The Ultimate List of Cause and Effect Essay Topics Worth Writing About

Ralph Emerson once said that “cause and effect are two sides of one fact”. Every event or fact has causes and consequences, meaning that there are a lot of topics that a cause and effect essays can focus on.

This article provides a list of the most up-to-date and engaging topics for a cause and effect essay. In addition, you will find definition and purpose of a cause and effect essay, guideline to cause and effect outline writing, and practical tips you can use white writing your essay.

What Is a Cause and Effect Essay?

Cause and effect essays generally focus on – you guessed it – causes and effects of specific process or action. In cause and effect essays, the cause and effect relationship between any two or more items can be investigated. The cause and effect relationship should be logical and verified.

If you find it difficult to determine whether your chosen topic is indeed a cause and effect topic, then try to answer these two questions:

1. Does the cause directly result in specific effect?
2. Would a specific effect occur without this specific cause

If you answer “YES” to the first question and “NO” to the second question, you’ve got yourself a cause and effect relationship.

If your answer “No” to the first question, it means that there is no direct cause and effect relationship between two factors. In case you answer “yes” to the second question, it means that a certain effect can be caused by other factors rather than the one you consider.

Purpose of Cause and Effect Essays

If you write a cause and effect essay, then your goal is to research the relationship between two events or processes. When writing a cause and effect essay, you may focus on answering the following questions:

• How are cause and effect linked?
• What factors facilitate this cause and effect relationship?
• Does this cause results in several effects?
• Does this effect occur due to several causes?
• Is there a chain reaction of causes and effects associated with this problem?

Finding answers for these questions will help you determine the scope of the problem you are writing about and understand how exactly specific causes result in certain effects.

Cause and effect essay structure

The structure of cause and effect essay derives from the nature of cause and effect relationship: cause goes always before the effect. Relying on this principle, you can build your essay following the typical essay structure “introduction-body-conclusion”, however there are certain specific features you need to know while writing a cause and effect essay.

Introduction – this is the part where you present your topic and explain why it is relevant.  Make sure to include thesis statement in the introduction which will summarize the main idea of your essay and reflect your own view of the problem discussed. Introduction can also contain key facts about your chosen problem, such as statistical data or recent findings.

Body paragraph – this part is the filling in an Oreo cookie. Body paragraph will reveal all cause and effect connections between different factors. Make sure to proceed from discussion of causes to research of effects to maintain logical structure of the essay and ensure that it is easy to read and understand. In this part, you need to fully investigate the causes and effects. While writing body paragraph, imagine that your readers have no clue about your topic and you need to explain the cause and effect relationship in a way that would be easy to follow. Cause and effect essay topics worth writing about are usually urgent and most people are aware about them. However, your task is to take a fresh look at the issue by using up-to-date information. Research the topic and find something you didn’t know about it before and share it in your essay. Remember: a cause and effect essay is a great opportunity to learn a lot about issues that concern us as society and individuals, so encourage your readers to care about it.

Conclusion – this is a summary of the key points of your essay and probably the easiest part to write. Provide a brief overview of the findings you presented in the body paragraph and then restate your thesis statement.

Cause and effect outline writing

Depending on the nature of the problem you write about, the number of causes and effects can vary. That being said, the logical order of writing about cause and then effect remains. Here are examples of four typical cause and effect essay outlines:

One cause and numerous effects

1. Introduction
2. Body paragraph
   1. Cause
   2. Effect 1
   3. Effect 2
   4. Effect 3
   5. And so on until you cover all effects of a specific cause
3. Conclusion

Examples of a cause with multiple effects can be found in health issues, social issues, and economics. For instance, obesity as a health issue can have a range of effects on health and inflation can result in a variety of different issues.

Multiple causes and one effect

1. Introduction
2. Body paragraph
   1. Cause 1
   2. Cause 2
   3. Cause 3
   4. and so on until you cover all causes of a specific issue
   5. Effect
3. Conclusion

Example of such issues includes global warming, which is a result of multiple factors.

Multiple causes and multiple effects  

1. Introduction
2. Body paragraph
   1. Cause 1
   2. Cause 2
   3. Cause 3
   4. and so on until you cover all causes of a specific issue
   5. Effect 1
   6. Effect 2
   7. Effect 3
   8. and so on until you cover all effects of a specific issue
3. Conclusion

Example of such topic is the issue of e-waste because there are several causes of this issue and several hazards associated with it.

Chain reaction cause and effect essay outline  

This type of topics include issues that cover multiple cause and effect relationships that ultimately result in specific issue. In this case, the effect of one process becomes a cause for the next process and so on:

1. Introduction
2. Body paragraph
   1. Cause 1 – Effect 1
   2. Effect 1 – Cause 2 – Effect 2
   3. Effect 2 – Cause 3 – Effect 3
   4. and so on until you cover all causes and effects in the chain
3. Conclusion

This type of a cause and effect essay might seem the most challenging, however a wide range of issues occur due to such chain reactions. For instance, the link between diabetes and obesity is a chain reaction: “extra weight – insulin resistance – increased level of glucose in blood – diabetes”.

List of cause and effect topics for college

The list of cause and effect topics for college is categorized by 10 categories. In each category, you will find 5 topical problems that are worth writing about:

Technology

1. Globalization of the IT industry
2. Cybersecurity breach problem
3. Fake news and propaganda
4. Deregulation in the IT sector
5. E-waste problem worldwide

Health

1. Obesity in adults
2. Child obesity
3. Excess sugar consumption
4. Sedentary lifestyle
5. Emotional eating

Society

1. Body shaming
2. Cultural appropriation
3. Gender inequality
4. Social media addiction
5. Racial discrimination

Political science 

1. Corporate lobbying
2. Political corruption
3. War on terror
4. Nuclear threats in international politics
5. Increase of immigrant inflow

Global problems

1. Air pollution
2. Illegal migration
3. Climate change
4. Biodiversity loss
5. Water scarcity

Economics

1. Inflation
2. Long-term unemployment
3. Underdevelopment of SMEs
4. Underinvestment
5. Offshore banking

Media

1. Media deregulation
2. Body image promotion
3. False advertisement
4. Greenwashing
5. Consumerism promotion

Education

1. Procrastination
2. Student absenteeism
3. Student failure
4. Integrating technology in education
5. College alcohol and substance abuse

Crime

1. Poverty and crime cause and effect relationship
2. Youth gangs
3. Cybercrime
4. White collar crime
5. Hate crime

Sport

1. Using steroids in sport
2. Sports injuries
3. Eating disorders in sports
4. Overtraining
5. Youth dropping out of sports

• Choose a topic you care about – this will make the process of research and writing much more interesting
• Do your research – the quality of your essay will directly depend on your own understanding of the problem
• Make sure to use verified sources that confirm a cause and effect relationship you write about
• Follow logical structure of the essay and proceed from causes to effects
• Express your own opinion – this will help you communicate and engage with your readers