cause and effect essay literary definition

• Literary Terms

Cause and Effect Essay

I. what is a cause and effect essay.

A cause and effect essay is one that shows how two or more events are connected. This type of essay is meant to explain and analyze why something happened or how something occurred. Phrases you may have heard that are similar to cause and effect are action and consequence and chain of events .

II. Examples of a Cause and Effect Essay

Here are some examples of a cause and effect essay.

How heat makes water boil . This essay would explain that heat causes additional energy in the water. The effect of adding heat energy to water is that the water turns to vapor. When the water turns to vapor, it forms bubbles in the liquid water.

Why brushing your teeth causes good health. This essay would offer facts or data that the bacteria in plaque are unhealthy for you. It would then show that brushing your teeth causes your mouth to have less plaque. The essay would outline a two-step cause and effect: Brushing your teeth has the effect of reducing the amount of plaque in your mouth, and reduced amount of plaque has a positive effect on your health.

How the Stamp Act caused anger in the American colonies . This essay would include enough context for the reader to understand the historical time period. It would then present the Stamp Act (A list of unfair taxes) as the cause of colonial anger. The essay would show the effects of the Stamp act by explaining how the colonists protested with violence.

III. Types of Cause and Effect Essays with Topics

Cause and effect essays can be looked at in two broad categories. The first is an essay that examines how multiple causes lead to a single large effect. The second is an essay that shows how one large cause has multiple effects.

a. Multiple causes leading to one effect

Example 1 “Why Gorillas are Endangered”

This essay would examine the causes that combine to create a single effect: a low number of Gorillas. The writer could identify three main causes: loss of habitat, poaching, and war. One paragraph would explain how habitat loss makes it harder for gorillas to find food. A second paragraph would show that people kill gorillas for trophies and food. A third paragraph would state that gorillas are killed by bombs and landmines when people are at war in the area. The essay would conclude by combining the evidence of these three causes, to explain how it endangers gorillas.

Other topics for this type of cause and effect essay are:

• How World War II began
• How to coach a winning team
• What astronauts will do to make Mars inhabitable

b. One cause leading to multiple effects

Example 2 “How Exercise Improves your Health”

An essay of this type would be about how exercise can have several positive effects on your health.

The essay would begin by defining what exercise is, and explain how common exercises are performed. The writer would then focus, one paragraph at a time, on several positive effects of exercise. For instance, there could be a paragraph about how exercise leads to a healthier heart. Evidence to support the connection between exercise and a healthy heart would be included. Another paragraph would show the effect that exercise can have on muscle strength and bone density. A third paragraph would give evidence that exercise causes a reduction in stress. The essay would end by connecting these three effects back to the same single cause: Exercise.

• How a good education improves a person’s life
• Why you should organize your life
• What being a volunteer can teach you

IV. Parts of a cause and effect essay

A thesis is a clear statement about what your essay will show. In the cause of a cause and effect essay, a thesis will include both the cause(s) and the effect(s) that will be explained later in the essay.

• Gorillas are endangered because of poaching, war, and loss of habitat.
• Exercise causes many beneficial changes to your health.

b. Context or starting point

The writer must give the readers enough background information so that they can follow the thesis and understand the value of the information.

• In the cause and effect essay about gorillas being endangered, the writer should include information about where gorillas live, what interactions people have with them, and their population.
• In the essay about exercise, the writer would need to explain about cardiovascular exercise and strength training exercise. The essay would also give a brief explanation of how these activities are performed.

c. An action or event

This is a central part of a cause and effect essay. The action or event needs to be described in such a way that the reader can understand what the action or event caused.

• In an essay about exercise, running may be chosen as an event to describe. The essay would explain how running causes the heart and lungs to work hard.
• An essay about endangered gorillas would need to describe poaching (illegal hunting).

d. The consequence or effect

The effect of the event must be described in a cause and effect essay.

• In the essay about exercise, the effect of running is a healthier heart and lungs.
• In the essay about gorillas, the effect of poaching is that there are fewer wild gorillas left to breed.

V. Tips for writing a strong cause and effect essay

A. clearly identify the causes and effects for the reader.

A strong cause and effect essay identifies the cause(s) and effect(s) for the reader. Remember that a cause is the reason; it explains why something happened. Meanwhile, an effect is what happened or the result.

a. Determine the type of cause and effect essay

The topic of a cause and effect essay must be a single idea. Once you have chosen the single idea, you should determine if it is more useful to analyze it as a cause or as an effect (See Part III above).

Look at the table below. In the column on the left, we have essays with a single cause and multiple effects. In the column on the right, we have essays with multiple causes creating a single effect.

As you can see, topics can be looked at from either standpoint, but an essay normally only focuses on one. It can become confusing to write and read an essay that covers multiple effects and multiple causes! So, be sure that you know the central topic and which type of essay structure you are using.

c. Explain and analyze instead of just listing effects and causes

A strong cause and effect essay does more than just list information. It also analyzes how the information fits together, and explains the important parts to the reader. The explanation is often combined with the ‘effect’ part of the essay. This part of the essay is the evidence or reasoning that allows the reader to connect the cause with the effect clearly.

Incomplete:  Listing information without explanation

Exercise, like running, is good for your heart and lungs. A healthy cardiovascular system is important for your health, so running is good for you.

Complete: Explaining the cause (running) and effect (health) sequence connecting the information

Exercise, like running, is good for your heart and lungs. This is because running makes the heart and lungs work hard. The hard work of running makes them become stronger. A stronger heart and lungs means a healthier cardiovascular system. Therefore, running is good for you.

Incomplete: Listing information without explanation

Poaching kills too many gorillas. Because of poachers, there are fewer gorillas in the wild, and they become endangered.

Complete: Explaining the effect (fewer gorillas will be born) of poaching (cause)

Poaching kills too many gorillas. Poaching removes not only the gorilla, but future generations as well. Gorillas have an average of three babies in their lifetime. Because of poachers, there are fewer gorillas in the wild. Even worse, there will be fewer gorillas born in the future.

List of Terms

• Alliteration
• Amplification
• Anachronism
• Anthropomorphism
• Antonomasia
• APA Citation
• Aposiopesis
• Autobiography
• Bildungsroman
• Characterization
• Circumlocution
• Cliffhanger
• Comic Relief
• Connotation
• Deus ex machina
• Deuteragonist
• Doppelganger
• Double Entendre
• Dramatic irony
• Equivocation
• Extended Metaphor
• Figures of Speech
• Flash-forward
• Foreshadowing
• Intertextuality
• Juxtaposition
• Literary Device
• Malapropism
• Onomatopoeia
• Parallelism
• Pathetic Fallacy
• Personification
• Point of View
• Polysyndeton
• Protagonist
• Red Herring
• Rhetorical Device
• Rhetorical Question
• Science Fiction
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
• Synesthesia
• Turning Point
• Understatement
• Urban Legend
• Verisimilitude
• Essay Guide
• Cite This Website

Cause and Effect in Composition

Glossary of Grammatical and Rhetorical Terms

• An Introduction to Punctuation
• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

In composition , cause and effect is a method of paragraph or essay development in which a writer analyzes the reasons for—and/or the consequences of—an action, event, or decision.

A cause-and-effect paragraph or essay can be organized in various ways. For instance, causes and/or effects can be arranged in either chronological order or reverse chronological order. Alternatively, points can be presented in terms of emphasis , from least important to most important, or vice versa.

