cause and effect essay

WEEK 1,2,3,4 – WRITING 4 - LE PHUONG THAOTHE CAUSE AND EFFECT ANALYSIS ESSAY Introduction Cause and effect are two separate ways of viewing an event.. Thesis statement: In your thesis st

WEEK 1,2,3,4 – WRITING 4 - LE PHUONG THAO

THE CAUSE AND EFFECT ANALYSIS ESSAY Introduction

Cause and effect are two separate ways of viewing an event Causes are the reasons why an event happened Most events result from a number of causes, which do not necessary related For example:

Countless bills to pay for ………

putting my mother in the

Needs to be taken care of ……… >

nursing home

My father’s welfare ………

In cause paper, just develop only those causes that are closely related in time to the event It means that you should not cite a cause that happened 12

years earlier Also beware of false causal relationship Ex: You should not

mention that the cause of your obesity is the hobby of collecting stamps

Effects are the results of a particular occurrence The effects should be distinct and separate from one another Furthermore, the effects should not be too distant in time, too For example:

………> Have little privacy Being a Celebrity ………> be under constant pressure

………> Have no safety

How to write

1 Thesis statement:

In your thesis statement you should make it clear to the readers whether the essay is being developed by cause or by effect

* A thesis statement for a causal analysis states briefly the causes to be discussed It does not have to be persuasive If the thesis presents a cause statement, your body paragraphs should discuss the cause relationships The key question is, “What caused this?”

Ex: Child violence is caused by lack of parental attention, parental abuse and parental immaturity

* A thesis statement for an effect analysis just states the central idea For

example: Giving up smoking will bring us many benefits If the thesis presents

an effect statement, your body paragraphs should discuss the effects The key question is, “What effects result from this cause?”

Ex: Watching violent films has a great impact on the child’s psychological and

physiological condition

2 Organization

When discuss or analyze causes or effects, we should be aware that they are immediate (also called direct) causes/effects or remote (also called indirect)

causes/effects For example: The causes for my fear of the water: I can not

swim (immediate cause) My mother had an unreasonable fear of the water (remote cause) The effects of watching TV: More people get eyestrain

(immediate effect) People get fat (remote effect)

* In a cause essay, you should plan to spend one body paragraph on each

of the causes Of course, this paragraph provides explanation, facts … any

evidences that show how it contributes to the effect All the body paragraphs can be arranged according to the order of importance (the most important last), order of interest (less interesting to more interesting), or the order of familiarity (obvious to less obvious)

* In an effect essay, you should also plan to spend one body paragraph

on each of the effect Of course, this paragraph provides explanation that

shows the relationship between the cause and the effect All the body

paragraphs should be arranged according to the order of importance (from the most important/the immediate effect to the less important/remote but worth discussing effect)

3 Composition skills

Common transitions

 For causes

because, due to, on cause is, another is, since, for, first, second

One reason why

One of the most important reasons why is

The main reasons is

There are other reasons, too,

 For effects

consequently, as a result, thus, resulted in, one result is, another is, therefore,

as a consequence, since, as, so

Structures showing cause and effect

leads to results in (dẫn đến kquả) NOUN NOUN results from (do bởi)

causes has an effect on Ex: Smoking causes lung cancer

Lack of exercise can lead to poor health

* One (The) cause of + noun is + noun Ex: One cause of poor health is a lack

of exercise

* As a result, sentence Ex: As a result, she suffers from poor health

* As a result of + noun Ex: As a result of her poor health, she can not receive that job

* Because of + Noun

* The (One) effect (cause) of + noun + is that

Adverbial clauses of Cause and Result

* Because

* Since NOUN

So/such ……… that

Ex: This car requires so much gas that I have decided not to buy it.

EMAIL: phuongthaolele@yahoo.com