CAUSE AND EFFECT ESSAY

When we analyze causes, we are attempting to understand the relationship of events that brought about an outcome, but in this case one that was probably unexpected and not likely to be repeated in exactly the same way. When we analyze effects, we consider the results of some action. Unlike process analysis, the relationship among events in cause-and-effect analysis is not chronological; it is causal; Something causes something else, or many things cause something; something results from something else, or many things result from one thing.

Every day we try to figure out the causes for something. When a problem arises, we start to examine the cause for it. For example, if police cars burst into flames in a large metropolitan police department, officials would immediately investigate to establish the reasons for the incidents. When any significant change in our lives occurs, such as the success of someone or something we try to look at the factors that contributed to that change. When we identify an emotional problem, psychologists and other concerned people attempt to understand the causes. Understanding causes is not an idle pastime. We need to know why the police cars burst into flames in order to prevent this from happening again. We would like to know what it takes to be successful so that we can try to be successful. We try to learn the causes of mental disorders so that we can cure the problem the person has. Therefore, understanding causes is an important analytical process.

Likewise, we try to analyze - or, if the situation warrants it, predict - results, or effects. When a legislative body considers a tax-cut proposal, for example, it must examine the probable results the tax cut will have. Also, as more tropical rain forests are destroyed observers, scientists, and politicians are becoming increasingly concerned about the magnitude of the problems that the destruction is causing and will cause for the ecology of the world. In short, cause-and-effect analysis is an important analytical skill to develop. Writing the essay that analyzes causes and effects will require examining the topic carefully in order to be complete and logical.

When you are discussing multiple causes for an effect, you need to be aware of the types of causes you are analyzing. The causes may be unrelated to each other, but all are related to the effect. These types of causes are often called factors; they are not causally related to each other, but they do work to contribute to the effect. When discussing these kinds of causes, as in the case of the obesity example, arrange the paragraphs (causes) according to your own preference. However, the most common principles are order of familiarity (obvious to less obvious) and order of interest (less interesting to more interesting). These two principles are useful when the causes are of equal significance. When one cause is more significant, order the paragraphs according to importance, with the most important last. Remember to identify the most important cause as the most significant.

Causes are not always unrelated, however, sometimes a cause could not have brought about an effect unless certain conditions existed. In this case, the causes are related to each other. For example, the incident that launched Europe into World War I was the assassination of the Austrian heir to the throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, on June 28, 1914, by a young Serb nationalist. However, it is generally felt that this incident alone would not have caused the war if certain other conditions had not existed in Europe at that time: economic rivalries, heightened nationalism, imperialism, and so forth. In this kind of casual analysis, the causes that directly precede the effect are called immediate causes (sometimes called direct causes), and those causes that are further removed in time from the effect are called remote causes (sometimes called indirect causes). IN the case of World War I, the immediate cause was the assassination, but the remote causes were the conditions mentioned earlier, such as heightened nationalism.

Although remote causes are also often the most important ones (as in the case of the World War I example), they are not always the most important or the most reasonable ones. For instance, you might blame the overcrowded conditions in the public schools on overpopulation and blame overpopulation on the failure of government to encourage birth control (remote), but a more reasonable explanation might be on the failure of the local officials to provide adequate education facilities (immediate).

When you are analyzing causes that rare not of equal importance or that are immediate and remote, it is generally a good idea to organize the paragraphs beginning with the immediate and proceeding to the remote, or from the less important to the most important.