What is the American dream? Each of the Americans has his own answer to that question. However, it is always about prosperity and success. The immigrants have been driven by the American dream at all times. People pursue their own American dream, and it is very different for everyone.
The American dream is a part of American society, and everyone has his own imagination of it. Different societies perceive it in a different way and have their own image of success. During decades, Americans adopted a different mindset.
You can compare an American dream paper to the personal reflection essay. In both cases, you should offer important arguments not only on the term but conduct thorough research and analyze the information.
If you feel stuck with writing your American dream essay, don’t worry because most students do. This type of essay is not as easy as it may seem and requires some deep research and your reflection, as well as some knowledge about culture, country, people, history, economics, etc.
So if you do not have it all, you will need to prepare a lot to write a good American dream essay. Our detailed and easy guide will help you do it and get a high grade for your paper.
Why writing an American dream essay is important?
Not all students can even understand what an American dream essay is. To have a better understanding of it, you should consider it as a classic research paper. It is not about writing on how wealthy people live in that dream country. An American dream essay is something much more than that.
It supposes you to analyze your own life and life of those who surround you. It is not just a story about someone’s beautiful life. You should show your writing and critical thinking skills, your logic, as well as the ability to structure your thoughts and show your writing conventions knowledge.
How to write a top-quality American dream essay
Do not forget about the content – it is crucial to write only top quality paper. So let’s figure out how to make your content valuable.
Pick a catchy topic
Before you start working on your American dream essay, you should decide what exactly you are going to write. It should be a very eye-catching topic, and that would reflect your personality and be interesting for you personally.
Research on your background
Before you start the process, you should conduct some additional research on the background of your family, culture and customs, and cultures in the USA, ancestry, etc.
Create a strong argument
A hook, in the beginning, is the key to your success. You should start your introduction with an eye-catching sentence that will make your reader want to keep reading your American dream essay. Hooks can be different – from a rhetorical question and metaphor to anecdote and personal story.
However, make sure it to be related to the American style of life and the country in general. Of course, it has to clearly let your reader know about what you are going to write about. If there is no connection between your hook and your content, it will be a failure.
Avoid sensitive topics
Yes, an American dream essay is not a paper where you should discuss some sensitive topics such as religion, politics, etc. Choose something where you can stay unbiased and not hurt anyone’s feelings or rights.
Provide credible evidence
An American dream essay is a sort of argumentative essay, and each of your statements should be supported by reliable facts, statistics, data, any credible source you could find in the process of your research on the topics.
An American dream essay is so important because it can show a connection between generations and different perceptions of the same ideas on culture, wealth, education, freedoms, etc. They are of great importance for American researchers and sociologists while they can track different social and cultural trends at different times.
But another benefit of your American dream essay is that if it was written successfully, you could apply for financial aid or scholarship at your college. So you should put some effort and write a unique and outstanding essay and enjoy all the benefits it can give you.
How to write an American dream essay outline
The first thing you should do after preparation (choosing a topic and researching it) is to write an outline. We do not recommend neglecting this step while it will make your work much easier and faster (even if you are sure about the opposite). Writing a good outline saves much of your time, effort, and nerves.
Concept
Once you start working on your outline, you should:
- Describe the definition of the American dream with your own words;
- Use relevant literature to research the issue under discussion.
Introduction
To write an introduction, you should:
- Use an eye-catching hook on the evolution of the American dream to grab the attention of your audience;
- Provide the background information briefly;
- Explain the meaning.
Thesis statement
A thesis statement is one of the most important parts of your paper, so do the following:
- Provide a definition of a classic American dream;
- Provide your thoughts on the issue;
- Describe your personal understanding of the American dream.
Narrow the introduction down
Now you should make your introduction shorter, eliminate all the unnecessary information (to your mind), and put the thesis statement at the end of the introduction.
Divide the body of the paper
We recommend making two body paragraphs with separate stories:
- The first story about someone who could reach his/her personal American dream;
- The second story should open the thesis statement supported by strong arguments and credible facts and statistics (evidence).
Create the third body paragraph
After you have completed two main body paragraphs, you should now come up with the third one, where you can compare both stories.
Conclusion
- Restate the thesis statement using different words (paraphrase it);
- Grab the reader’s attention with a single core phrase or quote;
- Avoid adding any more information and confusing the reader – use a simple and understandable language.
The best American dream essay topics
Even though we provided you with tips on how to choose a worthy topic for your American dream essay, we realize how tough it could be to come up with a great idea for your paper. Below, you will find some approximate topics. It doesn’t mean you should use them exactly (yes, you can, of course, use them as yours), but they might inspire you for something even more exciting.
- The definition of the American dream for immigrants.
- Are money and wealth the only aspect of the American dream?
- How is the American dream depicted in movies?
- Is it possible to reach the American dream?
- The American dream in music.
- The core idea of the American dream.
- Is the American dream true at all?
- How is the American dream depicted in the literature?
- Does the American dream exist nowadays?
- Why have many people destroyed their American dream?