Examples and Observations

• "If you prove the cause , you at once prove the effect ; and conversely nothing can exist without its cause." (Aristotle, Rhetoric )
• Immediate Causes and Ultimate Causes "Determining causes and effects is usually thought-provoking and quite complex. One reason for this is that there are two types of causes: immediate causes , which are readily apparent because they are closest to the effect, and ultimate causes , which, being somewhat removed, are not so apparent and may perhaps even be hidden. Furthermore, ultimate causes may bring about effects which themselves become immediate causes, thus creating a causal chain . For example, consider the following causal chain: Sally, a computer salesperson, prepared extensively for a meeting with a client (ultimate cause), impressed the client (immediate cause), and made a very large sale (effect). The chain did not stop there: the large sale caused her to be promoted by her employer (effect)." (Alfred Rosa and Paul Eschholz, Models for Writers , 6th ed. St. Martin's Press, 1998)
• Composing a Cause/Effect Essay "For all its conceptual complexity, a cause/effect essay can be organized quite simply. The introduction generally presents the subject(s) and states the purpose of the analysis in a clear thesis . The body of the paper then explores all relevant causes and/or effects, typically progressing from least to most influential or from most to least influential. Finally, the concluding section summarizes the various cause/effect relationships established in the body of the paper and clearly states the conclusions that can be drawn from those relationships." (Kim Flachmann, Michael Flachmann, Kathryn Benander, and Cheryl Smith, The Brief Prose Reader . Prentice Hall, 2003)
• Causes of Child Obesity "Many of today's kids are engaged in sedentary pursuits made possible by a level of technology unthinkable as recently as 25 to 30 years ago. Computer, video, and other virtual games, the ready availability of feature films and games on DVD, plus high-tech advancements in music-listening technology have come down into the range of affordability for parents and even for the kids themselves. These passive pursuits have produced a downside of reduced physical activity for the kids, often with the explicit or implicit consent of the parents. . . . "Other fairly recent developments have also contributed to the alarming rise in child obesity rates. Fast food outlets offering consumables that are both low in price and low in nutritional content have exploded all over the American landscape since the 1960s, especially in suburban areas close to major highway interchanges. Kids on their lunch breaks or after school often congregate in these fast food outlets, consuming food and soft drinks that are high in sugar, carbohydrates, and fat. Many parents, themselves, frequently take their children to these fast food places, thus setting an example the kids can find justification to emulate." (MacKie Shilstone, Mackie Shilstone's Body Plan for Kids . Basic Health Publications, 2009)
• Cause and Effect in Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" "'A Modest Proposal' is a brilliant example of the use of non-argumentative devices of rhetorical persuasion . The whole essay, of course, rests broadly upon the argument of cause and effect : these causes have produced this situation in Ireland, and this proposal will result in these effects in Ireland. But Swift, within the general framework of this argument, does not employ specific argumentative forms in this essay. The projector chooses rather to assert his reasons and then to amass them by way of proof ." (Charles A. Beaumont, Swift's Classical Rhetoric . Univ. of Georgia Press, 1961)
• Effects of Automobiles "I worry about the private automobile. It is a dirty, noisy, wasteful, and lonely means of travel. It pollutes the air, ruins the safety and sociability of the street, and exercises upon the individual a discipline which takes away far more freedom than it gives him. It causes an enormous amount of land to be unnecessarily abstracted from nature and from plant life and to become devoid of any natural function. It explodes cities, grievously impairs the whole institution of neighborliness, fragmentizes and destroys communities. It has already spelled the end of our cities as real cultural and social communities, and has made impossible the construction of any others in their place. Together with the airplane, it has crowded out other, more civilized and more convenient means of transport, leaving older people, infirm people, poor people and children in a worse situation than they were a hundred years ago." (George F. Kennan, Democracy and the Student Left , 1968)
• Examples and Effects of Entropy "Because of its unnerving irreversibility, entropy has been called the arrow of time. We all understand this instinctively. Children's rooms, left on their own, tend to get messy, not neat. Wood rots, metal rusts, people wrinkle and flowers wither. Even mountains wear down; even the nuclei of atoms decay. In the city we see entropy in the rundown subways and worn-out sidewalks and torn-down buildings, in the increasing disorder of our lives. We know, without asking, what is old. If we were suddenly to see the paint jump back on an old building, we would know that something was wrong. If we saw an egg unscramble itself and jump back into its shell, we would laugh in the same way we laugh as a movie run backward." (K.C. Cole, "The Arrow of Time." The New York Times , March 18, 1982)
• Writing Cause and Effect Essays for English Learners
• Development in Composition: Building an Essay
• Cause and Effect Essay Topics
• Practice in Making a Simple Outline for a Cause & Effect Paragraph
• 50 Cause and Effect Journal Prompts
• How to Teach Topic Sentences Using Models
• Understanding Organization in Composition and Speech
• Definition and Examples of Paragraphing in Essays
• Definition and Examples of Ethos in Classical Rhetoric
• What an Essay Is and How to Write One
• Definition and Examples of Analysis in Composition
• Moving Past the Five Paragraph Essay
• Practice in Using Quotation Marks Correctly
• How to Structure an Essay
• 67 Causal Essay Topics to Consider
• Hookers vs. Chasers: How Not to Begin an Essay

• Features for Creative Writers
• Features for Work
• Features for Higher Education
• Features for Teachers
• Features for Non-Native Speakers
• Learn Blog Grammar Guide Community Events FAQ
• Grammar Guide

Cause and Effect: Definition, Meaning, and Examples

Allison Bressmer

You may be familiar with the Biblical quote “You reap what you sow.” The things you do are like planted seeds, and those seeds produce a crop which is the result of your actions.

The quote is an example of the cause and effect relationship. Your action, sowing good or bad seeds, produces a reaction, a healthy or rotten harvest.

A cause is an action, and the effect is the resulting reaction.

Definition of Cause and Effect

What does cause and effect mean, examples of cause and effect in sentences, cause and effect relationship examples, cause and effect words.

In the cause and effect relationship, one or more things happen as a result of something else.

A cause is a catalyst, a motive, or an action that brings about a reaction—or reactions. A cause instigates an effect.

An effect is a condition, occurrence, or result generated by one or more causes. Effects are outcomes.

Cause and effect means that things happen because something prompted them to happen.

A cause is why something happens. An effect is what happened.

For example, you have a picnic planned for Sunday afternoon. However, the weather becomes stormy and you have to cancel your outdoor plans.

In this situation, the cause is the stormy weather and the effect of that stormy weather is the picnic cancellation.

Cause and effect are intertwined. American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Cause and effect are two sides of one fact.”

You can’t have an effect without a cause, nor can you have a cause without an effect.

In cause and effect relationships, there may be multiple causes and multiple effects. The relationship may cycle on with a cause leading to effects that become a cause for more effects!

Let’s say that you oversleep and are late to a meeting and, because you’re late to the meeting, you miss out on the delicious pastries the boss brought in. Since you missed the pastries, you’re hungry and aggravated. This may in turn have an effect on your next interaction with a colleague or client.

Cause and effect sentences show a clear, direct relationship between events. They show how one event or action triggers an outcome. They may also show how an effect has more than one cause, or a cause has more than one effect.

Cause and effect sentences can present the cause first and follow it with the effect, or present the effect first and follow it with the cause.

• I ate tons of junk food, so now I feel sick.
• I feel sick because I ate tons of junk food.

These sentences have the same cause and effect presented in a different order. These sentences share the same meaning and show the same relationship.

In the next five sentences, determine which comes first, the cause or the effect.

He lied to me, so I ended our relationship.

Since I was up all night with my sick child, I’m exhausted this morning.

She never gave up on her writing, and now she’s published a book!

They could finish the race because they had trained for it so diligently.

They gave the restaurant a critical review because their food was burnt to a crisp.

In the first three sentences, the cause comes first. In sentences four and five, the effect comes first.

Cause and effect relationships exist in just about every subject area.

We can see the causes of local, national, or global events, and the effects of those events. We can ask, “What were the causes of World War II?” and then “What were the effects of World War II?”

We can examine what caused an economic recession or depression and the effects of that crisis on society.

In these cases, as with many others, there are multiple causes and multiple effects.

In 2020, the world was hit with a global pandemic. Scientists saw the effects of the disease on people’s health and lives and began searching for the cause of the virus.

As the story goes, Sir Isaac Newton observed an effect, an apple falling from a tree. This prompted him to seek the cause of that fall—why did the apple fall down, not sideways or up? His observation of that effect led him to discover the cause: gravity.

When conducting experiments, scientists perform an action (cause) to see what will happen as a result (effect).

Most of us probably had to do an experiment with plants in school. We examined what happened to our two plants (effects) depending on whether we gave or withheld from them proper light and water (cause).

The Natural World

Nature is full of examples of cause and effect.

• Plants grow as a result of the sun’s heat and light.
• Bears hibernate so they can conserve energy and won’t require food during the winter months when food is scarce.
• The moon’s gravitational pull causes the ocean’s tides.

Narrative stories, both fiction and non-fiction, are often driven by cause and effect.

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby , Gatsby bases all of his action on pleasing Daisy because he is obsessed with winning her love.

Our everyday lives are full of cause and effect experiences.

• As a result of studying hard, you aced your test!
• You called in sick because you woke up with a fever.
• You meet friends for drinks because it’s your birthday.

There are words that signal a cause and effect relationship. These words can help readers recognize the cause and effect structure of a passage, making it easier to comprehend content.

Words that signal a cause include:

Words that signal effect include:

Signal Words in Cause and Effect Sentences

Observe how the signal words communicate the relationship in these cause and effect example sentences:

As a result of COVID, many high school students couldn’t experience graduation ceremonies.

There was a multi-car accident on the highway, so traffic was at a standstill.

I’ve started eating a much healthier diet. Consequently , I’ve lost weight and have more energy.

Thanks to my caring friends, I recovered from a difficult situation.

Since the weather was perfect, we spent the entire day outdoors.

My partner got his dream job 200 miles away from where we currently live. As a result , we have to sell the home and move.

His financial hardships are due to his careless spending.

She campaigned the hardest, therefore she won the vote.

The doctor’s optimism is the reason for our positive outlook.

Your sister is several years older than you. Accordingly , she has more responsibility and independence.

TIP: Observe the sentences that start with cause signal words ( As a result , Thanks to , Since ). There are two clauses in those sentences and they are connected by a comma.

The first clause is dependent meaning that it must be attached to an independent clause to make sense. When left alone, dependent clauses can become sentence fragments which are grammatically incorrect.

ProWritingAid is a thorough grammar checker that will alert you to any fragments and make suggestions for revision.

A Final Word on Cause and Effect

A cause and effect relationship is one in which an event generates an outcome. We see these relationships everywhere: from history to science to nature to literature to daily life!

When you’re reading or writing about cause and effect, look for or use signal words that make the relationship between the event (cause) and the outcome (effect) clear.

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Allison Bressmer is a professor of freshman composition and critical reading at a community college and a freelance writer. If she isn’t writing or teaching, you’ll likely find her reading a book or listening to a podcast while happily sipping a semi-sweet iced tea or happy-houring with friends. She lives in New York with her family. Connect at linkedin.com/in/allisonbressmer.

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10.8 Cause and Effect

Learning objectives.

• Determine the purpose and structure of cause and effect in writing.
• Understand how to write a cause-and-effect essay.

The Purpose of Cause and Effect in Writing

It is often considered human nature to ask, “why?” and “how?” We want to know how our child got sick so we can better prevent it from happening in the future, or why our colleague a pay raise because we want one as well. We want to know how much money we will save over the long term if we buy a hybrid car. These examples identify only a few of the relationships we think about in our lives, but each shows the importance of understanding cause and effect.

A cause is something that produces an event or condition; an effect is what results from an event or condition. The purpose of the cause-and-effect essay is to determine how various phenomena relate in terms of origins and results. Sometimes the connection between cause and effect is clear, but often determining the exact relationship between the two is very difficult. For example, the following effects of a cold may be easily identifiable: a sore throat, runny nose, and a cough. But determining the cause of the sickness can be far more difficult. A number of causes are possible, and to complicate matters, these possible causes could have combined to cause the sickness. That is, more than one cause may be responsible for any given effect. Therefore, cause-and-effect discussions are often complicated and frequently lead to debates and arguments.

