Cause & Effect Essays and How to Write them

[Music] if you need help with practicing your writing skills check out these workbooks that can be useful in improving your academic writing skills the link is in the description below the cause and effect essay is a type of essay that is used in many academic writing situations because of this knowing how to write a cause and effect essay is a useful skill to have let's take a look at how to write this type of essay [Music] a cause and effect essay looks at the causes or the reasons for something and then discusses the effects or results of the situation they are one of the most common forms of organization in academic writing the cause and effect type of organization can be used as a complete essay or as part of a longer essay this style of essays often used in academic writing so it's a good idea to learn how to use this method you might also only write about the causes or only about the effects as in explain the high rates of suicide in japan this would be an essay only about the causes or discuss the effects of the global economic crisis in this essay you would only write about the effects there are different types of cause and effect essays the first type is when there are many causes with one effect in this type of essay you'll talk about perhaps three possible causes of one effect or one result the second type is when there is one cause and many effects and a third type is called a chain of causes and effects in this type of essay one paragraph would talk about one cause and the effect it brings followed by two more paragraphs in the same pattern now there are two major ways to structure this type of essay we can use either the block method or the chain method for the block method you would use this pattern you would write an introduction paragraph followed by a paragraph or paragraphs about your causes for your topic this would be followed by a transition sentence or a paragraph after which you would write more paragraphs about the effects and then finally your conclusion paragraph in the chain style of structure you would write an introduction paragraph and then in your first body paragraph you would write about the first cause and its effect and you would continue in your second and third body paragraphs in the same way then finally your conclusion paragraph let's look at a few good cause and effect vocabulary words there are some nouns that are often used in this type of essay words like cause reason factor result effect now you would use these words for example saying something like the main factor for this situation is or the main effect of this situation is that notice that the word cause can be used as a noun as well as a verb in the noun form you would say the cause of something is this whereas as a verb you would use it in this way the flooding caused by the rain now these other verbs including result in lead to effect are all very good words to use in a cause and effect essay be careful when using the words effect and effect effect is a noun affect is a verb let's look at how we might use some of these words in a phrase or a sentence in your essay the first cause of a is x now you might be writing something like the first cause of cancer is smoking and in the same way you could use the other pattern using the effect side the first effect of smoking is cancer now you could also say because of a x is true or the result of x is a so again because of smoking cancer can be a serious problem or the result of smoking is cancer in the same way we can use these phrases as a result of a x is true or as a result a is true as a consequence of a x is true consequently a is true a results in x therefore a is true a is because of x or x affects a so again in this example we could say something like cancer is the effect of smoking or smoking is one of the causes of cancer a is the consequence of x x is the reason for a all of these are good phrases to use in your cause and effect essays be careful to note that some of the phrases require a comma while others do not let's look at a few of the verbs that you can use in this type of essay the verbs cause result in and lead to are all they all describe a change and are followed by a result you want to use the word cause when the effect is direct and immediate the new policy caused great debate use the words lead to and result in when it's less direct or is delayed the new policy led to or resulted in more meetings being held here are some patterns that you can use for your essays the policy change caused some people to complain here the pattern is the word cause plus someone or something plus an infinitive for example to complain to study to buy et cetera in the second sentence the policy led to or resulted in the school meeting school needing to hire more teachers again the pattern is lead to or result in plus someone or something plus the gerund form or the ing form needing studying making etc one possible way to write the sentences is like this the signal word or phrase plus the cause plus the effect here's an example due to the fire there was significant damage to the building you can see here the signal word is due to the cause is the fire and the effect is the damage to the building another way that you could write your sentence is in this way the effect plus the signal or phrase plus the cause there was significant damage to the building due to the fire in this sentence the effect comes first followed by the signal word and then the cause let's look at a few of the different patterns of how to write your cause and effect essay first let's look at the type when there are many causes with one effect now if we were talking about cancer and what causes it we could write this pattern we would have three causes smoking sun and genetics and one effect or result cancer let's take this question and try brainstorming for some ideas what causes people to have eating disorders the first thing we need to do is some brainstorming what are some causes after some brainstorming or research perhaps you find these three causes genetics emotional health stress then you could use these three ideas to write your thesis statement you might write something like this eating disorders can occur due to multiple causes including genetics emotional health as well as stress this would make a very good clear thesis statement for your essay now let's look at the type where we have one cause with many effects in this case if we were talking about smoking is the cause we might have three effects lung damage heart disease vision problems again let's try using a question to practice how to write this type of essay what are the effects of divorce on children again the first thing we need to do is some brainstorming maybe you come up with these ideas poor academics difficulty adapting to change and anger using these ideas you could write a thesis statement something like this poor academic achievement difficulty adapting to change and having anger issues are a few of the many effects divorce has on children finally let's talk about the chain of causes and effects here we may be talking about pollution and our first cause would be factory waste now the effect of this is that toxic chemicals appear in water and in the ground cause number two could be gas emissions with the effect of hazardous air pollutants and cause number three could be plastics with the effect of being harmful to ocean creatures let's practice with this question more women are working outside the home what are the causes of this and what effect does it have on our society after some brainstorming you may come up with these causes for why women are working outside the home financial reasons being a single parent wanting to further their career you may think of these effects on society maybe there'd be more consumers because of these women working and there would be a need for more daycares and there would be more female input into the workforce now with these ideas you could write a thesis statement like this financial needs being a single parent as well as the desire to further their career causes many women to enter the workforce and bring various effects on our society as a whole now in this type of cause and effect essay it's better not to add all the causes and effects in your thesis statement as it becomes too long and cumbersome as you can see there are different ways to write a cause and effect essay practice writing the various ways presented in this video be sure to use some of the vocabulary that are found in these types of essays and remember that this technique can be used within another type of essay as well as just a cause and effect essay happy writing and be sure to check out my workbooks that are designed to be used along with these videos [Music] you

Channel: Writing Better

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Length: 14min 3sec (843 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 29 2022