A cause-effect essay tells how one event (the cause) leads to another event (the effect). In other words, your essay may focus more on the effects of a cause or more on the causes of one effect. Either approach provides a useful means of discussing the possible relationship between the two events.

Meanwhile, Green and Lawlor, define cause and effect as “a way to identify and analyze the reasons why things happen or the outcomes of both” (275).

With the above definitions in mind, your task is to choose an event or condition that you think has an interesting cause-and-effect relationship. Introduce your topic in an engaging way. End your introduction with a thesis that states either the main cause, the main effect, or both. Organize your essay by starting with either the cause-then-effect structure or the effect-then-cause structure. Within each section, you should clearly explain and support the cause and effect using a full range of evidence. If you are writing about multiple causes or multiple effects, you may choose to sequence either the terms of order of importance. In other words, order the causes from the least to most important (or vice versa), or order the effects from least important to most important (or vice versa).

IMPORTANT

Use MLA format for this third-person research paper. The essay must be 4 – 5 pages long. The 5th or 6th page will be the Works Cited page wherein you provide a list of the citations used throughout the essay. Your essay must have in-text citations. You must provide quotes and paraphrases to support your claims. Qualify your sources by stating who they are and what they do. As always, the thesis must be the last sentence of the introductory paragraph. You need at least two research sources.   “””