This article provides two great 5 paragraph cause and effect essay examples. As a bonus, the article also includes a brief guideline to writing an A+ cause and effect essay with examples.
Here is the flow of our guide:
- Cause and effect essay pro tips
- Cause and effect essay example 1 — War on terror
- Cause and effect essay example 2 — Greenwashing
Without further ado, let’s start!
Cause and effect essay pro tips
Before you start writing your essay, make sure to read the following pro tips on how to write a cause and effect essay and get an A+:
Choosing the best topic
It is the key to writing a great essay. Your topic should be all of the following things:
- Relevant — make sure that your topic correlates with your subject and course
- Researchable — avoid choosing a topic that is very hard to research and before starting to write check whether there are enough sources available
- Topical — the best topics are those that are up to date and current. Such topics make headlines and are usually highly researchable
- Problematic — best and most interesting topics are usually focused on problems, because they can make for a great discussion
- Interesting — you’ve got much higher chances to succeed in writing an essay on topic that you’re personally interested in, so, if you can, pick a topic that you are curious about
Keeping it logical
Maintaining the relationship between cause and effect is an example of crucial element of cause and effect essay. It is important to keep the focus of your essay on the cause and effect relationship, so make sure to:
- Introduce the problem and briefly its causes and effects in the introduction
- When writing every paragraph, mention how certain arguments are related to causes and effects of specific issue
- Conclude the essay summarizing how the problem is caused and how it results in certain effects
Citing your sources
It is a skill you you need to develop and the earlier, the better. Proper citing will help you:
- Make your essay look professional and neat
- Avoid plagiarism, which is a foolproof way of getting an F
Proofreading
Although obvious, proofreading is often skipped by students because it seems like an unnecessary piece of work. Avoid this pitfall and reread your essay after completing writing, focusing on:
- Logic of the arguments
- Spelling
- Grammar
- Punctuation
- Cross-checking quotes in the essay and reference list
These pro tips will come in handy when you need to write your cause and effect essay and improve your writing process a lot!
Now that you are prepared to write, consider these cause and effect essay examples — they will demonstrate all these tips in practice and help you figure out to write yours!
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Cause and effect essay example 1 — War on terror
The word terrorism has become the essence of fear and loss over the past several decades. In the aftermath of 9/11 not only American nation has changed, but the whole global society has experienced a range of various effects. It has been over 15 years since the U.S. President George W.Bush used the term “war on terror” and today, despite numerous operations, the threat of terrorism is still upon us. On the back of our minds, we remain painfully aware about what happened and what can potentially happen. The causes and effects of the war on terror are disproportionate, while the threat persists, which suggests that this policy is ineffective. However, before stating that war on terror failed, it is essential to learn its causes and effects.
As a rule, the major cause of the war on terror is usually associated with the 9/11 attacks. However, it is important to consider other, less obvious causes of the war on terror, such as militarism in the U.S. foreign policy and economic interests of the United States in the international political and economic arena. According to Bacevich (2013) militarism is one of the key elements of the U.S. foreign policy and derives from the ideas of American exceptionalism and patriotism. In particular, freedom is the core of national identity of American nation, while defending freedom is crucial. Lieber (2005) notes that starting the war on terror was an adequate response to the attacks, taking into account the scale of the problem. As for the impact of the U.S. economic interests on the decision to start the war on terror, this argument derives from the fact that Persian Gulf is an important region for energy stability of the world. Hinnebusch (2007) notes that political leaders of the United States exploit such values as patriotism and exceptionalism in order to get public approval of the war on terror as a whole and invasion in Iraq in particular. The reasoning for this argument is that oil vulnerability of the United States occurred around the period when attacks took place. Overall, the causes of the war on terror include not only the necessity to respond adequately to a security threat, but finding solutions to other political and economic issues.
Unfortunately for the United States and the world, the war on terror did not result in reduction of terrorism and minimization of terrorist threat. Instead, today the effects of the war on terror include increase of threats for the U.S. hegemony in the world, severe increase of Islamophobia, and increase in the global terrorism. Today, the range of negative effects of the war on terror suggests that politically and socially this policy has been carried out not effectively. In addition to the fear of terrorism, American nation and the world experience drastic increase of the prejudice against Muslims and the Middle East as the native land of Al Qaeda and ISIS. Decisive actions of the United States and invasion to Iraq might have been done as an adequate response to the terrorism threat, however made the world perceive the country as a threat itself. Hinnebusch (2007) notes that the war on terror contributed to the transformation of the United States from a global democracy advocate into a threat to global stability. While the country made a decision to react to the 9/11 attacks this way, negative effect of the war on terror on global stability is also indicated by the increase of terrorism threat. Khouri (2016) reveals that terrorist groups expand further, despite the steps made since the beginning of the war on terrorism. In other words, instead of eliminating the threat of terrorism and strengthening the U.S. position in the world, the war on terror had a range of negative effects.
Finally, it is essential to focus on the achievements of the war on terror, such as prevention of growth of the major terrorist groups in the world and uniting the nation in the United States. Jenkins (2016) reveals that today, measuring success in such as controversial and large scale operation as the war on terror, is nearly impossible, however there are some major achievements to highlight. In particular, the war on terror operations helped restrict the territory of Al Qaeda and Islamic State, which ultimately contributed to decrease of their impact worldwide and especially in the Middle East. As a result, neither of these organizations became a mass movement, which is an important aspect of current global security and stability. Despite that the threat remains, the war on terror helped regulate its effects and scale of the issue. It is also worth noting that the war on terror has become a nation-building event for American nation, meeting the desire for revenge, safety, and justice. By all means, militarism persists in the national identity of Americans, as a uniting factor.
