Journals are prime entry books, and may also be referred to as books of original entry, from when transactions were written in a journal before they were manually posted to accounts in the general ledger or a subsidiary ledger.
A general journal entry is a record of financial transactions in order by date.
A general journal entry would typically include the date of the transaction (which may be dispensed with after the first entry of the day), the names of the accounts to be debited and credited (which should be the same as the name in the chart of accounts), the amount of each debit and credit, and a summary explanation of the transaction, commonly known as a narration.
Each debit and credit account and the narration would be entered on consecutive lines, and typically at least one line would be left blank before the next journal entry, and entries should not be split over more than one page.
Though not a requirement, it is widespread practice to enter the debits first, followed by the credits and then the narration.