Tag: cause

What is a Cause-and-Effect Essay?

So, your teacher has asked you to write something called a cause and effect essay? What do you do now? First, understand what it is. This type of essay helps students understand how to logically incorporate sources (if they are required to be used). It generally revolves around some event, problem/issue, or decision/action taken that contributes to (a cause/causes) a problem and/or impacts (effect/effects(s)) someone or something (usually causing a problem/problems). So, something causes something? Exactly. So, it generally:

• helps determine how things (phenomena) are related to each other.
• has a thesis that states what the main cause or causes are, what the main effect or effects are according to research.
• It has strong evidence that supports the connections between the cause(s) and event(s).

There are many ways that students can write a cause-and-effect essay. However, this article covers one way that the essay can be written: One Cause + Multiple Effects. Please click the other types to read about them.

• One Cause + Multiple Effects
• Many Causes + One Effect
• Multiple Causes + Multiple Effects

Objectives of Article

1. Students will learn how the cause-and-effect essay is structured, specifically for one cause-multiple effects.
2. Students will learn the purpose of the overall cause-and-effect essay.
3. Students will be able to construct an outline for a cause-and-effect essay.

This article helps you arrange your thoughts so that it’s not a problem when you sit down to write. Instead, you can sail through it logically. Remember: always make sure that you understand what your instructor wants before beginning any writing project. Don’t forget to brainstorm for topics before beginning an essay.

One Cause with Multiple Effects

The outline for an essay where one cause contributes to multiple effects is below. Keep in mind that there may be more than three effects:

• Introduction
  • Introduce the cause in the form of introducing the background and what contributed to the cause. For example, there may have been a movement of medical personnel to legalize medicinal marijuana to use for cancer patients and general pain.
  • Write a thesis for your essay. One example might be:
    • (informational thesis) Medicinal marijuana has contributed to unforeseen problems, including gaps in the regulation of medical marijuana, an increase in traffic accidents related to marijuana use, and the increase in medical marijuana may have contributed to the increase in the use of other drugs.
    • (argumentative with a counterargument) While medical marijuana has been shown to help with chronic pain and reduce cancer treatment side effects, the legalization of medical marijuana has contributed to unforeseen problems, including gaps in the regulation of medical marijuana, an increase in traffic accidents related to marijuana use, and the increase in medical marijuana may have contributed to the increase in the use of other drugs.
• Body
  • Introduce Effect 1 with a source or two incorporated. For example, the first paragraph may begin like:
    • Citizens have sought out the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes in many states for many years.  Unfortunately, the swift passing of legislation sweeping across the U.S. has left a gap in regulation. Colorado is one such state. According to the governor of Colorado, “regulations cannot keep up with the increased number of producers of the crop” (Moore 2). Regulation is a critical element of successfully using marijuana as a medication to help patients. Incorporating more sources in the form of paraphrasing and explaining more about this effect will help students create an outstanding paper.
  • Introduce Effect 2 with a source or two incorporated (depends on the overall length of your paper). For example, the first paragraph may begin like:
    • Colorado and other states have experienced a significant increase in traffic accidents where drivers have tested positive for marijuana. Despite its legalization, marijuana may still contribute to driver impairment. According to one report, the increase in accidents where marijuana was used has increased 25% over the past two years (Baker 7). Compared to other substances involved in accidents, there may be a positive correlation between the legalization of marijuana and the increase in accidents that are related to marijuana. Incorporating more sources in the form of paraphrasing and explaining more about this effect will help students create an outstanding paper.
  • Introduce Effect 3 with a source or two incorporated (depends on the overall length of your paper). For example, the first paragraph may begin like:
    • There has been an overall marked increase in drug use and drug abuse since 2019, and the numbers continue to grow as more states legalize marijuana. Some might claim that there is no relationship between the growth and legalization, but according to Bell, “…it is no accident that illegal drug use and abuse are on the rise as marijuana use grows. After all, it has long been dubbed the gateway drug” (9). Incorporating more sources in the form of paraphrasing and explaining more about this effect will help students create an outstanding paper.
  • Counter – the counter is the opposing viewpoint. It is not always included and is generally reserved for argumentative papers. Here’s an example:
    • There is indeed evidence to support positive benefits to patients who experience pain or side effects of certain treatments for Cancer (Moore 1). However, the benefits do not outweigh the negative aspects of marijuana use. Generally speaking, this section will be a paragraph or so in an argumentative paper. If you are doing an informational essay, leave the counter out unless otherwise required by your instructor.
• Conclusion
  • Wrap it up. While you may add more points (that is up to you), and each section will certainly have more than one paragraph, especially at the college level, now it’s time to wrap it up. Teachers may require different things, so – again – please consult your instructor. However, here are the general guidelines.
    • Tell the readers what you just told them – in other words, sum it all up.
    • Summing it up should include the most important information. This is usually done in the form of rewording your thesis.
    • Give a “so what” statement. In other words, why is the topic important to discuss.
    • Conclude your paragraph with specific steps to address the issue and call people to take action.
  • Example (informational with a dash of argument, and that’s okay): Medicinal marijuana has been and will likely continue to be legalized in many states across the U.S. While there are some potential benefits, the cost to individuals and society may be too high. Until the country can devise appropriate oversight and strict regulations, there may continue to be gaps that contribute to illegal distribution and loss of tax money to local, state, and federal governments. The relationship between the increase in drug use and abuse needs to be the topic of additional studies to determine what other factors may be contributing to the rise in numbers, if there are any. Lastly, blood test results from accident data in states where marijuana is legal certainly raises an eyebrow and may need additional study as well. Ultimately, the legalization of marijuana needs to be carefully considered as there may be alternative and safer treatments available.

Copyright 2021 – Note that this is an original article that cannot be copied unless done so for a classroom exercise. If an example or quote is used from this article, please give proper credit to avoid plagiarism. The writer reserves all rights to this article, and all examples are original and provided for informational purposes only.