NOTE: You may not write about: global warming, abortion, the COVID pandemic, medical marijuana, or euthanasia.
Here is a step-by-step guide to help you organize your essay.
Be aware that you are expected to use at least two secondary sources (no wiki, no dictionary.com, no blogs-however, our texts for class are fine!) and incorporate your research into your essay. Additionally, you will have to include a works cited at the end.
Your essay should be between 1000-1200 words.
Writing the Causal Analysis/Cause Effect Essay
The cause/effect essay can be split into four basic sections: introduction, body, conclusion and Works Cited page. There are also three basic formats for writing a cause/effect:
Single effect with multiple causes–air pollution is the effect, and students would identify several causes;
Single cause with multiple effects–bullying is the cause, and students would establish several effects it has on children;
Causal Chain–this is complicated, and I try to steer students away from this format. Causal chains show a series of causes and effects. For example. dust storms between Tucson and Phoenix can be deadly causing a chain reaction of accidents. The dust is the initial catalyst. It causes car A to stop. Car B crashes into Car A. Car C crashes into Car B., etc. Global Warming is a good example of a causal chain topic. Population increase is causing an increase in traffic and greenhouse gases. It is also causing an increase in deforestation for housing, roads and farming. Deforestation means less plants to take up the CO2 and release O2 into the environment. Each item causes an effect. That effect causes another effect. All of this contributes to global warming.
The Introduction
The introduction introduces the reader to the topic. We’ve all heard that first impressions are important. This is very true in writing as well. The goal is to engage the readers, hook them so they want to read on. Beginning with a real case study pulled from your sources highlights the issue for readers. This becomes an example that you can refer to throughout the paper. The final sentence in the introduction is usually the thesis statement.
The Body
The body of the essay is separated into paragraphs. Each paragraph covers a single cause or effect. The global warming example would have separate paragraphs that explain each cause/effect relationship: population increases, increases in air pollution due to traffic exhaust and manufacturing, increases in food production and agriculture, deforestation, all causes for global warming and all intricately linked.
A body paragraph should include the following:
Topic sentence that identifies the topic for the paragraph,
Several sentences that describes the causal relationship,
Evidence from outside sources that corroborates your claim that the causal relationship exists,
MLA formatted in-text citations indicating which source listed on the Works Cited page has provided the evidence,
Quotation marks placed around any information taken verbatim (word for word) from the source,
Summary sentence(s) that draws conclusions from the evidence,
Remember: information from outside sources should be placed in the middle of the paragraph and not at the beginning or the end of the paragraph;
Be sure and use transitions or bridge sentences between paragraphs.
Conclusions
Draw final conclusions from the key points and evidence provided in the paper;
Tie in the introduction. If you began with a story, draw final conclusions from that story;
If you began with a question(s), refer back to the question(s) and be sure to provide the answer(s).
Works Cited page
A Works Cited page is a type of bibliography that is formatted according to the Modern Language Association’s (MLA) guidelines;
Citations are double spaced and placed in alphabetical order by the author’s last name;
If there is no author, then the title is used;
The first line of each entry is placed on the left margin with subsequent lines of that entry indented a half inch.
