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Making an Essay: Cause and Effect

The cause and effect essay is a common assignment in high school, with some teachers sometimes assigning it in college. It is a good essay to practice because many of the bigger and more difficult academic papers naturally require you to write in a way that presents causes and their effects. This skill may even be used in your future work as cause and effect is a natural part of business and even political presentations.

So read on to pick up some pointers on how to create this essay.

  1. Choose a topic you understand well

If you are given this essay as a standard assignment, you will probably not need to do thorough research. Thus, you should pick a topic you know well so you can easily come up with possible causes and effects even if you just have one source (or even no source, if the teacher permits).

  1. A catchy Introduction and solid Conclusion

Just like the other essays, you need an Introduction that will hook your reader at the very start. This can be done through a famous quote or even a true story of something connected to your topic.

The Conclusion should summarize what the Body says in an impactful way. A weak ending will hurt your paper despite a great Intro and Body, so spend ample time thinking of how to end your paper. 

  1. Different methods for the Body

As the main purpose of the essay, how to present the causes and effects will greatly affect your score. There are two ways to do this.

Block structure

In the block structure, all of the causes are first presented in the initial paragraph of the Body. The causes are then discussed in the next paragraph. This method is often used as it is easier to present, especially transition-wise.

Chain structure

In this method, each paragraph presents a cause and its direct effect. This allows the reader to already know the reason for each outcome. This is helpful if the effect corresponds only to a particular cause, which lessens confusion.

For example, in an essay about lifestyle issues and how they affect school, you can already connect “sleeping late” to “being late to class” in the same paragraph. This is then followed up by linking “prioritizing video games” to “incomplete assignments.” It becomes easier for the reader to understand.

  1. Check your work

It is always a good habit to recheck your work, even if you have spelling and grammar check capabilities in your word processor, or you use a grammar application. These programs are not 100% accurate so be wise and recheck.

If you have the time, try reviewing your work after you’ve had a sufficient rest or even a meal. You will find that when your mind is fresh, you will notice the spelling and grammar errors, and more importantly, the logical errors in your essay.

Summary

The cause and effect essay is a standard essay assigned in class to practice your writing skills. Do consider the tips above so that your essay can achieve the grade that you are looking for.