The writing assignments developed for a course in expository writing intended for gifted eighth grade students are described in this paper. The first assignment described is a causal analysis essay that required the students to examine events from their lives or from newspaper articles and analyze the causes of the actions involved. The paper details the prewriting activities that accompanied this assignment, including "content helpers," which were designed to help the students discover errors in causal reasoning, and "writing stimulators," which asked the students to examine their past behavior, present condition, or future choices and to make connections among experiences and ideas. The second assignment described in the paper is a research project that required the students to interview someone and closely observe and analyze the responses. The last assignment described required the students to locate and analyze a problem and to offer solutions to that problem. Copies of student essays illustrating each assignment are included. (FL)