Writing a cause-effect essay requires analyzing the relationships between causes and effects. The document provides guidelines for writing a successful cause-effect essay, including (1) avoiding logical errors when analyzing causes and effects, (2) qualifying assertions with words like "often" and "likely", and (3) writing a clear and limited thesis. Organizational patterns include multiple causes with a single effect, a single cause with multiple effects, multiple causes with multiple effects, and an alternating chain of causes and effects. Transitions and an objective third-person voice should be used.

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Writing Cause- Effect Essay

2.  One of the types of the essays which require time and
efforts.
 Purpose:
 To make the students understand the relation between
the causes and effects of a particular issue/ or an
event.
 To make the students and the readers know the effects
of a certain things on other related things.
 It helps in the development of the rational faculty of the
mind and also making people use their brains to study
the relation between various things.
 It is actually easy to write a cause and effect essay.
Basic and foremost thing of concern is to choose the
topic which suits you and is also of your interest.
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3. What is a Cause and Effect Essay?
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What is a Cause and Effect Essay?
 A Cause and Effect Essay provides
reasons and explanations for events,
conditions, or behaviors.
 It involves tracing probable or known
effects of a certain cause or examining
one or more effects and discussing the
reasonable or known cause(s).

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Understanding the Assignment
 Cause and Effect Essay assignments typically use the
following language:
 "What are the causes of X?"
 "What led to X?"
 "Why did X occur?"
 "Why does X happen?"
 "What would be the effects of X?“
Define recession and discuss the probable effects a
recession would have on American society.

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Causal Relationships
Necessary Cause—One that must be
present for the effect to occur.
Combustion is necessary to drive a
gasoline engine.
Sufficient Cause—One that can
produce an effect unaided, though
there may be more than one sufficient
cause of a given effect.
A dead battery is enough to keep a car
from starting, but faulty spark plugs or
an empty gas tank will have the same
effect.
Contributory Cause—One that helps
to produce an effect but cannot do so
by itself.
Running a red light might help to
cause an accident- although other
factors such as pedestrians and other
cars- must also be present.

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Guidelines for writing a cause- effect essay
a) Analyze the relationships among causes and effects carefully:
 Avoid the following logical errors when analyzing causes and effects:
 Post hoc is a logical error when one assumes that because one event comes
after another, the first is the cause of the second.
 If you eat out and then get sick than evening, you cannot automatically assume
that what you ate made you sick.
 Oversimplifying multiple causes is an error that occurs when you pinpoint one
thing as a cause when, in fact, there are many causes.
 For example, if you want to talk about why HIV is spreading so rapidly in
southern Africa, you cannot just say that people are having too much
unprotected sex. You should examine the economic, social, religious, and
medical conditions that lead to higher rates of infection.
 Mistaking a correlation for a cause results when you see two things occur
together and assume that one causes the other. For example, for many years,
scientists have believed that high cholesterol causes heart disease because
people with heart disease often have high cholesterol. They assumed that the
correlation between cholesterol and heart disease showed that one caused the
other. But some recent research is raising the possibility that the scientists'
assumption about cause is false. In fact, both high cholesterol and disease may
be caused by a third factor, namely, high levels of a certain amino acid.
 The use of factual evidence to show the cause and effect relationship.

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b) Qualify your assertions:
 In many instances it is impossible to prove that once
event caused another. When you write about a correlation
or a cause that you cannot definitively prove, do not
overstate your case by writing as if what you say is
always true. Instead, qualify your evidence with words
and phrases like "often," "frequently," "likely," or
"probably." Then your readers will realize that you
understand the limitations of your argument.
An explanation of the issue in combination with a
cause/effect analysis will allow the reader to understand
your point of view.

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c) Write the thesis carefully:
Your thesis should be clear and limited.
For example, "divorce has many effects" is far too broad and vague.
A more limited thesis- for example, "Of all the psychological effects of
divorce, the pervasive feeling of failure is often one of the most
devastating"– provides a clearer focus for both the writer and the reader.
Once the thesis has been limited, the writer can then use the techniques
of narration, description, or illustration to provide evidence for the thesis.
In contrast to the socially involved youth of the 1960’s, many young
people today tend to remove themselves from political issues. What do
you think are the sources of the political apathy found among 18- to 25-
year-olds?
A number of experts forecast that drug abuse will be the most significant
factor affecting American productivity in the coming decade. Evaluate the
validity of this observation by discussing the impact of drugs on the
workplace.

