College life differs greatly from that one which students imagine at the very beginning. Besides parties, there are lots of various assignments. As a rule, academic papers are not very interesting for most students, especially if they do not know how to prepare such tasks. Essay on cause and effect is one of the most widespread assignments. Actually, writing it is not very difficult. So when you hear about such a paper, don’t worry at all. It differs from other tasks greatly. If you learn how to write cause and effect essay, you will cope with it quickly and easily. Finally, you don’t have to look for a useful guide anymore. All necessary and important information is collected right here.

What is a Cause and Effect Essay?

Let’s begin with the question “What is a cause and effect essay?”. Knowing the answer to it means you fully realize the main aim of such a task. It is a paper which examines a particular case and discusses either causes or effects. For instance, the topic you are going to discuss is “A technological boost changes the way people interact with each other”. So, you may mention either causes for it or talk about the effects of such a situation. Mind, the paper should reveal only causes or only effects, not everything together.

Now you know the answer to the question “What is a cause and effect essay” but this is not enough. Also, you need to find out the main rules and stages of its creation. Exactly this guide will provide you with 8 quick and efficient steps of writing a winning paper but saving efforts and time. You just need to examine them well, make sure everything is clear enough, and choose one of the cause and effect essay ideas. Mind, that the grade depends directly on your work, research, and knowledge. Impress the teacher and the other students with unique and really impressive work. Devote some time to reading these 8 steps and start the way to the best mark at once. Good luck!

Step 1. Create a list of Interesting Ideas

Making a list of ideas for cause and effect essays is the first step you need to perform. In case the teacher didn’t mention a particular topic, you can feel free to choose any idea that appeals to you. Here your imagination has a full freedom. Think of the topic that is interesting for you and has chances to attract the reader’s attention with the first sentence. Take a sheet of paper and a pen and start creating this list. No matter how long it is. Most important is not just include widespread topics, but those which you know well and can describe in details. Don’t be too serious at this step. It is just the preparation for more serious tasks. Look at these topics, to better understand what you can include into your list:

• A technological boost changes the way people interact with each other;
• Using a mobile phone before going to bed lowers sleep quality;
• Support of a healthy lifestyle reduces the sales of junk food;
• Children of divorced parents are more likely to divorce in the future;
• A good film may influence the way a person thinks.

Of course, these are only some popular cause and effect essay ideas. You must not obligatorily choose the topic from this list. Work out own list with ideas you want. Don’t hurry. Spend at least a few days to write down all topics which are interesting for you.

Step 2. Choose One Topic

Now, when your list of ideas for cause and effect essays is ready, you can move further. At this step, you need to choose only one topic you are going to discuss in the paper. It goes without saying, doing it is quite difficult. Especially, if your list includes lots of ideas. You may cross out topics one by one. Just prefer ideas you know better and are ready to share your knowledge with readers. Remember, you will have to prepare a top-quality cause and effect essay with the required structure but not a paper with a couple of paragraphs. Keep this in mind while choosing the topic. For example, you have selected a problem “Using a mobile phone before going to bed worsens sleep quality”. Have you got enough checked information, numbers, and arguments? Will you be able to mention the causes and effects? Will your paper be convincing enough?

In the case of some hesitations, you’d better go on thinking about the most suitable topic. It’s better to spend some more time on this, then face the lack of good information afterwards. Of course, there is one more way. It’s an investigation. If you have a desire to study the topic and find the answers to some questions which have not been discussed before, then do it. In other words, you can choose any topic. It can be either an idea you know well or the one you’d like to investigate. All in all, you should remember the topic shouldn’t be interesting only for you. Its main aim is to draw the attention of the readers to the discussed situation.

Step 3. Brainstorm to Select Cause or Effect Angle

Have you chosen a topic of future cause and effect essay? Then now you should decide what angle to choose: causes or effects. Both are interesting and worth your attention. It is just a question of your preferences. For example, you are going to write about “The promotion of a healthy lifestyle reduces the sales of junk food”. In order to make a decision on the angle, you may use one simple but effective tip:

1. Take a sheet of paper and create two columns. One will be for causes and one for effects;
2. Put all known causes and effects of the mentioned topic into two columns respectively;
3. When you are ready, look at these columns. Which of them seems to be closer to you?

