How to Write a Cause and Effect Essay in Gender Studies

A cause and effect essay is a common assignment in many subjects, including gender studies. It involves responding to the essay question by developing a strong argument which is based on appropriate evidence and critical reasoning. Many students feel overwhelmed when they have to write a cause and effect essay because it typically requires analyzing a wide range of academic sources to discover causes and effects and support the argument. But in fact, writing such essays is not as difficult as it might seem because they follow a logical pattern. And it’s much easier to cope with any assignment if you break the writing process into easy manageable steps.

If you find such type of essay challenging to complete and are looking for advice on how to do it right, read our easy writing guide. Here we discus all essential aspects of writing a cause and effect essay in gender studies. You’ll find detailed instructions on every stage of the writing process from selecting a topic to polishing your final draft. If you need tips on how write any other type of academic papers, browse through our website because here we have full guides to all writing assignments out there.

What Is a Cause and Effect Essay in Gender Studies?

The purpose of writing cause and effect essays is to discover and analyze causal relationships between different events, process, and phenomena over the course of time. A cause and effect essay in gender studies relies heavily on the analysis of a specific situation and discovering events and processes that lead to specific results.

Your paper may discuss only the causes of something, only the result or both. For example, if you decide to write about gender stereotypes, you may analyze why they exist in different societies (causes) or how they affect gender equality (effects). If you decide to speak about both causes and effects in a longer essay, you may use 2 types of structure:

• For the block structure, you need to list all causes first and then list all the effects.
• For the chain structure, you need to explain each effect after the related cause.

No matter, which type of structure you choose, you should explain every element of your paper fully and completely. Cause and effect relationships are complex and they frequently become subjects of arguments and debates so you should use a lot of relevant evidence, for example, statistics and scientific studies to support your ideas.

You need to research events and processes and search for many causes to ensure that you are not missing any of them. It’s important to avoid faulty logic when you do analysis to establish causal relationship and distinguish between a chronological order and causality. Remember, if something occurs before something else, it doesn’t necessarily mean that there is a causal relationship. Besides, you should keep in mind that there can be immediate causes and remote causes for an effect. If that happens, you can discuss a causal chain when one event or process lead to another and the latte leads to another. Remote causes can strengthen your argument but you should analyze the causal chain and make sure that you’ve established proper sequencing.

How to Choose a Good Topic for a Cause and Effect Essay

If you have not been given a topic, you should select a topic you are interested in and which is familiar to you. But you should make sure that it is relevant to the gender studies course you’re taking. Besides, you should make sure you can verify your topic with authoritative primary and secondary sources. It’s important to pick an essay topic discussing which you can clearly prove that certain effects are based on specific causes. Can’t decide what to write about? Look through this short list of cause and effect essay topics in gender studies and feel free to use any of them for writing your own project.

• Economic Impact of Gender Stereotyping;
• Potential Causes and Possible Solutions of Glass Ceiling;
• Causes and Consequences of Gender-based Violence in Refugee Camps;
• Causes of Gender Wage Gap in the United States;
• What Prevents Women’s Advancement in the Corporate Workplace?
• Impact of Globalization on Changing Gender Roles and Gender Equality;
• Influence of Gender Neutral Language on Modern Culture;
• Impact on Radical Feminism on Contemporary Gender Relations;
• Effects of Same Sex Parenting on Child Development;
• How Do Gender Differences Impact Political Behavior?
• Link between Gender and Low Self Esteem;
• Causes of and Effects of Gender Discrimination;
• Causes of Sexual Child Abuse and Gender Differences;
• Gender Differences in the Consequences of Divorce;
• Causes of Gender Differences in Aging and Longevity.

Plan Your Cause and Effect Essay in Gender Studies

When you have selected a single idea as your essay topic, you should research it to discover possible causes and effects in a certain situation and determine whether it will be better to analyze the topic as a cause or as an effect. It can be rather confusing to write an essay that discusses multiple causes and multiple effects, especially if you are assigned to complete a short, concise essay.

You can also use different approaches to analyzing causal relationships and answering the ‘So what?’ question:

• You can ask and answer why the certain cause and effect relationship exist;
• You may identify a surprising or unexpected causal relationship;
• You can take a stand on an undecided or controversial cause and effect relationship (this approach is good when write an essay on a debatable topic).

Make a list of causes and a list of effect and brainstorm the ideas for additional research in order to find relevant evidence and example that can illustrate and prove causal relationships. As you read your sources, take notes of the most interesting facts and ideas and don’t forget to keep track from where you have obtain the information.

