A cause and effect essay is a basic essay type that is commonly used in college. However, cause and effect essay writing actually begins when in grade school and is used up through higher education. Understanding cause and effect is extremely important as these types of essays help with critical thinking and understanding of relationship between ideas.
Typically a cause and effect essay looks at topics that are multi-faceted and not just one dimensional to explore the relationship between them. These types of essays create many different types of views typically on the same topic since each writer will view the cause and effect of different topics and relationships differently.
The information
within the essay needs to pertain directly to the topic and the cause and effect. There needs to be plenty of research with credible resources cited within the essay. The essay begins with the introduction, which should clearly define the topic that is going to be covered. Many times, the cause or the effect is used as the topic or thesis of the essay. Also, some professors may require that the essay to be written from the cause or the effect view. Alternatively, your essay can also be written to cover what causes create certain effects. Either way, the thesis needs to be clearly defined and easy to understand as well so the reader knows if it is the cause or the effect that is being covered.
The rest of the essay is the body and conclusion. The length of the paper will be determined by the professors requirements, as well as how in depth the cause and effect essay needs to be covered. Typically, there are 5 paragraphs that can be used. There is the introduction, three body paragraphs and the conclusion. However, again it will depend on the requirements of the paper and the topic itself. There can also be an introduction paragraph and four or five body paragraphs and a conclusion paragraph as well as other variations.
The body of the essay should clearly define the causes or effects, depending on which angle the essay is being written from. Each paragraph should cover one point or topic and then lead into the next paragraph so that all the ideas are connected together. There should be the topic sentence that is used to cover the main idea of the paragraph, and then the rest of the paragraph should go into further detail. This will ensure the causes or effects are clearly defined and there is a proper flow to the paper as well.
The last paragraph is the conclusion and you should restate the thesis, but in a different way. It should summarize the entire essay, but there should be no opinion added here. Cause and effect essays are about facts, not opinions. There should also not be any ideas, problem solving or any type of call to action either. The cause and effect essay needs to be stated factually so the reader than draws their own conclusions instead.