For this assignment, you will work through the prewriting and drafting stages of your writing process in a cause-and-effect essay.

Cause-and-Effect Essay Prewriting and Draft

STEP 1: Choose a Topic

Choose one of the following questions, and answer it in an essay developed by analyzing causes or effects. The question you decide on should concern a topic you care about so that the examples are a means of communicating an idea; not an end in themselves.

• People and Their Behavior
  • What causes a couple to choose marriage or divorce, and what is the impact on their lives afterward?
  • What causes someone to get into trouble repeatedly, and what is the impact on their relationships or future?
  • What causes tension between roommates or friends, and what is the impact on their daily life?
• Art and Entertainment
  • How does representation in media affect young people’s self-image?
  • How does watching reality TV regularly influence how people think about relationships or success?
  • How does seeing a favorite story adapted into a movie or show change how people view the original?
• Contemporary Issues
  • Why are more people choosing to delay major life milestones like marriage or homeownership, and what are the effects?
  • How does student loan debt affect recent graduates’ life choices and what are the effects?
  • What are the causes and long-term effects of climate anxiety on young people’s mental health?
• Education
  • What leads students to choose in-person vs. online classes, and how does that choice affect their success?
  • What causes some students to procrastinate repeatedly, and how does it shape their academic confidence?
  • What causes students to ignore signs of burnout, and what is the impact on their ability to stay engaged?
• Media and Culture
  • What causes people to filter or edit their online images and posts, and what is the impact on how they see themselves?
  • How does sharing personal content online affect people’s sense of connection or privacy?
  • What leads people to “cancel” celebrities or influencers, and how does that affect public conversations?

STEP 2: Prewriting

To get started writing, first pick at least one prewriting strategy (brainstorming, rewriting, journaling, mapping, questioning, sketching) to develop ideas for your essay. Write down what you do, as you’ll need to submit evidence of your prewrite.

STEP 3: Drafting

Next, write a draft of your essay. Be sure to:

1. Develop an essay by analyzing the causes and effects of the prompt
2. Decide on something you care about so that the narration is a means of communicating an idea
3. Include characters, conflict, and sensory details as appropriate to help your essay come alive
4. Create a sequence of events in a plot to support the logical flow of your essay
5. Develop an enticing title
6. Use the introduction to pull the reader into your thesis with a singular experience.
7. Avoid addressing the assignment directly (Don’t write “I am going to write about…” – this takes the fun out of reading the work!)
8. Let the essay reflect your own voice (Is your voice serious? Humorous? Matter-of-fact?)
9. Organize the essay in a way that may capture the reader, but don’t string the reader along too much with “next, next, next.”
10. Avoid “telling” your reader about what happened. Instead, “show” what happens using active verbs and/or concrete and descriptive nouns and details.
11. Make sure you take time to show significant details and reflect on why the topic—and your experience with it—is significant.

Your essay should be a minimum of 3 typed, double-spaced pages (about 600–750 words), in Times New Roman, 12 pt font size. The paper and citations should be formatted in MLA format. Papers submitted that do not meet these formatting requirements will be returned to you ungraded.

STEP 4: Review and Submit

Before submitting your paper, review the bullet points listed above in the drafting stage and the grading rubric below, ensuring you have completed all parts of the assignment.

Once you have done this, submit your prewriting and draft as a single file upload. If you developed your prewriting by hand on paper, scan or take a picture of your prewriting, and then insert the image on a separate page after your draft.

Rubric