Cause and Effect Essay Outline: Types, Examples and Writing Tips

A cause and effect essay isn’t the most common type of written assignments in modern schools, but there is still a huge chance you will be tasked with writing a cause and effect essay at least once in your life.

In general, a cause and effect essay is less complicated and challenging than many other essays you have encountered. Plus, it can be very satisfying to notice and point out the connections between similarly different things. Here is a guide on how to write a cause and effect essay step by step from the professional writers of our best essay writing service USA!

What Is a Cause and Effect Essay?

A cause and effect essay is a piece of writing where the writer’s primary job is to identify the conditions that led to a particular event and the outcome of the event. While it sounds fairly simple on paper, in reality, there are many important things to consider when writing this essay.

The purpose of a cause and effect essay is not just to point out the connections between different things, but also to suggest how the event can be avoided if it has a negative effect, or repeated in case the effect is evaluated as positive.

Cause and Effect Essay Outline

Like other types of essays, your paper needs an outline to order your thoughts coherently and logically. Generally, this outline follows a five-paragraph pattern.

This section explores a cause and effect essay outline based on the number of effects or causes. Let’s get the details below.

• Single Cause, Single Effect

This cause and effect outline is suitable when each paragraph focuses on one cause and its effect. The format offers clarity and lets you explore each cause-effect connection more deeply.

1. Introduction
2. A hook
3. Background details
4. A thesis statement
5. Body Paragraph 1

• Cause 1

1. Explain cause 1
2. An example to illustrate cause 1

• Effect 1

1. Explain effect 1
2. An example to illustrate effect 1

III. Body Paragraph 2

• Cause 2

1. Explain cause 2
2. An example to illustrate cause 2

• Effect 2

1. Explain effect 2
2. An example to illustrate effect 2
3. Conclusion
4. Rephrase your thesis
5. Summarize causes and effects
6. a closing statement

• Single Cause, Many Effects

This cause and effect essay outline dedicates one paragraph to each cause and then discusses its several effects. It lets you fully analyze different effects stemming from one cause.

1. Introduction
2. A hook
3. Background details
4. A thesis statement
5. Body Paragraph 1 (Cause 1)
6. Explain cause 1
7. An example to illustrate cause 1

III. Body Paragraph 2 (Effects of Cause 1)

1. Effect 1
2. Explain effect 1
3. An example to illustrate effect 1
4. Effect 2
5. Explain effect 2
6. An example to illustrate effect 2
7. Effect 3
8. Explain effect 3
9. An example to illustrate effect 3
10. Conclusion
11. Rephrase your thesis
12. Summarize the causes and effects
13. A closing statement

• Many Causes, One Effect

You need this cause and effect essay structure when discussing multiple causes that produce one effect. This method lets you explain the interlinked nature of various factors that cause a given effect.

1. Introduction
2. A hook
3. Background details
4. A thesis statement
5. Body Paragraph 1 (Causes)
6. Cause 1
7. Explain cause 1
8. An example to illustrate cause 1
9. Cause 2
10. Explain cause 2
11. An example to illustrate cause 2
12. Cause 3
13. Explain cause 3
14. An example to illustrate cause 3

III. Body Paragraph 2 (Effect)

1. Explain the effect
2. An example to illustrate the effect
3. Conclusion
4. Rephrase your thesis
5. Summarize the causes and effects
6. A closing statement

• Chain Structure

This approach is ideal when you want to trace a chain of causes and effects, where one event sequentially causes another. Each paragraph discusses a connection in the causal chain and offers a clear understanding of the progression of events.

1. Introduction
2. A hook
3. Background details
4. A thesis statement
5. Body Paragraph 1

• Cause 1

1. Explain cause 1
2. An example to illustrate cause 1

• Effect 1

1. Explain effect 1
2. An example to illustrate effect 1

III. Body Paragraph 2

• Cause 2

1. Explain cause 2
2. An example to illustrate cause 2

• Effect 2

1. Explain effect 2
2. An example to illustrate effect 2
3. Conclusion
4. Rehash your thesis
5. Summarize causes and effects
6. A closing statement

Types of Cause and Effect Essay

If you are only learning how to write cause and effect essay for the first time, you may be surprised to know that there are actually several types of cause and effect essay to know about besides the most obvious one, where a single cause leads to a single effect. Specifically, you can be tasked with writing one of the three following types of cause and effect essay:

• Multiple causes and one effect

In this case, you are to analyze the several causes that led to a single effect. A common example of this topic is global warming, which has several equally potent causes such as environmental pollution and overpopulation.

• One cause and multiple effects

For this type of cause and effect essay, you need to focus on one cause that led to several effects. This type of essays is less common, but it can be even more interesting to analyze how a single event can lead to multiple effects, whether they are good or bad.

