Cause and Effect Analysis Essay

n this essay, you will write a cause and effect analysis essay about your chosen topic. Each topic has several supporting texts to use as support; read some or all essays listed with the topic to help develop your ideas. The listed supporting documents are the only ones you may use for this essay unless your instructor approves another.

Cause and effect is an in-depth examination of the relationship between causes and effects. It is not simply a list of causes or effects. In this essay, you will use at least two paraphrases or quotes from at least one of the listed texts to support your ideas. The emphasis in your essay should be on your ideas.

Essay Three Topic Reminders:

Option A: Women, in general, still earn less than men for the same work. Write an essay analyzing the causes for the gender pay gap.

You might find the following sources useful.

"The Pay Gap: Sexism or Something Else?" (Film in MC Library Films on Demand database)

"College-Educated Women Struggle to Even the Wage Gap" by Dey, Goldberg and Hill (MC Library database)

"Sex, Workers: Gender Discrimination Does Not Explain the Male-Female Pay Gap" by Andrew Biggs (MC Library database)

Option B: "Irregular" workers – such as students, some military personnel, migrant laborers and other immigrants – typically earn less than "regular" members of civilian work force. Analyze and explain why it happens in a particular case you know about, whether of an individual worker (including yourself) or a group.

You might find the following sources useful.

"Immigration" by George J. Borjas

"The Rise of the Permanently Temporary Worker" by Elizabeth Olson

"Income Inequality Has Widened the Wage Gap Between Rich and Poor" by John Edward (MC Library database)

Option C: Matthew Douglas writes that "Walmart is also believed to be the sole cause for running small businesses into the ground" (535). analyze other factors determining success or demise of mom-an-pop shops and other small individual businesses.
You might find the following sources useful.

Boss: Owning Your Own Business (Film in MC Library Films on Demand database)

Independent America: The Two-Lane Search for Mom and Pop (Film in MC Library database)

"Many Consumers Prefer Chain Stores" by Russel Roberts

Walmarts Facts on Walmart media relations website (you may explore all pages linked to this one as well)

Note: Some of these links will take you to MC Library databases. Unless you are working from a MC campus, you will need to have your M number handy to log in and proceed.

If at any time one of the links above stops working, please, let me know. Meanwhile, you can search for the titles either on MC Library websites or on the Internet depending where the original location was. If you discover that you need to use a source of information that is not listed here, please, email me with the source and a brief explanation why you want to use it.

Essay Guidelines:

Your essay should be 3-5 pages long.
It should be typed using a standard 12 point font. MLA standard pagination is required. See The Little Seagull Handbook p. 133 for a sample essay in MLA format.
Follow directions carefully.
It should be double spaced with margins no bigger than 1 inch.
You should carefully review the strategies for writing a Cause and Effect Essay. This means, you do not list cause and effects; rather, you develop a larger purpose, some lesson or insight that makes the cause and effect discussion important. Consider how the causes result in the effects or how the effects result from the causes and the importance of that cause/effect relationship.
Use at least one outside source (article) of information to develop your essay.
Use a minimum of two quotes or paraphrases from an outside source.
Be sure to include your name on your essay.
Create a Works Cited page and cite all outside sources used in the essay including images and videos.