role in one’s achievement of goals. For instance, the concept of freedom can be viewed as a situation when a person has enough space for realizing opportunities and expressing themselves freely. Moreover, this concept of freedom can be discussed as the chance to live without any oppression.
Further, equality in opportunities provides a chance for each person to be happy and prosperous no matter what background they come from. It means that race, cultural background, historical belonging, social class, and other factors should not compromise the future realization of one’s potential. Therefore, the American dream essay may reflect on the beliefs, according to which personal experience (even not favorable or negative one) should not provide any barriers to people’s opportunities in the future. Some people claim, though, that the American dream is the vision of the ideal life that the Americans live since success opportunities and prosperity are the guarantees that are granted for an average resident of the states. Nonetheless, to get and use them, one should definitely put in some energy, time, and effort to attain the desired outcomes.
How to Organize the American Dream Essay?
The very first step is to choose one topic from the American dream essay topics that have been given to you by your professor. In case you have to formulate the topic on your own, please pick the one that is interesting to you. An effective topic is the one that is also potentially interesting to your target readers. Besides, it is recommended for you to choose such a perspective on the topic that would make it easy for you to develop it properly. After you have selected the topic, plan the structure of the paper. Usually, it contains the following elements:
- Introduction
Share background information on the topic in the opening paragraph. More so, make sure it contains a hook that catches readers’ attention: it could be some appealing or controversial fact, or some inspiring statement. As well as that, you could share some unusual or interesting facts, historical elements, a story from personal experience, and others.
- Thesis statement
This is a concise argument that ends the introduction and that reveals your clear position on the topic. It is recommended that you share your perception of the concept in the thesis statement. Make it strong by providing arguments and supporting evidence.
- The main body
It consists of three to five body paragraphs. The number of the body paragraphs depends on the number of ideas you want to discuss as well as the word count requirements. Each paragraph should be devoted to a separate idea, and it should start with a clear topic sentence that highlights the main point. In the body paragraphs, you have to provide arguments and support them with ample examples and illustrations, so be sure to cite sources properly if you take some information from them. Improperly cited sources result in plagiarism cases, so you need to be careful with formatting and citation.
- Conclusion
In this final paragraph, you should not introduce any new ideas but logically and concisely summarize those that were discussed throughout the main body. An effective closing part of the essay could be in the form of a call to action or some “food-for-thought” statement.
The American Dream Essay Topics You Can Choose
Since this topic can be viewed from a variety of perspectives, it is essential to choose a certain aspect and position and adhere to it throughout the writing process. Below we provide some ideas you could pick for your paper or that you could be inspired by if you want to formulate your own topic:
- Your understanding of the AD concept.
- The evolution of the AD concept over time.
- Representation of the AD on the example of The Great Gatsby story.
- Ways of achieving the AD.
- The correlation of financial inequality with the idea of the AD.
- Relation of “Tragedy and the Common Man” to the concept of the AD.
- The relation of the culture of consumerism to the AD.
- Your personal understanding of the AD meaning.
- Ways modern pop music represents the idea of the AD.
- Three main factors why the concept of the AD is still topical.
- Relation of democracy and its values to the AD concept.
- Is the American dream dead or alive?
- Is it still possible nowadays to strive for the AD?
- Reasons why some people refuse to believe in the AD.
- Why do some Americans consider the presidency of Trump to be the epitome of the American dream?
Writing Tips
If you have not been given any strict writing instructions, remember that you can come up with your own American dream topics for an essay. Check out some of the main tips and recommendations that may help you provide a superb essay:
- Devote sufficient time for the writing process and start writing your paper well in advance. Keep in mind that you should set aside time not only for writing but also for investigating the topic, researching literature, and reviewing the paper upon completion.
- Start with preliminary research of the topic and make sure you have enough information before you start writing. The more knowledge you have gathered on the topic, the better it will be for the topic development. Pick credible and peer-reviewed sources.
- Find some American dream essay examples online to get an idea of how to structure and develop this type of assignment. When you take some information from outside sources, cite them properly. Avoid copying and pasting ideas from the samples in order to avoid plagiarism.
- Compose an essay outline. It serves as a roadmap and helps you organize ideas in a logical order. If the paper is long, think of headings and subheadings for the sections.
- Formulate the thesis statement clearly. Make it strong and argumentative, and put it at the end of the introduction.
- Make the narration of ideas engaging to the readers. Try to provide catchy information from the very beginning. Add some interesting and appealing facts on the topic.
- When sharing your own ideas and opinions on the concept of the AD, try to make your piece of writing personal.
- If possible and relevant, provide also some numerical data and statistics. For example, you may find some information from surveys and experiments about people’s perception of the AD.
- In the conclusion, carefully summarize the main ideas. Reiterate the thesis, provide some recommendations, food for thought, or a call to action.
- Do not be in a haste to submit your paper right away – instead, review it properly and proofread it for mistakes.
The concept of the American dream is well-known to many people, and it is about getting equal chances for success no matter what historical or cultural background they have. Students are often assi...
The concept of the American dream is well-known to many people, and it is about getting equal chances for success no matter what historical or cultural background they have. Students are often assi...
