Cause-and-Effect Essay

"Everything that happens in your neighborhood and in your community has a reason and it has an effect. So pay attention."
—Gene Bryant Johnson, American radio journalist

"Nothing exists from whose nature some effect does not follow."
—Benedict Spinoza, Dutch philosopher

"Nothing exists from whose nature some effect does not follow."
—Benedict Spinoza, Dutch philosopher

A cause-and-effect essay is a type of expository writing that describes the relationship between an event or circumstance and its causes or predicts the results that an event or situation might produce.

A good cause-and-effect essay contains

  • a clearly stated topic that explains which cause-and-effect relationships will be explored
  • an explanation of how particular causes produced or might produce particular effects
  • facts, statistics, examples, and other details to support the essay's main ideas
  • clear organization that makes it easy for readers to follow the connections among events and details
  • transitions that smoothly and clearly connect ideas