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. Make a copy of this Google doc or download a Word template.

What changed or is changing in my school or community?
Healthier school lunches
What changed or is changing in the world?
More people are working from home
What changed or is changing in the environment?
The California drought
What is one event or invention that changed history?
The Model T assembly line

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.