Goals:
- Students will understand the conventions of a collegiate-level cause-effect essay.
- Students will analyze their chosen topic to make connections between cause and effect relationships (or a chain of causality).
- Students will apply the conventions of collegiate-level writing in terms of mechanics and punctuation.
- Students will apply the conventions of collegiate-level cause-effect essay organization.
- Students will compose a collegiate-level cause-effect essay following those conventions and standard, collegiate-level mechanics and cause-effect organization.
- Students will remember, understand, and apply the conventions of MLA format in their papers.
Assignment:
Ponder an event or phenomenon you’re interested in (on any scale from the path of dust motes to the origins of the universe), and then ponder the causes OR effects. You may also examine a chain of causality.
The introduction establishes the significance of the topic choice. The thesis should clearly and explicitly state causes or effects. Remember that one employs cause and effect to make a larger point or to offer analysis, and please also remember that examples are just examples until they are analyzed. Each paragraph should be dedicated to a single cause or effect and should have a clear topic sentence that is reflected explicitly in the thesis.
- Avoid oversimplification and false causality.
- Remember that you can have
- multiple causes for a single effect
- multiple effects from a single cause
- single cause/single effect
- chain of causality
- You’ve only got 3 full pages, so choose your subject matter wisely.
Assessment:
20 percent Students will understand the conventions of a collegiate-level cause-effect essay.
Students will analyze their chosen topic to make connections between cause and effect relationships (or a chain of causality).
40 percent Students will compose a collegiate-level cause-effect essay applying conventions of collegiate-level cause-effect essay organization.
40 percent Students will compose a collegiate-level cause-effect essay applying conventions of collegiate-level mechanics and punctuation.
