cause and effect and problem and solution examples

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17 Rhetorical Modes for Paragraphs & Essays

Questions to Ponder

Before you read this chapter, discuss with partners:

• What are rhetorical modes (also called “patterns of organization” and “methods of development”)? Can you list some examples?
• Why are rhetorical modes important in writing? Jot down your ideas.

Now read the graphic below. Can you add to the list of rhetorical modes that you created with your partners?

Rhetorical Modes

Rhetorical modes are also called patterns of organization or methods of development ; they are the ways that authors and speakers organize their ideas to communicate effectively. The rhetorical modes that are covered here are best used as ways to look at what’s already happening in your draft and to consider how you might emphasize or expand on any existing patterns. You might already be familiar with some of these patterns because instructors will sometimes assign them as the purpose for writing an essay. For example, you might have been asked to write a cause and effect essay or a comparison and contrast essay.

Patterns of organization or methods of developing content usually happen naturally as a consequence of the way the writer engages with and organizes information while writing. That is to say, most writers don’t sit down and say, “I think I’ll write a cause and effect essay today.”  Instead, a writer might be more likely to be interested in a topic, say, the state of drinking water in the local community, and as the writer begins to explore the topic, certain cause and effect relationships between environmental pollutants and the community water supply may begin to emerge . And in fact, many times, one essay may incorporate two or more rhetorical modes, as the author makes an argument for their point of view.

Activity A ~ Brainstorming Rhetorical Modes

Pause here to brainstorm ideas with your partner. Using the chart above (“ Choosing Paragraph Patterns “), discuss some of the topics below. Which mode(s) might you use in an essay about these topics? Would you need to explore more than one rhetorical mode for each topic?

• Gender roles
• Race in America
• The value of art in society
• Travel as part of a well-rounded education
• Drugs and alcohol
• Advice to new parents
• Advice to teachers
• The value of making mistakes
• How you’d spend a million dollars
• What a tough day at work taught you about yourself or others
• My family history
• Your idea: ___________

Keep reading to consider some of the ways that these strategies can help you as you revise a draft.

Cause/Effect

Do you see a potential cause-and-effect relationship developing in your draft?  The cause/effect pattern may be used to identify one or more causes followed by one or more effects or results. Or you may reverse this sequence and describe effects first and then the cause or causes. For example, the causes of water pollution might be followed by its effects on both humans and animals. Use the signal words cause ,  effect , and  result , to cue the reader about your about the relationships that you’re establishing.

Here’s an example article from T he New York Times , “ Rough Times Take Bloom Off a New Year’s Rite, the Rose Parade ,” that explores the cause and effect relationship (from 2011) between Pasadena’s budgetary challenges and the ability of their Rose Parade floats to deck themselves out in full bloom.

Problem/Solution

At some point does your essay explore a problem or suggest a solution? The problem/solution pattern is commonly used in identifying something that’s wrong and in contemplating what might be done to remedy the situation. For example, the problem of water pollution could be described, followed by ideas of new ways to solve the problem. There are probably more ways to organize a problem/solution approach, but here are three possibilities:

• Describe the problem, followed by the solution
• Propose the solution first and then describe the problems that motivated it
• Explain a problem, followed by several solutions, and select one solution as the best

Emphasize the words problem  and  solution  to signal these sections of your paper for your reader.

Here’s an example article from T he New York Times , “ Monks Embrace Web to Reach Recruits ,” that highlights an unexpected approach by a group of Benedictine monks in Rhode Island; they’ve turned to social media to grow their dwindling membership.

Compare/Contrast

Are you trying to define something? Do you need your readers to understand what something is and what it is not? The compare-and-contrast method of development is particularly useful in extending a definition, or anywhere you need to show how a subject is like or unlike another subject. For example, the statement is often made that drug abuse is a medical problem instead of a criminal justice issue. An author might attempt to prove this point by comparing drug addiction to AIDS, cancer, or heart disease to redefine the term “addiction” as a medical problem. A statement in opposition to this idea could just as easily establish contrast by explaining all the ways that addiction is different from what we traditionally understand as an illness. In seeking to establish comparison or contrast in your writing, some words or terms that might be useful are by contrast ,  in comparison ,  while ,  some , and  others .

Here’s an example article from T he New York Times “ Who Wants to Shop in a Big Box Store, Anyway? ” The author explores some interesting differences between the average American and average Indian consumer to contemplate the potential success of big box stores in India and also to contemplate why these giant big box corporations, like Walmart or Target, might have to rethink their business model.

These three methods of development—cause/effect, problem/solution, and compare/contrast—are just a few ways to organize and develop ideas and content in your essays. It’s important to note that they should not be a starting point for writers who want to write something authentic, to discuss something that they care deeply about. Instead, they can be a great way to help you look for what’s already happening with your topic or in a draft, to help you to write more, or to help you reorganize some parts of an essay that seem to lack connection or feel disjointed.

Sometimes writers incorporate a variety of modes in any one essay. For example, under the umbrella of an argument essay, and author might choose to write paragraphs showing cause and effect, description, and narrative. The rhetorical mode writers choose depends on the purpose for writing. Rhetorical modes are a set of tools that will give you greater flexibility and effectiveness in communicating with your audience and expressing ideas.

In addition to cause/effect , problem/solution , and compare/contrast , there are many other types of rhetorical modes:

• Classification and division , often used in science, takes large ideas and divides them into manageable chunks of information, classifying and organizing them into types and parts.
• Definition  clarifies the meaning of terms and concepts, providing context and description for deeper understanding of those ideas.
• Description  provides detailed information using adjectives that appeal to the five senses (what people see, hear, smell, taste, and touch) as well as other vivid details that help readers visualize or understand an item or concept.
• Evaluation  analyzes and judges the value and merit of an essay, a concept, or topic.
• Illustration  provides examples and evidence in detail to support, explain, and analyze a main point or idea.
• Narrative  uses fictional or nonfictional stories in a chronological sequence of events, often including detailed descriptions and appeals to the senses and emotions of readers while storytelling to reveal a theme or moment.
• Persuasion  (i.e., argumentation) logically attempts to convince readers to agree with an opinion or take an action; the argument also acknowledges opposing viewpoints and accommodates and/or refutes them with diplomatic and respectful language, as well as provides precise and accurate evidence and other expert supporting details.
• Process analysis  describes and explains, step by step, chronologically, in detail, and with precision and accuracy, how to do something or how something works.

Assignment prompts for college essays may require a specific rhetorical mode, or you may be able to choose the best mode(s) to express your ideas clearly. Either way, be sure to ask your instructor if you are not sure which rhetorical mode(s) to use.

Key Takeaways

Why are rhetorical modes important?

• As readers, understanding an author’s rhetorical mode helps us to understand the text, and to read and think critically.
• Knowing the rhetorical mode helps us to identify the author’s main ideas, which helps us to summarize the author’s work.
• As writers, we use rhetorical modes to make our writing clearer; they help us signal our topic and direction to our readers.
• Rhetorical modes also help us to develop support and keep our readers interested.

Activity B ~ Identifying Rhetorical Modes

• Read a printed or online essay or article. A letter to the editor or an editorial from a newspaper would be perfect. Then, with a partner, identify the modes of writing found in the article. (Use the lists above to help.) Analyze the different choices the writer has made about language and organization to express a point of view. Notice how the author may combine rhetorical modes (for example, a problem-solution article that uses cause-and-effect organization in some paragraphs, or a definition pattern that uses narrative or compare and contrast paragraphs to develop similarities or differences).
• Select, read, and annotate a sample student essay in a specific style as provided in “ Readings: Examples of Essays ” from Saylor Academy . Note in the margins or on another sheet of paper what rhetorical mode each paragraph uses, how those modes and paragraphs support the overall rhetorical mode of the essay, and whether each paragraph does so successfully or not. Discuss in small groups and summarize your findings to report to the rest of the class.

If you want to learn more about three common rhetorical modes, read what the New York Times  has to say in their learning blog article, “ Compare-Contrast, Cause-Effect, Problem Solution: Common ‘Text Types’ in The Times .”

Note: links open in new tabs.

This chapter was modified from the following Open Educational Resources:

“Patterns of Organization and Methods of Development ” from The Word on College Reading and Writing by Carol Burnell, Jaime Wood, Monique Babin, Susan Pesznecker, and Nicole Rosevear, which is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

“ Introduction ” from  English Composition   by Karyl Garland, Ann Inoshita, Jeanne K. Tsutsui Keuma, Kate Sims, and Tasha Williams, is licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

“ Chapter 10: The Rhetorical Modes ” and “ Chapter 15: Readings: Examples of Essays ,” from  Writing for Success from Saylor Academy, which is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0.

to think about

to write quickly

to come out, to be revealed

to decorate themselves

to fix; to make right

getting smaller

ENGLISH 087: Academic Advanced Writing Copyright © 2020 by Nancy Hutchison is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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The New York Times

The learning network | compare-contrast, cause-effect, problem-solution: common ‘text types’ in the times.

Compare-Contrast, Cause-Effect, Problem-Solution: Common ‘Text Types’ in The Times

Update | Sept. 2012: We’ll be exploring the new Common Core State Standards, and how teaching with The Times can address them, through a series of blog posts. You can find them all here, in the lesson plan category “Common Core.”

Last summer we took our first stab at thinking about how the Common Core Standards might apply to what we do on The Learning Network.

In that post, we offered suggestions for literacy strategies that we know work well with “informational text” — a category that includes pretty much everything The Times publishes every day.

Now we’d like to elaborate on that with more ideas for helping students understand common expository “text structures” like cause and effect, compare and contrast and problem-solution. These three, especially, are such staples of journalism that you can find multiple examples in every day’s paper.

Below, we’ve pulled out recent, student-friendly Times examples — in both print and multimedia — that illustrate each. We’ve also included a list of “signal words” commonly used in each. (A list borrowed, in part, from the work of Stephanie Harvey .)

Of course, the Times examples we include here are sophisticated pieces of writing. Just as it is impossible to find real-world, professional versions of that schoolroom classic, the five-paragraph-essay (the one with the thesis as the final line of the first paragraph, and topic sentences neatly heading each of the three body paragraphs), these pieces similarly resist a lockstep outline. Some may even cross categories. But each can illustrate for students how well a basic structure can work to lay out complex information.

After you’ve read a few from each category, try finding your own. We invite students and teachers to post more Times examples for each in the comment section below .

Cause and Effect

Much of journalism involves tracking the ripple effects of big news events or societal trends.

For instance, take a look at the paper any day and you’ll find stories in every section about the continuing chain of effects of the dismal global economy. Earlier this year, The Times was full of stories about the effects of the Japanese tsunami and nuclear crisis , and more recently journalists have tracked the spread, and effects, of Occupy Wall Street .

As students read the pieces we’ve chosen, they might use or adapt our simple graphic organizer — or create their own.

Signal Words and Phrases

• for this reason
• in order to
• as a result
• consequently
• on account of

Times Print Examples

After Lean Acorn Crop in Northeast, Even People May Feel the Effects How does a dearth of acorns this year lead one scientist to predict both that traffic collisions will rise and that 2012 will be “the worst year for Lyme disease risk ever”?

The Lasting Shadow of Bernie Madoff “…for those he ensnared, the Madoff story drags on”: How Bernie Madoff, who was arrested three years ago this week, has changed the lives of his victims, family and trustees.

Time for a Vacation? Climate Change and the Human Clock How climate change over the last thirty years has affected attendance at the national parks — and how it could influence leisure activities, from ski trips to leaf-peeping to bird watching to ice-cream-eating, in the future.

In Tough Times, a Boom in Cremations as a Way to Save Money “All but taboo in the United States 50 years ago, cremation is now chosen over burial in 41 percent of American deaths, up from 15 percent in 1985, according to the Cremation Association of North America. Economics is clearly one of the factors driving that change.”

Rough Times Take Bloom Off a New Year’s Rite, the Rose Parade The sputtering economy and municipal budget cuts are presenting new problems for the Tournament of Roses and the float industry.

A Message on Every Arm Why the chic are carrying humble cloth tote bags this season.

Times Multimedia Examples

Graphic | How Shifting Plates Caused the Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan

Graphic | It’s All Connected: An Overview of the Euro Crisis

Compare and Contrast

Articles and multimedia that compare two or more things can be found daily in The Times, whether it’s via a chart comparing the new iPhone to its rivals, or an architecture review that contrasts the two new baseball stadiums in New York City.

Our Venn diagram graphic organizer might come in handy, either for taking notes while reading or for planning your own piece.

• in comparison
• by contrast
• on the other hand
• on the contrary
• as opposed to

Times Print Examples Two New Baseball Palaces, One Stoic, One Scrappy A 2009 architecture review comparing the two new baseball stadiums in New York City, Yankee Stadium and Citi Field.

Fire and Ice A recent Op-Ed by Maureen Dowd compares Newt Gingrich with President Obama.

