Cause / Effect Essay Assignment:  The Quick-Fix Lifestyle For this essay you must make several choices. One choice is whether to write an essay on causes, or an essay on effects. You should not try to write about both causes and effects, which is a much more difficult task; in such an essay, causes and effects tend to run together confusingly. You will first need to read the link on the cause/effect mode before you can understand this choice. To find that link, click here to go to the Three-Part Format link (which can also be found on the menu bar on any link to my 1301 web course), and find Cause/Effect on the Modes Navigation Bar.   In that link are two sample essays, one on causes, one on effects. The second choice is what narrowed topic you will write about.  Your topic could be your own personal or family life, or it could be some broader social issue or situation that involves you only indirectly, if at all.  Whatever topic you choose, however, you must write about something having to do with the problems created by what is sometimes called a "quick-fix" lifestyle, which I explain below.  The challenge of this assignment is to look past the surface of situations you encounter, whether in your personal life or in society as a whole. The length of this essay should be approximately 1000 words (and including good specific examples). Due Dates: No intro paragraph is due on this essay. Final draft due midnight, Wednesday, December 3rd As you can see, there is no intro paragraph due for this essay, though you may show me one if you wish.  The final draft of this essay is due by midnight, Wednesday, December 3rd.  Please use the filename E5 plus your initials when submitting it. What is a "quick-fix lifestyle? Our culture has a tendency to encourage a quick-fix lifestyle. By a "quick-fix lifestyle" I mean the tendency to want results RIGHT NOW, even when this may mean making an inferior product, making an inferior repair, doing a task or chore or project sloppily, or hurting ourselves in some deeper way in the long run. The general pattern is to sacrifice long-term quality for quick short-term results, and often the desired short-term result is nothing more than to hurry up and finish, so we can go on to the next task, hurry up and finish it, go on to the next task--and so forth. Note:  please realize that this essay requires you to see "quick fixes" as harmful.  I do not want an essay bragging on someone's latest quick-fix strategies! Possible topics: If you want to write your essay on your own personal life., then choose some area of your life in which you have used "quick-fix" solutions (or have been tempted to do so.)  Examples:  On the job; parenting; school; personal relationships.   In any one of these fairly general areas, think of quick fixes, shortcuts, timesaving strategies which may cause harm, perhaps in subtle ways.  A more specific example:  A busy parent may let his or her child's love of watching TV substitute for hands-on parenting such as talking, going to the park or sporting events together, and generally interacting with and serving as a role model for children.  This would be a type of quick fix applied to the obligation of being a responsible parent.  What are its causes?  What might be its effects? Once you have settled on a particular area to focus on, you should then make the choice of writing either one of two essays: Either write an essay on some of the main causes of the temptation towards quick-fix solutions in that area of your life; or else, write an essay on some of the main effects of the temptation towards quick-fix solutions in that area of your life. The causes would be patterns which began in the past and are still going on. The effects would be negative results, either present or future, of this quick-fix mentality.   Be careful not to mix the two.  Stick to either causes, or effects. Especially since this essay will be focused on your life, you must give special attention to your use of specific examples. If you are tired of writing about yourself, then don't.  Instead, focus on the tendency of our overall culture to encourage a quick-fix lifestyle.   As noted, the general pattern of a quick-fix mindset is to sacrifice long-term quality for quick short-term results. This pattern can often cause harm to people in areas other than just shabbily produced or repaired material objects or poorly completed tasks. Just to take a single example, some argue that building more prisons is a quick fix that society applies to the deeper problem of children being allowed to, in essence, raise themselves. Rather than trying, as a society, to fix this deeper problem, some argue that we are content to wait until these unguided, unparented children grow into adult criminals, and then jail them. No doubt this mentality has much to do with our fast-paced lifestyle, but surely there are other causes as well.  This is only one of many possible topics of how society as a whole is hurt by our "quick fix mentality." There are many others.    Once you have settled on a particular area to focus on, you should then make the choice of writing either one of two essays, just as in the more personally focused topic: Either write an essay on some of the main causes of the temptation towards quick-fix solutions in that area of our society; or else, write an essay on some of the main effects of the temptation towards quick-fix solutions in that area of our society. The causes would be patterns common within families or within society in general which began in the past and are still going on.  The fast paced-lifestyle I mentioned above could be one possible cause for many different broadly applied quick fixes; there are others. The effects would be negative results which many individuals, families, and society as a whole are experiencing today, as a result of this quick-fix mentality. The continual need for more and more jails might be seen as such an effect, among others. In either type essay (either focusing on yourself, or focusing on society), whether writing about causes or effects, you should use the basic Three-Part Format, where your body paragraphs will be centered on the different causes, or the different effects, depending on which type essay you write. And remember that I will want you to include detailed specific examples of the general causes or effects you discuss. If you need further help in choosing a topic for this option, you should return to my web link on the cause/effect mode, and at the end of it you will find two sample student essays, one on effects and one on causes. Also, I would be happy to give you feedback on possible topic choices.

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