Cause and Effect of a Historical Event Research Paper
Due: Friday, March 30, 2012
When you were in kindergarten on 9/11, Mr. Stephenson was getting ready for one of his classes
during his freshman year of college. This historic day had many effects: lost lives, united
Americans, and entrance into a war. In the same way, the causes for this historic event could also
be traced to a variety of reasons: America as a leading power in the west, the hatred other
countries have for America, and Osama Bin Laden himself. But what is the greatest cause of
9/11? The greatest effect? Historians could debate these questions for years.
You will write an MLA-researched and MLA-documented essay on a historic event,
summarizing the event itself and arguing for its greatest cause and its greatest effect. In a way,
this essay combines elements of both the persuasive and the expository essays you have already
written this year. You are required to explain information, but you must also argue for your
event’s greatest cause and effect. You can briefly mention other causes and effects of your event
(if applicable), but the main focus should be the major cause and the major effect.
The following model is a guide for your research paper. Your historic event goes in the middle,
the causes go in the left, and the effects go on the right. Put the greatest cause and effect in the
solid circle, and less important causes and effects in the dotted circles.
CAUSES
HISTORIC EVENT
FEMA
responds
slowly
Strong
hurricane
hits New
Orleans
Levees
were
weak
EFFECTS
Hurricane
Katrina
Disaster
Destruction
of homes
and lives
President
Bush
criticized
Levees
break
Page 1 of 7
My Topic
My greatest cause: ______________________________________________________________
My event: _____________________________________________________________________
My greatest effect: ______________________________________________________________
My thesis: _____________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
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Pre-AP English II Guidelines for Research Paper
Topic: The sophomore research paper deals with the greatest cause and greatest effect of a
historical event.
Components of Paper:
The research paper must include the following:
 Spreadsheet of twenty (20) research notes
 Three (3) pages of research-based writing
 At least ten (10) citations within the paper
 Works Cited page with at least five (5) sources:
1. Books—use at least one if event is old enough
2. Encyclopedia entry—use two at most
3. Articles from scholarly journals from Deer Creek databases
 Even if you access this information from home, it is still considered a
school-sponsored database
 Information from book reviews or abstracts is not allowed
4. Article from a reputable website—Check with Mr. Stephenson
 You cannot use Wikipedia as a source, but it is a good jumping off point.
 Try newspapers like The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, etc.
 Three (3) creative genres of writing to go along with each section of the paper—the
cause, the event itself, and the effect. Choose a genre from three of the following four
groups. For example, let’s say your topic is Japanese internment during World War II.
You might write a letter to the editor for the cause (group 1), create a political cartoon for
the event itself (group 2), and write a free verse poem about the effect (group 4). You did
not choose anything from group 3, and that’s okay. You cannot choose multiple
responses from the same group, though. Remember, you are creating these responses,
not just finding them.
Group 1:
Print Media
Newspaper Article
Obituary
Editorial
Letter to the Editor
Advice Column
Magazine Article
Group 2:
Visual + Words
Poster
Ad
Political Cartoon
Comic
Collage
Facebook Profile
Group 3:
Informational
Interview
Survey
Trivia Game
Timeline
Directions
Recipe
Group 4:
Creative Writing
A scene in a play
Song / Poem
Short Story
Personal Narrative
Journal/ Diary Entry
Letter
*To create Facebook profile, use www.fakebook.com.
Materials Needed:
 1 pocket folder with brads
 Jump or flash drive for work in computer lab
 access to a working printer with ink and paper at home
o If you email any component of your essay to me, it must be in a Microsoft Word
file. It will be printed the way it was sent to me, so check the formatting.
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Typing Guidelines:
Follow MLA guidelines as we have all semester. Use Purdue’s OWL (Online Writing Lab)
website if you are unsure about formatting or citing. You can also check with Mr. Stephenson.
Grading Scale for Research Paper:
Daily grades will be given as we complete the steps through the research paper. For example,
you will receive a grade for your spreadsheet, one pagers, creative responses, and rough draft of
paper. Grading will be based not only on appropriate quantity assigned but also following
appropriate MLA guidelines.
All deadlines must be followed. If you are ill, please make arrangements to have assignment
brought to school before the end of your hour or email it to me by the time your class would
begin. The final draft due on Friday, March 30, must be turned in on time, even if you are home
sick. Arrange for a friend or family member to deliver it.
Accessing Deer Creek High School Library online subscription services from home
computer:
1. EBSCOhost
user ID: deercreek
password: antlers
a. Student Research Center
2. SIRS
user ID: deercreek
password: antlers
3. GaleNet
user ID: edmo80637
password: edmo80637
a. Student Resources in Context
Put your work in a pocket folder in this order:
Left Hand Pocket
1. Introductory Letter
In the Brads
1. Final Draft: event +
creative response (CR),
cause + CR, effect + CR
2. Works Cited page
Right Hand Pocket
1. 20 Facts
2. One pager rough drafts
Plagiarism:
Anytime you are reporting on or using information or ideas that were not originally
yours, you must cite the source—even if you write the information down in your own words!
Plagiarism is a very serious offense. In high school, it results in zeroes on your
assignments and disciplinary action in the office, including suspension. In college, it results in
zeroes, withdrawal from the class in which it occurred, and possible dismissal from the
university. It is considered literary theft and is even punishable by law!
To avoid plagiarism make sure to cite every source you have used to gather information.
The only ideas that do not require citations are those considered common knowledge. To be
considered common knowledge, the information must appear in multiple sources (at least three
for this class) and must be agreed upon by the scholars in each source.
Both quoting directly and paraphrasing require citations of author and page number
(MLA format). The citations must appear preceding or following the quote as prescribed by
MLA format. The general rule is it is better to cite too much rather than too little.
