The effects of having children

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4 pages 12 font, Times New Roman. MLA format, works cited page. The topic is over the effects of having children. Look at my attached paper (additional materials) for more details. Double-Spaced!!!

Remollino Cause and Effect 1

English 1302
Professor Remollino

The Research Paper: Cause/Effect

Cause and Effect Essays
© Bill Stifler, 1997
Dangers in Writing the Cause/Effect Essay
Confusing Modes
Be careful when writing the cause and effect essay that you do not slip into other modes.
The two modes that sometimes get confused with cause and effect essays are process and
narrative essays.
Process: A process essay explains how to do something or how something happened. The
process essay focuses on procedure, one step leading to another toward a final product. The
thesis in the process essay focuses on the significance, importance, relevance, or value of
the final product or of the process itself.
Narrative: A narrative essay tells a story about something that happened. The narrative
essay focuses on chronology, certain things happening in a certain order. The thesis in the
narrative essay focuses on the personal significance, importance, relevance, or value of the
event–the change that occurred to the narrator. Because the narrative essay is in the
expressive mode, the reader is not so much to understand how or why this event changed
the reader as to vicariously share in the feelings of the narrator as he or she responds to the
event. The change that is dealt with in the narrative essay, therefore, has an emotional
impact on both the narrator and, vicariously, the reader (for a definition of vicarious, go to
Webster’s Online).
Cause/Effect: The cause and effect essay explains why something happened. The cause and
effect essay focuses on the relationships between actions, motivations, or attitudes and the
consequences which follow. The thesis of the cause and effect essay focuses on the
significance, importance, relevance, or value of those consequences. For that reason, cause
and effect essays may follow non-linear patterns of organization; that is, the cause and
effect essay may order causes or effects according to their significance, importance,
relevance, or value and not according to their chronology. For a cause and effect essay to
have validity, then, the cause must lead to the effect and not merely chronologically
precede the effect. For instance, the fact that a black cat crossed my path a few minutes
before I was struck by a baseball does not prove cause and effect. The action of the cat
merely occurred prior to the ball striking me. To argue otherwise is to fall into the post hoc
(literally, before this) fallacy (faulty thinking).
Faulty Cause/Effect Relationships
Another danger when writing the cause and effect essay is viewing the cause/effect
relationships shallowly by oversimplifying either the causes or the effects. For instance,
people oversimplify effects by assuming that what may be a cause and effect relationship
in some instances is the cause and effect relationship in all instances. Writers oversimplify
causes when they assume that one cause is sufficient for a particular effect which may have
resulted from a number of causes. Some things may contribute to a particular consequence,
others may be sufficient in themselves to result in a particular consequence, still others may
Remollino Cause and Effect 2

be necessary to produce a particular consequence. The writer engaged in causal analysis
reviews possible relationships and draws a conclusion about the relationships between
possible causes and actual outcomes (or in some cases, actual causes and forecasted
outcomes).
When prewriting/revising a cause and effect essay, carefully evaluate relationships
between causes and effects:
Range: Is the cause immediate or distant from the effect? The more distant the cause, the
less certain its impact.
Degree: Is the cause possible, probable, or definite?
Extent: Is the cause necessary to produce the effect (without the cause, the effect would not
have taken place), sufficient to produce the effect (the cause, by itself, could produce the
effect, or this is the sole cause of this effect), or merely a contributing factor in producing
the effect (the cause played a minor but not insignificant role in producing the effect)?
Types of Cause/Effect Essays
Like comparison/contrast essays, cause/effect essays fall into four types or patterns of
organization:
Valuation: Valuation essays focus on issues of value or worth. This type of cause/effect
essay deals with consequences and often includes essays that discuss the factors leading to
or results/effects of a decision.
Example thesis: My teachers at Chattanooga State have forced me to evaluate my
priorities, develop self-discipline, and think critically.
Interpretation: Interpretation essays explain the unknown by reference to what is known.
This type of cause/effect essay begins with a known cause and projects probable effects or
begins with a known effect and infers probable causes. The analysis of the causes and
effects, therefore, are generally speculative.
Example thesis: Total nuclear war would destroy modern civilization.
Analysis: Analysis essays break a subject down into its constituent parts for the
purpose of understanding their function in relation to the whole. This type of
cause/effect essay focuses on the major causes leading to some effect, the major
effects of some cause, or cause-effect chains in order to understand the meaning of,
importance of, or significance of some event, occurrence, action, or attitude.
Example thesis: The Civil War had lasting effects on the American psyche.
Synthesis: Synthesis essays explore the connections of some subject with a larger context.
This type of cause/effect essay explores the broader implications to be drawn or relevance
of the causes and/or effects behind some event, occurrence, action, or attitude.
Example thesis: The military decisions and policies which led to thousands of soldiers
suffering months of anguish from Gulf War syndrome reveal the need for a Congressional
board of inquiry into Pentagon practices.
Organization of the Cause/Effect Essay
Introduction: The introduction to the cause/effect essay should explain the significance,
importance, relevance, or value behind the cause and effect relationship being studied. If
the essay is a valuation approach, then the introduction will focus on the value behind the
consequences of the action/actions being discussed. If the essay is interpretive, the
introduction will focus on the significance, importance, relevance, or value of exploring
the probable causes or probable effects. If the essay is analytical, the introduction will
focus on why the reader should understand the major causes or effects being explained. If
Remollino Cause and Effect 3

