Tuff Stuff Cause and Effect - First Support Model - Divorce

Jay’s Tip: Use the model I provide below.  It will help you develop an effective support paragraph for a cause and effect essay.  Remember that your supports should focus upon a specific CAUSE or a specific EFFECT. 

I wrote this one to help a student the other night.  I imagined how would I develop a paragraph to explain the effects of my parents’s divorce:

1. Topic Sentence -  make a one-sentence statement that emphasizes CAUSE or EFFECT

(for example, if I'm writing about my parents' divorce, I could write something like this:  The sudden news of my parents divorce shocked and confused me (EFFECT)

2. Explanation - take 2-3 sentences to clarify what you mean with your topic sentence.

( for example, If I continue with this divorce idea, I write something like this:  I just didn't see it coming.  They never really argued or fought in front of us.  I thought we were one big, happy family.  I didn't know how to handle it.  Nothing in my life had prepared me for the deciding which parent to live with.  Everything I thought I knew turned out to be a lie. )

3. Example - take 4-5 sentences to provide a vivid example.  Can you paint a picture for your reader.

(for example, if I continue with this divorce idea, I might write something like this:  For weeks, none of my brothers or sisters would even talk about it.  I mean, the more we thought about it, the more distant we became.  I remember eating dinner together like we always did, but no one would say a thing.  We ate in total silence.  It's like our house was underwater.  A sadness just drowned us out.)

4. Conclusion - take 2-3 sentences to share your thought based on what you just wrote.

(for example, if i keep going with this divorce idea, my conclusion might look something like this:

When I look back now, I realize I must have been very naive to think I lived in the perfect family.  Statistics say 50 percent of all marriages end in divorce.

When I put the sentences together, it looks like this:

 The sudden news of my parents divorce shocked and confused me . I just didn't see it coming.  They never really argued or fought in front of us.  I thought we were one big, happy family.  I didn't know how to handle it.  Nothing in my life had prepared me for the deciding which parent to live with.  Everything I thought I knew turned out to be a lie.  For weeks, none of my brothers or sisters would even talk about it.  I mean, the more we thought about it, the more distant we became.  I remember eating dinner together like we always did, but no one would say a thing.  We ate in total silence.  It's like our house was underwater.  A sadness just drowned us out. When I look back now, I realize I must have been very naive to think I lived in the perfect family.  Statistics say 50 percent of all marriages end in divorce. But, that doesn't make me feel any better.