18 Oct Cause-Effect Essay

Cause-Effect Essay Extended Draft Outline Template download

Do not use sources; no research is allowed.

Instructions

This week, you will be working on the cause and effect essay by deliberating over topics (the topics listed in Week 5 discussion from which you chose in your main post), choosing a pattern (one cause/several effects or one effect/several causes), brainstorming for your specific body points, and writing your introduction paragraph. The purpose of this assignment is to set you up with your blueprint while you prepare for the final cause and effect essay that you will submit in Week 6. 

After reading the lesson and the textbook reading for this week, complete the following:

Look over your discussion work for Week 5 to determine which of your ideas interests you the most and which you believe would engage a reader the most.

Think about whether you will use single cause/multiple effects or single effect/multiple causes style in your essay. Consider the details you wrote about in discussion and the suggestions others gave you in discussion.

Once you have firmly chosen your topic, jot down as many ideas as possible on your own – long list of either causes or effects, for example – for whichever you have chosen for your multiple-points item. Do not just jump on the first list of causes or effects that come to mind. List out as many as you can, then come back to it fresh and list as many more as you can. After that, come back fresh again and begin narrowing.

Are some of the items alike enough that they could be one point?

Are some more conducive to reader engagement? To your own passion for the subject?

Which ones will allow you to develop them fully and richly in nice, long, detailed paragraphs?

Once you do this, you will be ready to begin the formal planning stage and to begin working on your assignment template.

Access the Cause-Effect Extended Draft Outline Template. Use this template and follow the format provided to create your prewriting and planning work this week. You will need to do the following:

Identify your topic and pattern (one cause/multiple effects or one effect/multiple causes).

Explain why you chose this topic and why it will be important to your reader. (Min. 1 paragraph)

Then, plan your full cause/effect essay:

Draft a full introduction paragraph ending in a thesis, following the tips in the lesson and in your text regarding how to write a solid introduction in general and for a cause and effect essay specifically. (Min. 1 paragraph)

Compose a full-sentence outline for your major points, including details to illustrate the causes or effects, depending on which you have chosen to expand on.

Draft a full conclusion paragraph, referencing the readings there, as well, regarding how to write a solid conclusion. (Min. 1 paragraph)