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Topics for Cause/Effect Research Paper
NATURAL DISASTERS
1. Great London Fire (1666)
2. The Great Chicago Fire (1871)
3. Great Blizzard of 1888
4. The Johnstown Flood (1889)
5. The Galveston Hurricane (1900)
6. The San Francisco Earthquake (1906)
7. May 3 Tornados in Oklahoma City (1999)
8. Hurricane Katrina (2005)
9. Haiti Earthquake (2010)
10. Joplin Tornado (2011)
Topics for this research paper will be
drawn from a hat. Students will draw for
their event by hour and by reverse
alphabetical order of last name (Z-A).
Once a student draws an event, it cannot
go back into the hat. A student can trade
events with another classmate if the two
can agree.
34. Malcolm X (1965)
35. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1968)
36. Saddam Hussein (2006)
37. Moammar Gaddafi (2011)
38. Osama bin Laden (2011)
NUCLEAR DISASTERS
11. Love Canal (1978)
12. Three Mile Island (1979)
13. Bhopal (1984)
14. Chernobyl (1986)
15. Fukushima Daiichi (2011)
TRANSPORTATION DISASTERS
16. The Titanic (1912)
17. The Hindenburg (1937)
18. The Apollo 1 Disasters (1967)
19. The Challenger Disaster (1986)
TERRORISM
20. The Munich Massacre (1972)
21. The 1993 World Trade Center Bombing
22. The Oklahoma City Bombing (1995)
23. Columbine HS Massacre (1999)
24. 9/11 (2001)
DISEASES
25. The AIDS Epidemic
26. The Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919
27. Small Pox
28. Chickenpox
29. Swine Flu
30. Bird Flu
ASSASSINATIONS / DEATHS
31. Abraham Lincoln (1865)
32. Franz Ferdinand (1914)
33. John F. Kennedy (1963)
AMERICAN HISTORY
39. The Salem Witch Trials (1692-3)
40. Manifest Destiny in America (1840s)
41. The Gold Rush of 1849
42. Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
(1911)
43. Scope’s Monkey Trial (1925)
44. The Rise and Fall of Route 66 (19261985)
45. The Great Depression (1929-39)
46. The Dust Bowl (1930s)
47. Japanese Internment during World
War II (1940s)
48. The Red Scare and McCarthyism
(1947-57)
49. Rosa Parks (1955)
50. Little Rock Nine (1957)
51. The Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
52. March on Washington (1963)
53. Watergate (1974)
54. The Waco Siege (1993)
55. Occupy Wall Street Movement
(2011)
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AMERICAN LAWS / LEGAL CASES
56. Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857)
57. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
58. The Eighteenth Amendment:
prohibition (1919)
59. The Nineteenth Amendment:
women’s suffrage (1920)
60. The Twenty-first Amendment: repeal
of prohibition (1933)
61. Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
62. Engel v. Vitale (1962)
63. Gideon v. Wainright (1963)
64. Miranda v. Arizona (1966)
65. The Twenty-sixth Amendment:
voting for 18-year-olds (1971)
66. Title IX (1972)
67. Roe v. Wade (1973)
68. Gregg v. Georgia (1976)
69. NCAA v. Board of Regents of the
University of Oklahoma (1984)
70. Texas v. Johnson (1989)
71. Boy Scouts of America v. Dale
(2000)
72. Bush v. Gore (2000)
73. No Child Left Behind Act (2001)
IMPORTANT BOOKS
86. Thomas Paine’s Common Sense
(1776)
87. Adam Smith’s The Wealth of
Nations (1776)
88. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle
Tom’s Cabin (1852)
89. Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of
Species (1859)
90. Sigmund Freud’s The Interpretation
of Dreams (1899)
91. Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle (1906)
92. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962)
93. Betty Friedan’s The Feminine
Mystique (1963)
WORLD HISTORY
74. The Irish Potato Famine (starting in
1845)
75. Sputnik and the Race for Space
Exploration (1957)
76. the Berlin Wall (1961-1989)
77. Tiananmen Square (1989)
78. Rwandan Holocaust (beginning in
1994)
79. The Bombing of Hiroshima (1945)
80. Pearl Harbor (1941)
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
81. El Niño
82. The Uses of DDT
83. Holes in the Ozone Layer
84. The Exxon Valdez disaster (1989)
85. The BP Oil Spill (2010)
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Pre-AP English II Research Project
Objectives:
 To review research skills and techniques
 To demonstrate correct parenthetical documentation skills
 To research and organize materials on a given subject
 To improve time management skills
 To polish composition skills
 To reinforce the necessity of following specific directions and meeting deadlines
Dear Students and Parents,
Throughout the months of February and March, Pre-AP English II students will be
completing a research project. This project will take five weeks to complete. Students should
realize the significance and importance of working through all the steps involved in researching,
reading, and analyzing the data they find.
Since learning to meet deadlines is an important criteria for this paper, students MUST turn
in all work completed and on time. We will be working on this assignment in class; however,
students must be reading, taking notes, and analyzing for their homework. Also, all students
will be required to type this paper in MLA format outside of class. Please check now to
make sure printers work and have ink in them.
Failure to complete this assignment as directed will greatly jeopardize a student’s grade. Not
turning in a paper will significantly affect a student’s grade for this semester.
Plagiarism is copying another author’s words or ideas without proper and adequate citations.
The penalty for plagiarism will be a zero on the project.
If a student is ill on the day that the research paper is due, the parent, student, or another
person must turn the research paper in for him/her.
I acknowledge that research papers are one of the most dreaded projects in English class, so I
will do everything in my power to make this a positive learning experience. Do not hesitate to
ask me any questions related to this project. I am here to help you succeed.
Sincerely,
stephensonj@deercreek.k12.ok.us
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