Use the complex nature of cause and effect to your advantage. Often it is not necessary, or even possible, to find the exact cause of an event or to name the exact effect. So, when formulating a thesis, you can claim one of a number of causes or effects to be the primary, or main, cause or effect. As soon as you claim that one cause or one effect is more crucial than the others, you have developed a thesis.

Consider the causes and effects in the following thesis statements. List a cause and effect for each one on your own sheet of paper.

• The growing childhood obesity epidemic is a result of technology.
• Much of the wildlife is dying because of the oil spill.
• The town continued programs that it could no longer afford, so it went bankrupt.
• More young people became politically active as use of the Internet spread throughout society.
• While many experts believed the rise in violence was due to the poor economy, it was really due to the summer-long heat wave.

Write three cause-and-effect thesis statements of your own for each of the following five broad topics.

• Health and nutrition

The Structure of a Cause-and-Effect Essay

The cause-and-effect essay opens with a general introduction to the topic, which then leads to a thesis that states the main cause, main effect, or various causes and effects of a condition or event.

The cause-and-effect essay can be organized in one of the following two primary ways:

• Start with the cause and then talk about the effects.
• Start with the effect and then talk about the causes.

For example, if your essay were on childhood obesity, you could start by talking about the effect of childhood obesity and then discuss the cause or you could start the same essay by talking about the cause of childhood obesity and then move to the effect.

Regardless of which structure you choose, be sure to explain each element of the essay fully and completely. Explaining complex relationships requires the full use of evidence, such as scientific studies, expert testimony, statistics, and anecdotes.

Because cause-and-effect essays determine how phenomena are linked, they make frequent use of certain words and phrases that denote such linkage. See Table 10.4 “Phrases of Causation” for examples of such terms.

Table 10.4 Phrases of Causation

The conclusion should wrap up the discussion and reinforce the thesis, leaving the reader with a clear understanding of the relationship that was analyzed.

Be careful of resorting to empty speculation. In writing, speculation amounts to unsubstantiated guessing. Writers are particularly prone to such trappings in cause-and-effect arguments due to the complex nature of finding links between phenomena. Be sure to have clear evidence to support the claims that you make.

Look at some of the cause-and-effect relationships from Note 10.83 “Exercise 2” . Outline the links you listed. Outline one using a cause-then-effect structure. Outline the other using the effect-then-cause structure.

Writing a Cause-and-Effect Essay

Choose an event or condition that you think has an interesting cause-and-effect relationship. Introduce your topic in an engaging way. End your introduction with a thesis that states the main cause, the main effect, or both.

Organize your essay by starting with either the cause-then-effect structure or the effect-then-cause structure. Within each section, you should clearly explain and support the causes and effects using a full range of evidence. If you are writing about multiple causes or multiple effects, you may choose to sequence either in terms of order of importance. In other words, order the causes from least to most important (or vice versa), or order the effects from least important to most important (or vice versa).

Use the phrases of causation when trying to forge connections between various events or conditions. This will help organize your ideas and orient the reader. End your essay with a conclusion that summarizes your main points and reinforces your thesis. See Chapter 15 “Readings: Examples of Essays” to read a sample cause-and-effect essay.

Choose one of the ideas you outlined in Note 10.85 “Exercise 3” and write a full cause-and-effect essay. Be sure to include an engaging introduction, a clear thesis, strong evidence and examples, and a thoughtful conclusion.

Key Takeaways

• The purpose of the cause-and-effect essay is to determine how various phenomena are related.
• The thesis states what the writer sees as the main cause, main effect, or various causes and effects of a condition or event.

The cause-and-effect essay can be organized in one of these two primary ways:

• Start with the cause and then talk about the effect.
• Start with the effect and then talk about the cause.
• Strong evidence is particularly important in the cause-and-effect essay due to the complexity of determining connections between phenomena.
• Phrases of causation are helpful in signaling links between various elements in the essay.

Writing for Success Copyright © 2015 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Cause and Effect

Wanda M. Waller

Student Learning Outcomes

• Identify causes and effects (cause-and-effect relationships of various events, decisions, or conditions)
• Apply an effective arrangement of introduction, body, and conclusion for a cause-and-effect essay
• Create a cause-and-effect essay

Introduction to Cause and Effect

What is Cause and Effect?

The cause-and-effect essay is a form of argumentation that details the reasons for (causes) and the outcomes of (effects) an event, condition, or decision. The purpose of the cause-and-effect essay is to determine how various phenomena relate. This essay is an attempt to discover either the origins of something, such as an event or a decision, the effects or results that can be properly attributed to it, or both. Sometimes the connection between cause and effect is clear, but often, determining the exact relationship between the two is challenging. For example, a single cause can produce many different effects, or a single effect may have several causes. A cause-effect essay can do one of two things:

• It can analyze the ways in which one or more effects result from a particular cause.
• It can analyze the ways in which one or more causes lead to a particular effect.

In other words, your essay may focus more on the effects of a cause or more on the causes of one effect. Either approach provides a useful means of discussing the possible relationship between the two events. However, in cause-effect essays, it is easy to suggest that because one event preceded another event, the former event caused the latter. Simply because one event follows another one sequentially does not mean that the two actions are related. Similar to argumentation (see  the   chapter on Argument), the cause-and-effect essay attempts to advance knowledge and ideas with reason and support.

What Is Cause and Effect?

Watch the following video on “Homelessness in America” to share your thoughts on possible causes and effects. (You can also watch it directly on YouTube. ) Closed captioning is available and can be enabled using the player controls.

Self-Assessment

What causes are discussed in the video link? What effects?

Identify other causes and effects of homelessness in America.

Structure of a Cause-and-Effect Essay

Organization.

The cause-and-effect essay can be organized in one of the following two primary ways:

• Start with the cause and then talk about the effects.
• Start with the effect and then talk about the causes.

Introduction

The cause-and-effect essay opens with an introduction that provides appropriate background to inform the reader about the topic and establish a clear purpose for exploring the causes and effects. Include information on why your topic is significant, who or what it involves, and where, when, or how often the situation occurs. The introduction includes the thesis statement that states the main cause , main effect, or various causes and effects of a condition or event.

Thesis Statement

The thesis statement explains the main idea of the essay, whether the essay will focus on causes, effects, or both. Your thesis statement can highlight a single cause-and-effect relationship, or it can also show how one event causes multiple effects. You can also explore how a phenomenon has multiple causes.

Body Paragraphs and Supporting Details

Each body paragraph begins with a topic sentence that indicates which cause or effect the paragraph will discuss. Every paragraph explores a different facet of the relationship between the topic and its causes or effects. Link the causes and effects by providing evidence and explaining why the cause or effect has a relationship to the main topic. Include examples, experiences, or personal knowledge to convince your reader that certain causes or effects are creditable. The following words and phrases will assist in linking ideas, moving your essay forward, and improving readability:

Words That Link and Advance Ideas

Because                        Since                            Affects

As a result                    Therefore                     Results in

Due to                          Hence                           Leads to

Consequently                Thus                             Accordingly

The conclusion reinforces the thesis by summarizing the most significant causes or effects from the body paragraphs. It reminds the reader why the topic is important by emphasizing the connections discussed in the cause-effect relationship. Avoid introducing new causes or effects in your conclusion.

Writing a Cause-and-Effect Essay

Choose an event or condition that you think has an interesting cause-and-effect relationship. Introduce your topic in an engaging way. End your introduction with a thesis that states the main cause, the main effect, or both.

Organize your essay by starting with either the cause-then-effect structure or the effect-then-cause structure. Within each section, you should clearly explain and support the causes and effects using a full range of evidence. Contributory causes, for example, are secondary circumstances that produce actions, events, or conditions. However, contributory causes alone cannot cause the action, event, or condition to occur. If you are writing about multiple causes or multiple effects, you may choose to sequence either in terms of order of importance. In other words, order the causes from least to most important (or vice versa), or order the effects from least important to most important (or vice versa).

Use the phrases of causation when trying to forge connections between various events or conditions. This will help organize your ideas and orient the reader. End your essay with a conclusion that summarizes your main points and reinforces your thesis.

Professional Writing Example: “Misinformation and Biases Infect Social Media, Both Intentionally and Accidentally”

Giovanni Luca Ciampaglia and Filippo Menczer

Giovanni Luca Ciampaglia is an Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of South Florida. Filippo Menczer is a Professor of Computer Science and Informatics and the Director of the Center for Complex Networks and Systems Research at Indiana University. This article originally appeared in The Conversation .

Misinformation and Biases Infect Social Media, Both Intentionally and Accidentally

Social media are among the primary sources of news in the U.S. and across the world. Yet users are exposed to content of questionable accuracy, including conspiracy theories , clickbait , hyperpartisan content , pseudoscience,  and even fabricated “fake news” reports .

It’s not surprising that there’s so much disinformation published: Spam and online fraud are lucrative for criminals , and government and political propaganda yield both partisan and financial benefits . But the fact that low-credibility content spreads so quickly and easily suggests that people and the algorithms behind social media platforms are vulnerable to manipulation.

Explaining the tools developed at the Observatory on Social Media.

Our research has identified three types of bias that make the social media ecosystem vulnerable to both intentional and accidental misinformation. That is why our Observatory on Social Media at Indiana University is building tools to help people become aware of these biases and protect themselves from outside influences designed to exploit them.

Bias in the brain

Cognitive biases originate in the way the brain processes the information that every person encounters every day. The brain can deal with only a finite amount of information, and too many incoming stimuli can cause information overload . That in itself has serious implications for the quality of information on social media. We have found that steep competition for users’ limited attention means that some ideas go viral despite their low quality — even when people prefer to share high-quality content .

