Cause And Effect Essay Writing: Guides And Tips

Posted: February 08, 2017 To: Study

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There are different kinds of essays to do, and one of them is called the cause and effect essay. It is a type of essay that deals with answering two questions: why and what. The “why” represents the cause, while the “what” represents the effect. Cause and effect essay is a common form of writing that organizes and discusses ideas.

But how do we make a successful cause and effect essay? In this piece, you will know the four simple yet proper guides in writing this kind of essay.

1. How to distinguish

Determining the difference between the two is easy, but also tricky.

The cause deals with the question why. For example, the most basic question to answer the cause is “why did this happen?”

Cause:

For automobile: You ran out of gas.

For fashion: You have too much fabric.

For school: You are late.

The answers from these three examples answers the question Why did this happen.

Meanwhile, the effect deals with the question what. For example, the most basic question to answer the effect is “what happened?”

Effect:

For automobile: The car won’t start.

For fashion: More clothes can be made.

For school: You missed a surprise exam.

In this kind of essay, every cause has an equivalent effect.

2. Making a thesis statement

In every essay, formulating a thesis statement is important and should not be taken for granted. A thesis statement is usually a sentence that dictates the main plot of your whole essay or research. The said sentence guides writers in controlling their ideas when writing and finishing their paper. Furthermore, thesis statements are observations or opinions formulated by the researcher from personal experience or from reading related sources.

In cause and effect essays, it is important to clearly state the causes and effects of your essay. Introduce the main premise by actually using the words cause and effect.

During your research, ensure you have supporting details to back up your premise. These details should be credible and relevant to the study. Furthermore, it is important to have a structure when writing your cause and effect essay. Here are structures to choose from:

  • Chronological – details arranged by events
  • Categorical – details arranged into parts and categories
  • Order of importance – details arranged from either the least to the most important or in vice versa
  • Transitional – details arranged using transitional phrases or words

3. Discussing the purpose

In every successful essay, it is important to always have a purpose in your story or study in order for your work to be relevant. These purposes can be from different forms: determine whether you are writing to persuade or inform.

Emphasize on every detail, either important or supporting, to distinguish its effects and causes. Here’s how:

  • Remembering your focus – This is deciding the tone as well as the main purpose of your study.
  • Focusing on the causes and effects – This refers to discussing and answering the main problems provided by your thesis statement.
  • Limiting your study – This is ensuring the timeliness and relevance of your study as well as limiting your study to focus on the main problems.
  • Strengthening your supporting facts – These facts should always have corroborate statements from reliable sources. Writers should know the difference between reflection papers and cause and effect essays.
  • Qualifying your causes and effects – Your study should focus on the main problem and needs to have evidence.

To strengthen the purpose of your cause and effect essay, writers must answer the following questions:

What is/are the cause/s?

What is/are the effect/s?

Which must be emphasized in this study?

Lastly, choosing a topic for this type of easy is not as difficult, as long as you know the relevance of your topic.