Cause and Effect Essay
Before you start working on the paper, you must ask yourself – do you clearly understand what you’re dealing with? As any other type of assignment, a cause and effect essay has its own special features and concepts. In particular, we should talk about causation as one of the key concepts while considering this type of paper. During their lives, people try to find the answers to thousands of ‘why and how’. For that reason, it’s so important to be able to clearly identify the cause and effect of any event, phenomenon or decision. A student is also expected to do the same in the paper. The cause and effect essay is the assignment in which the writer has to describe and analyze reasons and conditions that cause certain results. In other words, a student’s task is to show how A (some specific action or event) correlates with B (its outcome and consequence) logically.
What Do You Have to Do First?
The first step is to decide on the topic (of course, if you are free to do this) or to get your assignment from your lecturer. In the first case, you will need to spend some extra time choosing what you would like to write about. In the second one, you are already directed and have some instructions to follow. Writing an informative essay requires a big amount of additional information and research to provide. If you have already figured out with the subject of the paper, it’s a perfect moment to move on.
Why Do I Need to Create the Outline
To be honest, this thing is compulsory for doing, the same when you’re writing common application essays, as the outline is a pointer or beacon that guides you during the writing process. It will prevent you from missing anything and getting out of the way. There are several available approaches to create the outline. For example, students can write or draw it by hand on a sheet of paper. For those who got used to work with computers, it is possible to use the Internet and build an essay map online. Despite the fact that students’ essay may vary in size, the general format and structure of the cause and effect essay consist of traditional three parts for any paper– the introduction, the main body and the conclusion. Another tip relating to this essay is to draw the table divided into two parts; the student should fill it with crucial points about As and Bs.
Start the Essay with a Powerful Introduction
In this part of the paper, your task is to show the reader what issues will be discussed in the next paragraphs of the paper and declare an appropriate thesis statement. First of all, the writer should catch readers on the hook and capture their attention. Ask a rhetorical question and, thus, awaken the ‘appetite’ of the reader. After that, it’s better to provide additional background information that somehow explains the cause or the effect. Please, make sure that it really fits and not just fills the blank lines. The following step is to offer a thesis statement that combines the essence of the argument in one sentence. Comment on your position in relation to the topic. In addition, you need to briefly characterize the general point of the essay. Keep in mind that you should prove the thesis in the body, that’s why the procedure of information presenting must comply with the plan.
Body Paragraphs
At this point, it’s necessary to work with the structure of the paragraph too – include introductory and concluding sentences in every paragraph, everything between them depends on you. Now we can talk about different options to offer causes and effect, but again your point of view and the subject of the essay play a decisive role. You can devote some paragraph to the cause and the next one or two to the effect – combine two things in one paragraph. Be attentive while creating these paragraphs, as the key point is not to lose the cause-effect correlation. You are ‘a ruler’, and it’s up to you to decide which approach to apply.
The Conclusion of the Essay
If you don’t know how to conclude an essay than read further. This part of the essay is connected with the introduction, and the main focus is to influence the reader’s opinion. Firstly, you check whether the thesis statement is proven or not, and only after that you paraphrase the thesis and state it again. The next action is to summarize and simplify the argument to 1-3 sentences and to finish this paragraph with a final statement. The student should emphasize the importance of this argument – explain what reasons should be considered as serious ones.
Some More Tips
- Take a look at other cause and effect essays even if they are not related to yours. You will have an opportunity to observe the typical structure and find out strong and weak points.
- Looking at the mistakes of other people might help you avoid making your own.
- Review the paper several times and make big breaks between sessions.
- Edit a printed copy of the essay – it’s easier to find mistakes.
- Show the paper to someone who doesn’t work in the area you’ve chosen the topic from and, on the contrary, to a person with more experience.
- If you doubt that you can write cause and effect essay by yourself, just order it in a writing service.