India Ink | Who Wants to Shop in a Big Box Store, Anyway? “Let’s compare the American big-box shopping experience to shopping in urban India,” invites this blog post, a particularly simple and clear example of this kind of writing.

Obsession, Reignited An article comparing Stieg Larsson’s novel “Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” with the forthcoming film version by David Fincher. (This is just one of many Times examples in which an original literary piece is compared with the film or theatrical version. To find more, use Times search to read about works of literature you’re teaching.)

Multimedia Examples

Graphic | A Smartphone Face-Off Apple iPhone 4S vs. Samsung Galaxy S II

Slide Show | Vamps, Crooks and Killers to compare with A Rogues’ Gallery

Graphic | Comparing Internet Speeds Across the Nation

Problem and Solution

Every day in The Times there are articles that identify a problem of some kind and report on an innovative solution. In fact, one whole Times blog, called Fixes , is entirely devoted to reporting on solutions to social problems and why they work.

Of course we have a basic graphic organizer for this text type as well — to use as is, or as a jumping-off point for your own version.

Monks Embrace Web to Reach Recruits “The Benedictine monks at the Portsmouth Abbey in Portsmouth, R.I., have a problem. They are aging — five are octogenarians and the youngest will be 50 on his next birthday — and their numbers have fallen to 12, from a peak of about 24 in 1969.” Read about how these monks have taken to the Internet to solve it.

A Hard Turn: Better Health on the Highway How can the trucking industry encourage drivers to exercise and eat right on the road?

Fixes | The Power of Positive Coaching “…today’s youth coaches often struggle to provide sound, evidence-based, and age-appropriate guidance to players.” Fixes describes one solution.

Fixes | An Electronic Eye on Hospital Hand-Washing “Hospitals do impossible things like heart surgery on a fetus, but they are apparently stymied by the task of getting health care workers to wash their hands.” What can they do to change that culture?

Interactive | Lunch Line Redesign

Slide Show | 10 Days in a Carry-On

Interactive | The 2010 Year in Ideas

Comments are no longer being accepted.

Students need explicit training about text structure. And your post is filled with good exercises and source material to work with.

Recognizing how information is organized helps students to analyze original work and summarize it for their audience. But for students to truly be engaged in summarizing, two components must come into play: 1. Allow students to make their own judgments about what’s important (instead of just repeating the details the teacher highlights) 2. Students need to be able to share what they’ve learned with an audience other than the teacher.

Your readers might also enjoy this series of strategies that focus on core skills needed across the curriculum. Designed for struggling readers at the secondary level. (Free downloadable pdf’s.) “18 Literacy Strategies for Struggling Readers – Defining, Summarizing and Comparing” //bit.ly/nQTXbQ

Students do need proper scaffolding. Opportunities to learn different analytic models – cause / effect, problem / solution, sequencing, continuity / change. It makes sense to provide them some graphic organizers to help master the models. But at some point, you must turn them loose and give them the chance to explore, discover, create. Put another way, if your entire class comes back with the same comparative analysis – you did the thinking, they didn’t.

Here’s a project I did for the Smithsonian – “Analyzing the History of the Bicycle: A Prezi DBQ” //bit.ly/qHxfXh

It explores notion of continuity and change and illustrates a question that I often pose to educators – when do we stop modeling for students and free them to take responsibility for their learning? In this lesson, students are given images of historic bicycles with a minimal amount of supporting text. Starting with concrete observations, students look for patterns of change and continuity (elements that changed, e.g., size / number of wheels, speed, stability and those that remained relatively constant , e.g., human powered, seated posture, need for brakes). Finally, they are asked develop a way to express what they’ve learned. This gives them an audience other than their teacher.

This is fabulous for teachers! You SHOW and TELL! I would also suggest that students use Glogster, a 2.0 webtool to show “debates” about articles in the newspaper. Students can choose which perspective they believe in and present their side with compelling quotations, videos, pictures from the internet. The “signal” words can be incorporated into this persuasive “final exhibition.”

Excellent suggesting for how to teach close reading of complex text using NYT articles.

It is not at all clear that students need explicit training to acquire different text structures. There is a great deal of published evidence that those who read a lot acquire these differences, and stud8ies claiming to show this compare explicit instruction to no instruction, not to extensive reading. I suspect that only the most obvious aspects of different text types can be taught explicitly.

Were is this place? I think it looks VERY realistic! I saw it and i was like “WOW LOOK AT THOSE COLORS!”

I can understand why Mr. Pappas commented in support of the *Times* worksheets (“graphic organizers”). Students do benefit from looking closely at a text and seeing its parts. He suggests that after analysis should come synthesis (speaking to an audience). I’d add three things to this scaffolding. First, writing is not just about worksheets. Kids need to write their own sentences about complex processes and share them — and then write more. Learning the key phrases that signal thought is a necessary but very very small part of learning to think. The danger is that teachers will think the content is the list of phrases, not the students’ ability to find worthwhile arguments and argue them persuasively. Secondly, teacher communities need support to go beyond teaching worksheets (it’s time consuming and easy to resort to marking errors or giving empty praise). If we’re teaching thinking, we have to teach form and content all the time, and then let the kids actually use language via discussion, writing and more writing, to make sense of the topic. In other words, they have to make meaningful statements together, not merely complete or accurate ones. Third, testing pushes us to teach only easily score-able lessons and to break the kids into two groups, those who will argue about concepts removed from the kids’ experience (for instance, the history of the bicycle) and those who will not play that game — and those who will not play that game usually end up being re-taught the “basics” of form and grammar for their entire school career. So for me the question is how we do both always, and the answer usually is to write, thus avoiding the either/or dichotomy of “ideas” and “critical thinking” as opposed to “style” and “form” — something we all say we want to unite, but rarely see in the atomistic, assembly-line lesson plans that train kids for the test. Finally, since teachers themselves have no time or support as writers — they are prepping for the test themselves nowadays — they have little personal experience to guide them as they teach their kids to meld style and content across the disciplines. Teachers need support from (now eliminated) programs like the National Writing Project and National Board Certification!

I used the compare/contrast, problem/solution, cause and effect with my eighth grade students. They worked in groups, did “chunking” first with the articles, and then filled in the graphic organizers. It was a terrific way to teach/reinforce these concepts using informational text. Thanks so much!

Thanks for writing in and saying so, Lee–it helps so much for us to know whether and how our lesson ideas work in actual classrooms!–Katherine

What a wonderful support for writing teachers! It is important to also think about how text structure plays into reading. By being immersed in the genre of informational text as readers and then as writers, students will begin to see these structures and how using them benefit the readers they write for — the symbiotic relationship between the two is one of the toughest kinds of thinking for kids to discover, yet, it is the most powerful in creating independent writers whose learning then becomes generative. “Reading with the eyes of a writer” allows students (and adults!) to use effective writing techniques in any genre. Thank you NYT for offering mentor texts!

I agree with you jaime, smart words used to explain our ideas and feelings…

Common Core standards reflect best teaching practices that most educators execute in their classrooms. My questions is for any Senator, President, or administrator. When are tests going to reflect the skills that we are required to teach in the classrooms? Are tests the best practice to use in order to measure learning? How are teachers suppose to be accountable for teaching analytical skills when we our jobs are measured based on test scores of our students?

Thank you for the excellent resource. I was looking for something like this, and you’ve saved me a lot of time looking for articles.

Thank you so much for the resources. My grade level team is very excited to work hard with incorporating this website in our lessons. Thank you for your hard work.

good advice .my children said they got 100. I have twins and this helped them both .

I don’t like these. Never have. I hate these assignments -.-

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4.3: Cause and Effect

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The Purpose of Cause and Effect in Writing

It is often considered human nature to ask, “why?” and “how?” We want to know how our child got sick so we can better prevent it from happening in the future, or why our colleague received a pay raise because we want one as well. We want to know how much money we will save over the long term if we buy a hybrid car. These examples identify only a few of the relationships we think about in our lives, but each shows the importance of understanding cause and effect.

A cause is something that produces an event or condition; an effect is what results from an event or condition. The purpose of the cause-and-effect essay is to determine how various phenomena relate in terms of origins and results. Sometimes the connection between cause and effect is clear, but often determining the exact relationship between the two is very difficult. For example, the following effects of a cold may be easily identifiable: a sore throat, runny nose, and a cough. But determining the cause of the sickness can be far more difficult. A number of causes are possible, and to complicate matters, these possible causes could have combined to cause the sickness. That is, more than one cause may be responsible for any given effect. Therefore, cause-and-effect discussions are often complicated and frequently lead to debates and arguments. Indeed, you can use the complex nature of cause and effect to your advantage. Often it is not necessary, or even possible, to find the exact cause of an event or to name the exact effect. So, when formulating a thesis, you can claim one of a number of causes or effects to be the primary, or main, cause or effect. As soon as you claim that one cause or one effect is more crucial than the others, you have developed a thesis.

Consider the causes and effects in the following thesis statements. List a cause and effect for each one on your own sheet of paper.

• The growing childhood obesity epidemic is a result of technology.
• Much of the wildlife is dying because of the oil spill.
• The town continued programs that it could no longer afford, so it went bankrupt.
• More young people became politically active as use of the Internet spread throughout society.
• While many experts believed the rise in violence was due to the poor economy, it was really due to the summer-long heat wave.

Write three cause-and-effect thesis statements of your own for each of the following five broad topics.

• Health and nutrition

The Structure of a Cause-and-Effect Essay

The cause-and-effect essay opens with a general introduction to the topic, which then leads to a thesis that states the main cause, main effect, or various causes and effects of a condition or event.

The cause-and-effect essay can be organized in one of the following two primary ways:

• Start with the cause and then talk about the effects.
• Start with the effect and then talk about the causes.

For example, if your essay were on childhood obesity, you could start by talking about the effect of childhood obesity and then discuss the cause, or you could start the same essay by talking about the cause of childhood obesity and then move to the effect.

Regardless of which structure you choose, be sure to explain each element of the essay fully and completely. Explaining complex relationships requires the full use of evidence, such as scientific studies, expert testimony, statistics, and anecdotes. Be careful of resorting to empty speculation. In writing, speculation amounts to unsubstantiated guessing. Writers are particularly prone to such trappings in cause-and-effect arguments due to the complex nature of finding links between phenomena. Be sure to have clear evidence to support the claims that you make.

Because cause-and-effect essays determine how phenomena are linked, they make frequent use of certain words and phrases that denote such linkage. See Table of Phrases of Causation for examples of such terms.

The conclusion should wrap up the discussion and reinforce the thesis, leaving the reader with a clear understanding of the relationship that was analyzed.

Look at some of the cause-and-effect relationships from Exercise 2. Outline the links you listed. Outline one using a cause-then-effect structure. Outline the other using the effect-then-cause structure.

Choose a local issue or topic that concerns you. Examine both the causes and effects of this issue or topic, and write a paragraph that outlines these using the components of a cause and effect essay.

Contributors and Attributions  

Adapted from  Successful College Composition (Crowther et al.) . Sourced from  LibreTexts , licensed under  CC BY-NC-SA  .

Adapted from  Let's Get Writing (Browning, DeVries, Boylan, Kurtz and Burton) . Sourced from  LibreTexts , licensed under  CC BY-NC-SA  .

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17.3 Organizing Persuasive Speeches

Learning objectives.

• Understand three common organizational patterns for persuasive speeches.
• Explain the steps utilized in Monroe’s motivated sequence.
• Explain the parts of a problem-cause-solution speech.
• Explain the process utilized in a comparative advantage persuasive speech.

Steven Lilley – Engaged – CC BY-SA 2.0.

Previously in this text we discussed general guidelines for organizing speeches. In this section, we are going to look at three organizational patterns ideally suited for persuasive speeches: Monroe’s motivated sequence, problem-cause-solution, and comparative advantages.

Monroe’s Motivated Sequence

One of the most commonly cited and discussed organizational patterns for persuasive speeches is Alan H. Monroe’s motivated sequence. The purpose of Monroe’s motivated sequence is to help speakers “sequence supporting materials and motivational appeals to form a useful organizational pattern for speeches as a whole” (German et al., 2010).

While Monroe’s motivated sequence is commonly discussed in most public speaking textbooks, we do want to provide one minor caution. Thus far, almost no research has been conducted that has demonstrated that Monroe’s motivated sequence is any more persuasive than other structural patterns. In the only study conducted experimentally examining Monroe’s motivated sequence, the researchers did not find the method more persuasive, but did note that audience members found the pattern more organized than other methods (Micciche, Pryor, & Butler, 2000). We wanted to add this sidenote because we don’t want you to think that Monroe’s motivated sequence is a kind of magic persuasive bullet; the research simply doesn’t support this notion. At the same time, research does support that organized messages are perceived as more persuasive as a whole, so using Monroe’s motivated sequence to think through one’s persuasive argument could still be very beneficial.

