Essay

HCC SouthShore Campus

Raymond M. Vince, PhD. / F19 Ed.

English Composition I

The Mandelbrot Set – a Fractal

Writing P2-C/E “Why it Happens”—the Cause & Effect Essay (12.00 % wt.) Carefully read Ch. 12: Cause and Effect, in Thomas Cooley, The Norton Sampler: Short Essays for Composition.

See also A12 & A13, A15 on MLA Format, A20 on Developing an Argument and A21 on Sources & Research.

 Paper length: 2,000 words. List word number at paper end

 Draft length: 100 words. List word number at draft end

 Sources Four (4) sources, as specified below.

 The Topic: “Why it Happens” – Cause & Effect research, writing, and argument.

 Find your own title. Then use “P2: Cause & Effect as a subtitle.

Much of life in the modern, industrialized West, which has been shaped by Religion, Politics, Science, and Technology, depends on questions of Cause & Effect. We often ask why. We want to know the reasons behind what happened. Did this medicine make me better – did it cause my healing – or not? Will this weather system cause a tornado to affect my home, my town, my life? Is my reluctance to trust people (the effect) connected to the fact that my father is/was an alcoholic (the possible cause)? Why (what was the cause) did my loved one become sick and die (the effect) before her time?

 “Cause and effect, like narration, links situations and events together in time, with causes preceding effects. But causality involves more than sequence: cause-and-effect analysis explains why something happened – or is happening – and predicts what probably will happen.

 Sometimes many different causes can be responsible for one effect.” (Kirszner & Mandell. Patterns of College Writing. 13th Ed. Boston: Bedford/St.Martins, 2015).

Some Possible P2-C/E Topics:

1. Will/Does Gay marriage cause family break-up, or will it ultimately strengthen families & individuals? What have I seen? 2. What two or three events/causes could bring about peace between Israelis and Palestinians? 3. The two or three causes/factors in my life that have made me a more resilient person. 4. The two or three reasons that caused my parents to divorce. 5. What are the main causes of high unemployment among young people? 6. Have the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan caused more family break-ups, PTSD, and suicide rates for returning vets? Why? 7. In my experience, has racial discrimination caused problems for my family, friends, and community? How much of a problem is

the resurgence of neo-Nazi & White Supremacy?

8. In my experience, does religion cause conflict & division or does it bring peace and unity? 9. Are women still being discriminated against? If so, what seem to be the causes? 10. Does current US drug policy help addicts or does it cause more problems for them and for society? 11. Compared with Europe, America is a violent society, particularly with gun-deaths. What seem to be the causes of such violence? 12. Other topics are possible but check the topic with me in person or by email, so that both you and I can be confident that your

topic will make an effective cause/effect paper—and that you can find credible & useful sources.

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Timeline See the Syllabus & Calendar for TS2, D2, & P2 dates.

Minimum of Four (4) Sources

You must have a minimum of four (4) sources, as specified below. You may have more than four, but you must have at least one of each of these categories, as specified below. Use the HCC library collection of databases, such as the following. See also A12-13, A15, A20-21.

Academic Search Complete, Humanities Full Text, JSTOR, Nexis Uni, Academic OneFile, Google Scholar, etc. See A21 for a fuller list. To find and access journal articles, newspapers, & general purpose magazines such as Time, Newsweek, Huffington Post, etc. Access these with your HCC Hawkcard, your student ID is your library ID and the last four digits are your PIN. Ask me or the library staff for help. Use also a general search engine such as Google or Yahoo, and Google Scholar, which will find your websites, etc. But use the Library databases first.

At least one (1) of each of these four sources:

1. A Scholarly Journal Article. That is a specialist peer-reviewed journal in chemistry, government policy, medicine, literature, social science, physics, geography, history, literature, etc. It is not a general magazine like Time, Newsweek etc. Print or web. See A13. Make sure you check your journal choice with me before completing your essay.

2. A Newspaper article (news) or editorial (opinion) like the New York Times or Tampa Bay Times, or a general Magazine article or editorial, such as Time or Newsweek. Either hard copy (print) or via Nexis Uni (Web).

3. Either (a) A Printed Book or E-Book: citing Author (last, first). Title. Publisher, Year. or (b) A Website. This could be US government (.gov), commercial or corporate (.com), non-profit organization (.org), educational (.edu), military (.mil), or a foreign version of any of these (.uk .de .es etc).

4. Any other source that is credible, up-to-date, and relevant to your paper & argument.

Format & Requirements

 P2 is 2,000 words with four (4) sources, as specified above, with title, headings, word count, etc.

 Attach a copy of the first page of each source you use (the title

page for a book, the first page of the article for a Scholarly Journal, first page of a newspaper article/editorial, screen shot for a website, etc.) to your P2 essay after the Works Cited.

 Do your Works Cited very carefully. Check with both textbooks – The Norton Sampler and the HCC Composition & Grammar Handbook – and see A15 especially. You can also Google problems like “How Cite US Federal Law in MLA,” etc. The Works Cited is an important part of the grade for this paper, and it is the first thing that I examine. It is part of your responsibility as an honest, accurate scholar to avoid plagiarism (theft of other people’s ideas & writing). Be creative, but be honest. Better sources, better papers! See A12-13, A15, A20-21.

Raymond M. Vince, PhD. / 12 June 2019 Created 9 Feb 2016 / Revised 23 May & 20 Aug 2017, & 12 June 2019 (>A14)

1 A14 Wr P2-CE Why It Happens - F19.docx / 1,058 words