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.
Example 1
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.
Example 2
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.
Example 3
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.
Other topics for this type of cause and effect essay are:
- 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
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.
Examples:
- 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.
Examples:
- 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.
Examples:
- 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.
Examples:
- 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.
| Topic as ‘cause’ | TOPIC | Topic as ‘effect’ |
| How being healthy effects a person’s lifestyle
|
Health | Things a person can do to achieve health
|
| The benefits of farming
|
Seed growth | The elements of farming
|
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.
Example 1:
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.
Example 2:
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.
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