Comp 100                                                                                   Instructor: Kay Benjamin

1st Draft due: Tuesday March 13                                                 Final Draft due: Thurs. April 7

 

Cause and Effect Essay (10%)

CAUSE=how or why did it happen? 
EFFECT=what are the consequences?

Cause and effect essays seek to establish a casual relationship between two or more occurrences or facts. This type of academic evidence relies heavily upon logic and established evidence. In order to convince a discerning audience of your ideas, you must make them believe your chain of evidence. Thus, providing ample and supported evidence is a must.

Select ONE of the following issues and write a cause and effect essay of at least 1000 words. Use the website provided as your source of information for the topic you select. The object of this assignment is to write a logical, well-organized, well-argued, well-articulated essay on the topic, therefore I want you to spend more time organizing and writing than searching for information. All the information you need to write the essay can be found on the website, but it’s up to you to thoroughly explore the website, read the information, and extract the information you need to construct your essay. You will need to narrow the topic enough so you can develop it fully.

  1. poverty in the United States 
    (Institute for Research on Poverty)
    http://www.irp.wisc.edu/faqs/faq3.htm

  2. media violence 
    Media violence
    http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/violence/index.cfm

  3. AIDS in Africa 
    AIDS in Africa
    http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2000/aids/

In the essay, you must first decide what you're going to focus on:

1) the causes of the problem
2) the effects or results of the problem

3) both the causes and effects

 Use the information below as a guide to organize your essay.

Writing Strategies for a Cause and Effect Essay

 

1.        Choose a topic.

2.        Decide the focus of your topic:

a.        focus on causes (i.e. Identify some possible causes of collective obsessional  

           behavior)

b.       focus on effects (i.e. Discuss the impact of WWI on two of Ernest Hemingway’s

          characters.

c.        focus on cause and effects. (i.e. The 1840’s were a very volatile period in European

           history. Choose one social, political, or economic event that occurred during those

          years, analyze its causes, and briefly note how the event influenced later

          developments in European history.)

3.        Gather information on your topic.

4.        Develop a thesis and introduction of key points.

5.        Arrange your evidence with the less important evidence first, most important

            evidence last.

6.        Develop a conclusion.

 

Structuring a Cause and Effect Essay


Focus: Causes

I.                    Introduction (thesis statement)

II.                   First Cause

III.                 Second Cause

IV.                 Third Cause

V.                   Fourth and most important cause.

VI.                 Conclusion (restatement of thesis or summary of key points)


Focus: Effects

 

I.                    Introduction (thesis statement)

II.                   First Effect

III.                 Second Effect

IV.                 Third Effect

V.                   Fourth (and most important) Effect.

VI.                 Conclusion (restatement of thesis or summary of key points)


Focus: Cause and Effect

I.                     Introduction (thesis statement)

II.                   Causes

III.                 Effects

IV.                 Conclusion ( restatement of thesis or summary of key points)