How to Write a “Cause and Effect” Paragraph (Lesson Plan) by Jo Ann Grant

This Lesson Plan has been created for community college students who are in a basic paragraph writing class

INTRODUCTION People are usually curious about what is happening and why We tend to like to analyze the reasons why certain events or behaviors occur Today, we will learn how to write cause and effect paragraphs

LESSON GOALS Learn how to write “cause and effect” paragraphs Obtain practice in writing “cause and effect” paragraphs

CAUSE & EFFECT In making decisions, an event, a change in your life, change in society always has a cause and effect In writing a paragraph, when you explain the reason for something, you are writing about causes In writing a paragraph, when you write about the results of something, you are writing about effects

“CAUSE” Cause” can be described in many ways: why the World War I was fought reasons why you and your friends had a fight your motivation to go to college what makes a person commit a crime what produces a nuclear fusion what brought about the changes in a law

“EFFECT” “Effect” can be described in many ways as well” - the consequences of waiting until the night before the deadline to work on your final the outcome of a lawsuit results of September 11, 2002 on society development arising from a new law that is passed product created by a scientist

WRITING ACTIVITIES Step 1: Read the Sample Cause & Effect paragraph Step 2: Fill out the Blank Cause & Effect Form Step 3: Get into groups of 3 and share answers Step 4: Review as a class

WRITING ACTIVITIES Step 5: On your own, review current events on the following website: Union Tribune Step 6: Choose a topic and write two paragraphs outlining the cause & effect. Use the Cause & Effect form to help you Review Writing Paragraph Steps if needed