Cause and Effect Essay

Please write a cause and effect essay

I would like you to write about the topic that I decided to major in business administration and try to transfer to UCLA as a business Econ next year.

And please tell me the topic of your essay, and then explain how you are organizing it. Also, tell me about the decision you made and the three reasons you made it and your conclusion–how the decision has effected your life since you made it.

This class requires that you write essays according to the 5-paragraph essay structure.

CAUSE AND EFFECT ESSAY INSTRUCTIONS:

(750-1000 words)

You will write an essay where you use cause and effect development to show how making a decision has caused a particular effect. Your sources will be memory and observation.

Instructions (taken from Writing Paragraphs and Essays by Marilyn Fry):

Write a personal essay about a particular decision you have made: for example, to join a club, to try out for a team, to break up a relationship, to give up a bad habit, to go to college, to major in a particular course of study, to join a church, to join one of the Armed Services, to marry, to have children, etc. Choose one that you have made that you would like to write about. In your essay you will analyze the main causes behind your decision: the reasons why you chose to do what you did. Each body paragraph will analyze (explain, describe, discuss) one reason for your decision. You will need three contributory causes (3 body paragraphs). The causes have to be in the past–before you made the decision.

How the essay should be structured:

INTRODUCTION:

Use personal narrative to give background information about the situation.

Example: If your decision was to give up smoking, your introductory paragraph might discuss when you began smoking and why, how many years you smoked, and so forth. This background could logically lead into a thesis statement (last sentence of the introductory paragraph) like this: “However, two years ago I decided to give up smoking.” Or your introductory paragraph could discuss the results of a decision you made several years ago. You could describe and discuss, for example, your happy family today. This could lead into a thesis statement (last sentences of the introductory paragraph) like one of these: “Twelve years ago I accepted John’s proposal to become Mrs. John Smith,” or “In 1985 I asked Susan to become my wife.” The thesis statement can be a short, simple statement of “I decided to…”

OTHER STRUCTURAL NOTES:

Topic sentences

• Avoid stilted, awkward topic sentences like these:

“One reason I decided to quit my job was because I didn’t like the pay.”

“The second reason I decided to quit my job was that the hours were inconvenient.”

• Don’t repeat the thesis statement in each topic sentence
• Don’t use because clauses

Body of the essay

• DO analyze the reasons that causes you to make your decision. These are the reasons/causes that came in the time period before the decision. They are events, circumstances, conditions and influences that led you, perhaps forced you, to make the decision. The body of the essay should be all in the past: in the time BEFORE you made the decision. Use past tense verbs.
• DON’T discuss the pros and cons you considered, and DON’T discuss how difficult it was to make the decision. (You may do either of these in the introduction if you’d like.)
• DON’T write a narrative of what happened after the decision. Save that for the conclusion

Conclusion

• Show the results of the decision. Bring the reader up to date. Was it a good decision? Are you sorry you made it? How did things work out? What was the result?

Example Essays

Click here to read the Cause and Effect Essay Example 1.

Click here to read the Cause and Effect Essay Example 2.

GRADING CRITERIA FOR THE CAUSE AND EFFECT ESSAY

You will be graded based on the following checklist (slightly modified from the one in your text). 4 points possible per category.

• The IDEAS in the essay focus on a specific decision and present an engaging picture of the action and people involved. They also explain the causes and/or effects of the topic in a clear, well-reasoned argument supported by credible information.
• The ORGANIZATION of the essay adds to the clarity of the piece and includes a clear beginning that pulls the reader in. It also helps the reader understand the cause/effect relationship. The links between main points and supporting points are clear.
• The WORDS show instead of tell about; they appeal to the senses and evoke pictures in the reader’s mind. They are precise and clear. Causes are linked to effects with transitional words and phrases such as therefore, as a result, and for this reason.
• The SENTENCES are clear, varied in structure, and smooth.
• The FINISHED COPY is correct, is clean, and follows the guidelines for format.

Proper Essay Format:

All essays for this course should be formatted according to MLA guidelines.

Review proper format by viewing this video again if you need to.