To avoid getting overwhelmed, the brain uses a number of tricks . These methods are usually effective, but may also become biases when applied in the wrong contexts.

One cognitive shortcut happens when a person is deciding whether to share a story that appears on their social media feed. People are very affected by the emotional connotations of a headline , even though that’s not a good indicator of an article’s accuracy. Much more important is who wrote the piece .

To counter this bias, and help people pay more attention to the source of a claim before sharing it, we developed Fakey , a mobile news literacy game (free on Android and iOS ) simulating a typical social media news feed, with a mix of news articles from mainstream and low-credibility sources. Players get more points for sharing news from reliable sources and flagging suspicious content for fact-checking. In the process, they learn to recognize signals of source credibility, such as hyperpartisan claims and emotionally charged headlines.

Bias in society

Another source of bias comes from society. When people connect directly with their peers, the social biases that guide their selection of friends come to influence the information they see.

In fact, in our research we have found that it is possible to determine the political leanings of a Twitter user by simply looking at the partisan preferences of their friends. Our analysis of the structure of these partisan communication networks found social networks are particularly efficient at disseminating information—accurate or not—when they are closely tied together and disconnected from other parts of society .

The tendency to evaluate information more favorably if it comes from within their own social circles creates “ echo chambers ” that are ripe for manipulation, either consciously or unintentionally. This helps explain why so many online conversations devolve into “us versus them” confrontations .

To study how the structure of online social networks makes users vulnerable to disinformation, we built Hoaxy , a system that tracks and visualizes the spread of content from low-credibility sources, and how it competes with fact-checking content. Our analysis of the data collected by Hoaxy during the 2016 U.S. presidential elections shows that Twitter accounts that shared misinformation were almost completely cut off from the corrections made by the fact-checkers.

When we drilled down on the misinformation-spreading accounts, we found a very dense core group of accounts retweeting each other almost exclusively—including several bots. The only times that fact-checking organizations were ever quoted or mentioned by the users in the misinformed group were when questioning their legitimacy or claiming the opposite of what they wrote.

Bias in the machine

The third group of biases arises directly from the algorithms used to determine what people see online. Both social media platforms and search engines employ them. These personalization technologies are designed to select only the most engaging and relevant content for each individual user. But in doing so, it may end up reinforcing the cognitive and social biases of users, thus making them even more vulnerable to manipulation.

For instance, the detailed advertising tools built into many social media platforms let disinformation campaigners exploit confirmation bias by tailoring messages to people who are already inclined to believe them.

Also, if a user often clicks on Facebook links from a particular news source, Facebook will tend to show that person more of that site’s content . This so-called “ filter bubble ” effect may isolate people from diverse perspectives, strengthening confirmation bias.

Our own research shows that social media platforms expose users to a less diverse set of sources than do non-social media sites like Wikipedia. Because this is at the level of a whole platform, not of a single user, we call this the homogeneity bias .

Another important ingredient of social media is information that is trending on the platform, according to what is getting the most clicks. We call this popularity bias , because we have found that an algorithm designed to promote popular content may negatively affect the overall quality of information on the platform. This also feeds into existing cognitive bias, reinforcing what appears to be popular irrespective of its quality.

All these algorithmic biases can be manipulated by social bots , computer programs that interact with humans through social media accounts. Most social bots, like Twitter’s Big Ben , are harmless. However, some conceal their real nature and are used for malicious intents, such as boosting disinformation or falsely creating the appearance of a grassroots movement , also called “astroturfing.” We found evidence of this type of manipulation in the run-up to the 2010 U.S. midterm election.

To study these manipulation strategies, we developed a tool to detect social bots called Botometer . Botometer uses machine learning to detect bot accounts, by inspecting thousands of different features of Twitter accounts, like the times of its posts, how often it tweets, and the accounts it follows and retweets. It is not perfect, but it has revealed that as many as 15 percent of Twitter accounts show signs of being bots .

Using Botometer in conjunction with Hoaxy, we analyzed the core of the misinformation network during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. We found many bots exploiting both the cognitive, confirmation and popularity biases of their victims and Twitter’s algorithmic biases.

These bots are able to construct filter bubbles around vulnerable users, feeding them false claims and misinformation. First, they can attract the attention of human users who support a particular candidate by tweeting that candidate’s hashtags or by mentioning and retweeting the person. Then the bots can amplify false claims smearing opponents by retweeting articles from low-credibility sources that match certain keywords. This activity also makes the algorithm highlight for other users false stories that are being shared widely.

Understanding complex vulnerabilities

Even as our research, and others’, shows how individuals, institutions and even entire societies can be manipulated on social media, there are many questions left to answer. It’s especially important to discover how these different biases interact with each other, potentially creating more complex vulnerabilities.

Tools like ours offer internet users more information about disinformation, and therefore some degree of protection from its harms. The solutions will not likely be only technological , though there will probably be some technical aspects to them. But they must take into account the cognitive and social aspects of the problem.

Editor’s note: This article was updated on Jan. 10, 2019, to replace a link to a study that had been retracted. The text of the article is still accurate, and remains unchanged.

Misinformation and Biases Infect Social Media, Both Intentionally and Accidentally by Giovanni Luca Ciampaglia and Filippo Menczer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License .

Discussion Questions

• What are the major causes that make social media vulnerable to misinformation?
• What are the major effects?
• Do the examples used in the essay show a causal relationship to the topic? Explain your answers using specific details from the essay.
• Are the examples used in the essay convincing or persuasive? Explain.
• Do the authors expose new ideas or knowledge on this topic? Explain why or why not.

Student Writing Example

Effects of video game addiction.

Video game addiction is a serious problem in many parts of the world today and deserves more attention. It is no secret that children and adults in many countries throughout the world, including Japan, China, and the United States, play video games every day. Most players are able to limit their usage in ways that do not interfere with their daily lives, but many others have developed an addiction to playing video games and suffer detrimental effects.

An addiction can be described in several ways, but generally speaking, addictions involve unhealthy attractions to substances or activities that ultimately disrupt the ability of a person to keep up with regular daily responsibilities. Video game addiction typically involves playing games uncontrollably for many hours at a time—some people will play only four hours at a time while others cannot stop for over twenty-four hours.

Regardless of the severity of the addiction, many of the same effects will be experienced by all.

One common effect of video game addiction is isolation and withdrawal from social experiences. Video game players often hide in their homes or in Internet cafés for days at a time—only reemerging for the most pressing tasks and necessities. The effect of this isolation can lead to a breakdown of communication skills and often a loss in socialization. While it is true that many games, especially massive multiplayer online games, involve a very real form of e-based communication and coordination with others, and these virtual interactions often result in real communities that can be healthy for the players, these communities and forms of communication rarely translate to the types of valuable social interaction that humans need to maintain typical social functioning. As a result, the social networking in these online games often gives the users the impression that they are interacting socially, while their true social lives and personal relations may suffer.

Another unfortunate product of the isolation that often accompanies video game addiction is the disruption of the user’s career. While many players manage to enjoy video games and still hold their jobs without problems, others experience challenges at their workplace. Some may only experience warnings or demerits as a result of poorer performance, or others may end up losing their jobs altogether. Playing video games for extended periods of time often involves sleep deprivation, and this tends to carry over to the workplace, reducing production and causing habitual tardiness.

Video game addiction may result in a decline in overall health and hygiene. Players who interact with video games for such significant amounts of time can go an entire day without eating and even longer without basic hygiene tasks, such as using the restroom or bathing. The effects of this behavior pose significant danger to their overall health.

The causes of video game addiction are complex and can vary greatly, but the effects have the potential to be severe. Playing video games can and should be a fun activity for all to enjoy. But just like everything else, the amount of time one spends playing video games needs to be balanced with personal and social responsibilities.

• What are the major causes discussed in this essay?
• Do the examples used in the essay show a causal relationship to the topic? Explain your answer using specific details from the essay.
• Does the writer expose new ideas or knowledge on this topic? Why or why not?

What societal or personal issues/experiences have you observed and considered possible causes or effects?

What organizational structure would be best for the topic you are considering?

What is the relationship between your causes and effects?

• Contributory causes
• The purpose of the cause-and-effect essay is to determine how various phenomena are related.
• The thesis states what the writer sees as the main cause, main effect, or various causes and effects of a condition or event.
• The cause-and-effect essay can be organized in one of these two primary ways:
• Start with the cause and then talk about the effect.
• Start with the effect and then talk about the cause.
• Strong evidence is particularly important in the cause-and-effect essay due to the complexity of determining connections between phenomena.
• Phrases of causation are helpful in signaling links between various elements in the essay.

Reflective Response

Reflect on your writing process for the cause-and-effect essay. What was the most challenging? What was the easiest?

Additional Chapter Sources

“The 10 Most Homeless Cities in America” by Nicholas Johnson was posted on YouTube on March 20, 2020. Licensed under a YouTube standard license .

“Misinformation and Biases Infect Social Media, Both Intentionally and Accidentally” by Giovanni Luca Ciampaglia and Filippo Menczer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License .

A cause is something that produces an action, event, or condition.

An effect is what results from an action, event, or condition.

The primary cause that produces an action, event, or condition. The main clause requires critical evaluation as it may or may not be immediately obvious.

Contributory Causes are secondary circumstances that produce actions, events, or conditions. However, contributory causes alone cannot cause the action, event, or condition to occur.

Cause and Effect Copyright © 2022 by Wanda M. Waller is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Common Writing Assignments

11 The Cause/Effect Essay

The cause/effect essay delineates the reasons why—the causes—an event or phenomenon has occurred and explains the consequences—the effects—of that event or phenomenon. It is a common assignment in most school and college courses. What were the causes of the First World War and how did the war affect Canadian society? Why does Hamlet procrastinate and how does his procrastination affect the plot of the play? What causes global warning and how does global warming affect the integrity of the planet? Why did the NBA introduce the three-point shot into basketball and how has the three-point shot affected the game?

