Review of Punctuation: The Cause-and-Effect Paragraph

Punctuation puts the polish on your writing. Along with accurate spelling, grammar, and mechanics, punctuation is essential for making a positive, credible impression on readers. Many writers, unsure of punctuation rules, don't take the time to understand the guidelines that govern commas, apostrophes, and quotation marks. It may be daunting to try to memorize all the rules. You are fortunate to have technology-enhanced resources available to help you find and apply punctuation rules to your writing—including cause-and-effect paragraphs.

Cause-and-effect paragraphs make an assertion about something that happened or why it happened. The writer then supports his or her assertion with valid, logical, and evidence-based details. Writers use the cause-and-effect paragraph to focus on causes, effects, or both. Writers craft a topic sentence that introduces the assertion and explains whether the piece will focus on causes, effects, or both. The assertion must be supported with facts that can be proven, not opinions. After writing the cause-and-effect paragraph, return to the paper to revise and edit, paying close attention to any oversimplifications or hasty generalizations that might not be true.

This resource provides instruction for users to:

• List the guidelines for writing a cause and effect paragraph Write a grammatically correct cause and effect paragraph
• Discriminate between proper and improper use of apostrophes and quotation marks in writing samples
• Discriminate between proper and improper use of commas and end marks in writing samples