Recap
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What is Evaluation Essay?

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Evaluation or Review; Similar yet Different

•

Steps for writing Evaluation Essay

•

Topic Selection

•

What are you Evaluating

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How to Write an Evaluation Essay

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Dos and Don'ts

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Common Mistakes


Lecture 15

Cause and Effect
Essay


“Every action has an
opposite and equal
reaction”
-Einstein


•

So what is all this cause and
?
You may have effect
a topic orstuff
an assignment
that shows
connections between events or concepts.
–

For example, some colleges do not have enough classes to meet the
student demand. As a result (effect) students are spending more time
and money toward college than needed in the past.
•


This example shows how you can argue that one event directly leads to another
and so on

•

You may also dig deeper into the causes of this example by
finding that colleges do not have adequate budget or funding
for the classes needed.


Cause/Effect Essay
The cause/effect essay explains why or how
some event happened, and what resulted from
the event.
•

•

A cause essay usually discusses the
reasons why something happened
An effect essay discusses what happens
after a specific event or circumstance.

Examples: A cause/effect essay may explain . . .
5


Cause and Effect
Essay

Explains
How specific conditions or events translate into certain effects

how one thing leads to another

How one/multiple conditions becomes the
cause of several consequences


So where do I start?
THE “WHY” GAME
•

•

•

Perhaps you can remember when you were little and you
loved to play the “why” game.
No matter what people said, you asked “why?” You
might have asked until your parents and siblings ran out
of answers or until they said “because I said so.” Well
here’s your chance to play the why game again.
Start with an idea and then ask yourself why that
particular idea or event occurs. As you go along, write
down your answers and then ask why again?


The Why Game Example
•


Original idea: Students and their families have to pay unnecessary amounts
of money that is financially damaging
•

•

Students must remain in college longer than necessary
•

•

Why?

There is not enough money in the budget and/or the money is spent
unwisely
•

•

Why?

There are not enough classes offered to meet the demand
•

•

Why?

Why?


Well I don’t know why but it would benefit students and families if more
money was put into the colleges to build new classrooms and hire more
teachers


Steps for Writing Evaluation
Essay

Step # 1: To start with, choose an event or a
phenomenon
to
analyze.
Ask
yourself,
what happened, and then try to
answer the question “Why did it
happen?” Stated succinctly, trace the
cause-and- effect relationships for
yourself.
Step # 2: Sketch out main points of your
essay in
the introduction. Let readers
understand in general what your paper
is going to be about.


Steps for Writing Evaluation
Essay
Step # 3: List the causes and give their

description, so that your reader can
grasp the whole situation.
Step # 4: Choose the effects and show
the

connection between reasons

and

consequences. Your reader must
understand how you have deduced


Steps for Writing Evaluation
Essay
Step # 5: Explain why your analysis is
important and what its practical
meaning is.
Step # 6: Make a conclusion.


Topic Selection
•

Since almost any event has both its causes and
consequences, there are a vast variety of
possible topics for a cause and effect essay.
Still, it would be reasonable to choose a topic
that you are familiar with.



Topic Selection
These may be:
–

Negative effects of smoking

–

Factors that lead to depression

–

A correlation between economic crisis and
unemployment

–

Economic consequences of the war on Middle
East

–

Effects of global warming


The Danger in Cause and
Effect
•


•

Although there are many cause and effect
relationships out there, you must make sure they
are supported by facts and with a dominant idea.
Sometimes advertisements and superstitions
can be misleading when it comes to cause and
effect relationships…
Some commercials attempt to convince their audience that in order
to be a good and worthy person, you must have their product

•

So whether it’s a science lab or an
essay, be sure your idea is supported
by evidence!


Key Points to Consider
•

Mind that the same event may be a
cause and an effect simultaneously.
–

For example, the collapse of the Soviet Union
may be studied as a result of many domestic
and foreign factors, but at the same time it
can be considered a cause of restructuring of
the Eurasian geopolitical space, the uprising

of China and so on. Decide, in which direction
you are going to move.


Key Points to Consider
•

Concentrate on those effects that relate to
the causes directly, and are close in time to
them.
–

This will prevent you from having to delve into
unneeded

analysis

consequences.

of

far-reaching


Key Points to Consider
•

You might find it useful to sort effects by
categories, so that you do not confuse
anything.

–

For

instance,

if

you

describe

the

consequences of the Second World War, you
can divide them into social, economic and
political sections.


So how do I organize my
idea?

•

•

•

There are several ways to
pre-write a cause and effect

essay but here is just one
type of guideline to get you
started
You can use the pre-write
shown on the right for any
type of cause and effect
essay

Notice that the thesis is in
the middle in order to remind
you that even though you
are connecting causes and
effects, they must all tie into
the dominant idea or thesis

Causes
List out
your
causes
here and
coincide
them
with the
effects in
the other
column

Topic

Write

your
thesis
here in
the
middle

Effects
List
out
the
effect
s from
the
cause
s
colum
n


Cause and effect pre-write
sample
Causes

1. They think they’re
unbeatable
2. They think it won’t
happen to them
3. They think they are
okay to drive
4. They are afraid of their

parents finding out or
breaking their curfew
5. They do it for attention
from peers

Topic

Thesis=
Although
communities are
trying
to
eliminate drunk
driving,
more
funding should
be
allocated
toward
educating teens
about
driving
under any drug
influence.

Effects

1. They learn the hard
way that life is fragile
2. It sadly does

eventually happen to
them or someone they
love
3. They are helpless and
face severe
consequences
4. Their parents find out
anyway except with a
citation or at a funeral
5. They receive the wrong
kind of attention at a


So what do I argue?
•

You can argue three different ways when
you’re setting up your thesis

1. You can argue that it’s important to understand both the causes
and effects in order to make an informed choice on a stance or
concept.
Example:
It is important to analyze both the causes and effects of
abortion before voting for pro-choice or pro-life.
2. You can argue that one event or reason is the main cause for a
series of events.
Example:
September 11, 2001 created a series of changes in America
that will alter the way Americans live their day

to day
lives forever.
3. You can argue that one event or concept is the direct effect of a


Dos
•

Do write down all causes and all effects
that you can think of.
–

You don’t have to use all of them in your
essay, but this will give you something to
choose from.


Dos
•

Do try to place the causes in your essay
chronologically.
–

If something happened simultaneously, try to
figure out, which one was more significant.


Dos
•


Do keep in mind, what exactly you are
trying to explain.
–

It is easy to forget about your goal while
dealing with a number of causes and effects.


Dos
•

Do use transition words that will make
your essay easier to comprehend.

•

Such words as:
–

“due to”

–

“thus”

–

“since”



Don'ts
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Don’t try to cover all possible effects of
the event, neither its short-term effects,
nor those which relate to the distant future.
Choose the most important ones.