Table 17.1 “Monroe’s Motivated Sequence” lists the basic steps of Monroe’s motivated sequence and the subsequent reaction a speaker desires from his or her audience.

Table 17.1 Monroe’s Motivated Sequence

The first step in Monroe’s motivated sequence is the attention step , in which a speaker attempts to get the audience’s attention. To gain an audience’s attention, we recommend that you think through three specific parts of the attention step. First, you need to have a strong attention-getting device. As previously discussed in Chapter 9 “Introductions Matter: How to Begin a Speech Effectively” , a strong attention getter at the beginning of your speech is very important. Second, you need to make sure you introduce your topic clearly. If your audience doesn’t know what your topic is quickly, they are more likely to stop listening. Lastly, you need to explain to your audience why they should care about your topic.

In the need step of Monroe’s motivated sequence, the speaker establishes that there is a specific need or problem. In Monroe’s conceptualization of need, he talks about four specific parts of the need: statement, illustration, ramification, and pointing. First, a speaker needs to give a clear and concise statement of the problem. This part of a speech should be crystal clear for an audience. Second, the speaker needs to provide one or more examples to illustrate the need. The illustration is an attempt to make the problem concrete for the audience. Next, a speaker needs to provide some kind of evidence (e.g., statistics, examples, testimony) that shows the ramifications or consequences of the problem. Lastly, a speaker needs to point to the audience and show exactly how the problem relates to them personally.

Satisfaction

In the third step of Monroe’s motivated sequence, the satisfaction step , the speaker sets out to satisfy the need or solve the problem. Within this step, Monroe (1935) proposed a five-step plan for satisfying a need:

• Explanation
• Theoretical demonstration
• Reference to practical experience
• Meeting objections

First, you need to clearly state the attitude, value, belief, or action you want your audience to accept. The purpose of this statement is to clearly tell your audience what your ultimate goal is.

Second, you want to make sure that you clearly explain to your audience why they should accept the attitude, value, belief, or action you proposed. Just telling your audience they should do something isn’t strong enough to actually get them to change. Instead, you really need to provide a solid argument for why they should accept your proposed solution.

Third, you need to show how the solution you have proposed meets the need or problem. Monroe calls this link between your solution and the need a theoretical demonstration because you cannot prove that your solution will work. Instead, you theorize based on research and good judgment that your solution will meet the need or solve the problem.

Fourth, to help with this theoretical demonstration, you need to reference practical experience, which should include examples demonstrating that your proposal has worked elsewhere. Research, statistics, and expert testimony are all great ways of referencing practical experience.

Lastly, Monroe recommends that a speaker respond to possible objections. As a persuasive speaker, one of your jobs is to think through your speech and see what counterarguments could be made against your speech and then rebut those arguments within your speech. When you offer rebuttals for arguments against your speech, it shows your audience that you’ve done your homework and educated yourself about multiple sides of the issue.

Visualization

The next step of Monroe’s motivated sequence is the visualization step , in which you ask the audience to visualize a future where the need has been met or the problem solved. In essence, the visualization stage is where a speaker can show the audience why accepting a specific attitude, value, belief, or behavior can positively affect the future. When helping people to picture the future, the more concrete your visualization is, the easier it will be for your audience to see the possible future and be persuaded by it. You also need to make sure that you clearly show how accepting your solution will directly benefit your audience.

According to Monroe, visualization can be conducted in one of three ways: positive, negative, or contrast (Monroe, 1935). The positive method of visualization is where a speaker shows how adopting a proposal leads to a better future (e.g., recycle, and we’ll have a cleaner and safer planet). Conversely, the negative method of visualization is where a speaker shows how not adopting the proposal will lead to a worse future (e.g., don’t recycle, and our world will become polluted and uninhabitable). Monroe also acknowledged that visualization can include a combination of both positive and negative visualization. In essence, you show your audience both possible outcomes and have them decide which one they would rather have.

The final step in Monroe’s motivated sequence is the action step , in which a speaker asks an audience to approve the speaker’s proposal. For understanding purposes, we break action into two distinct parts: audience action and approval. Audience action refers to direct physical behaviors a speaker wants from an audience (e.g., flossing their teeth twice a day, signing a petition, wearing seat belts). Approval, on the other hand, involves an audience’s consent or agreement with a speaker’s proposed attitude, value, or belief.

When preparing an action step, it is important to make sure that the action, whether audience action or approval, is realistic for your audience. Asking your peers in a college classroom to donate one thousand dollars to charity isn’t realistic. Asking your peers to donate one dollar is considerably more realistic. In a persuasive speech based on Monroe’s motivated sequence, the action step will end with the speech’s concluding device. As discussed elsewhere in this text, you need to make sure that you conclude in a vivid way so that the speech ends on a high point and the audience has a sense of energy as well as a sense of closure.

Now that we’ve walked through Monroe’s motivated sequence, let’s look at how you could use Monroe’s motivated sequence to outline a persuasive speech:

Specific Purpose: To persuade my classroom peers that the United States should have stronger laws governing the use of for-profit medical experiments.

Main Points:

• Attention: Want to make nine thousand dollars for just three weeks of work lying around and not doing much? Then be a human guinea pig. Admittedly, you’ll have to have a tube down your throat most of those three weeks, but you’ll earn three thousand dollars a week.
• Need: Every day many uneducated and lower socioeconomic-status citizens are preyed on by medical and pharmaceutical companies for use in for-profit medical and drug experiments. Do you want one of your family members to fall prey to this evil scheme?
• Satisfaction: The United States should have stronger laws governing the use of for-profit medical experiments to ensure that uneducated and lower-socioeconomic-status citizens are protected.
• Visualization: If we enact tougher experiment oversight, we can ensure that medical and pharmaceutical research is conducted in a way that adheres to basic values of American decency. If we do not enact tougher experiment oversight, we could find ourselves in a world where the lines between research subject, guinea pig, and patient become increasingly blurred.
• Action: In order to prevent the atrocities associated with for-profit medical and pharmaceutical experiments, please sign this petition asking the US Department of Health and Human Services to pass stricter regulations on this preying industry that is out of control.

This example shows how you can take a basic speech topic and use Monroe’s motivated sequence to clearly and easily outline your speech efficiently and effectively.

Table 17.2 “Monroe’s Motivated Sequence Checklist” also contains a simple checklist to help you make sure you hit all the important components of Monroe’s motivated sequence.

Table 17.2 Monroe’s Motivated Sequence Checklist

Problem-Cause-Solution

Another format for organizing a persuasive speech is the problem-cause-solution format. In this specific format, you discuss what a problem is, what you believe is causing the problem, and then what the solution should be to correct the problem.

Specific Purpose: To persuade my classroom peers that our campus should adopt a zero-tolerance policy for hate speech.

• Demonstrate that there is distrust among different groups on campus that has led to unnecessary confrontations and violence.
• Show that the confrontations and violence are a result of hate speech that occurred prior to the events.
• Explain how instituting a campus-wide zero-tolerance policy against hate speech could stop the unnecessary confrontations and violence.

In this speech, you want to persuade people to support a new campus-wide policy calling for zero-tolerance of hate speech. Once you have shown the problem, you then explain to your audience that the cause of the unnecessary confrontations and violence is prior incidents of hate speech. Lastly, you argue that a campus-wide zero-tolerance policy could help prevent future unnecessary confrontations and violence. Again, this method of organizing a speech is as simple as its name: problem-cause-solution.

Comparative Advantages

The final method for organizing a persuasive speech is called the comparative advantages speech format. The goal of this speech is to compare items side-by-side and show why one of them is more advantageous than the other. For example, let’s say that you’re giving a speech on which e-book reader is better: Amazon.com’s Kindle or Barnes and Nobles’ Nook. Here’s how you could organize this speech:

Specific Purpose: To persuade my audience that the Nook is more advantageous than the Kindle.

• The Nook allows owners to trade and loan books to other owners or people who have downloaded the Nook software, while the Kindle does not.
• The Nook has a color-touch screen, while the Kindle’s screen is black and grey and noninteractive.
• The Nook’s memory can be expanded through microSD, while the Kindle’s memory cannot be upgraded.

As you can see from this speech’s organization, the simple goal of this speech is to show why one thing has more positives than something else. Obviously, when you are demonstrating comparative advantages, the items you are comparing need to be functional equivalents—or, as the saying goes, you cannot compare apples to oranges.

Key Takeaways

• There are three common patterns that persuaders can utilize to help organize their speeches effectively: Monroe’s motivated sequence, problem-cause-solution, and comparative advantage. Each of these patterns can effectively help a speaker think through his or her thoughts and organize them in a manner that will be more likely to persuade an audience.
• Alan H. Monroe’s (1935) motivated sequence is a commonly used speech format that is used by many people to effectively organize persuasive messages. The pattern consists of five basic stages: attention, need, satisfaction, visualization, and action. In the first stage, a speaker gets an audience’s attention. In the second stage, the speaker shows an audience that a need exists. In the third stage, the speaker shows how his or her persuasive proposal could satisfy the need. The fourth stage shows how the future could be if the persuasive proposal is or is not adopted. Lastly, the speaker urges the audience to take some kind of action to help enact the speaker’s persuasive proposal.
• The problem-cause-solution proposal is a three-pronged speech pattern. The speaker starts by explaining the problem the speaker sees. The speaker then explains what he or she sees as the underlying causes of the problem. Lastly, the speaker proposes a solution to the problem that corrects the underlying causes.
• The comparative advantages speech format is utilized when a speaker is comparing two or more things or ideas and shows why one of the things or ideas has more advantages than the other(s).
• Create a speech using Monroe’s motivated sequence to persuade people to recycle.
• Create a speech using the problem-cause-solution method for a problem you see on your college or university campus.
• Create a comparative advantages speech comparing two brands of toothpaste.

German, K. M., Gronbeck, B. E., Ehninger, D., & Monroe, A. H. (2010). Principles of public speaking (17th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon, p. 236.

Micciche, T., Pryor, B., & Butler, J. (2000). A test of Monroe’s motivated sequence for its effects on ratings of message organization and attitude change. Psychological Reports, 86 , 1135–1138.

Monroe, A. H. (1935). Principles and types of speech . Chicago, IL: Scott Foresman.

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Cause and Effect in Composition

Glossary of Grammatical and Rhetorical Terms

• An Introduction to Punctuation
• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

In composition , cause and effect is a method of paragraph or essay development in which a writer analyzes the reasons for—and/or the consequences of—an action, event, or decision.

A cause-and-effect paragraph or essay can be organized in various ways. For instance, causes and/or effects can be arranged in either chronological order or reverse chronological order. Alternatively, points can be presented in terms of emphasis , from least important to most important, or vice versa.