Every cause/effect essay will include causes and effects, though not necessarily in the same proportion. The writer might give them equal treatment: Here are the three main causes of global warming and here are three ways in which global warming affects our lives on planet earth. Or the writer might privilege one, depending on the purpose of the essay or the nature of the assignment. If you are writing an essay about how divorce affects teenagers, you are not necessarily going to present a full account of the causes of divorce, but rather provide some indication of its frequency as part of your introduction. If you are writing an essay about the effects on health of a vegetarian diet, you may mention the increasing popularity of vegetarianism in your introduction, but then focus your attention on the diet’s effects in body paragraphs.

Read carefully the following essay on the causes of forest fires.

Example: Why Our Forests Are Burning

Forestry ranks among British Columbia’s most lucrative industries, generating billions of dollars in export revenue and providing jobs for over 200,000 workers. However, forest fires pose a big threat to the viability of the business; in the past two years, fire has destroyed some 24,000 square kilometres of British Columbia forests. The resulting costs to the province in loss of revenue, purchase and use of expensive equipment, and overtime wages have reached nearly half a billion dollars (Lindsay). Though lightning strikes and human carelessness continue to be the leading causes of forest fires, global warming has intensified the danger in recent years.

In order to spread, fire needs fuel, oxygen, and heat. Biomass production and vegetative growth provide fuel for forest fires and the photosynthesis of living green organisms creates oxygen (Nix).  When these natural combustibles reach 572ºF, gas in the steam given off reacts with oxygen to reach its flash point with a burst of flame, creating an uncontrolled forest fire.

There are three primary classes of forest fires, depending on the types of fuels involved and their moisture content. Surface fires typically burn readily but at a low intensity; crown fires generally result from intense rising ground fire heat and occur in the higher sections of draping trees; g round fires are the most infrequent type of fire but make for very intense blazes that can potentially destroy all vegetation and organic manner, leaving only bare earth. These largest fires actually create their own winds and weather, increasing the flow of oxygen and “feeding” the fire (Nix).

Naturally caused forest fires are usually started by dry lightning, where drought accompanies a stormy weather disturbance. Lightning randomly strikes the earth an average of 100 times each second and has caused some of the most notable woodland fire disasters in North America. Because they often occur in isolated locations with limited access, lightning fires burn more acres than human-caused starts (Nix).

In 2018, between April 1 and August 27, humans were responsible for starting more than 420 of about 1,950 wildfires in British Columbia. Campfires, cigarettes, flares, and car accidents are some of the most common human causes (Smart). During periods of heightened fire activity, these wildfires divert critical resources away from the naturally caused wildfires that can’t be prevented. The Wildfire Service lumps human activities that spark fires into broad categories, including smoking, electrical, and structure or vehicle fires that spread. About 23 per cent of fires started by humans fall under the broad umbrella of “incendiary devices,” which include matches, lighters, flare guns, and others. About 22 per cent spread from campfires. And about the same number begin with open fires, which are larger fires that include burn barrels, pile burning, and large-scale industrial burning (Smart).

Today, climate change is increasing both the frequency and intensity of wildfires; severe droughts, declining snowpack, more frequent thunderstorms and extreme heat due to rapid warming in the Arctic are all contributing factors. Early in 2018, the World Meteorological Organization noted that the years 2015, 2016, and 2017 were clearly warmer than any year prior to 2015 and, in BC, numerous heat records were broken across the province in July 2018 (Riley).

Prolonged periods of drought cause forest floors to become lined with dry, dead wood. This combustible material becomes fuel for wildfires and, in hot, dry conditions, a strike of lightning or a carelessly discarded cigarette can be incendiary. Ensuing fires can rip through forests, quickly becoming a dangerous crown fire that burns from treetop to treetop. We can attribute some of these hot, dry conditions to the weakening of the jet stream, the air current that drives weather conditions in the northern hemisphere. The jet stream gets its energy from the temperature difference between Arctic areas and equatorial regions. That temperature difference is getting smaller, so that means our jet stream is getting stagnant and it stalls. A weaker jet stream means hot and dry areas stay that way. The result has obvious implications for wildfires (Riley).

Adaptation to a new climate-fuelled fire season will prove difficult. Most fire ecologists advocate for prescribed burns, whereby intentionally lit fires burn off the excess fuel in the forest. Letting fires burn may diminish the possibility of catastrophic fires in the future by reducing the amount of fuel built up in the forest. But past forestry-management practices favoured extinguishing wildfires as soon as they started, which has also contributed to increasingly devastating mega-fires.  Climate change on top of fire suppression has made the situation much worse. Even if we stopped producing greenhouse gases today, we would continue to warm for the next 50 to 100 years because of the lag in our climate system (Riley). We are going to continue to warm, so the time to act is now.

Works Cited

Lindsay, Bethany. “ The Future Looks Grim after 2 Years of Devastating B.C. Wildfires .” CBC News, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/the-future-looks-grim-after-2-years-of-devastating-b-c-wildfires-1.4801181. August 28, 2018.

Nix, Steve. “ The Origin of Wildfires and How They Are Caused .” Thoughtco, https://www.thoughtco.com/the-causal-history-of-forest-fires-1342893. July 19, 2018.

Riley, Sharon J. “ How Climate Change Is Making B.C.’s Wildfire Season Hotter, Longer, Drier .” The Narwhal, https://thenarwhal.ca/how-climate-change-is-making-b-c-s-wildfire-season-hotter-longer-dryer. August 13, 2018.

Smart, Amy. “ Humans Responsible for More Than 400 B.C. Wildfires So Far This Season .” The Globe and Mail,  https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-humans-responsible-for-more-than-400-bc-wildfires-so-far-this-season. August 27, 2018.

Why Our Forests Are Burning

Study Questions

Respond to these questions in writing, in small groups, or both.

• “Why Our Forests Are Burning” is a cause/effect essay. Are there aspects of other rhetorical modes also present? Explain your answer.
• Why and how does global warming intensify the danger of forest fires?
• Why do some fire ecologists recommend deliberately starting forest fires in some areas?
• Provide a few examples of the author’s use of rich detail to add content and interest to her essay.

Writing Assignment

Write a cause/effect essay of approximately 750 words on one of the following topics:

• Computer Science, communications, business, government, and economics are among the most popular college majors. Select one and explain why students choose to major in this subject.
• Why did Team X fail to make the playoffs this year? (Or why did Team Y finish first this year?)
• Why is the sky blue?
• Why did Nation X win (or lose) War Y?
• You can also select your own topic or one provided by your teacher.

Composition and Literature Copyright © 2019 by James Sexton and Derek Soles is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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24 Cause and Effect

It is often considered human nature to ask, “why?” and “how?” We want to know how our child got sick so we can better prevent it from happening in the future, or why our colleague received a pay raise because we want one as well. We want to know how much money we will save over the long term if we buy a hybrid car. These examples identify only a few of the relationships we think about in our lives, but each shows the importance of understanding cause and effect.

A cause is something that produces an event or condition; an effect is what results from an event or condition. The purpose of the  cause-and-effect essay  is to determine how various phenomena relate in terms of origins and results. Sometimes the connection between cause and effect is clear, but often determining the exact relationship between the two is very difficult. For example, the following effects of a cold may be easily identifiable: a sore throat, a runny nose, and a cough. But, determining the cause of the sickness can be far more difficult. A number of causes are possible, and to complicate matters, these possible causes could have combined to cause the sickness. That is, more than one cause may be responsible for any given effect. Therefore, cause-and-effect discussions are often complicated and frequently lead to debates and arguments.

Use the complex nature of cause and effect to your advantage. Often it is not necessary, or even possible, to find the exact cause of an event or to name the exact effect. So, when formulating a thesis, you can claim one of a number of causes or effects to be the primary, or main, cause or effect. As soon as you claim that one cause or one effect is more crucial than the others, you have developed a thesis.

Consider the causes and effects in the following thesis statements. Identify whether each statement is identifying a cause or an effect. Then, list a cause and effect for each one on your own sheet of paper.

• The growing childhood obesity epidemic is a result of technology.
• Much of the wildlife is dying because of the oil spill.
• The town continued programs that it could no longer afford, so it went bankrupt.
• More young people became politically active as use of the Internet spread throughout society.
• While many experts believed the rise in violence was because of the poor economy, it was really because of the summer-long heat wave.

Write three cause-and-effect thesis statements of your own for each of the following five broad topics.

• Health and nutrition

The Structure of a Cause-and-Effect Essay

The cause-and-effect essay opens with a general introduction to the topic, which then leads to a thesis that states the main cause, main effect, or various causes and effects of a condition or event.

The cause-and-effect essay can be organized in one of the following two primary ways:

• Start with the cause and then write about the effects.
• Start with the effect and then write about the causes.

For example, if your essay were on childhood obesity, you could start by talking about the effect of childhood obesity and then discuss the cause or you could start the same essay by writing about the cause of childhood obesity and then move to the effect.

Regardless of which structure you choose, be sure to explain each element of the essay fully and completely. Explaining complex relationships requires the full use of evidence, such as scientific studies, expert testimony, statistics, and anecdotes.

Because cause-and-effect essays determine how phenomena are linked, they make frequent use of certain words and phrases that denote such linkage. See the table below for examples of such terms.

Phrases of Causation

• as a result
• consequently

The conclusion should wrap up the discussion and reinforce the thesis, leaving the reader with a clear understanding of the relationship that was analyzed.

Be careful of resorting to empty speculation. In writing, speculation amounts to unsubstantiated guessing. Writers are particularly prone to such trappings in cause-and-effect arguments because of the complex nature of finding links between phenomena. Be sure to have clear evidence to support the claims that you make.

