When you eat a really good pizza, you say, “yum” and likely reach for another slice. That’s basic cause and effect. The pizza was good, so you responded and ate more. You’ve probably partaken in so many examples of cause and effect without even knowing it, so you already have the basic recipe to create an amazing piece of writing. But how do you turn all that into a zesty cause and effect essay?
Sometimes called reason and result essays, cause and effect essays are a type of essay that explores how an event or situation came into being (the cause) and what happens or transpires because of that event or situation (the effect). The purpose of these types of essays is to explore the “why” or “how” of a situation.
You might see some slight variations in the structure of a cause and effect essay, but for the most part, you’re looking at a pretty rigid outline.
A basic cause and effect essay structure would look like:
Shorter cause and effect essays (especially in timed essay situations) tend more toward discussing just the cause or just the effect.
For example, a prompt might ask you to explain why cheeseburgers cost so much. In that case, you’d mostly be writing about the cause of that increased price, as the high cost is already the implied effect.
Alternatively, the prompt might ask you to discuss how high cheeseburger prices have affected society, which would have you writing mostly about the effect of high burger prices.
You have a really solid idea of what should go into a cause and effect essay, but it never hurts to see an example in action. Maybe it’ll help you generate new ideas for your own cause and effect essay.
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As with other essays, the intro paragraph acts as the space for you to introduce your subject. With a cause and effect essay in particular, the intro is important for setting the stage. You can’t just launch into a discussion of cause and effect and expect the reader to get it.
AdvertisementThe homeless epidemic is a serious problem in nearly every major city across the country. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, there are over 500,000 people experiencing homelessness on any given night. It’s a difficult challenge to tackle precisely because it is so multi-faceted, both in terms of its causes and its far-reaching effects. Homelessness affects not only the people who must struggle to survive on the street but also the business owners or residents in the neighborhoods. While many factors have contributed to the rise in homeless rates, one of the most profound is the lack of adequate social support services.
This is the real meat and potatoes of the article. Despite the structure mentioned above, you can go about the body paragraphs in a few different ways. Similar to compare and contrast essays, you can use a block structure (grouping all the causal information together before getting into the effects) or a point-by-point structure (considering one cause and effect at a time).
A lack of free or affordable housing could be considered an obvious cause of homelessness. On a purely practical level, if a city can provide enough homeless shelters and other forms of affordable housing, the people who would otherwise sleep on the streets can sleep far more safely with a consistent roof over their heads. Social support services, whether they are funded publicly or privately, would be able to tackle many of the immediate and long-term challenges that face people experiencing homelessness.
The effects of homelessness are equally complex and can be mirror images of the root causes. Because the person is experiencing homelessness, this may put profound strain on personal relationships. Drug abuse can become an issue, as the person seeks some way of coping with the pain and hardship of living on the streets. This leads to a downward spiral that drives the person deeper and deeper into the depths of crippling poverty and isolation.