10.  Although divorces have leveled off in the past few
years, the number of marriages ending in divorce
is still greater than it was a generation ago. What
do you think are the causes of this phenomenon?
 Americans never seem to tire of gossip about the
rich and famous. What effects have this
fascination with celebrities had on American
culture?
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11.  Organize the causes and/or effects to suit your
purpose:
 Four basic organization patterns are available for writing
casual analysis. These are as follows:
 Multiple Causes Single Effect. E. g.,
Are you aware that 20 million people in Mexico live on less than two
dollars a day? Sixty million people, half the Mexican population, live in
poverty, and 20 million of them live in extreme poverty. Most of the time,
garbage is their food, and some days, they do not even eat anything.
This critical situation in Mexico is caused by individual, geographic and
political factors. The purpose of this essay is to analyze these three
main causes of poverty in Mexico.
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Cause N° 1
Cause N° 2
Cause N° 3
One Effect: Poverty

12.  Single Cause Multiple Effects:
 How many times have you heard about the consequences of
alcoholism? Have you taken them into account? Alcoholism is
one of the major problems in society. The effects of this
disease are really serious. Many people get used to drink
alcohol, and they can easily abuse; that is the problem. The
purpose of this essay is to discuss the physical, psychological,
and economic effects of alcoholism.
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Alcoholism
Physical
Psychological
Economic

13.  Multiple Causes Multiple Effects (Domino organization):
Since the middle of this century, women around the world have been seeking
greater independence and recognition. No longer content with their traditional
role as housewives and mothers, women have joined together to create the so-
called “women’s liberation movement.” While the forces behind this international
movement vary from culture to culture and from individual to individual, the basic
causes in the United States can be traced to three events: the development of
effective birth control methods, the invention of labor-saving devices for the
home, and the advent of World War II.
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Introduction
Cause N°1
Cause N°2
Cause N°3
Transition
Effect N°1
Effect N°2
Effect N°3
Conclusion

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16.  Alternating Causes/Effects in a Chain (Chain organization):
 This pattern is used to write down the causes and effects in a chain organization, in which one event
causes a second event, which in turn causes a third event, which in turn causes a fourth event, and so
on.
Doctors have recently started to study the causes of a medical disorder which they have appropriately
named sad, or seasonal affective disorder. People who suffer from sad become very depressed during
the winter months. Their depression appears to be the result of a decrease in the amount of sunlight
they are exposed to. Doctors theorize that decreased sunlight affects the production of melatonin, a
hormone manufactured in the brain, and serotonin, a chemical that helps transmit nerve impulses.
Depression may result from the ensuing imbalance of these two substances in the body. Also, doctors
believe that a decrease in the amount of sunlight the body receives may cause a disturbance in the
body’s natural clock, which could, in turn, result in symptoms such as listlessness, oversleeping, weight
gain, anxiety, irritability- all symptoms of depression.
Cause
Effect
Cause
Effect
Cause
Effect
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18. Use appropriate transitions
Cause and Effect Degrees of Certainty Levels of Importance
as a result certainly above all
because may equally important
consequently necessarily finally
due to perhaps first
if....then possibly initially
leads to probably last
therefore undoubtedly primarily
thus unquestionably second
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Avoid Negative Statements and Bias
 Avoid biased statements or make negative
statements to the reader
 The American public is too blind to see that the
death penalty is wrong. Voter ignorance is one
contributing factor that allows policies like the
death penalty to come into law.
 More death penalty education is needed to
provide the voting public with the information
they need to make informed decisions.

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Use the 3rd Person
 I believe that the death penalty is wrong
because it is a state sanctioned form of
murder.
 The death penalty is wrong because it is a
state sanctioned form of murder.
 The removal of the “I believe that” makes the
sentence more forceful. The purpose of a cause and
effect paper is to be as convincing as possible and to
convince readers to accept the cause and effect as
plausible.

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Points to Remember
 Explain the issue, avoid negativity and bias, and
use the 3rd person voice to make your
assertions.
 Perform a causal relationship analysis—make
sure your cause and effect relationships are
valid before you start writing.
 Transitional words will help pinpoint the
similarities and differences for the reader – be
sure to use them.