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Ex. A dead battery is enough to keep a car from
starting–but faulty spark plugs or an empty gas tank will
have the same effect.
Contributory Cause – one that helps to produce an effect but
cannot do so by itself.
Ex. Running a red light might help to cause an
accident….though other facts — pedestrians or other cars
in the intersection — must also be present.
o Have I assumed only one cause when many causes may be appropriate?
o Have I incorrectly assumed a causal relationship between two events
that immediately follow each other?
o Did I distinguish between long-term and short-term causes and effects.
A short-term cause or effect is a single, immediately identifiable event; a
long-term cause or effect may be less easy to pinpoint but in the long run
more important?
o Did I distinguish between primary (most important) and secondary
(ancillary) effects?

When you begin drafting your essay, you may want to use your
cause-and-effect diagram as the basis for an outline. Review your notes
and identify the most significant causes or effects. It may help to ask
yourself the following questions: Who was responsible? Who was
affected? Did the event have economic or social ramifications?

Compose a thesis statement that clearly states your topic. Because
cause-and-effect essays need a readily identifiable structure, you will
almost always write the essay in chronological order. Sometimes,
however, you will use reverse chronological order. For example, you
might begin with an effect or a series of effects and trace them back to
their original cause. Whatever organization you use, write paragraphs
with strong, clear topic sentences and relevant supporting details.
As you write, be careful not to overstate your case. Because many causal
relationships cannot be proven conclusively, you may want to qualify
your statements.

Signal Words in Cause-and-Effect Writing
Cause and Effect Degrees of Certainty Levels of Importance
as a result certainly above all
because may equally important
Remollino Cause and Effect 5

consequently necessarily finally
due to perhaps first
if….then possibly initially
leads to probably last
therefore undoubtedly primarily
thus unquestionably second

Taken from http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/6655/effect.html

PRACTICE DEVELOPING A CAUSE/EFFECT ESSAY
To practice developing a discovery draft for a cause/effect essay, answer the questions
below.
1) What is my topic? Is it small enough for me to analyze in my essay? For example, if
you try to write a cause/effect essay about the Vietnam War in 750 words, you will not be
able to handle the topic in depth. It is much too large for an essay. Topics that work well
for cause/effect papers are limited and focused. Sample topics include: Why People
Love Their Cars, Why Women Love to Dance, or Why Kids Are Bored With School.
2) What are the causes of this particular event or phenomenon? List as many as
possible. Don’t try to give them any particular order of importance at this point. Just
brainstorm.
3) What are the effects of this particular event or phenomenon? List as many as
possible. Don’t try to order them. Brainstorm.
4) What seems more interesting to you: the causes or the effects? Which do you think
you would like to write about? Why?
5) What is the purpose of your analysis? Who is your audience?
6) Take the list of causes or effects and put them in the order that you think will be
most effective for your purpose and your audience.
7) Now begin your discovery draft wherever you wish. You can start by describing
the event or phenomenon or by analyzing causes or effects–whichever seems most
interesting to you.
8) Work on your discovery draft for as long as possible. Return to this draft to add more
thoughts later.