Cause/Effect Essay

TOPIC --> DIVORCE

(1) Once you've downloaded the file, take a few minutes to orient yourself to each section.  An APA paper has a title page, and that's been included in the file.  You'll also see sections for the thesis statement, topic sentences, and paragraph details.

(2) When you feel comfortable with how the outline is organized, update the following fields.  

Yellow -- Heading information 

Blue -- Thesis statement (copy this from last week's assignment if your instructor approved it, or write your revised thesis statement here if your instructor suggested changes) (USLO 3.1)

Save your changes frequently to avoid losing information. 

(3) Now that you've filled in the title, heading, and thesis statement part of the project, you're going to start hashing out all the details you want to include in your paper.  Let's start with topic sentences. 

The lines where you need to write your topic sentences are highlighted in light green.  The topic sentences for each of your body paragraphs should do two things:  (a) remind the reader of the thesis and (b) tell the reader what point that specific paragraph will be making.   These should be complete sentences, even in your outline. 

After you've filled in the light green highlighted sections with your topic sentences, it's time to decide what details you're going to include in each paragraph. These sections are highlighted in orange.  Remember -- you want to be sure you avoid repetition and stay on topic.   All details in your body paragraphs should support the point that specific paragraph is making. 

Something to consider:  The outline provided for this assignment allows for four body paragraphs, with five details per paragraph.  You may need more or less, depending on where you plan on taking your writing.  A video showing you how to add sections is included in the lecture material in this unit.