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HOW TO DEVELOP A CAUSE/EFFECT ESSAY:

CAUSE: The reason why something happens.


EFFECT: The result of an event or a series of events.
There are three types of essays that use a cause/effect relationship as the main method of organization. These
essays indicate the method of organization in the way the thesis statement is phrased.
1. The first type is the essay that assumes that the cause of an event or phenomenon is easily identifiable, but the
effect is complex. This type of essay wishes to examine only the effects of a given phenomenon. Here is an
example of a thesis statement that reflects this method of organization:
Obesity is directly linked to several life-threatening disorders.
Can you identify the topic of this statement? The argument? What is the cause in this statement? What is the
effect? What will the rest of the essay go on to discuss?
2. The second type of essay assumes that the effect is direct and easily identifiable, but the causes are complex
and require elaboration. Here is a sample thesis statement that reflects this type of essay:
Several factors contribute to obesity in children.
What is the topic of this thesis statement? The argument? What is the cause in the statement? What is the
effect? What will the rest of the essay go on to discuss?
3. In some essays, the cause/effect relationship is quite complex, and the writer may wish to discuss the
interaction between causes and effects. Here is an example of that kind of thesis statement:
Because of the increased stress in their lives, women are suffering from more stress-related diseases now than ever
before.
What cause does this thesis identify? What is the effect? The writer can choose to arrange the material he/she
has collected for this essay in one of two different ways:
i. Write the first half of the essay discussing the reasons for increased stress in womens lives, and the
second half talking about the increase in stress-related disorders.
ii. Write up two or three case-studies in which individual examples where increased stress lead to stress
related disorders are discussed.

There are some rules that you should follow when creating a thesis for a cause/effect essay:
1. Dont make the subject (topic) too general. It is easier to discuss a cause/effect relationship for a limited
group than for a general population. For example, if you are talking about the effects of smoking, you have to limit
your study to a sample population: the effects may be quite different depending on whether you are talking about
teen-aged boys, or middle-aged women. If you try to generalize the effects to all populations, you will find it very
difficult to pinpoint common effects.
2. You must pinpoint the important cause for a given effect. In other words, you have to think deeply about
the cause that you have identified and how it relates to the effect. Dont examine secondary causes at the expense
of the primary cause. For example, too many sports on the weekend may cause students to be tired in class;
however, the student may also be tired because he/ she went to bed at 1 oclock the night before.
3. Just because one event follows another, you cant assume that the first causes the second. This could lead to a
logical fallacy. For example, if you found that women who like ice-cream have more children than women who
dont like ice-cream, could you assume that liking ice-cream is an indication of fertility? Similarly, could you assume
that because women who go to college or university are more likely to get divorced than women who dont attend
post-secondary institutions, that going to university or college causes women to get divorced? There may be
other, less obvious causes for this phenomenon, and to assume that the one thing causes the other would be a
logical fallacy.
4. When looking for cause/ effect relationships, you must be careful not to assume relationships that seem to
confirm pre-existing prejudices.
5. You should explore the causes behind the causes. If two things seem to be connected in a cause/effect
relationship, you should ask yourself why this is so. Are there other factors to be considered that would
strengthen your reasons for considering this to be a cause\effect relationship?
6. Similarly, you should look for multiple causes and effects. It is very rare that an event or phenomenon is
caused by only one factor. For example, if there is a cause/effect relationship between heart disease and smoking,
other factors, such as hereditary heart disease will also play a part in determining whether an individual who
smokes will get heart disease.

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