Look at some of the cause-and-effect relationships from Exercise 1. Outline the links you listed. Outline one using a cause-then-effect structure. Outline the other using the effect-then-cause structure.

Writing a Cause-and-Effect Essay

Choose an event or condition that you think has an interesting cause-and-effect relationship. Introduce your topic in an engaging way. End your introduction with a thesis that states the main cause, the main effect, or both.

Organize your essay by starting with either the cause-then-effect structure or the effect-then-cause structure. Within each section, you should clearly explain and support the causes and effects using a full range of evidence. If you are writing about multiple causes or multiple effects, you may choose to sequence either in terms of  order of importance . In other words, order the causes from least to most important (or vice versa), or order the effects from least important to most important (or vice versa).

Use the phrases of causation when trying to forge connections between various events or conditions. This will help organize your ideas and orient the reader. End your essay by drawing a conclusion based on the information presented. You may find it helpful to think of the conclusion as an answer to the question: “so what” or as a continuation of the statement “and so. . . “. In some cases, may be appropriate to issue a call to action in your essay’s conclusion.

Choose a local issue or topic that concerns you. Examine both the causes and effects of this issue or topic, and write a paragraph that outlines these using the components of a cause and effect essay.

Assignment 1

Choose one of the ideas you outlined in Exercise 3 and write a full cause-and-effect essay. Be sure to include an engaging introduction, a clear thesis, strong evidence and examples, and a thoughtful conclusion.

Key Takeaways

The purpose of the cause-and-effect essay is to determine how various phenomena are related.

• The thesis states what the writer sees as the main cause, main effect, or various causes and effects of a condition or event.
• Start with the cause and then write about the effect.
• Start with the effect and then write about the cause.
• Strong evidence is particularly important in the cause-and-effect essay because of the complexity of determining connections between phenomena.
• Phrases of causation are helpful in signaling links between various elements in the essay.

Cause and Effect Essay Example

Effects of Video Game Addiction

By Scott McLean

Video game addition is a serious problem in many parts of the world today and deserves more attention. It is no secret that children and adults in many countries throughout the world, including Japan, China, and the United States, play video games every day. Most players are able to limit their usage in ways that do not interfere with their daily lives, but many others have developed an addiction to playing video games and suffer detrimental effects.

An addiction can be described in several ways, but generally speaking, addictions involve unhealthy attractions to substances or activities that ultimately disrupt the ability of a person to keep up with regular daily responsibilities. Video game addiction typically involves playing games uncontrollably for many hours at a time—some people will play only four hours at a time while others cannot stop for over twenty-four hours. Regardless of the severity of the addiction, many of the same effects will be experienced by all.

One common effect of video game addiction is isolation and withdrawal from social experiences. Video game players often hide in their homes or in Internet cafés for days at a time—only reemerging for the most pressing tasks and necessities. The effect of this isolation can lead to a breakdown of communication skills and often a loss in socialization. While it is true that many games, especially massive multiplayer online games, involve a very real form of e-based communication and coordination with others, and these virtual interactions often result in real communities that can be healthy for the players, these communities and forms of communication rarely translate to the types of valuable social interaction that humans need to maintain typical social functioning. As a result, the social networking in these online games often gives the users the impression that they are interacting socially, while their true social lives and personal relations may suffer.

Another unfortunate product of the isolation that often accompanies video game addiction is the disruption of the user’s career. While many players manage to enjoy video games and still hold their jobs without problems, others experience challenges at their workplace. Some may only experience warnings or demerits as a result of poorer performance, or others may end up losing their jobs altogether. Playing video games for extended periods of time often involves sleep deprivation, and this tends to carry over to the workplace, reducing production and causing habitual tardiness.

Video game addiction may result in a decline in overall health and hygiene. Players who interact with video games for such significant amounts of time can go an entire day without eating and even longer without basic hygiene tasks, such as using the restroom or bathing. The effects of this behavior pose significant danger to their overall health.

The causes of video game addiction are complex and can vary greatly, but the effects have the potential to be severe. Playing video games can and should be a fun activity for all to enjoy. But just like everything else, the amount of time one spends playing video games needs to be balanced with personal and social responsibilities.

External Links

“ Women in Science ” (https://tinyurl.com/y8pggr7g) by K.C. Cole. The link to the essay is correct. It seems to be titled “Hers” but it is the correct essay.

“ Cultural Baggage ” (https://tinyurl.com/yc7qeuyp) by Barbara Ehrenreich.

Robin Tolmach Lakoff discusses the power of language to dehumanize in “ From Ancient Greece to Iraq: The Power of Words in Wartime”  (https://tinyurl.com/y76bt3ah).

Alan Weisman examines the human impact on the planet and its effects in “ Earth without People ” ( https://tinyurl.com/mswazr ).

Attributions

Content taken from Chapter 5 – Rhetorical Modes  by Jenifer Kurtz is licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

English 101: Journey Into Open Copyright © 2021 by Christine Jones is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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• Rhetorical Patterns - Cause and Effect
• Academic Departments
• Languages & Literature Department
• Rhetorical Patterns

The Rhetorical Patterns -  Organizing Essays for Different Rhetorical Situations

The following pages will provide you with several effective ways of organizing information in your essays. Oftentimes, when you know who your audience is and what your purpose is for writing (which is called your rhetorical situation), you can begin to consider the organization of what is going to be in your paper, how you will introduce your paper, and what to write for your conclusion. The following rhetorical patterns will help you answer these questions.   

Narration   |   Description   |   Process   |   Exemplification   |   Classification   |   Comparison and Contrast Cause and Effect   |   Persuasion and Argument

Cause and Effect

Definition:   Cause and effect is a logical system that organizes evidence to show how something happened. 

Description:  A cause and effect paper answers the question, “How did this happen?” Effective cause and effect analyses can be written on personal topics, perhaps by asking yourself why you happened to do something. Although many undergraduate cause and effect papers may examine larger topics and subjects, be cautious about addressing causes and effects that are global and historical; rather, work toward a logical and coherent analysis of a more manageable subject. To discover all of the causes and all of the effects forma large topic might require much more time than a single semester and much more room than five or six paragraphs. 

Conventions:  Although your writing might stem from a hunch about what caused something to happen, definitely avoid presenting your analysis as a hunch. Your readers will probably look for certain problems of logic in your writing. These problems are called logical fallacies, and most academic readers are well aware of them, and might primarily be looking for them. 

Your readers will also wonder about whether you have explained your causes sufficiently and whether you included all of the important causes. Remember that some causes are things out in the future, promises that someone will do something for now. For example, the primary cause for robbing a bank, said famed bank robber Willie Sutton, was because that was where the money was. Make sure that you present a lucid and cogent pattern of evidence to support your causal chain. For the benefit of your readers, make sure that you provide a clear thesis in the introduction and make certain that your paper works to support the thesis.

Strategies:   Your first thought should be whether your ideas about cause and effect are compatible with your assignment. Have you selected a manageable subject? Be wary of complex problems because it is often very difficult to find their causes. Many things happen for more than one reason. However, when you have selected your subject, thin first about the chronology: what happened before the effect that might have caused it? If you can think of more than one cause, then write them down and assign them values: which one was more of a cause than the other? Noted philosopher Kenneth Burke provides us with a system of five questions that help us determine the causality of events and things. You might begin the process of finding causes by posing certain questions: 

• What kind of thing am I trying to explain here?
• What type of person would do such a thing? Would a rational or an irrational person do it? 
• Where and when did this thing take place, and did the location and time have anything to do with the thing happening? 
• Was anything needed in order to accomplish the thing?
• What would be someone’s motivations to do this thing? 

Use these heuristics in order to help you find causes as you initially consider your subject. Finally, if you can find an answer to each of the five questions, then you probably will be able to find a logical explanation that helps you to avoid logical fallacies. 

Organization:   In your introduction, provide the assertion (the statement that your paper will prove). For instance, “My hometown wasted its tax money when it built that exercise trail two years ago.” Then, in the subsequent body paragraphs, provide topic sentences that summarize the logical step that each paragraph will make. “There was a gym that nobody used already.” Then, after each topic sentence, fill the paragraph with detailed, specific, and relevant facts that prove each paragraph’s claim. Give the reasoning in each of the paragraphs, and if you can think of any reasons why your readers would think otherwise, deal with those reasons by refuting them or making clear the logical superiority of your reasoning. Use signal words or transitions to connect sentences in the body paragraphs and to connect together the paragraphs. Finally, when you have reached the conclusion and you have proved your thesis, summarize the major points that support your assertion. 