Then you gather enough material, review all your notes, group the ideas, and develop a strong thesis statement that presents the central argument of your essay and will guide your writing. It has to clearly state whether you’ll write about causes or effect although it’s not obligatory to include words causes or effects in your thesis. For example, when writing an essay about the gender effects of globalization, you can formulate your thesis statement like this:

‘The essay will discuss the role of globalization which has a positive impact on access to economic opportunities and by shifting the existing gender roles and norms, has a huge potential to contribute to increasing gender equality.’

Now you can organize your points in a logical order and make an outline. You should follow a traditional structure common to most academic papers. Your essay must have a clear introduction with a thesis statement, well-structured main body where you develop an argument, and a powerful conclusion that summarizes your paper and thesis. To create a detailed outline of your essay, you should list topic sentences of each paragraph to ensure that every paragraph focuses on a single specific idea (cause or effect). If you are writing an essay about several causes or several effects, you can list them using the order of importance, for example, from least important to most important or vice versa.
Now let’s discuss how to write each part of your cause and effect essay in gender studies.

Create a Powerful Introduction

In the introduction, you should establish the context and communicate the goal of your essay to your readers. You should try to engage your audience and convince them that reading your essay is worth their precious time.

• Start your introductory paragraph with a hook to grab your reader’s attention. It may be an anecdote, surprising fact, statistics or provocative question.
• Briefly introduce your paper’s topic and give some background information.
• Provide justification for your essay by emphasizing the significance of your topic.
• Briefly outline the structure of your essay and if necessary, define the key terms you will be using.
• End your introductory paragraph with a strong and highly specific thesis statement and explain your purpose as a writer.

Develop Strong Argument about Causal Relationship in the Main Body

In the body of your cause and effect essay in gender studies, you have to develop a coherent and clear argument point by point. Think about each paragraph as of mini-essay that is focused on a single idea. All sentences in your paragraphs should clearly refer to your thesis statement and you should arrange them in a logical manner. Besides, you should explain each idea included in a paragraph and support it with evidence.

You can build each body paragraph using this structure:

• Start every paragraph with a topic sentence that conveys a controlling idea.
• Include several supporting sentences that explain your controlling idea.
• Give good examples to illustrate, clarify, and support your point.
• Explain each example and its relevance to the topic sentence.
• Finish every paragraph with a concluding sentence that summaries the point and explains how it links into the overall essay’s argument. The final sentence of your paragraph should also include some transition to the following paragraph.

It’s important to use the transition words and phrases of causation to ensure connections between paragraphs and to show links between sentences that describe various events or conditions. Transitions will help organize your main points, establish relationships between ideas, and orient your readers. Here are some transition words and phrases that you can use to organize information in your paragraphs as cause and effect and create a logical progression of ideas: because, due to, since, as a result, therefore, thus, so, so that, led to, reason(s), then, consequently, owing to, because of, as a consequence, hence, is caused by etc.

Write a Memorable Conclusion

Conclusion is your last chance to make an impression on your reader so you should do your best to make it as convincing as possible.

• You should restate your thesis and briefly summarize your main points that support your argument. Keep in mind that you shouldn’t include any new information – just remind your audience what you have discussed.
• You can also comment on your ideas and give your final opinion on the topic.
• Speak about the limitations of your work and make suggestions about further research if it is required.
• You may make some predictions on the future development of your topic.

Revise and Edit Your Cause and Effect Essay in Gender Studies

The last steps in writing any successful essay are revising, editing, and proofreading and you should never ignore them. You should carefully and thoroughly revise and edit your draft to ensure that your essay has a proper structure and is logical, clear, and concise. When editing your essay, you should improve the content, logical flow of ideas, paragraph and sentence structure, and word choice. When you are satisfied with your final draft, you should proofread it and fix minor grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes, and typos to ensure that your paper is flawless.
Here are some effective editing and proofreading strategies that can help you catch more mistakes.

• When you finish your draft, take a break to get some distance from your essay. You will return with fresh eyes and will be able notice mistakes that you may otherwise overlook.
• Read your essay aloud. It can help you catch all types of grammar and spelling errors and notice awkward organization of ideas.
• Print your essay and read it with a ‘cover’. Read your essay line by line, sliding a blank sheet of paper down each page.
• Read your essay backwards to focus on the text and not on the ideas. Using this method, you’ll be able to notice even small details.

We have discussed all stages of the writing process and provided you with simple instructions on how to write a cause and effect essay in gender studies. Just follow our step-by-step recommendations and you’ll increase your chances to successfully cope with this rather complicated assignment. We hope that our guide will help you impress your instructor with a powerful essay that demonstrates your knowledge and understanding of a topic and your strong analytical and critical thinking skills.