Consequently, the war on terror occurred as a result of controversial causes and its effects are ambiguous. The war on terror can be considered as an adequate response to the 9/11 attacks, however it is also important to take other factors into account, such as political and economic. As for effects of the war on terror, the most prominent include changing image of the United States in the global arena, restriction of major terrorist organizations, and increase of Islamophobia worldwide. Ambiguity of causes and effects of the war on terror implies that long term consequences of this military campaign are yet to be evaluated.
References
Bacevich, Andrew J. (2013). The new American militarism: How Americans are seduced by war. Oxford University Press.
Lieber, R. J. (2005). The American era: power and strategy for the 21st century. Cambridge University Press.
Hinnebusch, R. (2007). “American invasion of Iraq: causes and consequences.” Perceptions, Spring 2007, .
Khouri, R. (2016, September 11). 9/11 then and now: Terror, militarism, war and fear. Al Jazeera. Retrieved from https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2016/09/911-terror-militarism-war-fear-160911055050615.html
Jenkins, B. M. (2016). Fifteen Years On, where are We on the ‘War on Terror’?. CTC Sentinel, 9(9), 7–13.
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Cause and effect essay example 2 — Greenwashing
Ask anyone if they like to be fooled, and the answer you will get will be most probably negative. We generally tend to dislike and fear being manipulated and tricked into doing something, especially if there is no way of telling whether the fraud truly takes place. Looking at hundreds of “eco-friendly” and “green” labels in supermarkets while shopping, customers inevitably perceive them as positive, which impacts their purchasing behavior. Due to the increasing environmental awareness, the public expects corporations to be ethical and socially responsible, while the causes and effects of greenwashing suggest that this strategy is unethical. It is important to evaluate causes and effects of greenwashing as a form of deceptive marketing.
Despite that the we witnessed the dramatic rise of greenwashing in the 2000s, greenwashing has been around for years, which can be explained by its causes. Peattie and Crane (2005) note that the occurrence and increase of greenwashing as a marketing strategy took place due to the growth of public awareness about environmental issues. In particular, the first advertising campaigns that can be defined as greenwashing emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, when the global attention to environmental problems skyrocketed. On April 22, 1970, the first Earth Day took place and corporations considered it as an opportunity to promote their brands and products, capitalizing on the idea of saving the environment. By 1990s, more than 70% of Americans admitted during a poll that reputation of a company directly influenced their purchasing behavior (CorpWatch, 2018). In other words, such labels as ‘ozone friendly’ or ‘compostable’ directly impacted what customers buy for decades, providing higher sales and profits and driving further growth of greenwashing.
While the cause of greenwashing appears clear and refers to engaging in deceptive marketing strategy in order to motivate customers to purchase specific products, the effects of greenwashing are ambiguous. On the one hand, greenwashing helps corporations build a certain image that appeals to customers due to environmental awareness and eco-friendly products. Despite that the labels on ‘green’ products rarely reveal the exact efforts companies make to stay eco-friendly, customers automatically perceive them as superior to products without such labels. In other words, greenwashing helps companies reach the goal of attracting customers and increasing sales. On the other hand, greenwashing also contributes to raising awareness about environmental issues, causing an increase in the number of customers interested in buying from environmentally responsible companies. Therefore, greenwashing results in exploitation of the concept of environmental awareness in order to increase profitability, however contributes to enhancing customer interest in environmental issues as well.
In this perspective, it is important to focus on the effects of greenwashing on customers and their perception of green marketing as a whole. In recent years, a range of corporate scandals associated with greenwashing contributed to reduction of the effectiveness of deceptive green marketing. Plungis (2015) notes that such corporate scandals as Volkswagen cheating emission tests over the course of decades cause customer scepticism when it comes to green marketing. Exposure of unethical actions of companies that promise ecological friendliness and increasing awareness of customers about greenwashing results in reduction of customer trust to all brands that engage in green marketing. Overall, greenwashing results in various effects for companies and consumers.
Consequently, greenwashing is deceptive marketing strategy designed to make products appealing to customers through exploitation of environmental awareness of the public. Greenwashing was caused by the increasing role of ecological problems and unethical corporate strategies aimed to increase sales and profits. The effects of greenwashing include manipulation of customer behavior, increase of environmental awareness, and increase of customer scepticism about green marketing. In other words, the scope of greenwashing strategies and corporate scandals in recent years contribute to reduction of customer trust to companies that engage in green marketing.
References
Peattie, K., & Crane, A. (2005). Green marketing: legend, myth, farce or prophesy?. Qualitative market research: an international journal, 8(4), 357–370.
CorpWatch. (2018). Greenwash Fact Sheet. Retrieved from https://corpwatch.org/article/greenwash-fact-sheet
Plungis, J. (2015, September 25). Volkswagen emissions scandal: Forty years of greenwashing — the well-travelled road taken by VW. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/volkswagen-emissions-scandal-forty-years-of-greenwashing-the-well-travelled-road-taken-by-vw-10516209.html
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