Here is a printable version of the assignment: cause.effect SP15.doc

Essay Three - Proctored Essay

Pick an event that has not happened or is unlikely to happen and guess what the effects could logically be. The usual essay requirements apply (500 words, five paragraph minimum), and you must submit an outline and get it approved this week (EARLY SUBMISSION).

Examples: (You may use the types below, but you may NOT use the specific examples.)

An historical event – What if things had happened differently? The event must have happened during your lifetime. What if Mitt Romney had become president instead of Barack Obama?
A fact of life: What if both men and women could bear children?
A future possibility or possible change from the way things are now: What if the world woke up one morning and everybody’s hair had fallen out?
A new technology: What if scientists introduced a diet pill that actually works?
“out of the box”: What if aliens landed on the planet tomorrow?

You MAY NOT:

ask a question about your life (What if I, or What if my family….)
choose something that says What if something had NOT happened? (What if Hurricane Katrina had not happened, for example)
choose an event that has been going on for longer than you’ve been around (drunk driving, cure for cancer, or teen pregnancy, for example) These are things that we already know the effects of even though it hasn't happened yet.
pick an event that has one main effect that ends the discussion (If the sun stopped shining everything and everyone would die, the end, period.)
pick something boring or with obvious effects that anyone could identify- be creative! What if cell phones disappeared falls into the NO category, been there, read that paper 100 times already!

You may ask the question that identifies your topic in your introduction. Use the introduction to lead to your thesis which may be your answer to the question or which may be related to the topic the question brings up. You may want to identify the event, but do NOT list the effects here; save that for the body. You might identify the situation as it is (life with cell phones) and then lead to your what if statement (what if cell phones disappeared overnight) or give a possible reason why the event might happen (some kind of computer virus might infect all cell phones and mkde them completely inoperable, forever). You MUST have a thesis that indicates effects. (It might be as simple as “There would be three major effects of….”, or “If men had to bear the children, there wouldn’t be any children born.”)

Your body paragraphs should be organized around the major effects you wish to discuss. A logical way to do this is to identify one effect per paragraph, and then discuss it. Your paragraph must not only identify the effect, but also justify why it would be an effect of the event you are discussing.

The conclusion might go back to the way things really are and indicate relief that the event did not occur or regret that it did not, or end in some other way appropriate to the topic

COMPLETE AND SUBMIT AN OUTLINE FOR APPROVAL. The submission page is two pages from this one.

Here is a sample outline. Use the same format as for Essay Two. (Format Here)

Thesis: If everyone’s hair fell out, some unexpected changes would occur.

I. People would at first invest in wigs and hats.

II. Sunscreen and other protective products would become great investments.

III. Finally, a new standard of beauty would develop.