Examples and Observations

• "If you prove the cause , you at once prove the effect ; and conversely nothing can exist without its cause." (Aristotle, Rhetoric )
• Immediate Causes and Ultimate Causes "Determining causes and effects is usually thought-provoking and quite complex. One reason for this is that there are two types of causes: immediate causes , which are readily apparent because they are closest to the effect, and ultimate causes , which, being somewhat removed, are not so apparent and may perhaps even be hidden. Furthermore, ultimate causes may bring about effects which themselves become immediate causes, thus creating a causal chain . For example, consider the following causal chain: Sally, a computer salesperson, prepared extensively for a meeting with a client (ultimate cause), impressed the client (immediate cause), and made a very large sale (effect). The chain did not stop there: the large sale caused her to be promoted by her employer (effect)." (Alfred Rosa and Paul Eschholz, Models for Writers , 6th ed. St. Martin's Press, 1998)
• Composing a Cause/Effect Essay "For all its conceptual complexity, a cause/effect essay can be organized quite simply. The introduction generally presents the subject(s) and states the purpose of the analysis in a clear thesis . The body of the paper then explores all relevant causes and/or effects, typically progressing from least to most influential or from most to least influential. Finally, the concluding section summarizes the various cause/effect relationships established in the body of the paper and clearly states the conclusions that can be drawn from those relationships." (Kim Flachmann, Michael Flachmann, Kathryn Benander, and Cheryl Smith, The Brief Prose Reader . Prentice Hall, 2003)
• Causes of Child Obesity "Many of today's kids are engaged in sedentary pursuits made possible by a level of technology unthinkable as recently as 25 to 30 years ago. Computer, video, and other virtual games, the ready availability of feature films and games on DVD, plus high-tech advancements in music-listening technology have come down into the range of affordability for parents and even for the kids themselves. These passive pursuits have produced a downside of reduced physical activity for the kids, often with the explicit or implicit consent of the parents. . . . "Other fairly recent developments have also contributed to the alarming rise in child obesity rates. Fast food outlets offering consumables that are both low in price and low in nutritional content have exploded all over the American landscape since the 1960s, especially in suburban areas close to major highway interchanges. Kids on their lunch breaks or after school often congregate in these fast food outlets, consuming food and soft drinks that are high in sugar, carbohydrates, and fat. Many parents, themselves, frequently take their children to these fast food places, thus setting an example the kids can find justification to emulate." (MacKie Shilstone, Mackie Shilstone's Body Plan for Kids . Basic Health Publications, 2009)
• Cause and Effect in Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" "'A Modest Proposal' is a brilliant example of the use of non-argumentative devices of rhetorical persuasion . The whole essay, of course, rests broadly upon the argument of cause and effect : these causes have produced this situation in Ireland, and this proposal will result in these effects in Ireland. But Swift, within the general framework of this argument, does not employ specific argumentative forms in this essay. The projector chooses rather to assert his reasons and then to amass them by way of proof ." (Charles A. Beaumont, Swift's Classical Rhetoric . Univ. of Georgia Press, 1961)
• Effects of Automobiles "I worry about the private automobile. It is a dirty, noisy, wasteful, and lonely means of travel. It pollutes the air, ruins the safety and sociability of the street, and exercises upon the individual a discipline which takes away far more freedom than it gives him. It causes an enormous amount of land to be unnecessarily abstracted from nature and from plant life and to become devoid of any natural function. It explodes cities, grievously impairs the whole institution of neighborliness, fragmentizes and destroys communities. It has already spelled the end of our cities as real cultural and social communities, and has made impossible the construction of any others in their place. Together with the airplane, it has crowded out other, more civilized and more convenient means of transport, leaving older people, infirm people, poor people and children in a worse situation than they were a hundred years ago." (George F. Kennan, Democracy and the Student Left , 1968)
• Examples and Effects of Entropy "Because of its unnerving irreversibility, entropy has been called the arrow of time. We all understand this instinctively. Children's rooms, left on their own, tend to get messy, not neat. Wood rots, metal rusts, people wrinkle and flowers wither. Even mountains wear down; even the nuclei of atoms decay. In the city we see entropy in the rundown subways and worn-out sidewalks and torn-down buildings, in the increasing disorder of our lives. We know, without asking, what is old. If we were suddenly to see the paint jump back on an old building, we would know that something was wrong. If we saw an egg unscramble itself and jump back into its shell, we would laugh in the same way we laugh as a movie run backward." (K.C. Cole, "The Arrow of Time." The New York Times , March 18, 1982)
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• Development in Composition: Building an Essay
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• Understanding Organization in Composition and Speech
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• Definition and Examples of Ethos in Classical Rhetoric
• What an Essay Is and How to Write One
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Patterns for Presenting Information

Problem-Cause-Solution Pattern

According to conventional wisdom, you can summarize every story ever told in the following way: someone falls into a hole and must climb out. In other words, every story is about solving a problem. There are probably many exceptions to this observation; however, connecting the need to solve a real-life problem to your subject can draw your readers’ attention. The problem-cause-solution pattern can help you do this.

In a sense, this pattern is a variety of the specific-to-general pattern, as it often begins with specific details and moves to a somewhat generalized solution. However, rather than evoking a sense of mystery and suspense, the problem-cause-solution pattern focuses on concrete difficulties; and though a solution may appeal to abstract principles, the solution should have a practical application, enough to solve the real-life problem.

When to Use this Pattern

You may find the problem-cause-solution pattern useful in writing case studies, critiques, introductions, reports of scientific investigations, literary reviews, political and social discourse, white papers, proposals, many kinds of reports, and essay examinations.

How to Create this Pattern

The name of the problem-cause-solution pattern also describes the sequence in which to present your information.

Begin by describing the problem.

Proceed through diagnosing and analyzing the problem.

Then propose a solution.

The forms of analysis used to diagnose the problem may vary. You might, for example, use comparative analysis to evaluate for flaws in a process that may have led to the problem. You might use a combination of synthesis and cause and effect analysis to locate systemic conditions which caused the problem. However, in each instance—whether analyzing an entire process or analyzing a specific cause—the goal is to locate a cause or causes.

Example of this Pattern

There are two main kinds of ice that shape sea levels. The first is sea ice, which comes from ocean water that freezes solid. It makes up most of the ice at the North Pole. As it forms, it changes the saltiness of seawater and helps shape powerful ocean currents. 

Melting sea ice doesn’t change the overall amount of water in the ocean, just as melting ice cubes don’t change the water level in a glass of water. But sea ice tends to reflect sunlight, while the darker ocean tends to soak up its heat. That speeds up warming and drives more ice melt in a worrying feedback loop. The warmer temperatures also contribute to the thermal expansion of water, which in turn can raise sea levels. 

The second kind of ice is land ice, which builds up in sheets over thousands of years from compacted snow. In Antarctica, the ice sheet is 1.5 miles thick (2.4 km) on average, reaching up to 3 miles (5 km) in some areas. Greenland’s ice sheet averages a mile in thickness. When land ice starts to jut out over the ocean, it creates a floating ice shelf (Irfan, 2022, paras. 9-11).

Example Explained

Notice how the passage above begins with an implied problem: ice causing changes to sea levels. The passage proceeds to explain the causes of changing sea levels. These are the first two parts of our pattern. A few paragraphs later, the author shifts to discussing the beginnings of a solution.

Key Takeaways

• The problem-cause-solution approach will first describe the problem, then analyze the cause or responses to the problem, and then will lead to a solution.
• We practice this approach daily in our interactions with others, whether at work or home.

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Table of Contents: Online Guide to Writing

Chapter 1: College Writing

How Does College Writing Differ from Workplace Writing?

What Is College Writing?

Why So Much Emphasis on Writing?

Chapter 2: The Writing Process

Doing Exploratory Research

Getting from Notes to Your Draft

Introduction

Prewriting - Techniques to Get Started - Mining Your Intuition

Prewriting: Targeting Your Audience

Prewriting: Techniques to Get Started

Prewriting: Understanding Your Assignment

Rewriting: Being Your Own Critic

Rewriting: Creating a Revision Strategy

Rewriting: Getting Feedback

Rewriting: The Final Draft

Techniques to Get Started - Outlining

Techniques to Get Started - Using Systematic Techniques

Thesis Statement and Controlling Idea

Writing: Getting from Notes to Your Draft - Freewriting

Writing: Getting from Notes to Your Draft - Summarizing Your Ideas

Writing: Outlining What You Will Write

Chapter 3: Thinking Strategies

A Word About Style, Voice, and Tone

A Word About Style, Voice, and Tone: Style Through Vocabulary and Diction

Critical Strategies and Writing

Critical Strategies and Writing: Analysis

Critical Strategies and Writing: Evaluation

Critical Strategies and Writing: Persuasion

Critical Strategies and Writing: Synthesis

Developing a Paper Using Strategies

Kinds of Assignments You Will Write

Patterns for Presenting Information: Critiques

Patterns for Presenting Information: Discussing Raw Data

Patterns for Presenting Information: General-to-Specific Pattern

Patterns for Presenting Information: Problem-Cause-Solution Pattern

Patterns for Presenting Information: Specific-to-General Pattern

Patterns for Presenting Information: Summaries and Abstracts

Supporting with Research and Examples

Writing Essay Examinations

Writing Essay Examinations: Make Your Answer Relevant and Complete

Writing Essay Examinations: Organize Thinking Before Writing

Writing Essay Examinations: Read and Understand the Question

Chapter 4: The Research Process

Planning and Writing a Research Paper

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Ask a Research Question

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Cite Sources

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Collect Evidence

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Decide Your Point of View, or Role, for Your Research

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Draw Conclusions

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Find a Topic and Get an Overview

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Manage Your Resources

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Outline

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Survey the Literature

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Work Your Sources into Your Research Writing

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Human Resources

Research Resources: What Are Research Resources?

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found?

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Electronic Resources

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Print Resources

Structuring the Research Paper: Formal Research Structure

Structuring the Research Paper: Informal Research Structure

The Nature of Research

The Research Assignment: How Should Research Sources Be Evaluated?

The Research Assignment: When Is Research Needed?

The Research Assignment: Why Perform Research?

Chapter 5: Academic Integrity

Academic Integrity

Giving Credit to Sources

Giving Credit to Sources: Copyright Laws

Giving Credit to Sources: Documentation

Giving Credit to Sources: Style Guides

Integrating Sources

Practicing Academic Integrity

Practicing Academic Integrity: Keeping Accurate Records

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Paraphrasing Your Source

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Quoting Your Source

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Summarizing Your Sources

Types of Documentation

Types of Documentation: Bibliographies and Source Lists

Types of Documentation: Citing World Wide Web Sources

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - APA Style

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - CSE/CBE Style

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - Chicago Style

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - MLA Style

Types of Documentation: Note Citations

Chapter 6: Using Library Resources

Finding Library Resources

Chapter 7: Assessing Your Writing

How Is Writing Graded?

How Is Writing Graded?: A General Assessment Tool

The Draft Stage

The Draft Stage: The First Draft

The Draft Stage: The Revision Process and the Final Draft

The Draft Stage: Using Feedback

The Research Stage

Using Assessment to Improve Your Writing

Chapter 8: Other Frequently Assigned Papers

Reviews and Reaction Papers: Article and Book Reviews

Reviews and Reaction Papers: Reaction Papers

Writing Arguments

Writing Arguments: Adapting the Argument Structure

Writing Arguments: Purposes of Argument

Writing Arguments: References to Consult for Writing Arguments

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Anticipate Active Opposition

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Determine Your Organization

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Develop Your Argument

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Introduce Your Argument

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - State Your Thesis or Proposition

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Write Your Conclusion

Writing Arguments: Types of Argument

Appendix A: Books to Help Improve Your Writing

Dictionaries

General Style Manuals

Researching on the Internet

Special Style Manuals

Writing Handbooks

Appendix B: Collaborative Writing and Peer Reviewing

Collaborative Writing: Assignments to Accompany the Group Project

Collaborative Writing: Informal Progress Report

Collaborative Writing: Issues to Resolve

Collaborative Writing: Methodology

Collaborative Writing: Peer Evaluation

Collaborative Writing: Tasks of Collaborative Writing Group Members

Collaborative Writing: Writing Plan

General Introduction

Peer Reviewing

Appendix C: Developing an Improvement Plan

Working with Your Instructor’s Comments and Grades

Appendix D: Writing Plan and Project Schedule

Devising a Writing Project Plan and Schedule

Reviewing Your Plan with Others

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Understanding Cause and Effect (Sentence Examples and Essay Sample)

What is cause and effect ? You’ve probably heard the saying, “There’s a reason for everything.” And it’s true! Everything happens for a reason. But what are some of the reasons? In this blog post, we’ll explore some cause and effect examples. We’ll also discuss how to identify the cause and effect in everyday situations.

What is cause and effect?

Understanding cause and effect is crucial in our daily lives , as well as in scientific and medical fields. When considering a problem or situation, it can be helpful to ask “what caused this?” and “what are the effects?”. 

This type of analysis allows you to determine what actions you may need to take in order to prevent or manage certain effects. 

Let’s use the example of smoking: the cause may be a person’s decision to smoke a cigarette, and some possible effects could be an increased risk for lung cancer or heart disease. 

By understanding the relationship between cause and effect, you can make informed choices in your lives and find solutions to problems.

Additionally, in  scientific experimentation , establishing a clear cause and effect relationship is crucial for determining the validity of results. In sum, thinking about cause and effect can aid us in making sense of our world and finding ways to improve it.

Examples of cause and effect

The cause is the root of the problem while the effect is what results from the issue.  Cause and effect  are often related: one event may be the result of another, or several events may contribute to a single result.

• A cause: poor nutrition can lead to Effects: of both weight gain and fatigue.
• An effect may have more than one cause: for example, a headache could be caused by stress, dehydration, or a sinus infection.
• Cause: Watching too much television Effect: Directly causes eye strain or indirectly causes health problems if it leads to a sedentary lifestyle.

The causes of an event may be immediate or remote. For example, the immediate causes of a car accident may be speeding and wet roads, while the remote causes may be driver fatigue and mechanical problems with the vehicle.

The effects of an event may be  immediate or delayed . For example, eating too much sugar might immediately cause a sugar high, or the effects might not be noticeable until hours later when blood sugar levels crash.

Cause and effect can be difficult to determine because there may be multiple factors involved. For example, it can be hard to say whether poverty causes crime or if crime causes poverty.

Examples of cause and effect in sentences

• Cause: If a man offends his neighbor by insulting him, the natural reaction is that the insulted neighbor becomes angry ( Effect ). When this happens, he tells his friends about what happened to garner sympathy. Often, his friends will also become upset, and they too will spread the news to their social circles (another cause and effect).
• Cause: Drinking coffee Effect: Dehydration. 
• Cause: A person starts smoking. Effects: Gets various health problems, including cancer and heart disease.

Middle school students

• Smoking causes cancer.
• Eating too much sugar causes diabetes.
• Wearing sunscreen prevents skin cancer.
• Exercising makes you healthier and looks better.
• Driving without a seat belt can lead to serious injury or death in the event of an accident.
• Studying helps you learn and remember information better.
• Staying up late can make you tired and less alert the next day.
• Swimming in the ocean can cause a rash or infection if you’re not careful.
• Eating raw fish can cause food poisoning.
• Reading in dim light can damage your eyesight.

