INPUT ARTICLE: Article: After you’ve looked over your notes you will want to come up with a thesis statement, or argument, to guide your paper. This is what you will try to prove throughout your essay. Your thesis should be debatable and should be supported by the facts that you uncovered during your research.  A thesis statement can be a single sentence or multiple sentences, depending on what you need to cover. It cannot be a quote, a basic statement of fact, or a question. As you are trying to craft your thesis statement it is helpful to consider what your evidence indicates about your topic. What causes and/or effects are clearly illustrated by your sources? For example, if a number of your sources discuss stock market issues as a cause of the Great Depression, then you may argue that, “Stock market instabilities, in part, led to the Great Depression.” Identify at least three broad themes or ideas that can support your main thesis. These themes will become separate body sections of your paper. You will then place smaller or more detailed ideas or concepts under these larger ‘umbrella’ ideas. In the end, every piece of the organization should contribute toward proving your thesis in some way.  While 3 ideas are typical for a 5-paragraph essay, you may find you have more ideas you want to include. Depending upon your topic and the length of your paper, scale up the number of ideas as needed. Be pretty flexible with your initial outline as you will find areas that you will need to expand or cut when you actually start writing. It may seem easier at first but you never have to limit yourself to the five-paragraph essay format, unless your teacher expressly requests that you do so. Otherwise, feel free to add additional paragraphs, up until the page limit, to create a stronger argument. Your introduction is the first paragraph of your essay and it has a great deal of work to do. It must grab the reader’s attention. It needs to introduce the reader to the general topic. And, it must present the thesis statement to the reader, usually in the final sentence or two. For a cause and effect essay you will want to make clear whether or not you plan to cover both of these areas or just one. You can get a reader interested in your subject by opening with a vivid quote, exciting source, or quick anecdote. Just keep it brief. Your intro should only be a fairly short paragraph in comparison to the body ones. This is where you flesh out your outline. Each paragraph should cover one particular element of your argument. In the cause portions of your essay you will need to explain the event in question and make initial connections to the effect portion that is coming up. In the effect portion you will need to explain to the reader how you get from point A (cause) to point B (effect). Don’t forget to add at least a paragraph explaining to the reader why these connections are important to them on an individual or group level. You could also mention this in the cause-and-effect paragraph. This is as an opportunity to make an educated statement about what the long and short term implications of this cause/effect cycle will be. Basically, why should we care? As you move through your body paragraphs, make sure that you emphasize that the cause that you are discussing occurred before the effect. And, as you are writing about an effect, make sure that you can prove it occurred after that particular cause. You want to avoid a situation where your causes and effects are so intertwined that they are without a causal relationship. For example, if you argue that the Great Depression caused a rise in unemployment you will need to have statistics to support this perspective. After all, unemployment existed before and after the event in question, so the causal relationship is what must be clarified. You must convince your readers that you are aware of alternative arguments or approaches. Don’t overreach or over-promise as you describe the cause and effect relationship. Instead, use your evidence to show that, while other causes or effects may exist, the most important relationships are the ones that are found within your paper.   For instance, if you are writing about the causes of the Great Depression you will want to discuss the stock market but also the income gap. Or, if you choose to focus solely on the Great Depression/stock market relationship then somewhere in your paper you’ll want to acknowledge the other possible causes while stating that you’ve chosen this particular focus. Points you are proving may be major or minor. The goal is simply to explain how they affect the causal relationship. Use your concluding paragraph to sum up your thesis and major supporting points. However, do so very briefly as this paragraph should be roughly the same length as the introduction. You might also give some indication as to how your findings could change in the future if conditions or interpretations alter in some way. Throughout your body paragraphs you will want to develop and present natural pairings of detailed evidence and broad summary or interpretive remarks. Without the details your paper will be too vague. Without the interpretive comments your reader will just see a list of facts lacking analysis.

SUMMARY: Develop a thesis statement. Create an outline. Craft a solid introduction. Write your body paragraphs. Emphasize the cause and effect timeline. Acknowledge or rule out other explanations. Craft a solid conclusion. Intermix specific details and bigger-picture statements.


INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Just like with the primer, you’ll want to hold the can (or gun) about 12 inches (30 cm) away from the metal as you spray. Spray from left to right in horizontal rows and make the rows overlap by about 50% if you need more than one to cover the area.  Keep the can moving as you paint, otherwise too much could collect and result in dripping. Do not wet-sand a base coat of paint. The last step will be applying a layer of clear coat to the paint, but before you can do that, the base coat needs to be completely dry. While it may take days for it to “cure” enough to be washed, most automotive paint is dry enough to be worked with in about an hour. If it’s especially humid where you are, wait 90 minutes to be safe. Clear coat is another automotive paint that you can get in spray cans. It adds a layer of protection over the colored base coat and gives the paint a glossy shine. Spray it on just as you did the primer and base coat.  Apply the clear coat in smooth, even rows just like the other paint. You can purchase clear coat from any auto parts store. Read the instructions on your specific clear coat to know how long it takes to dry. The paint should already look pretty good, but you can make it look even better by sanding it with 2,000 grit sandpaper and water to remove any small blemishes and achieve a good shine. Keep pouring water over the paint as you sand it back and forth until it looks perfectly flat and even.  In many areas, you can skip wet-sanding the clear coat and still have an excellent looking paint finish. Hoods, door panels, and trunk lids are some places you may want to wet-sand because paint issues will stand out on large, flat surfaces. Pull all tape and any plastic you used to cover parts of the vehicle away and admire your finished product. However, don’t try to wash or wax your new paint for at least a week so it can cure thoroughly.  The new paint may be slightly brighter than the old because of sun fading, but the two colors should be nearly indistinguishable. If you notice any issues with the paint, repeat the wet-sanding process to smooth it out.

SUMMARY: Spray on the base coat. Wait at least 60 minutes for the base coat to dry. Add a layer of clear coat. Wet-sand the clear coat once it’s dry if you want an excellent finish. Remove the painter's tape.


INPUT ARTICLE: Article: This is the plant that all the other options (called “cultivars”) were cultivated from. It has a narrow reddish purple band around the edges of its green leaves. This plant has a yellowish white band on its leaves that separate the red from the green. It may even appear white or yellow from a distance. This is perhaps the most unique-looking of the cultivars. Its outer red band is very prominent, leading it to appear red or pink. This tree has the same color pattern as the original marginata, but its leaves are a bit different. The stems will produce growths that have wider and tougher leaf patterns than the other trees. Groups of leaves grow in dense sphere shapes.

SUMMARY:
Pick the Dracaena marginata for the original variety. Choose the marginata tricolor cultivar for a greenish gold plant. Go for the marginata colorama cultivar for a reddish look. Grow the marginata Tarzan cultivar for spikier leaves.