Cause and Effect Paragraphs/Essays

     Purposes:

•To discuss the reasons why something occurs

 

•To discuss the results of an event, feeling or action

Reasons:

•To understand a situation

•To solve a problem

•To predict an outcome

•To entertain

•To persuade

Brainstorming Techniques:

•Listing Causes

•Listing Effects

•Organizing

Achieving Unity:

•Unity is achieved in a paragraph by deciding if causes or effects will be the focus

•Create a topic sentence that focuses on central event, feeling or action.

•Is there a link between the causes or effects? Use that link as the controlling idea (ex. negative effects, positive outcomes, happy reasons.)

Achieving Coherence:

•To increase coherence, limit the number of causes or effects. 

•Decide if there is a chain reaction or individual causes/ effects.

•Use transitional words that focus the purpose of the paragraph.

•Use support sentences to identify the causes or effects.

Useful Vocabulary:

Cause 

➢For

➢Because

➢Since

➢Due to

 Effect

➢So

➢But

➢For this reason

➢As a result

➢Consequently

➢Otherwise

➢Therefore

➢Thus 

Reference: http://academic.pgcc.edu/~jgerrity/PowerPoint/Cause%20and%20Effect%20Paragraphsonlineversion.ppt

Image Source: http://dodsonwiki10.pbworks.com/f/Cuase%2520and%2520Effect%2520Graphic%2520Organizer.JPG

How to write a Cause and Effect Essay:

To write a cause and effect essay, you’ll need to determine a scenario in which  one action or event caused certain effects to occur.  Then, explain what took place and why! This essay allows us to identify patterns and explain why things turned out the way that they did. (http://www.roanestate.edu/owl/cause.html)

For the cause and the effect essay, it is recommended that you develop at least three strong arguments. These are your essay’s main points. Explain the effect of your trend, phenomenon or event. You should refer back continually to the cause in order to make connections and link which will help your audience process the cause and effect effectively.

Each of the arguments needs to be backed up with 2 or 3 strong, factual statements that support it. For example, if your argument is “Prohibition era violent crime increased due to bootleggers that feuded,” you will need to support it by statistics of crime during that era.

Your reader will get confused by too many points. For this reason, you might want to limit your major points to three. While there may be multiple effects or causes for any specific relationship, depending on the length of your essay, you should make attempts to keep it limited to three.

Effectively organize your essay. Thesis statements in your outline presenting your trend, phenomenon or event at the beginning of your essay is a good model to follow. Each body paragraph should subsequently begin with a sentence topic explaining the effect or the cause up for discussion.

Remember, when it comes to any kind of essay writing, practice makes perfect and going over your essay a few times to make sure everything is clear and concise is one key to essay writing success. (https://blog.udemy.com/how-to-write-a-cause-and-effect-essay/)