What are logical fallacies?  Fallacies are problems within logic. For instance, if you thought that driving a car would always be difficult because the first time you drove a car it was extremely difficult, you would have made a logical fallacy, that of considering that all future events would be similar to one primary event. The following are several of the major categories of fallacies:

• Just because the cause came before the effect does not mean that it caused the effect, otherwise known as Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc.   This may sound really obvious to you; but there are often hidden causes, some of them that precede causes, for certain effects. Make sure that you can say that your cause came before your effect. For example, let’s say that one night there was a tremendous thunder storm with high winds, and the next morning, you walked over to your neighbor’s house and saw that her roof had a large hole in it with a tree over the hole. It seems that there is a relationship between the awful windy thunderstorm and the hole in the roof of your neighbor’s house; however, you might not be aware that a storm, which happened a week ago, knocked the tree down, which caused the hole in the roof. There may have also been some construction work and an accident happened during the construction work; the tree’s falling might just be a fluke accident that happened after the damage had already been done. Even if the tree fell and caused the hole, the real cause of the fall might have been the tree’s rotted trunk. Be aware that sometimes what we see as obvious logical cause and effect might have earlier or other factors that might explain the effect more logically. Post hoc ergo propter hoc is a difficult fallacy to spot sometimes.
• Just because there seems to be a logical relationship does not mean that the one thing is the cause of an effect.   If something happens, and you can find a cause, is the cause related to the effect? In order to test this condition, interrogate the cause and effect relationship backwards and forwards. Let’s say that Paula works for a large retail chain, Walmart, and she sleeps in late almost every morning, causing her to arrive at work late by a few minutes virtually every day. Finally, one day, her supervisor, Jillian, takes her aside and explains to Paula that because of her lateness, she is being fired. Paula rushes to the store manager’s office and explains that Jillian is firing her not because Paula came in late but because Jillian hates her. Paula has failed to achieve precondition #2, the store manager tells her, because Jillian has not fired several employees that she hates. The manager tells Paula that there must be another cause for her termination. You see, even though Jillian might hate Paula, Jillian may hate many other employees, and if she has not fired them also, the logical relationship that Paula is trying to establish is possible but not credible enough to be logical.  
• Lack of a plausible explanation or questionable cause.  This fallacy is guided by the idea that just because you see something and see something else that must be the cause, you may just not be able to see the true cause of the effect.  There might be events and effects that seem to have a cause; however, that cause may only be something that is another effect of something causing both things to happen. Similarly, if you see a dog run out to greet you every morning that it is sunny, you might want to ascribe the dog’s presence to the weather; however, the sunny weather might actually cause the dog’s owner to awake earlier than normal, and she might let the dog out earlier than normal. You see, the sun does have some possible relationship with the dog’s presence, but the actual cause is getting up earlier than normal, which is the direct cause. 
• Begging the question.  This fallacy revolves around the logical inferences that could be made about the logical relationship but are not. Begging the question fallacies often involve bringing up information and not acting on its possible ramifications to the logical relationship. For instance, recently, a political candidate said that people putting their money into Social Security should be allowed to direct their money into other investments and earn ten percent returns a year in the stock market. The promise was that people could earn a much better return in the stock market than they could by having the government hold their retirement money for them. For some people, it would seem obvious that not everyone putting money into the stock market will earn profits, especially exceptional return rates of ten percent a year. This statement “begs the question” of what will happen if the stock market collapses, the stock market gives less than ten percent, or if people lose all their retirement money. 
• Ignoring the question.  This fallacy is similar to begging the question in the sense that once information that tends to contradict the logical relationship is brought into the logic, the information is simply ignored. Normally, ignoring the question fallacies are much easier to detect than begging the questions fallacies because the contradiction created by some information supporting the logical relationship is usually made obvious by the person establishing the logical relationship. We can use the social security scenario from above for this fallacy. If the candidate had stated that the stock market was always liable to be a place where investments were lost, and he still advocated putting social security funds into the stock market, he would have ignored the question of what would be done for retirees when their social security accounts were diminished or wiped out by stock market losses.
• Circular logic.  Circular logic involves using the effect’s presence simply to justify the cause’s existence. If someone says that the reason you should give me money is because you have money and I need money, you can see that there is no other justification for the cause (my needing your money) except that the effect is present (i.e., you have money). Circular logic has what can be called perfect internal logic: everything makes sense because it is involved in the logical relationship. When you look for reasons to support the logic from outside the logical relationship, the relationship normally disintegrates and becomes illogical. 

How do I begin drafting my introduction?

When you introduce your cause and effect paper, you will want to fully understand what your primary audience will need to know about your subject before you begin discussing the causes for your effect. Consider the following questions when you begin developing the content of your introduction:

• Will your audience need to know the history, background, or context for the effect? 
• Are there people involved with the cause and/or effect that should be discussed? 
• What is your position to discuss this topic?
• What kind of statement can you make, information you can provide, or rhetorical question you can ask to begin your introduction so that your audience will be both interested and willing to read about your ideas about the cause or causes for the effect?

Your first sentence is often the most crucial sentence when you are writing for an audience already inclined toward a belief or opinion about your subject, especially a belief or an opinion that is different from what you are going to propose. 

What about my thesis statement?

Your thesis statement should end your introduction. You could also, if space permits, indicate and note some of those causes; however, like the comparison and contrast pattern, cause and effect thesis readers will rely on topic sentences and transition sentences heavily, and there is where you might consider placing the detail that you might place in, for example, an exemplification paper’s thesis statement. Knowing what your thesis statement is (in a simple, short sentence) will greatly assist them as they read. For instance, “The real estate crisis was mainly caused by Alan Greenspan’s reckless policies” is superior to a lengthy thesis statement that explained all the minor causes for the real estate crisis.

How do I draft my conclusion?

As you have gauged your audience’s needs, you will probably have a good idea about how to rephrase your main point and offer a brief overview of your evidence and causal chain. You may also want to consider the following: 

• Future implications for the cause and effect.
• Analysis of what the effect means to your readers. 

Of course, there are many other ideas that you can develop in your conclusion. 

One convention that almost all readers will look for in your cause and effect paper is that your conclusion is not the place in your paper to continue bringing up causes for the effect you have analyzed. 

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Cause & effect essays Aka reason and result

The Cause and effect essay is another common essay type, either as an essay type on its own, or as part of a larger essay which includes one or more paragraphs examining causes and effects. This page gives information on what a cause and effect essay is , how to structure this type of essay, and how to use cause and effect structure words (transition signals) for this type of essay. There is also an example cause and effect essay on the topic of women at work, as well as some exercises to help you practice this area.

What are cause & effect essays?

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A cause and effect essay looks at the reasons (or causes) for something, then discusses the results (or effects). For this reason, cause and effect essays are sometimes referred to as reason and result essays. They are one of the most common forms of organisation in academic writing. Sometimes the whole essay will be cause and effect, though sometimes this may be only part of the whole essay. It is also possible, especially for short exam essays, that only the causes or the effects, not both, are discussed. See the examples below.

• Discuss the causes and effects of global warming ['cause and effect' essay]
• Explain the high death rate in Chernobyl ['causes' only essay]
• Discuss the WTO and its effects on the Chinese economy ['effects' only essay]

There are two main ways to structure a cause and effect essay. These are similar to the ways to structure problem-solution essays , namely using a block or a chain structure. For the block structure, all of the causes are listed first, and all of the effects are listed afterwards. For the chain structure, each cause is followed immediately by the effect. Usually that effect will then be the cause of the next effect, which is why this structure is called 'chain'. Both types of structure have their merits. The former is generally clearer, especially for shorter essays, while the latter ensures that any effects you present relate directly to the causes you have given.

The two types of structure, block and chain , are shown in the diagram below.

Cause and Effect Structure Words

Cause and effect structure words are transition signals which show the cause and effect relationships. It is important to be clear which is the cause (or reason) and which is the effect (or result), and to use the correct transition word or phrase. Remember that a cause happens first , and the effect happens later .

Below are some common cause and effect structure words. X is used to indicate a cause, while Y is used to indicate the effect.

• The first cause of (Y) is (X)
• The next reason is (X)
• Because of (X), (Y)
• As a result of (X), (Y)
• As a consequence of (X), (Y)
• because/since/as (X)
• to result from (X)
• (X) results in (Y)
• to be the result of (X)
• (Y) is due to (X)
• Owing to (X), (Y)
• (Y) is because of (X)
• (Y) is the effect of (X)
• (Y) is the consequence of (X)
• Worsening pollution levels in cities are due to the increased use of cars.
• Because of the increased use of cars, pollution levels in cities are worsening.
• As a result of the increased use of cars, pollution levels in cities are worsening.
• The effect of the increased use of cars is a worsening of pollution levels in cities.
• The first effect of (X) is (Y)
• Another result of (X) is (Y)
• As a result, (Y)
• As a consequence, (Y)
• Consequently (Y)
• Therefore, (Y)
• (X) causes (Y)
• (X) has an effect on (Y)
• (X) affects (Y)
• (X) is one of the causes of (Y)
• (X) is the reason for (Y)
• Cars are used increasingly for urban transport. As a consequence , pollution levels in cities are worsening.
• Increased use of cars for urban transport adversely affects pollution levels in cities.
• Increased use of cars for urban transport is one of the causes of worsening pollution levels in cities.

Example essay

Below is a cause and effect essay. This essay uses the block structure . Click on the different areas (in the shaded boxes to the right) to highlight the different structural aspects in this essay, i.e. Causes, Effects, and structure words. This will highlight not simply the paragraphs, but also the thesis statement and summary , as these repeat the causes and effects contained in the main body.

Title: More and more women are now going out to work and some women are now the major salary earner in the family. What are the causes of this, and what effect is this having on families and society?

In the past, most women stayed at home to take care of domestic chores such as cooking or cleaning. Women's liberation and feminism have meant that this situation has been transformed and in contemporary society women are playing an almost equal role to men in terms of work. This has had significant consequences , both in terms of the family , for example by improving quality of life and increasing children's sense of independence , and also for society itself with greater gender equality . The main reasons behind the increase of women in the workplace are women's liberation and feminism. The women's liberation movement originated in the 1960s and was popularised by authors such as Simone de Beauvoir. As a consequence of this, new legislation emerged, granting women equal rights to men in many fields, in particular employment. Because of feminist ideas, men have taken up roles which were previously seen as being for women only, most importantly those related to child rearing. As a result of this, women have more time to pursue their own careers and interests. These have led to some significant effects, both to family life and to society as a whole. Although the earning capacity of a woman in her lifetime is generally much less than that of a man, she can nevertheless make a significant contribution to the family income. The most important consequence of this is an improved quality of life. By helping to maintain a steady income for the family, the pressure on the husband is considerably reduced, hence improving both the husband's and the wife's emotional wellbeing. Additionally, the purchasing power of the family will also be raised. This means that the family can afford more luxuries such as foreign travel and a family car. A further effect on the family is the promotion of independence in the children. Some might argue that having both parents working might be damaging to the children because of a lack of parental attention. However, such children have to learn to look after themselves at an earlier age, and their parents often rely on them to help with the housework. This therefore teaches them important life skills. As regards society, the most significant impact of women going to work is greater gender equality. There are an increasing number of women who are becoming politicians, lawyers, and even CEOs and company managers. This in turn has led to greater equality for women in all areas of life, not just employment. For example, women today have much stronger legal rights to protect themselves against domestic violence and sexual discrimination in the workplace. In conclusion, the increasing number of women at work has brought about some important changes to family life, including improved quality of life and increased independence for children, as well as affecting society itself. It is clear that the sexes are still a long way from being equal in all areas of life, however, and perhaps the challenge for the present century is to ensure that this takes place.

