cause and effect
Cause and Effect Essays
OK, now we’re getting into something fun, the cause and effect essay. The cause and effect essay will train you to call and respond. For example, if you’re arguing about why cigarettes are detrimental to health, you can’t just say cigarettes cause lung cancer and move on to the next subject. You must respond to that statement and tell the reader why cigarettes cause lung cancer: Call-Response.
That said, the most important members of the who, what, when, where, why gang are what and why, and these are the two points we deal with most in cause and effect essays. The overlying message of your essay will be one huge “why” (cause) followed by one huge “what” (effect). We are in the world of relationships, how one thing affects another thing. Your thesis will concentrate on the effect, the consequences of the cause. So we’re actually going to work back in time from effect to cause; therefore, we are not dealing with chronological order here but with the emphatic order or order of importance. Yes, the cause does lead to the effect, but the effect is the main point of your thesis with the cause, your argument.
Let’s look at a simple example:
By drinking enough martinis, I will soon destroy my liver.
Cause (why): By drinking enough martinis
Effect (what): I will soon destroy my liver
See? Drinking martinis answers “why,” and “what “is answered by my soon-to-be destroyed liver. So the actual topic of your essay is the martini.
Your opinion or slant on the topic: drink enough of them and you will destroy your liver. So your plan of development or three points of argument will be based on reasons “why” drinking martinis destroys the liver. You must prove that the cause leads to the effect.
Now don’t be fooled by a post hoc fallacy. The American Heritage Dictionary defines post hoc as “in or of the form of an argument in
OK, now we’re getting into something fun, the cause and effect essay. The cause and effect essay will train you to call and respond. For example, if you’re arguing about why cigarettes are detrimental to health, you can’t just say cigarettes cause lung cancer and move on to the next subject. You must respond to that statement and tell the reader why cigarettes cause lung cancer: Call-Response.
That said, the most important members of the who, what, when, where, why gang are what and why, and these are the two points we deal with most in cause and effect essays. The overlying message of your essay will be one huge “why” (cause) followed by one huge “what” (effect). We are in the world of relationships, how one thing affects another thing. Your thesis will concentrate on the effect, the consequences of the cause. So we’re actually going to work back in time from effect to cause; therefore, we are not dealing with chronological order here but with the emphatic order or order of importance. Yes, the cause does lead to the effect, but the effect is the main point of your thesis with the cause, your argument.
Let’s look at a simple example:
By drinking enough martinis, I will soon destroy my liver.
Cause (why): By drinking enough martinis
Effect (what): I will soon destroy my liver
See? Drinking martinis answers “why,” and “what “is answered by my soon-to-be destroyed liver. So the actual topic of your essay is the martini.
Your opinion or slant on the topic: drink enough of them and you will destroy your liver. So your plan of development or three points of argument will be based on reasons “why” drinking martinis destroys the liver. You must prove that the cause leads to the effect.
Now don’t be fooled by a post hoc fallacy. The American Heritage Dictionary defines post hoc as “in or of the form of an argument in