There is nothing wrong with using a novel guide as a support or as a supplement to reading an assigned novel -- but where students can go wrong is in reading the novel guide INSTEAD of the actual novel, or using the insights gained from the novel guide without proper citation. That is plagiarism -- using the ideas or words of another person without attributing them. Find out how to avoid plagiarism here.

I have no objection to you reading from Spark Notes™, Cliff Notes™, or any of the many other sources for this material, as long as you read the novel first. The novel is your primary source material. You cannot replace F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby, with another reader's notes on the novel, no matter how helpful or insightful you find those notes to be. Why, that would be like sitting down to eat at your favorite restaurant, and eating the menu instead of the meal.

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