CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.7.2.B

By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

Writing a Cause-Effect Essay

Writing a Cause-Effect Essay

You've selected a topic, done your research, and formed a focus. Now it's time to write your first draft. Relax. You have all the material you need. Now you just need to put it down in a first form. Your draft doesn't have to be perfect: That's what revising and editing are for.

Writing the Beginning Paragraph

Your beginning paragraph starts with a lead that gets your reader's attention, includes detail sentences that explain the cause-effect relationship, and ends with a focus statement that tells readers just what your essay will be about.

Write a lead.

Read each lead-writing strategy and example, and write your own leads related to your topic.

  1. Ask a question.

    What did you eat for lunch today?

  2. Relate the topic to your own experience.

    Last year, school lunches changed in a big way.

  3. Start with a thought-provoking fact or statement.

    School districts are taking a closer look at school lunches.

Write your beginning paragraph.

Write your best lead sentence, add detail sentences, and provide your focus statement.

Lead Sentence

Detail Sentences

Focus Statement

By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

Prewriting for Cause-Effect Essays

Prewriting for Cause-Effect Essays

Instead of just leaping into writing, you should spend some time gathering information and organizing your thoughts. That's prewriting. This lesson will help you select a topic and gather details.

Prewriting for Topics

Cause-effect essays explain how one thing leads to another. To brainstorm cause-effect essay topics, think about changes to your school, community, or environment. Also consider important events in history.

Explore writing topics.

Answer the following questions to consider possible topics for your cause-effect essay.

  1. What changed or is changing in my school or community?
  2. What changed or is changing in the world?
  3. What changed or is changing in the environment?
  4. What is one event or invention that changed history?

Choose a writing topic.

Review your answers to the previous activity. Consider the causes and effects of each topic. Choose the topic you find most interesting and that has the clearest relationship between causes and effects. Write your topic below.

By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

Warm-Up for Cause-Effect Essays

Warm-Up for Cause-Effect Essays

Everything that is going on around you right now has one or more causes that came before. And everything that will happen in the future is the effect of something that is happening now, sometimes resulting from choices you make!

By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

Assessing with an Explanatory Rubric

Assessing with an Explanatory Rubric

Test graders will use a rubric to judge the quality of your writing for assessment. By using the following rubric to judge your own writing, you can become aware of what testers are looking for and can improve your scores in the future.

Assess with a rubric.

Use the following rubric to score an explanatory essay for assessment.

By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

Writing an Essay for Assessment

Writing an Essay for Assessment

Some tests ask you to write an essay response to articles you have closely read. The following activity will help you practice.

Analyze an essay prompt.

Read the following prompt, answer the PAST questions, write a focus statement, and list details.

  1. Read the writing prompt.

    2. Imagine that your teacher has assigned you to write an explanatory essay about the lives of monarch butterflies. You will be using the sources in this unit. Focus your thinking about monarch butterflies and create an essay. Include details from the sources to support your ideas.

  2. Answer the PAST questions.

    3. Purpose?

    Audience?

    Subject?

    Type?

By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

Writing a Paragraph for Assessment

Writing a Paragraph for Assessment

Some tests ask you to write a paragraph in response to sources you have read or viewed. The following activity will help you practice responding.

Analyze the writing prompt.

Read the following prompt, answer the PAST questions, write a topic sentence, and list details.

  1. Read the writing prompt.

    2. You have just read three articles and watched a video about monarch butterflies. Write a paragraph that explains how the additional sources expand your understanding from Source 1. Include at least two examples, naming the title and author of each source that you use.

  2. Answer the PAST questions.

    3. Purpose?

    Audience?

    Subject?

    Type?

Friendship

Friendship A dictionary contains a definition of friendship somewhere in the F’s between the words “fear” and “Friday.” An encyclopedia supplies interesting facts on friendship. But all the definitions and facts do not convey what friendship is really all about. It cannot be understood through words or exaggerations. The only way to understand friendship is through experience. It is an experience that involves all the senses. Friendship can be seen. It is seen in an old couple sitting in the park holding hands.

The Best Little Girl in the World

The Best Little Girl in the World In the book The Best Little Girl in the World, Kessa has a serious eating disorder called anorexia nervosa. But she is not alone. Many people have this eating disorder, and this book shows its harmful effects. This is an emotional and invigorating story of a determined girl and her fight to survive. In the beginning of her story, Kessa is a normal 15-year-old. She has many talents, especially dancing. She has danced for many years and loves it. One day her dance teacher tells her to continue eating right, but maybe lose a few pounds.

What Really Matters

What Really Matters Margaret L. is like any other teenage girl today: she talks on the phone, deals with the stress of schoolwork, and has a boyfriend. Unlike many of her peers, however, Margaret takes medication as part of her morning routine; and the time she spends in the school bathroom is not devoted to fixing her hair. Margaret has spina bifida, a condition in which one or more of her vertebrae did not form properly, leaving her spinal cord—the most vital component of the central nervous system—unprotected.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.7.2.B