High school students

• Eating a balanced diet helps you stay healthy. 
• Drinking too much alcohol can cause liver damage. 
• Exercise is good for your body and mind. 
• Too much stress can lead to physical and mental health problems. 
• Sleeping for eight hours each night helps improve your mood and energy levels. 
• Taking care of your belongings keeps them in good condition for longer periods of time. 
• Being on time allows you to have a more productive day. 
• Participating in class discussions increases your understanding of the material. 
• Chewing gum while you’re studying helps you focus and remember the information better.

College students

• Being overweight increases the risk of developing chronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke, and diabetes mellitus.
• Earning a college degree can lead to increased earning potential throughout a lifetime.

Software engineers

• The bug caused the system to crash.
• A coding error in the software caused incorrect data to be displayed.
• A misconfiguration in the system caused the problem.
• Poorly written code can cause serious problems for a software system.
• Incorrect input can cause an application to malfunction.
• Misuse of a function can cause errors in the program output.
• A programming error can cause a system to fail catastrophically.
• A software bug can cause applications to fail unexpectedly. 
• Bad data can cause a program to crash or produce incorrect results. 
• Undocumented features can often lead to unforeseen problems.

Marketing professionals

• Increased spending on advertising led to a significant increase in profits.
• A decrease in the quality of the products led to a decrease in sales.
• The company’s decision to focus on price over quality caused them to lose market share.
• Focusing on new markets led to an increase in revenue.
• Introducing new products led to an increase in profits.
• Spending more time on research and development led to increased sales of new products.
• Targeting a younger demographic led to an increase in profits.
• A lack of focus on customer service led to a decrease in sales and market share. 
• Increasing the amount of product promotion led to significant sales.

Cause and effect essay example

The causes and effects of homelessness.

Homelessness  is an issue that affects people all over the world. There are many different causes of homelessness, and as a result, there are also many different effects. In this essay, we will explore the causes and effects of homelessness in detail.

The most obvious cause of homelessness is unemployment. Personal relationships, mental health issues, and substance abuse can all contribute to an individual losing their housing. Additionally, even those who do have steady employment may struggle to afford rising rent costs or be unable to find stable, affordable housing in their area.

Ending homelessness

There is no one-size-fits-all solution to ending homelessness, and it’s important to consider all possible causes when developing plans and programs to support those experiencing homelessness. 

The high cost of housing is often compounded by other factors, such as low wages, unemployment, and mental illness. In many cases, people who become homeless have difficulty maintaining steady employment due to these factors. As a result, they cannot afford housing, leading to homelessness.

Inflection by mental illness

Mental illness is another cause of homelessness. A large portion of homeless people – estimates range from  20-25%  – suffer from severe mental illness, whereas only 6% of non-homeless individuals do. Some experts estimate that as many as one-third of all homeless people have some form of mental illness.

This can make it difficult for them to maintain employment or afford to house. Mental illness can also make it difficult for people to access services that help them escape the streets.

There are many different effects of homelessness. One of the most obvious effects is poor physical health. Homeless people often have difficulty accessing necessities like food and  shelter , which can lead to malnutrition and exposure to harsh weather . Homelessness also often leads to increased stress levels and mental health problems such as anxiety and depression.

In conclusion, homelessness is a complex problem with many causes and effects. Understanding all of these factors is essential to effectively address the issue.

Cause and effect exercises

If you train your parrot, he will speak.

What is the cause?

What is the effect?

She forgot to feed her dog, it died of starvation.

I didn’t drink enough water today, so I am feeling dehydrated.

Cause: Training the parrot.

Effect: Learning to speak.

Cause: Forgot to feed her dog.

Effect: Died of starvation.

Cause: Didn’t drink water.

Effect: Feeling  dehydrated .

The next time you want to understand why something happened, consider looking for the cause and effect. And, when you’re ready to improve your grades or earn a degree, remember that we’re here to help you succeed. But understanding cause and effect can provide clarity where there might be confusion.

It is the connection between the core cause the effect. There can be multiple causes in a situation. Although it doesn’t have an impact on the cause and effect relationship. For example, “eating poorly and not exercising.” This can be an example of multiple causes and can have multiple effects.

They are discourse between the relationship of cause and effect relationships. For example, an essay on “growing childhood obesity epidemic” and the root causes of this. Explaining complex relationships requires discourse between the cause and effect (the argument). This is typically found in essay format (cause and effect essays) rather than daily life.

Inside this article

Fact checked: Content is rigorously reviewed by a team of qualified and experienced fact checkers. Fact checkers review articles for factual accuracy, relevance, and timeliness. Learn more.

About the author

Dalia Y.: Dalia is an English Major and linguistics expert with an additional degree in Psychology. Dalia has featured articles on Forbes, Inc, Fast Company, Grammarly, and many more. She covers English, ESL, and all things grammar on GrammarBrain.

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Cause and Effect: Definition, Meaning, and Examples

Allison Bressmer

You may be familiar with the Biblical quote “You reap what you sow.” The things you do are like planted seeds, and those seeds produce a crop which is the result of your actions.

The quote is an example of the cause and effect relationship. Your action, sowing good or bad seeds, produces a reaction, a healthy or rotten harvest.

A cause is an action, and the effect is the resulting reaction.

Definition of Cause and Effect

What does cause and effect mean, examples of cause and effect in sentences, cause and effect relationship examples, cause and effect words.

In the cause and effect relationship, one or more things happen as a result of something else.

A cause is a catalyst, a motive, or an action that brings about a reaction—or reactions. A cause instigates an effect.

An effect is a condition, occurrence, or result generated by one or more causes. Effects are outcomes.

Cause and effect means that things happen because something prompted them to happen.

A cause is why something happens. An effect is what happened.

For example, you have a picnic planned for Sunday afternoon. However, the weather becomes stormy and you have to cancel your outdoor plans.

In this situation, the cause is the stormy weather and the effect of that stormy weather is the picnic cancellation.

Cause and effect are intertwined. American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Cause and effect are two sides of one fact.”

You can’t have an effect without a cause, nor can you have a cause without an effect.

In cause and effect relationships, there may be multiple causes and multiple effects. The relationship may cycle on with a cause leading to effects that become a cause for more effects!

Let’s say that you oversleep and are late to a meeting and, because you’re late to the meeting, you miss out on the delicious pastries the boss brought in. Since you missed the pastries, you’re hungry and aggravated. This may in turn have an effect on your next interaction with a colleague or client.

Cause and effect sentences show a clear, direct relationship between events. They show how one event or action triggers an outcome. They may also show how an effect has more than one cause, or a cause has more than one effect.

Cause and effect sentences can present the cause first and follow it with the effect, or present the effect first and follow it with the cause.

• I ate tons of junk food, so now I feel sick.
• I feel sick because I ate tons of junk food.

These sentences have the same cause and effect presented in a different order. These sentences share the same meaning and show the same relationship.

In the next five sentences, determine which comes first, the cause or the effect.

He lied to me, so I ended our relationship.

Since I was up all night with my sick child, I’m exhausted this morning.

She never gave up on her writing, and now she’s published a book!

They could finish the race because they had trained for it so diligently.

They gave the restaurant a critical review because their food was burnt to a crisp.

In the first three sentences, the cause comes first. In sentences four and five, the effect comes first.

Cause and effect relationships exist in just about every subject area.

We can see the causes of local, national, or global events, and the effects of those events. We can ask, “What were the causes of World War II?” and then “What were the effects of World War II?”

We can examine what caused an economic recession or depression and the effects of that crisis on society.

In these cases, as with many others, there are multiple causes and multiple effects.

In 2020, the world was hit with a global pandemic. Scientists saw the effects of the disease on people’s health and lives and began searching for the cause of the virus.

As the story goes, Sir Isaac Newton observed an effect, an apple falling from a tree. This prompted him to seek the cause of that fall—why did the apple fall down, not sideways or up? His observation of that effect led him to discover the cause: gravity.

When conducting experiments, scientists perform an action (cause) to see what will happen as a result (effect).

Most of us probably had to do an experiment with plants in school. We examined what happened to our two plants (effects) depending on whether we gave or withheld from them proper light and water (cause).

The Natural World

Nature is full of examples of cause and effect.

• Plants grow as a result of the sun’s heat and light.
• Bears hibernate so they can conserve energy and won’t require food during the winter months when food is scarce.
• The moon’s gravitational pull causes the ocean’s tides.

Narrative stories, both fiction and non-fiction, are often driven by cause and effect.

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby , Gatsby bases all of his action on pleasing Daisy because he is obsessed with winning her love.

Our everyday lives are full of cause and effect experiences.

• As a result of studying hard, you aced your test!
• You called in sick because you woke up with a fever.
• You meet friends for drinks because it’s your birthday.

There are words that signal a cause and effect relationship. These words can help readers recognize the cause and effect structure of a passage, making it easier to comprehend content.

Words that signal a cause include:

Words that signal effect include:

Signal Words in Cause and Effect Sentences

Observe how the signal words communicate the relationship in these cause and effect example sentences:

As a result of COVID, many high school students couldn’t experience graduation ceremonies.

There was a multi-car accident on the highway, so traffic was at a standstill.

I’ve started eating a much healthier diet. Consequently , I’ve lost weight and have more energy.

Thanks to my caring friends, I recovered from a difficult situation.

Since the weather was perfect, we spent the entire day outdoors.

My partner got his dream job 200 miles away from where we currently live. As a result , we have to sell the home and move.

His financial hardships are due to his careless spending.

She campaigned the hardest, therefore she won the vote.

The doctor’s optimism is the reason for our positive outlook.

Your sister is several years older than you. Accordingly , she has more responsibility and independence.

TIP: Observe the sentences that start with cause signal words ( As a result , Thanks to , Since ). There are two clauses in those sentences and they are connected by a comma.

The first clause is dependent meaning that it must be attached to an independent clause to make sense. When left alone, dependent clauses can become sentence fragments which are grammatically incorrect.

ProWritingAid is a thorough grammar checker that will alert you to any fragments and make suggestions for revision.

A Final Word on Cause and Effect

A cause and effect relationship is one in which an event generates an outcome. We see these relationships everywhere: from history to science to nature to literature to daily life!

When you’re reading or writing about cause and effect, look for or use signal words that make the relationship between the event (cause) and the outcome (effect) clear.

Take your writing to the next level:

20 Editing Tips from Professional Writers

Whether you are writing a novel, essay, article, or email, good writing is an essential part of communicating your ideas., this guide contains the 20 most important writing tips and techniques from a wide range of professional writers..

Good writing = better grades

ProWritingAid will help you improve the style, strength, and clarity of all your assignments.

Allison Bressmer is a professor of freshman composition and critical reading at a community college and a freelance writer. If she isn’t writing or teaching, you’ll likely find her reading a book or listening to a podcast while happily sipping a semi-sweet iced tea or happy-houring with friends. She lives in New York with her family. Connect at linkedin.com/in/allisonbressmer.

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Solving Problems With Cause and Effect Analysis

How to use cause and effect diagrams.

By the Mind Tools Content Team

Cause and Effect Analysis is a technique that helps you identify all the likely causes of a problem. This means that you can find and fix the main cause, first time around, without the problem running on and on.

The diagrams you create with this type of analysis are sometimes known as fishbone diagrams, because they look like the skeleton of a fish. The technique was developed by Professor Ishikawa in the 1960s.

To solve a problem with this technique, write down your problem in a box on the left-hand side of a piece of paper. Then draw a straight line from the box to the other side of the paper.

Once you've written down the problem, draw several lines that extend out from your long horizontal line. You're now going to brainstorm all of the factors that could be contributing to this problem. These may be systems, equipment, materials, external forces, people involved with the problem, and so on.

In this example, which looks at the issue of high staff turnover, the possible factors are management, the working environment, training and development, the corporate culture, and pay.

When you've brainstormed possible factors, draw several horizontal lines that extend outward from each one. You're now going to brainstorm possible causes of the problem, related each factor.

In this example, possible causes could be that managers micromanage their teams. They may not spend enough time on site. Or, they may not provide team members with the guidance they need to do their jobs effectively.

You repeat this for each of the factors that you identified in the last step, until you've identified all possible causes of the problem. From here, you can review all of these to identify the most likely cause.

Now, read the article that accompanies this video to learn more about Cause and Effect Analysis.

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Non-Fiction Text Structure Resources

By thisreadingmama 15 Comments

*This post contains affiliate links. Please read my full disclosure policy for more information. Thank you!

Text Features within Non-Fiction

Today, I am exploring the topic of non-fiction. My favorite place to start exploring text with non-fiction is with text features (things like charts, photographs, captions, maps, etc.). Because authors use these visual aids to portray what is important, I want my young readers to see how they play into the organization of the text. Many times, kids skip right over these features, so I want to zero in on them for a bit. You can read a little more about text structures here or in my older blog posts here–> Part 1 , Part 2 , and Part 3 . Emily Kissner, in her book Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Retelling , also has a fabulous section (especially for older elementary students) on text features and text organization.

