The strongest traits in a cause and effect essay are <u>organization</u>, <u>ideas</u>, and <u>sentence fluency</u>. A cause-effect essay tells how one event, the cause, leads to another event, the effect. As regards the organization, there are three ways of organizing a cause-effect essay. 1) Multiple causes–>Effect (a combination of the causes produces the effect). 2) Cause–>Multiple Effects (a cause can have multiple effects). 3) The Casual Chain (one effect is a cause of another effect, which in turn can become a cause of another effect, and so on). The writer may decide which organizing pattern she/he will follow in order to express her/his ideas. As regards the ideas, the writer has to develop the ideas in full in the body of the essay so that they support the thesis statement. The writer has to be sure that the ideas expressed in the cause-effect relationship are logical. Expressing your ideas correctly is essential, mainly in the thesis statement. As regards the sentence fluency, the writer can produce a fluent and cohesive essay by using transitions and expressions that may introduce causes and effects. Some of the transitions that are useful are: “as a result of”/ “to result from”/ “as a consequence of”/ “because of”/ “due to”.