• Chain of causes and effects

Finally, the most challenging but also fascinating type of cause and effect essay is a paper where you follow a string of causes and effects that lead to one another. It may take you a lot of effort to figure out which events lead to other events, but it can also be very rewarding.

How to Write a Cause and Effect Essay

Now you know what is a cause and effect essay and which types of cause and effect essays there are, but how to write a cause and effect essay that will impress your professor and peers? Here is how to write a cause and effect essay and choose the best cause and effect essay topic for your needs.

Outline

The important thing to know about this type of essays is that it’s imperative to start with crafting the outline of your future essay. You will be relieved to know that a typical cause and effect essay outline is not very different from the essay outlines you have written before and follows the classic essay structure of an introduction, three or more body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

Introduction

The first part in any cause and effect essay outline example you’ll ever see is the introduction. The job of the introduction is to convince the reader to give your paper a detailed look instead of just skimming it.

The introduction to a cause and effect essay should be brief but powerful. Using the right tone and vocabulary, you need to demonstrate why the subject of your essay is so important that it requires deep analysis. To make readers pay even more attention to your writing, start the introduction with a hook sentence and end it with a thesis statement.

Body

In most cases, there will be three body paragraphs in your cause and effect essay, but the exact number of paragraphs also depends on the type of essay you decided to go for. For example, when analyzing a chain of causes and effects, you may need to write more than three body paragraphs to make your essay complete.

With most other cause and effect essay types, you will dedicate one paragraph to a cause or effect and the remaining paragraphs to each of the multiple causes and effects you decided to write about.

The sign of a well-written cause and effect essay is the appropriate use of transitional words and phrases that create a clear and logical flow of your narrative and allow the readers to smoothly transition from one idea to another. These words and phrases include “Because of”, “As a result”, “Therefore”, “Owing to”, “Thus”, and other transitional phrases you have likely already used before in previous written assignments.

Conclusion

In your conclusion, you need to briefly summarize everything that has been said in the previous paragraphs of the paper without retelling the chapters word for word. Mention your thesis statement again and the strongest pieces of evidence supporting your ideas.

A good conclusion to a cause and effect essay will not only summarize the points of the paper, but will also include a thought-provoking ending that will stimulate the audience to do additional reading on the subject and educate themselves about the topic.

Topics for Cause and Effect Essay

Now, you are done with the cause and effect essay outline. Let’s examine a few sample topics you can write about at college and high school levels.

Family Topics

1. The impact of divorce on children’s emotional well-being.
2. How does sibling rivalry affect family dynamics?
3. The effects of communication breakdown in family relationships.
4. Ways social media negatively affects family relationships.
5. The impact of financial stress on marital relationships.

Technology Topics

1. How do smartphones affect face-to-face communication?
2. The impact of social media usage on mental health.
3. How does excessive screen time affect sleep patterns and quality?
4. The connection between technology and the marketplace.
5. The role of technology in fostering substile environments.

Topics for College Students

1. How does social media affect academic performance?
2. Ways fast food affects health.
3. The impact of stress on college students.
4. The main causes of procrastination.
5. The causes of peer pressure among college students.

Sample Topics for High School Students

1. The effects of technology on communication skills.
2. Why do students drop out of high school?
3. How do strong parental ties affect teenagers’ emotional well-being?
4. The causes of gender inequality in high school sports.
5. The effect of volunteering on students’ leadership skills.

Topics for Cause and Effect Essay

There are many good cause and effect essay topics, but the key to writing a successful cause and effect essay is to pick a topic that you personally find interesting and challenging. If you haven’t been given the topic for your cause and effect essay by your professor and are free to choose, here are some cause and effect essay ideas you can pick:

1. Causes and effects of depression.
2. Causes and effects of divorce in families with children.
3. Causes and effects of being obsessed with social media.
4. Causes and effects of childhood obesity.
5. Causes and effects of having trouble finding a partner at a young age.
6. Causes and effects of using coal for heating.
7. Causes and effects of growing up in a single-parent household.
8. Causes and effects of the organic food craze.
9. Causes and effects of living below the poverty line.
10. Causes and effects of the growing homeless epidemic.

Questions to Ask when Finishing Your Cause and Effect Essay

Reading the final draft and correcting possible grammar and spelling mistakes is important for ensuring a high quality of your paper, but you also need to make sure that the content of your cause and effect essay is sufficient. To evaluate the quality of your cause and effect essay, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Is the purpose of my essay clearly visible to all readers?
2. Have I provided enough evidence to support my points?
3. Did I use enough transitional words and phrases?
4. Does my essay paint a complete picture of the subject?
5. Are my introduction and conclusion powerful enough?

Final Word

There you go with all you need to learn about creating a great cause and effect essay outline. We hope mastering the art of creating a good cause and effect essay outline will significantly boost your essay skills. You are welcome to talk to our team if you have challenges with your other class assignments. Contact us now.