Exploring Non-Fiction Text Structure

Once I feel my reader has a grasp on text features, I set about to introduce him to text structures. While many different people have opinions on how many text structures there are, I choose to keep it simple with the students I’ve taught/am teaching.  I use Scholastic’s handout on text structures to introduce it.  I introduced them by going through each of the 5 text structures listed and had examples to show.

Five Examples of Non-fiction Text Structure

• Description or List – When a text describes or lists attributes about a certain topic. If you have a Gail Gibbons book laying around, she writes with this text structure a lot.
• Sequence or Time  Order – When the text is written in a chronological order or special sequence. When teaching to retell fiction, we often tell kids to retell the story in order. Sequence or Time Order structure requires the same. Some examples include a recipe book, directions to playing a game, an autobiography or  biography.
• Compare and Contrast – A text that compares and contrasts two subjects, such as alligators and  crocodiles or Spanish and Italian origins.
•   Cause  & Effect* – A text that is based off a cause and effect scenario, such as listing the causes and effects of endangered animals.
• Problem & Solution* – Problem and solution should be somewhat familiar to readers who have studied fiction texts based on a problem and solution text structure  although problem and solution text structures with non-fiction can be a  little less obvious. Some real life examples of problem and solution include texts like advertisements in magazines for products (having difficulty teaching your child to read; tutoring program or computer program that claims to “fix” the problem; medicines, etc.).

*Cause & Effect and Problem & Solution are VERY closely related text structures and sometimes the lines aren’t so clear.

Before, During, and After Reading Activity Examples with Non-Fiction

When introducing any text structure, it is important to start with a text that is very straight forward. Many times, especially with longer texts, authors mix in multiple kinds of text structure into one text. For example, a text I have enjoyed using as I introduce problem and solution text structure is Scholastic’s   Stopping a Toppling Tower . (This is a great text for 2nd through 5th grades.) Here are some things I do before, during, and after reading to help make my text structure teaching explicit for the young reader.

Before Reading:

• Check out the text features in article.  Refer back to your text feature hand-out  to name them.
• Using the text features alone, can you tell which non-fiction structure the author used in this article?  (Sometimes, this will be obvious. At other times, it won’t.) At this point, I don’t judge the reader’s answer. I just want him to be able to make a statement and support his thoughts. This is a predicting activity and we all know that predictions do not have to be 100% correct.
• I also will ask the reader to look within the text for key words and phrases that would indicate one text structure over another. Words like, “The problem…” or “The next step…”  You can find many of these key words in Scholastic’s handout on text structures .

During Reading :

• As you read, stop briefly after each section. Think about what is important information in each section. If the child is reading aloud, you might do this together a few times.
• After a section or two, I may ask probing questions, such as: What do you think some possible solutions might be to the problem?

After Reading:

• Skim or re-read the text to yourself. Highlight (most kids love to use highlighters!) the parts from each section that are important for telling someone about this article.
• In what text structure(s) would you say that this text is written? What makes you think that? Help the reader go back to his highlighted text and/or the text features. Can he support his statement?
• Think about the text structure and look at the parts that are highlighted from each section. Use those to work on summarizing the text together. Remember to emphasize that we’re going for important parts only, not small details. And we want our summary to reflect the structure of the text.

Problem and Solution AND/OR Cause and Effect?

As I’ve mentioned above, problem/solution and cause/effect structures are closely related. Sometimes authors combine the two! I always start out with straight forward texts that are clearly one or the other. Once kids have a firm grasp on each, I introduce a text that is a bit blurry between problem/solution and cause/effect. I want to see what the student thinks first. If the student is a bit confused, we talk about the hard parts. What exactly does the author say that makes him think it could be both? Talk about your thinking using examples within the text. Encourage the young reader to do the same.

Non-Fiction Text Structure Pack: Part 1

I have created a FREE pack you can download that contains a Non-Fiction text structure sort as well as several graphic organizers for Problem/Solution and Cause/Effect text structures. Click HERE or on the image above to download.

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February 10, 2015 at 7:01 am

thank you! You’ve created a wonderful resource!

February 10, 2015 at 7:12 am

You are very welcome!

August 12, 2015 at 8:12 pm

Hi, Just wondering what ACARA content description this lesson would support?

August 13, 2015 at 3:24 pm

I am not familiar with ACARA. I wish I could help you there.

September 23, 2015 at 8:51 pm

Thank you! This is exactly what I needed. . . clarification and resources!

September 24, 2015 at 4:55 am

Yay! You are very welcome. 🙂

October 26, 2015 at 9:00 pm

This is a much needed resource! I know that I am really going to be able to deliver a clear cut lesson to my 6th graders. Thank you so much for this. You are truly appreciated ?!

October 27, 2015 at 6:02 am

Yay! I love it when confusing things become a little clearer. So happy you can use it in your classroom!

November 16, 2015 at 7:40 pm

This is wonderful! You mentioned that you use Stopping a Toppling Tower. What other articles/texts do you use?

November 25, 2015 at 7:16 am

I used a lot of Time for Kids articles {back when they used to be free online}. I also use various nonfiction texts. See if any of these posts/book lists help. *https://thisreadingmama.com/nonfiction-series-books-k-5/ *https://thisreadingmama.com/teaching-text-structure-to-readers/

January 14, 2016 at 1:18 pm

Thank you so much for accepting me, your resources are wonderful! I am an English teacher, intermediate level, here in Puerto Rico.

February 6, 2017 at 12:33 pm

Hi, none of the Scholastic links worked for me. Just fyi.

October 6, 2017 at 11:26 am

thanks for the resources. inspiring me a lot!

January 3, 2018 at 2:03 pm

This is SO helpful!! I teach third grade, but I’m adapting this to fit my students. Thanks so much for simplifying a difficult skill to teach!

January 3, 2018 at 3:11 pm

You’re welcome! 🙂

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Cause & effect essays Aka reason and result

The Cause and effect essay is another common essay type, either as an essay type on its own, or as part of a larger essay which includes one or more paragraphs examining causes and effects. This page gives information on what a cause and effect essay is , how to structure this type of essay, and how to use cause and effect structure words (transition signals) for this type of essay. There is also an example cause and effect essay on the topic of women at work, as well as some exercises to help you practice this area.

What are cause & effect essays?

For another look at the same content, check out YouTube » or Youku » , or this infographic » .

A cause and effect essay looks at the reasons (or causes) for something, then discusses the results (or effects). For this reason, cause and effect essays are sometimes referred to as reason and result essays. They are one of the most common forms of organisation in academic writing. Sometimes the whole essay will be cause and effect, though sometimes this may be only part of the whole essay. It is also possible, especially for short exam essays, that only the causes or the effects, not both, are discussed. See the examples below.

• Discuss the causes and effects of global warming ['cause and effect' essay]
• Explain the high death rate in Chernobyl ['causes' only essay]
• Discuss the WTO and its effects on the Chinese economy ['effects' only essay]

There are two main ways to structure a cause and effect essay. These are similar to the ways to structure problem-solution essays , namely using a block or a chain structure. For the block structure, all of the causes are listed first, and all of the effects are listed afterwards. For the chain structure, each cause is followed immediately by the effect. Usually that effect will then be the cause of the next effect, which is why this structure is called 'chain'. Both types of structure have their merits. The former is generally clearer, especially for shorter essays, while the latter ensures that any effects you present relate directly to the causes you have given.

The two types of structure, block and chain , are shown in the diagram below.

Cause and Effect Structure Words

Cause and effect structure words are transition signals which show the cause and effect relationships. It is important to be clear which is the cause (or reason) and which is the effect (or result), and to use the correct transition word or phrase. Remember that a cause happens first , and the effect happens later .

Below are some common cause and effect structure words. X is used to indicate a cause, while Y is used to indicate the effect.

• The first cause of (Y) is (X)
• The next reason is (X)
• Because of (X), (Y)
• As a result of (X), (Y)
• As a consequence of (X), (Y)
• because/since/as (X)
• to result from (X)
• (X) results in (Y)
• to be the result of (X)
• (Y) is due to (X)
• Owing to (X), (Y)
• (Y) is because of (X)
• (Y) is the effect of (X)
• (Y) is the consequence of (X)
• Worsening pollution levels in cities are due to the increased use of cars.
• Because of the increased use of cars, pollution levels in cities are worsening.
• As a result of the increased use of cars, pollution levels in cities are worsening.
• The effect of the increased use of cars is a worsening of pollution levels in cities.
• The first effect of (X) is (Y)
• Another result of (X) is (Y)
• As a result, (Y)
• As a consequence, (Y)
• Consequently (Y)
• Therefore, (Y)
• (X) causes (Y)
• (X) has an effect on (Y)
• (X) affects (Y)
• (X) is one of the causes of (Y)
• (X) is the reason for (Y)
• Cars are used increasingly for urban transport. As a consequence , pollution levels in cities are worsening.
• Increased use of cars for urban transport adversely affects pollution levels in cities.
• Increased use of cars for urban transport is one of the causes of worsening pollution levels in cities.

Example essay

Below is a cause and effect essay. This essay uses the block structure . Click on the different areas (in the shaded boxes to the right) to highlight the different structural aspects in this essay, i.e. Causes, Effects, and structure words. This will highlight not simply the paragraphs, but also the thesis statement and summary , as these repeat the causes and effects contained in the main body.

Title: More and more women are now going out to work and some women are now the major salary earner in the family. What are the causes of this, and what effect is this having on families and society?

In the past, most women stayed at home to take care of domestic chores such as cooking or cleaning. Women's liberation and feminism have meant that this situation has been transformed and in contemporary society women are playing an almost equal role to men in terms of work. This has had significant consequences , both in terms of the family , for example by improving quality of life and increasing children's sense of independence , and also for society itself with greater gender equality . The main reasons behind the increase of women in the workplace are women's liberation and feminism. The women's liberation movement originated in the 1960s and was popularised by authors such as Simone de Beauvoir. As a consequence of this, new legislation emerged, granting women equal rights to men in many fields, in particular employment. Because of feminist ideas, men have taken up roles which were previously seen as being for women only, most importantly those related to child rearing. As a result of this, women have more time to pursue their own careers and interests. These have led to some significant effects, both to family life and to society as a whole. Although the earning capacity of a woman in her lifetime is generally much less than that of a man, she can nevertheless make a significant contribution to the family income. The most important consequence of this is an improved quality of life. By helping to maintain a steady income for the family, the pressure on the husband is considerably reduced, hence improving both the husband's and the wife's emotional wellbeing. Additionally, the purchasing power of the family will also be raised. This means that the family can afford more luxuries such as foreign travel and a family car. A further effect on the family is the promotion of independence in the children. Some might argue that having both parents working might be damaging to the children because of a lack of parental attention. However, such children have to learn to look after themselves at an earlier age, and their parents often rely on them to help with the housework. This therefore teaches them important life skills. As regards society, the most significant impact of women going to work is greater gender equality. There are an increasing number of women who are becoming politicians, lawyers, and even CEOs and company managers. This in turn has led to greater equality for women in all areas of life, not just employment. For example, women today have much stronger legal rights to protect themselves against domestic violence and sexual discrimination in the workplace. In conclusion, the increasing number of women at work has brought about some important changes to family life, including improved quality of life and increased independence for children, as well as affecting society itself. It is clear that the sexes are still a long way from being equal in all areas of life, however, and perhaps the challenge for the present century is to ensure that this takes place.

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Below is a checklist for cause and effect essays. Use it to check your own writing, or get a peer (another student) to help you.

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Author: Sheldon Smith    ‖    Last modified: 16 January 2022.

Sheldon Smith is the founder and editor of EAPFoundation.com. He has been teaching English for Academic Purposes since 2004. Find out more about him in the about section and connect with him on Twitter , Facebook and LinkedIn .

Compare & contrast essays examine the similarities of two or more objects, and the differences.

Cause & effect essays consider the reasons (or causes) for something, then discuss the results (or effects).

Discussion essays require you to examine both sides of a situation and to conclude by saying which side you favour.

Problem-solution essays are a sub-type of SPSE essays (Situation, Problem, Solution, Evaluation).

Transition signals are useful in achieving good cohesion and coherence in your writing.

Reporting verbs are used to link your in-text citations to the information cited.

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Public Speaking Tips & Speech Topics

Problem-Solution Speech [Topics, Outline, Examples]

Jim Peterson has over 20 years experience on speech writing. He wrote over 300 free speech topic ideas and how-to guides for any kind of public speaking and speech writing assignments at My Speech Class.

In this article:

Problem-Solution Outline

Problem-solution examples, criminal justice, environment, relationships, teen issues.

What to include in your problem-solution speech or essay?

