To write a cause and effect essay, you rsquo ll need to determine a scenario in which one action or event caused certain effects to occur. Then, explain what took place and why! this essay allows us to identify patterns and explain why things turned out the way that they did. how do i choose a topic and get started? try choosing a major event, either in your own life or an event of historical significance.

To narrow a cause and effect topic down to a manageable size, ask yourself hellip
what's the main most important cause? most people attribute it to the stock market crash. Can i break the different types of effects down into categories? yes! i'll break my ideas down into categories like: economic, social, employment, practical, and morale effects. example below which category interests me the most? practical effects is the most interesting. I'll narrow the topic of my paper down so that my essay will now be about how the stock market crash affected the practical ways that people lived their lives during the great depression.
can that category be broken down even further to make the topic more manageable? i'm actually interested in the ways that the great depression affected the farming industry. I want to talk about the new skills and methods that farmers were forced to learn and implement, as a result of their difficult situation. can i break the different types of effects down into categories? yes! i'll break my ideas down into categories like: economic, social, employment, practical, and morale effects. it seems like writing a piece governed by cause and effect should be easy. Without cause and effect, we might not stick to our exercise or healthy eating regimens. These if then statements are examples of the logic of cause and effect in action.

Powerful stuff, right? cause and effect is as natural to our thinking processes as peanut butter and jelly, ham and cheese, hummus and tabouli. But actually, cause and effects seeming ease hides a morass of possible problems. Its a lot harder to construct a powerful cause and effect argument than it appears. Like the other organizational strategies weve examined, comparison/contrast and analysis. As you construct your next cause and effect argument, take care to avoid these pitfalls: dont confuse correlation with causation. say, for example, that you come to work on time or early every day for a week. Did your newfound punctuality cause your raise? in terms of logic and argumentation: no. The punctuality occurred before the raise the punctuality did not necessarily cause the raise.

resist using cause and effect to place blame. we know two things about the blame game. Placing blame is a culturally reinforced behavior, but it is one that many of us want to do less. Differentiating between determining cause and assigning blame can be difficult, but the easiest way to do it is through tone.

Present the cause as objectively as possible, and save your persuasive chops for proving that causes validity. Another way to walk the line between causation and blame is to present evidence fairly and fully. The more completely you can provide evidence to support your causation claim, the less like blame it will seem to your reader.

I recently wrote a guest post for livsimpl that focused on ways to simplify your writing. What is good for your schedule, your living environment or even your writing style, however, is not generally good for your argumentation. What is its cause? is it your job? your family? too little sleep? too many twinkies? not enough exercise? onerous commute? deferred life goals? chances are, more than one factor is causing your stress, and pretending otherwise only heightens that stress. By respecting its inherent complexity, you can construct more effective cause and effect arguments. If you like what you have read, i hope youll become a regular reader by subscribing to writing powers rss feed.