A cause might be defined as an event or series of events or a circumstance which necessarily gives rise to another event or circumstance (the effect). We use the model of cause and effect primarily to understand and explain a given phenomenon, trend, or series of events. Identifying a cause helps us to situate a given event or trend (effect) within the context of history, biography, motive or patterns of physical phenomena. Here are some hints for writing a paper which speculates on the causes of an event or phenomenon:

(1) Read through the text(s) carefully, identifying as many causes as you can. Make a list of these causes;

(2) organize the causes, following these steps:

(a) place together causes which are related. This will give you three or four groups of causes;

(b) arrange these groups in order of importance. This procedure will indicate which are major causes and which are minor causes;

(3) look through the text(s) again, making notes on the possible evidence and arguments for each type of cause. You will need to organize, in order of importance, the evidence and arguments listed under each cause;

(4) work out an appropriate thesis, using the following basic format: "The major causes of phenomenon X were A, B and C";

(5) you can now draft a formal outline, arranged as follows:

Introduction

(6) you should now follow the guidelines given earlier for drafting, revising and editing.