Problem-solution papers employ a nonfiction text structure, and typically contain the following elements:

Introduction: Introduce the problem and explain why the audience should be concerned about it.

Cause/Effect : Inform the audience on what causes the problem. In some cases, you may also need to take time to dispel common misconceptions people have about the real cause.

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Thesis Statement: The thesis typically lays out the problem and solution in the form of a question and answer. See examples below.

Solution : Explain the solution clearly and in detail, your problem-solving strategy, and reasons why your solution will work. In this section, be sure to answer common objections, such as “there is a better solution,” “your solution is too costly,” and “there are more important problems to solve.”

Call to Action: Summarize the problem and solution, and paint a picture of what will happen if your final solution is adopted. Also, let the reader know what steps they should take to help solve the problem.

These are the most used methods of developing and arranging:

Problem Solution Method Recommended if you have to argue that there is a social and current issue at stake and you have convince the listeners that you have the best solution. Introduce and provide background information to show what is wrong now.

List the best and ideal conditions and situations. Show the options. Analyze the proper criteria. And present your plan to solve the not wanted situation.

Problem Cause Solution Method Use this pattern for developing and identifying the source and its causes.

Analyze the causes and propose elucidations to the causes.

Problem Cause-Effect Method Use this method to outline the effects of the quandary and what causes it all. Prove the connection between financial, political, social causes and their effects.

Comparative Advantage Method Use this organizational public speaking pattern as recommendation in case everyone knows of the impasse and the different fixes and agrees that something has to be done.

Here are some examples of problems you could write about, with a couple of potential solutions for each one:

Marriage Problem: How do we reduce the divorce rate?

Solution 1: Change the laws to make it more difficult for couples to divorce.

Solution 2: Impose a mandatory waiting period on couples before they can get married.

Environmental Problem: What should we do to reduce the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?

Solution 1: Use renewable energy to fuel your home and vehicles.

Solution 2: Make recycling within local communities mandatory.

Technical Problem: How do we reduce Windows error reporting issues on PCs?

Solution 1: Learn to use dialogue boxes and other command prompt functions to keep your computer system clean.

Solution 2: Disable error reporting by making changes to the registry.

Some of the best problems to write about are those you have personal experience with. Think about your own world; the town you live in, schools you’ve attended, sports you’ve played, places you’ve worked, etc. You may find that you love problem-solution papers if you write them on a topic you identify with. To get your creativity flowing, feel free to browse our comprehensive list of problem-solution essay and paper topics and see if you can find one that interests you.

Problem-Solution Topics for Essays and Papers

• How do we reduce murder rates in the inner cities?
• How do we stop police brutality?
• How do we prevent those who are innocent from receiving the death penalty?
• How do we deal with the problem of gun violence?
• How do we stop people from driving while intoxicated?
• How do we prevent people from texting while driving?
• How do we stop the growing child trafficking problem?
• What is the best way to deal with domestic violence?
• What is the best way to rehabilitate ex-cons?
• How do we deal with the problem of overcrowded prisons?
• How do we reduce binge drinking on college campuses?
• How do we prevent sexual assaults on college campuses?
• How do we make college tuition affordable?
• What can students do to get better grades in college?
• What is the best way for students to effectively balance their classes, studies, work, and social life?
• What is the best way for college students to deal with a problem roommate?
• How can college students overcome the problem of being homesick?
• How can college students manage their finances more effectively?
• What is the best way for college students to decide on a major?
• What should be done about the problem of massive student loan debts?
• How do we solve the global debt crisis?
• How do we keep countries from employing child labor?
• How do we reduce long-term unemployment?
• How do we stop businesses from exploiting consumers?
• How do we reduce inflation and bring down the cost of living?
• How do we reduce the home foreclosure rate?
• What should we do to discourage consumer debt?
• What is the best way to stimulate economic growth?
• How do we lower the prime cost of manufacturing raw materials?
• How can book retailers deal with rising bookseller inventory costs and stay competitive with online sellers?
• How do we prevent kids from cheating on exams?
• How do we reduce the illiteracy rate?
• How do we successfully integrate English as a Second Language (ESL) students into public schools?
• How do we put an end to the problem of bullying in schools?
• How do we effectively teach students life management skills?
• How do we give everyone access to a quality education?
• How do we develop a system to increase pay for good teachers and get rid of bad ones?
• How do we teach kids to problem solve?
• How should schools deal with the problem of disruptive students?
• What can schools do to improve reading comprehension on standardized test scores?
• What is the best way to teach sex education in public schools?
• How do we teach students to recognize a noun clause?
• How do we teach students the difference between average speed and average velocity?
• How do we teach math students to use sign charts?
• How can we make public education more like the Webspiration Classroom?
• How do we stop pollution in major population centers?
• How do we reduce the negative effects of climate change?
• How do we encourage homeowners to lower their room temperature in the winter to reduce energy consumption?
• What is the best way to preserve our precious natural resources?
• How do we reduce our dependence on fossil fuels?
• What is the best way to preserve the endangered wildlife?
• What is the best way to ensure environmental justice?
• How can we reduce the use of plastic?
• How do we make alternative energy affordable?
• How do we develop a sustainable transportation system?
• How can we provide quality health care to all our citizens?
• How do we incentivize people to stop smoking?
• How do we address the growing doctor shortage?
• How do we curb the growing obesity epidemic?
• How do we reduce dependence on prescription drugs?
• How do we reduce consumption of harmful substances like phosphoric acid and acetic acid?
• How can we reduce the number of fatal hospital errors?
• How do we handle the health costs of people living longer?
• How can we encourage people to live healthier lifestyles?
• How do we educate consumers on the risk of laxatives like magnesium hydroxide?
• How do we end political corruption?
• How do we address the problem of election fraud?
• What is the best way to deal with rogue nations that threaten our survival?
• What can our leaders do to bring about world peace?
• How do we encourage students to become more active in the political process?
• What can be done to encourage bipartisanship?
• How can we prevent terrorism?
• How do we protect individual privacy while keeping the country safe?
• How can we encourage better candidates to run for office?
• How do we force politicians to live by the rules they impose on everyone else?
• What is the best way to get out of a bad relationship?
• How do we prevent cyberbullying?
• What is the best solution for depression?
• How do you find out where you stand in a relationship?
• What is the best way to help people who make bad life choices?
• How can we learn to relate to people of different races and cultures?
• How do we discourage humans from using robots as a substitute for relationships?
• What is the best way to deal with a long-distance relationship?
• How do we eliminate stereotypical thinking in relationships?
• How do you successfully navigate the situation of dating a co-worker?
• How do we deal with America’s growing drug problem?
• How do we reduce food waste in restaurants?
• How do we stop race and gender discrimination?
• How do we stop animal cruelty?
• How do we ensure that all citizens earn a livable wage?
• How do we end sexual harassment in the workplace?
• How do we deal with the water scarcity problem?
• How do we effectively control the world’s population?
• How can we put an end to homelessness?
• How do we solve the world hunger crisis?
• How do we address the shortage of parking spaces in downtown areas?
• How can our cities be made more bike- and pedestrian-friendly?
• How do we balance the right of free speech and the right not to be abused?
• How can we encourage people to use public transportation?
• How do we bring neighborhoods closer together?
• How can we eliminate steroid use in sports?
• How do we protect players from serious injuries?
• What is the best way to motivate young athletes?
• What can be done to drive interest in local sports?
• How do players successfully prepare for a big game or match?
• How should the revenue from professional sports be divided between owners and players?
• What can be done to improve local sports venues?
• What can be done to ensure parents and coaches are not pushing kids too hard in sports?
• How can student athletes maintain high academic standards while playing sports?
• What can athletes do to stay in shape during the off-season?
• How do we reduce teen pregnancy?
• How do we deal with the problem of teen suicide?
• How do we keep teens from dropping out of high school?
• How do we train teens to be safer drivers?
• How do we prevent teens from accessing pornography on the Internet?
• What is the best way to help teens with divorced parents?
• How do we discourage teens from playing violent video games?
• How should parents handle their teens’ cell phone and social media use?
• How do we prepare teens to be better workers?
• How do we provide a rational decision-making model for teens?
• How do we keep companies from mining our private data online and selling it for profit?
• How do we prevent artificial intelligence robots from taking over society?
• How do we make high-speed internet accessible in rural areas?
• How do we stop hackers from breaking into our systems and networks?
• How do we make digital payments more secure?
• How do we make self-driving vehicles safer?
• What is the best way to improve the battery life of mobile devices?
• How can we store energy gleaned from solar and wind power?
• What is the best way to deal with information overload?
• How do we stop computer makers from pre-installing Internet Explorer?

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IELTS Writing Task 2: Causes/Solutions Sample Essay

The “cause and solution” style of IELTS Writing Task 2 question presents a common social problem; your job is to identify the causes of the problem and propose ways the problem could be solved. For more information on this type of Writing Task 2 question, including tips and tricks, you can go to Magoosh’s guide to the different kinds of IELTS Writing Task 2 questions . And here in this post, we’ll go through a full causes and solutions model question and sample response.

The response itself is written at the band 9 level. After you read the essay, there is more explanation as to why this essay gets top marks. And to write a similarly high scored essay, check out our IELTS Writing Task 2 template .

Causes/Solutions Model Essay

This essay is a response to the sample prompt immediately below.

Sample Task

Many large cities around the world lack affordable housing. What problems does a lack of affordable housing cause? How can these problems be overcome? Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

Sample Essay (Band 9)

In almost every part of the world, expensive housing is closely associated with urban life. This is the underlying cause of many different problems, and civic planners are struggling to find solutions. I believe that the biggest, most important problem caused by high housing prices is homelessness. In my opinion, this problem can be addressed through rent control and welfare payments to low-income people.

Expensive urban housing leads to homelessness both directly and indirectly. The housing costs themselves cause some people to lose their homes, but such costs also drive up general prices, which can indirectly cause homelessness. For example, if a grocery store itself pays high rent, it must charge everyone more for food. This in turn forces landlords to charge more for rent in order to feed themselves. Once that happens, their tenants may have trouble paying the higher rent while also paying for more expensive food.

To reduce homelessness and make it easier for people to afford housing, I propose a twofold solution: limits on rent prices and increased welfare payments to the poor. Legally limiting rent fees will make housing much more affordable, while welfare payments can help people deal with the high costs of other goods. To give an example, if the government provides low-income people extra money for food, those people, in turn, have more room in their budget to pay rent. By employing both approaches, rent costs are directly reduced, and costs that compete with rent also go down.

In short, while expensive housing and homelessness are serious problems in cities, regulations and public assistance can help. The right kind of regulations will not only reduce the price of housing but also reduce general cost of living. This kind of government action is a win-win for everyone, whether they are homeless or not.

Word count: 300

Explanation of the Score

This essay meets all of the requirements for Band 9 in Task Achievement, Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, and Grammatical Range and Accuracy; these are the categories seen in the official IELTS Writing Task 2 band descriptors . To understand this essay’s strengths, carefully read the level 9 descriptors in that document. And to further understand why an essay might receive a band 9, see the detailed score report at the bottom of Magoosh’s sample band 9 discussion essay for IELTS Writing Task 2 .

Additional Model Essays for Task 2

Would you like to see sample essays for all of the most common Writing Task 2 question types on the IELTS? At the links below, Magoosh has you covered!

• Advantage/Disadvantage Essay
• Two-Part Question Essay
• Discussion Essay
• Agree/Disagree Essay

David is a Test Prep Expert for Magoosh TOEFL and IELTS. Additionally, he’s helped students with TOEIC, PET, FCE, BULATS, Eiken, SAT, ACT, GRE, and GMAT. David has a BS from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and an MA from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. His work at Magoosh has been cited in many scholarly articles , his Master’s Thesis is featured on the Reading with Pictures website, and he’s presented at the WITESOL (link to PDF) and NAFSA conferences. David has taught K-12 ESL in South Korea as well as undergraduate English and MBA-level business English at American universities. He has also trained English teachers in America, Italy, and Peru. Come join David and the Magoosh team on Youtube , Facebook , and Instagram , or connect with him via LinkedIn !

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• How to Use Cause and Effect Analysis to Solve Any Problem

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Mistakes are an indispensable part of every business, big or small. Sometimes, a mistake in your business is a real setback and can lead to a total disaster. On the other hand, it can also be a great opportunity for your business to expand even further.

It all depends on how you take the mistakes and what necessary measures you take to solve the problem. Your task as an entrepreneur is to detect all the problems in your business and find their solutions before things get out of hand.

It is not enough to discover and remove problems only. It is equally important to find preventive measures for all the problems, so they would never reoccur.

In fact, problem solving is considered as one of the most important aspects of any business. Some companies even hire specialists whose only task is to solve problems that occur from time to time. They mostly consider various underline causes of the problems such as the interaction design, product design or service design to come up with a wide range of solutions.

