Core 110:
Effective Writing
Cause
and Effect Analysis
When
we examine causes, we look at why an event occurred. When we examine effects, we look at what resulted from an event
or action. Cause and effect
analysis can look at causes, effects, or a combination of both causes
and effects.
Cause and effect analysis is something you already do in your daily
life. Whenever you consider
the effects of a decision before you make it, you are using cause and
effect analysis. For example,
you might have considered the effects of living off campus before you
decided to live in the dormitories.
We are also asked to use this development strategy in many of our
college classes. A history
assignment might ask you to examine the causes of the Civil War or the
results of the Battle of Gettysburg.
A science class might ask you to examine the results of a crucial
scientific discovery. A literature
class might ask you to look at the effects of point of view in a particular
short story. You are already
very familiar with this type of writing!
Cause and effect analysis, like the other modes of development
that we’ve discussed, does not exist in a pure form.
We often combine other strategies with cause and effect such as
narration, illustration, and process analysis.
As with every essay you write, your essay must have a purpose and
must keep in mind a target audience.
Your purpose might be to persuade, to entertain, to inform, or
to express feelings or relay experiences.
Your introduction will often call attention to this purpose by
explaining why the cause and effect relationship is important to understand.
If we are working to explain the causes of the high divorce rate,
we might tell our reader that is important to understand these causes
so that he/she can have a healthy marriage.
Your essay must be 3 to 5 pages of double spaced text. Use no larger than a 12-point font and use 1-inch margins on
all sides. Choose an appropriate
title.
Topic
Ideas:
1.
Think
of something you do particularly well or particularly badly.
Then consider why you do that thing well or badly and how your
ability or lack of it has affected you.
2.
Identify
something about your personality, environment, or circumstances and assess
how this factor has affected you.
3.
Pick
an important decision you made sometime in your life. Make a list of the causes and effects of that decision.
4.
Identify
a problem on campus. Make
a list of causes and effects of that problem.
(Material
adapted from The Student Writer
by Barbara Fine Clouse. Topic
ideas taken directly from text.)
To
read a sample student essay, select the following link:
cause and
effect essay 1
