Writing Basics: Cause and effect writing

Cause and effect writing is used to express the cause(s) of something, the effect(s)of something, or the cause(s) and effect(s) of something. For example, you could talk about the causes and effects of smoking. The causes could be: nervousness, anxiety, needing to do something with your hands, the feeling you get when you smoke. The effects could be: smoker's breath, yellow teeth, coughing, respiration problems, high blood pressure, enphysema, and cancer of the mouth, throat and lungs.

When you do cause and effect writing you will use certain words: because, due to, since, as a result of, and so on. You can organize your writing in different ways, to focus on the cause(s), effect(s), or both cause(s) and effect(s).