However, it is also imperative to define the problem clearly to discover the right solution. The definition should include everything from its root causes to the ways it is affecting the business. There are many tools that allow entrepreneurs to target specific solution of any business problem.

One such tool is the Cause and Effect Analysis Method or Diagram (CEA). This particular method enables businessmen to fully explore and define a problem before start looking for its solutions and thus, it is a great tool to prevent similar complications in the future as well.

ISSUES WITH TRADITIONAL PROBLEM SOLVING METHODS

Before we discuss the Cause and Effect Analysis Method in detail, it is appropriate to discuss some of the reasons why traditional problem solving techniques in businesses do not produce the desired results. In this regard:

• Most of these methodspartially solve the problems.
• Or, they solve the problem without identifying the root causes and reasons why it occurred in the first place.
• They solve the problem temporarily. In most cases, the problems reoccur and considerably harm your business.
• Sometimes you end up identifying the reasons that are not causing the problems you are finding solutions for.
• Most entrepreneurs do not see the problem solving process as a business improvement process. Therefore, they normally do not pay much attention to the critical problems harming their business and leave them to others to handle.

HOW CAUSE AND EFFECT ANALYSIS METHOD CAN HELP?

How you can prevent your business from suffering a horrible fate? You can avert the disaster through proper analyses of the situation, identifying main causes of the problem and preventing them from happening again and this is what Cause and Affect Analysis does for you.

Japanese Professor Kaoru Ishikawa first proposed the idea of Cause and Effect Analysis in his book “Introduction to Quality Control”, first published in 1990. Professor Ishikawa is also the pioneer in the field of Quality Management. There are many other names of the CEA such as Ishikawa Diagram, Herringbone Diagram and Fishbone Diagram because the final diagram drawn in the Cause and Effect Analysis looks exactly like a fish skeleton.

Professor Ishikawa originally introduced Fishbone Diagrams for the purpose of quality control only. However, businessmen started using it as a tool to analyze various business processes especially identification of bottlenecks in the production process and problem solving.

The Fishbone diagram not only enables you to identify the causes of any problem and how it is hindering business growth but also to take preventive measures to avoid any such occurrence in the future.

Cause and Effect Analysis is actually a two steps process. Firstly, you look back in the past and analyze what has gone wrong and secondly, you plan for things to come by looking into the future.

• Looking Back in the Past.  This step involves identifying all the areas in which you made mistakes. You actually look into the past, analyze your mistakes and try to find all possible causes. By identifying the most problematic areas, you actually take necessary measures to prevent mistakes and problems in the future. Similarly, if any area of your business performed brilliantly, you can be able to replicate the performance in the future by applying CEA.
• Looking into the Future.  This step involves anticipating any future scenarios and planning for them well in advance. In this step, you contemplate about future problems and find their workable solutions. Similarly, you also plan how to further build on your possible business success in the years to come. In fact, you plan what to do in the present and determine future outcome of your business based on the steps you are going to take.

IMPORTANCE OF CAUSE AND EFFECT ANALYSIS

Cause and Effect Analysis is one of the most popular and powerful tools for finding root causes of problems and their solutions.

In this regard, a cause is root if its removal prevents the problem from reoccurring any time in future. Similarly, the problem becomes casual if it only affects the outcome of a process or an event. Therefore, the removal of the casual cause improves a business process but does not prevent a problem from reoccurring.

Most business use Cause and Effect Analysis to improve their operational activities. However, there is no reason why this extremely useful tool cannot be used to identify and solve problems in projects. In fact, the project manager can successfully detect root cause of a problem that is adversely affecting the project and ultimately remove it if he manages to use Cause and Effect AnalysisMethod effectively. Unlike other popular tools, you can use CEA over and over again because it aims at continuous improvement in business processes.

As the CEA helps you understand the underlying causes of a failure or problem, it can also enable you to develop a system or actions to sustain the correction. Similarly, Fishbone diagrams cannot only assist you in detecting problems but it also categorizes these causes into useful groups for future reference.

Similarly, CEA is unique in a way that it ensures you don’t deviate of the right path and always seek solutions for the actual problems and their causes.

WHAT IS A FISHBONE DIAGRAM?

A Fishbone diagram is the final outcome of any cause and effect analysis carried out for determining causes and finding solutions of a problem. In fact, it is a way to look at all these causes and their effect on business visually. Fishbone diagrams enable us to brainstorm causes of a mistake or problem more easily and effectively as compared to other tools such as Lessons Learned. It is a more structured approach of accomplishing this important task. Most often, it is used in conjunction with 5 Whys Analysis, another approach to carry out CEA.

The head of the fish displays the actual problem or mistake under discussion. Then there are smaller bones which list all the possible contributory causes in various categories. The right side of the “fish” actually lists all the problems whereas the left side denominates the possible root causes. Furthermore, you can group these causes into four distinct categories that are people, machines, materials and methods. These categories can have many further subcategories as well.

Now we discuss each of these categories in some detail.

All the causes created by human actions fall into this category. This category determines whether the employees are sufficiently experienced and trained? Are they good in communicating their needs and problems? Do they understand their tasks and assignments?

This category is related to the problems caused by issues with computers, machines, installations and tools etc. In this stage, you determine whether the workers used the right tools or machines? Do the machines meet minimum requirements to perform a task? Are they safe enough? Is there any problem with the installation of the machines? Are they reliable or not?

The material you are using to develop your products can also cause a lot of problems for your business. You need to determine whether the material you used was of reasonable quality or not? Did you use substandard material which resulted in the failure of the final product? Was there any issue with semi-finished products and consumables?

Similarly, you can also find answers to the questions like how long a material will last or has it enough resistance against foreign elements.

This category investigates whether work methods were responsible for the problem or not?You need to ascertain how your departments and employees communicated with each other? Were the business processes or work methods adequate and capable enough to carry on a special task?

These categories are commonly referred to as 4M’s. However, it is not mandatory to use only these four categories or areas in your diagram. There are many other options available to you such as:

• The 4 P’s: Place, Procedure, People, Policies.
• The 4 S’s: Surroundings, Suppliers, Systems, Skills.
• The 5 M’s: Machine, Method, Material, Man Power, and Measurement

Similarly, many organizations create their own categories or areas in the Fishbone Diagram depending upon their needs and objectives.

Fishbone diagrams distinctly differentiate between the causes and their effects. Following is one of the examples of a Fishbone Diagram.

HOW TO DO CAUSE AND EFFECT ANALYSIS?

After explaining the Fishbone Diagrams in detail, it is now time to discuss how to use them to do Cause and Effect Analysis. The purpose of the Fishbone Diagram in general and the CEA in the particular is to analyze all the findings together and determine the most important factors to solve a problem or attain a goal.

There are usually four steps in Cause and Effect Analysis that are identification of the problem, brainstorming or identifying major factors that are part of the problem, determining root causes and finally, development of an action plan to resolve these problems.

Step 1:  Identifying the Problem

Multiple causes can lead to a single problem. Therefore, it is your duty to clearly identify and address the problem in this stage if you want to find the right solutions.

For the sake of explanation, we take the example of a design studio. In the first step of CEA, they have determined that they are not getting much business due to lack of creativity among their designers.

Therefore, the main problem is the lack of creativity which will be displayed on the head of the Fishbone diagram as shown in the following figure.

Step 2: Identifying the Main Factors   

After determining the main problem, the second step is to identify the main causes why designers are lacking creativity. In this particular example, the four main causes are people, machines, material and manpower.In this example, we are using the 4 M’s method of categorizing causes.

You can drag a line from the cause side on the left for each of the four categories to connect them to effect or problem on the right side.

Step 3: Investigating Causes

The third step is to determine and investigate all of the causes responsible for the lack of creativity. You need to thoroughly explore your business processes. Similarly, you need to run system check of all your equipment and find if there is any fault with it.

Do the computers you have provided to your designers are able to run the latest designing software? Do you provide your employees with excellent work environment? Are the employees satisfied with their jobs and roles? Do they get enough compensation for their services? Do they really understand the design process? Do your project managers brief them about the projects?

Similarly, other causes include hiring people with wrong skills, fixed working hours, lack of necessary training, lack of motivation or skill and underappreciated or undervalued performances etc. These may be some of the reasons why designers do not exhibit much creativity in their work. In this stage, the Fishbone Diagram will look like as under.

Step 4: Analyze

Once you have organized all of the causes into their respective categories and the diagram is complete, you need to analyze and discuss each of the above problems with your managers and designers. It is even better if you further categorize the problems depending upon the level of their influence on the problem and priority.

You may also need to use various research methods such as surveys, focus groups and interviews to understand different causes. For instance, you can interview each designer to learn how much he understands the design processes. Subsequently, you can use the findings to develop relevant training programs or courses for your employees in order to address the problem of insufficient knowledge.

In our example, the Cause and Effect Analysis will enable both the managers and designers to find the actual problem related to lack of creativity in the team and find the right solutions. CEA actually investigates the relation between the possible causes of a problem and its effect on the business. You get a better understanding of how each cause is contributing to the final problem. Similarly, you are able to address each problem based on its priority. This is exactly what you need to do as the owner of your design company to promote creativity within your team of designers.

It is also in this step that you develop a clear action plan for future. The action plan should contain clear priorities, goals and objectives and should be implemented as soon as possible. Similarly, the plan should describe in detail how you are going to solve all the problems and sub-problems for good. You also need to follow your plan vigorously for it to be effective.

You can also convert a sub-cause such as lack of motivation into a full-fledged action plan, the purpose of which is to promote staff motivation through various incentives. As a result, staff engagement and productivity will enhance and ultimately, the profitability will improve.

THE 5 WHYS?

You can also use another extremely useful tool that is the 5 Whys in conjunction with the Fishbone Diagram to carry out CEA. As the title suggests, you can ask 5 different questions or “Whys” to determine the root cause of any problem. Following is an example of how to use this particular technique.

• Because there is lack of creativity in our design team.
• Because there is lack of motivation.
• Because they do not have the latest equipment as designers in some other companies do.
• Because the project manager didn’t deem it necessary to purchase sophisticated laptops to run modern designing software.
• Because he does not have enough knowledge of design process and its requirements. He is actually an accounts manager who was appointed as overall project manager because of his loyalty to the organization. All he does is to find the ways to save money.

You can reach to the root causeof every problem you face by asking 5 Whys. Furthermore, the 5 Whys technique also helps you find smaller problems and their causes and sub-causes quite easily.

SOME TIPS FOR USING CAUSE AND EFFECT ANALYSIS METHOD EFFECTIVELY

There are some really nice tips for effectively using CEA to find business problems and their exact causes. Some of these tips include but are not limited to the following.

• Encourage all members of your team to participate.
• Apply all the brainstorming rules because it is essentially a brainstorming session.
• Only discuss one idea at a time. It will encourage your team members to come up with more creative ideas.
• The person discussing the idea should also mention which bone of the fish it belongs to.
• Pin a single idea to multiple bones if possible. For instance, the lack of motivation in above example can go to both machine and manpower bones.
• Do not start analyzing problems and causes while you are drawing a diagram. Similarly, never criticize anyone while he is presenting his ideas. This also include non-verbal criticism such as leaving the meeting or shaking of your head.
• Try to find new ideas from any idea being discussed.
• You should always use the major bones to find sub-causes of the problem. For instance, think about how your business methods and procedures can cause the problem under discussion.
• Return to each idea and cause that has already been discussed. Try to develop smaller bones or branches by asking questions like “Why does that happen?” or “How does that happen?”
• Always be honest and open. You should have the courage to state the cause or idea which no one else wants to openly discuss.

SOME ADVANTAGES OF CAUSE AND EFFECT ANALYSIS METHOD

We have already discussed a lot of disadvantages of the CEA. Some more advantages of the method are as under.

• It helps you define the relationship between problems and their causes.
• The method works on the principle of joint brainstorming sessions.
• CEA prevents you from adopting traditional thinking methods which distract you from the actual problems. On the other hand, brainstorming steers you towards attaining your actual goal.
• You eventually reach to the root cause of every problem through brainstorming and asking 5 Whys repeatedly.
• A fishbone diagram helps you identify both the root and casual causes of the problem. Subsequently, you can prioritize the causes and handle them accordingly.

SOME DISADVANTAGES OF DEA

There are certain demerits of everything and DEA is no exception. In this regard, following are some of the disadvantages of DEA.

• Brainstorming can result in time and energy drain.
• Brainstorming sometimes leads to irrelevant causes of problems as well.
• Brainstorming does not consider facts and evidences and is only a bunch of different opinions.
• If you are dealing with complex problems, you will have to draw a really big diagram with a lot of branches and smaller bones. This may take a lot of time, energy and space.
• It is difficult to show complex interrelationship of multiple causes and factors on the diagram.

Cause and Effect Analysis Method is a great tool to solve both simple and complex business problems. It is easy to understand and simple to implement.

In most cases, it helps you reach the exact cause of the problem, enabling you to find the right and long lasting solutions as well.

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