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Below is a checklist for cause and effect essays. Use it to check your own writing, or get a peer (another student) to help you.

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Sheldon Smith is the founder and editor of EAPFoundation.com. He has been teaching English for Academic Purposes since 2004. Find out more about him in the about section and connect with him on Twitter , Facebook and LinkedIn .

Compare & contrast essays examine the similarities of two or more objects, and the differences.

Cause & effect essays consider the reasons (or causes) for something, then discuss the results (or effects).

Discussion essays require you to examine both sides of a situation and to conclude by saying which side you favour.

Problem-solution essays are a sub-type of SPSE essays (Situation, Problem, Solution, Evaluation).

Transition signals are useful in achieving good cohesion and coherence in your writing.

Reporting verbs are used to link your in-text citations to the information cited.

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How to Write a Cause and Effect Essay

What is cause and effect, cause & effect databases & websites, what are cause & effect sources, the purpose of cause and effect in writing.

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A cause is something that produces an event or condition; an effect is what results from an event or condition. The purpose of the  cause-and-effect essay  is to determine how various phenomena relate in terms of origins and results. Sometimes the connection between cause and effect is clear, but often determining the exact relationship between the two is very difficult.

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Statistics can potentially be great for cause or effect. Here are some top sites for statistics.

• Data and Statistics about the U.S. (USA.gov)
• Our World in Data - The University of Oxford
• Pew Research Center
• United Nations Statistical Commission - UNSD 
• US Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)  
• US Bureau of Labor Statistics  
• US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: National Center for Health Statistics  
• US Environmental Protection Agency: Envirofacts  
• US Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics: Childstats.gov

Cause and Effect Sources are Potentially Anything that has Factual Information.

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CQ Researcher ,  Issues & Controversies ,  Gale In Context Opposing Viewpoints,  and  Gale In Context Science  can also help you come up with topics by taking a look at their browse topics pages.

You Can Use Pro & Con Sources, But...

Opinion or pro & con articles, books, or other sources can be used for cause & effect research assignments, but you have to be careful so as not to produce an unintentionally biased paper or presentation that is meant to be objective.

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• The purpose of the cause-and-effect essay is to determine how various phenomena are related.  
• The thesis states what the writer sees as the main cause, main effect, or various causes and effects of a condition or event.  

The cause-and-effect essay can be organized in one of these two primary ways:

• Start with the cause and then talk about the effect.
• Start with the effect and then talk about the cause.  
• Strong evidence is particularly important in the cause-and-effect essay due to the complexity of determining connections between phenomena.  
• Phrases of causation are helpful in signaling links between various elements in the essay.
• 10.8 Cause and Effect - Writing a Cause-and-Effect Essay Choose an event or condition that you think has an interesting cause-and-effect relationship. Introduce your topic in an engaging way. End your introduction with a thesis that states the main cause, the main effect, or both.

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Cause And Effect Essay Guide

Cause And Effect Essay Examples

Best Cause and Effect Essay Examples To Get Inspiration + Simple Tips

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How To Write A Cause and Effect Essay - Outline & Examples

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You need to write a cause and effect essay for your assignment. Well, where should you start?

Establishing a relationship between causes and effects is no simple task. You need to ensure logical connections between variables with credible evidence.

However, don't get overwhelmed by the sound of it. You can start by reading some great cause and effect essay examples. 

In this blog, you can read cause and effect essays to get inspiration and learn how to write them. With these resources, you'll be able to start writing an awesome cause and effect paper.

Let’s dive in!

• 1. What is a Cause and Effect Essay?
• 2. Cause and Effect Essay Examples for Students
• 3. Free Cause and Effect Essay Samples
• 4. Cause and Effect Essay Topics
• 5. Tips For Writing a Good Cause and Effect Essay

What is a Cause and Effect Essay?

A cause and effect essay explores why things happen (causes) and what happens as a result (effects). This type of essay aims to uncover the connections between events, actions, or phenomena. It helps readers understand the reasons behind certain outcomes.

In a cause and effect essay, you typically:

• Identify the Cause: Explain the event or action that initiates a chain of events. This is the "cause."
• Discuss the Effect: Describe the consequences or outcomes resulting from the cause.
• Analyze the Relationship: Clarify how the cause leads to the effect, showing the cause-and-effect link.

Cause and effect essays are common in various academic disciplines. For instance, studies in sciences, history, and the social sciences rely on essential cause and effect questions. For instance, "what are the effects of climate change?", or "what are the causes of poverty?"

Now that you know what a cause and effect is, let’s read some examples.

Cause and Effect Essay Examples for Students

Here is an example of a well-written cause and effect essay on social media. Let’s analyze it in parts to learn why it is good and how you can write an effective essay yourself. 

The essay begins with a compelling hook that grabs the reader's attention. It presents a brief overview of the topic clearly and concisely. The introduction covers the issue and ends with a strong thesis statement , stating the essay's main argument – that excessive use of social media can negatively impact mental health.

The first body paragraph sets the stage by discussing the first cause - excessive social media use. It provides data and statistics to support the claim, which makes the argument more compelling. The analysis highlights the addictive nature of social media and its impact on users. This clear and evidence-based explanation prepares the reader for the cause-and-effect relationship to be discussed.

The second body paragraph effectively explores the effect of excessive social media use, which is increased anxiety and depression. It provides a clear cause-and-effect relationship, with studies backing the claims. The paragraph is well-structured and uses relatable examples, making the argument more persuasive. 

The third body paragraph effectively introduces the second cause, which is social comparison and FOMO. It explains the concept clearly and provides relatable examples. It points out the relevance of this cause in the context of social media's impact on mental health, preparing the reader for the subsequent effect to be discussed.

The fourth body paragraph effectively explores the second effect of social comparison and FOMO, which is isolation and decreased self-esteem. It provides real-world consequences and uses relatable examples. 

The conclusion effectively summarizes the key points discussed in the essay. It restates the thesis statement and offers practical solutions, demonstrating a well-rounded understanding of the topic. The analysis emphasizes the significance of the conclusion in leaving the reader with a call to action or reflection on the essay's central theme.

This essay follows this clear cause and effect essay structure to convey the message effectively:

Read our cause and effect essay outline blog to learn more about how to structure your cause and effect essay effectively.

Free Cause and Effect Essay Samples

The analysis of the essay above is a good start to understanding how the paragraphs in a cause and effect essay are structured. You can read and analyze more examples below to improve your understanding.

Cause and Effect Essay Elementary School

Cause and Effect Essay For College Students

Short Cause and Effect Essay Sample

Cause and Effect Essay Example for High School

Cause And Effect Essay IELTS

Bullying Cause and Effect Essay Example

Cause and Effect Essay Smoking

Cause and Effect Essay Topics

Wondering which topic to write your essay on? Here is a list of cause and effect essay topic ideas to help you out.

• The Effects of Social Media on Real Social Networks
• The Causes And Effects of Cyberbullying
• The Causes And Effects of Global Warming
• The Causes And Effects of WW2
• The Causes And Effects of Racism
• The Causes And Effects of Homelessness
• The Causes and Effects of Parental Divorce on Children.
• The Causes and Effects of Drug Addiction
• The Impact of Technology on Education
• The Causes and Consequences of Income Inequality

Need more topics? Check out our list of 150+ cause and effect essay topics to get more interesting ideas.

Tips For Writing a Good Cause and Effect Essay

Reading and following the examples above can help you write a good essay. However, you can make your essay even better by following these tips.

• Choose a Clear and Manageable Topic: Select a topic that you can explore thoroughly within the essay's word limit. A narrowly defined topic will make it easier to establish cause-and-effect relationships.
• Research and Gather Evidence: Gather relevant data, statistics, examples, and expert opinions to support your arguments. Strong evidence enhances the credibility of your essay.
• Outline Your Essay: Create a structured outline that outlines the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. This will provide a clear roadmap for your essay and help you present causes and effects clearly and coherently.
• Transitional Phrases: Use transitional words and phrases like "because," "due to," "as a result," "consequently," and "therefore" to connect causes and effects within your sentences and paragraphs.
• Support Each Point: Dedicate a separate paragraph to each cause and effect. Provide in-depth explanations, examples, and evidence for each point.
• Proofread and Edit: After completing the initial draft, carefully proofread your essay for grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors. Additionally, review the content for clarity, coherence, and flow.
• Peer Review: Seek feedback from a peer or someone familiar with the topic to gain an outside perspective. They can help identify any areas that need improvement.
• Stay Focused: Avoid going off-topic or including irrelevant information. Stick to the causes and effects you've outlined in your thesis statement.
• Revise as Needed: Don't hesitate to make revisions and improvements as needed. The process of revising and refining your essay is essential for producing a high-quality final product. 

To Sum Up , 

Cause and effect essays are important for comprehending the intricate relationships that shape our world. With the help of the examples and tips above, you can confidently get started on your essay. 

If you still need further help, you can hire a professional writer to help you out. At MyPerfectWords.com , we’ve got experienced and qualified essay writers who can help you write an excellent essay on any topic and for all academic levels.

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• 7.2: “Cultural Baggage” by Barbara Ehrenreich
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