Forty Writing Topics: Causes and Effects

Some of the following topic suggestions emphasize causes; others focus on effects. But keep in mind that these two approaches are closely related and sometimes not easily distinguished.

Forty Topic Suggestions: Causes and Effects

1. The effect of a parent, teacher, or friend on your life
2. Why you selected your major
3. The effects of cramming for an examination
4. The effects of peer pressure
5. Why some students cheat
6. The effects of growing up with a personal computer
7. The effects of poverty on an individual
8. Why one college course is more rewarding than another
9. Why many people don't bother to vote in local elections
10. Why more and more students are taking online classes
11. The effects of racial, sexual, or religious discrimination
12. Why people exercise
13. Why people keep pets
14. The effects of computers on our everyday lives
15. Why some people choose not to carry a cell phone
16. The environmental effects of bottled water
17. Why reality shows are so popular
18. The effects of pressures on students to get good grades
19. The effects of a coach or teammate on your life
20. The effects of not keeping a personal budget
21. The causes of noise pollution
22. The effects of noise pollution
23. Why so few students read newspapers
24. Why many Americans prefer foreign-built cars
25. Why many adults enjoy animated movies.
26. Why baseball is no longer the national pastime
27. The effects of stress on students in high school or college
28. The effects of moving to a new town or city
29. Why sales of DVDs are declining
30. Why growing numbers of people shop online
31. The effects of the steady increase in the cost of going to college
32. Why students drop out of high school or college
33. Why college mathematics (or any other subject) is so difficult
34. Why some roommates don't get along
35. Why adults have more fun than children on Halloween
36. Why so many people eat junk food
37. Why many children run away from home
38. The long-term effects of unemployment on a person
39. The influence of a book or a movie on your life
40. The effects of music downloading on the music industry

Model Paragraphs and Essays

• Cause & Effect
• "Changes," by Peter Matthiessen
• Sentence Combining Exercise #8: "How Teachers Make Children Hate Reading"
• Cause and Effect in "The Dream Animal" by Loren Eiseley
• Cause and Effect in Stephen King's "Horror Movies"
• Ian Frazier's List of Reasons in "Great Plains"
• Learning to Hate Mathematics: A Cause & Effect Essay

Also see: 400 Writing Topics