Take some time to think properly. It is as difficult decision as the choice of the topic. Maybe you need a couple of days to look at these ideas in another way. You should be assured of all the provided facts in order the readers pay attention to your paper. It must not be just a list of some ideas not connected with each other. Decide what to choose: causes or effects and go to the next step.

Step 4. Begin Your Research

After choosing the cause or effect angle of your paper, you need to start the research. It is also a very responsible moment. One important tip here is choosing only checked and reliable sources of information. Visit only reliable and verified websites for searching necessary data for your essay on cause and effect. Personal blogs are forbidden as they contain the point of view of some person who may not be an expert in a necessary area.

Additionally, you need to read a lot. It is the best way to discover new things and useful facts. Choose ideas which will play into your hands and appeal to the readers. Do your best and your work will be an example of the most brilliant cause effect essays.

Step 5. Write a Thesis

A thesis statement is an integral part of the guide on how to write cause and effect essay. Probably, you have already come across such a notion. This part of the essay should explain to the readers why they need to care about a chosen topic. Remember, you mustn’t do it personal. Let’s see it on the example of the topic “Children of divorced parents are more likely to divorce in the future”.

• Divorce of my parents made me sad and unhappy. I couldn’t understand what I did wrong.

In fact, the situation should not be concentrated around you and your family. It must be interesting for other people who want to know more about this topic. You can start like this:

• A big part of people who think of divorcing are children of divorced parents. Their childhood had an impact on their vision of a family life.

Such a thesis statement will draw the readers’ attention to the paper and topic in general. What is more, they will understand what to expect from the essay. Overall, it is your first chance to make a positive impression.

Step 6. Prepare an Outline

As a rule, teachers provide students with an outline of cause effect essays. They also mention all the requirements and even own expectations. So, if you want to impress the tutor with a brilliant paper, then prepare an essay that consists of 5 such paragraphs:

1. You should start writing the essay by presenting a topic you have chosen as well as a thesis.
2. The first supporting paragraph. Include an idea that supports a thesis.
3. The second supporting paragraph. Write the second idea which also supports a thesis statement.
4. Antithesis paragraph. Here you need to describe an argument of the opposite side (for essence, if you are writing about the influence of technological boom on the way people interact with each other, you may say that some people can’t refuse using a smartphone even in the company of the closest friends).
5. Conclusion. The final part of the cause effect essays must restate the thesis as well as mention the ideas of future researches on the discussed topic. 

Step 7. Prepare the First Draft

When you order all your thoughts and ideas into one logical rank, start writing the paper. Don’t edit it just after finishing. Take some time to rest and look at the assignment at another angle. In this way, you increase the chances to notice possible mistakes in grammar, punctuation or spelling. Look through the document to check whether all sentences and phrases are clear enough for the readers. Otherwise, they will be confused and disable to catch the main idea of the whole paper.

Step 8. Be accurate

A secret of a winning paper is very simple. It must contain only relevant information. All facts should make sense. Avoid meaningless phrases that may distract readers’ attention from the central idea. Every word should be on the right place. Make people feel eager to study the proposed situation just after reading a thesis statement. Only in this case, you will achieve your main aim. They will definitely care about the topic.

Conclusion

As you can see, writing a cause and effect essay is not a case of several hours. It requires special knowledge and skills. Preparing it for the first time you may face definite problems. However, following the mentioned above steps may prevent you from wasting precious time. After finishing the paper, you must check it. In case, you are not sure you have done it well, ask somebody else to help you with this question. As a rule, another person looks at writing in another way and is able to see some weak points. Take the recommendations of this helper and try to polish necessary sentences.

Finally, you can always look for some extra ideas and examples of essays on the Internet. But be attentive. Avoid using the quotes of experts without mentioning their names in the paper. Otherwise, you will be accused of plagiarism. Make sure your essay is 100% unique and can interest other people. Do your best and the teacher will appreciate the work at the highest level. Get your dreaming A+ with ease and impress other students with great essay. Mind, the eventual result depends on you and applied efforts.