MEETING FOURTEEN

Cause-Effect Essay

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 We all understand cause-effect relationships; for
example, lightning can cause a fire. If a student
What is a doesn’t study for a test, he/she may not perform
Cause-Effect well. A cause effect essay tells how one event
Essay? (the cause) leads to another event (the effect)

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 • In five-paragraph essays, we usually
focus on the causes or the effects.
• It’s not so much a cause and effect

What is a essay as a cause or effect essay.

Cause-Effect • A thesis statement in the introduction
Essay?
will tell if the essay is about causes or
effects.

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 What is a Cause-Effect Essay

• A cause-effect essay can do one of two things:

– It can analyze the ways in which one or more effects can result from
a particular cause (“Focus on Effects” method)
– Or it can analyze the ways in which one or more causes lead to a
particular effect (“Focus on Causes” method)

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• There are different types of causes.
• What we first see are often the superficial,
contributing reasons.
• Hiding just out of sight are the fundamental
causes.
• The single and most important cause is the Are there
primary cause. kinds of
• For example: Pollution is caused by
transportation, manufacturing, and humans. causes?

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 • Of course, not every cause-effect essay is about the
causes.
• In fact, some may center on the effects of a single
cause.
• Example Topic:
What are the effects of air pollution?
• Example Thesis:
Can we write Air pollution negatively affects plants, animals, and
humans.
on effects?

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What makes a great topic?

• When selecting topics for this type of essay, a good writer

should consider questions such as:
– What is the end effect?
– Is there one primary effect, or are there several effects?
– Is there one primary cause, or are there several causes?

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What makes a great topic?

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 • Don’t lose focus by covering too many parts of
an issue.
What • You can’t cover all of the effects of air
pollution: just pick three important ones to
should be write about.
avoided? • For example, use air pollution’s effect on
plants, animals, and humans.

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 The Effects of Entering a University
Entering a university is a very important and
interesting experience in a person’s life, but at the
same time it is an experience that will change
Model your lifestyle and personality forever. The
Cause-Effect purpose of this essay is to discuss the three main
effects of entering a university which are missing
Essay old friends, learning how to survive during
university, and developing responsible behavior
which must accompany university studies.

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 The first and also the most common effect
of entering a University is that once you enter the
new school, you start missing your old friends.
There are many reasons you and your friends
start splitting apart and leaving to study in
different cities or schools, but feeling sad
because you miss them is inevitable. This doesn’t
mean you are never going to see your friends
again, but it isn’t the same to be at school without
your best friends.

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 The second effect of entering a university is
the fact that you have to get acquainted with the
entire university environment. Being at junior high
or at high school is completely different than
being in a university, so you have to learn how to
survive in it. During university studies you have to
search for your own way to success because at a
university, teachers are not going to solve your
problems.

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 The third and most important effect of
entering a university is the responsible behavior
you must develop during your way through the
university. Entering a university forces you to be a
responsible person because you are the only one
who will care about you. During university studies
you are in charge of your life and of the decisions
that you make such as doing or not doing
homework, going or not going to class, etc. Being
a responsible person is essential for anyone in
this world; without responsibility a person’s life
can be a mess and will never reach success.

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 Entering a university, as everything that is
new in our lives, can be terrifying at first, but with
a little bit of effort, it can become one of the
greatest experiences of our lives. It is very
important to enjoy our university studies because
it will help us become independent and
responsible people, only if we learn how to
survive it.

From: Advanced Composition for Non-Native Speakers of English,

http://eslbee.com

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Block Organization
You can organize a cause-effect essay in two main ways: “block”
organization and “chain” organization. In block organization, you Organization
first discuss all the causes as a block (in one, two, three, or more for Cause-
paragraphs, depending on the number of causes). Then you discuss
all the effects together as a block. You can discuss either causes Effect Order
or effects first. Of course, you can also discuss only causes or
only effects.

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Block
Organization

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Block
Organization

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Chain Organization
In this pattern, causes and effects are linked to each other in a
chain. One event causes a second event, which in turn causes a
third event, which in turn causes a fourth event, and so on. Each
new cause and its effect are links in a chain. Depending on the
Organization
complexity of the ideas in each link, you can devote a n entire for Cause-
paragraph to one link, or you may include several links in one Effect Order
paragraph, or you may describe the entire chain in one paragraph.
Chain organization usually works better than block organization
when the causes and effects are too closely linked to be
separated. Notice the chain pattern in the following diagram.

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Chain
Organization

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The product of a brainstorming activity is a set of ideas, but the
ideas are not necessarily organized in the order in which they will
BRAINSTORMING:
appear in the final essay. Clustering is the process of grouping CLUSTERING
similar ideas to develop the information into a thesis statement, INFORMATION
topic sentences, and supporting details.

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 BRAINSTORMING:
CLUSTERING
INFORMATION

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 Look at the outline elements below. Answer the questions that follow.

Thesis Statement

The factors that determine if an individual can have a successful career in

professional sports include physical ability, mental clarity, and working well
with others.
Developing ideas into
an outline BODY PARAGRAPH 1 BODY PARAGRAPH 2 BODY PARAGRAPH 3
To become a Another factor that An athlete must work
professional athlete, a contributes to a well with others.
person must be successful career in • listen to the coach's
athletically gifted. sports is a strong mind. advice
• a strong body • manage stress • support other team
• speed • make fast strategic members
• avoid injuries decisions • cooperate with other
players

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 Practice 1

Answer the questions.

1. Read the thesis statement. According to the writer, what
causes lead to success in professional sports?
2. How has the writer organized the body paragraphs?
3. What is the topic in body paragraph 1?
4. What is the topic in body paragraph 2?
5. What is the topic in body paragraph 3?
6. How do the details support the topic sentences?
a. They provide descriptions. b. They give facts and statistics.

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Practice 2

Read these ten paragraph titles. Choose the five titles that are the most appropriate for a
cause-effect essay.

a. ____ My First Day Working at a Restaurant.

b. ____ Some Common Reasons for Quitting a job.
c. ____ The Impact of High Gasoline Prices.
d. ____ The Causes of War.
e. ____ The Damaging Effects of a Tsunami.
f. ____ The Beatles: The Greatest Group Ever?
g. ____ Inside the Winter Olympics.
h. ____ How Graduating from College Changed My Life.
i. ____ Summer Vacations versus Winter Vacations.
j. ____ A Comparison of Mark Twain’s The A dventures of Tom
Sawyer and The A dventures of Huckleberry Finn.
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Practice 3
The following short essay
describes a simple chain
reaction.

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Practice 3
The following short essay
describes a simple chain
reaction.

- Oshima, A. & Hogue, A. (2006). Writing Academic English 4th Edition. Pearson Longman.

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