Structuring the causes and consequences essay
The structure does work, it is not decoration
- A conventional essay structure either makes the causes and consequences clear or gets in their way. It is the one part of the essay you can settle before you know the topic.
- Six elements carry it: an introduction, a concise contextual paragraph, two body paragraphs, a comparative judgement and a conclusion.
The plan that fits 800 words
| Part | Words | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Introduction | 80–100 | Names the event, answers the question in one sentence, and signals your two |
| Context | 60–80 | What the event was, in three sentences. No more. |
| First cause / consequence | 200–230 | Claim, evidence, link, weight |
| Second cause / consequence | 200–230 | Claim, evidence, link, weight |
| Comparative judgement | 90–110 | Which mattered more, and on what criterion |
| Conclusion | 60–80 | Returns to the question and states the judgement |
- The two body paragraphs are more than half the essay. If they are not, something else has swollen — usually the context.
- Plan the two link sentences first, then everything else. The links are the argument; the rest is packaging.
The introduction, in three sentences
- Sentence one names the event, with its date and its boundaries. The [event] of [year] was...
- Sentence two states your answer directly. Two consequences followed from it: [A] and [B]. Do not save the answer for the conclusion — a reader who knows your case from the start can see each piece of evidence doing its job.
- Sentence three establishes significance in one clause, using the five measures of significance: how deeply, how many, how long, what remains.
- Do not write "in this essay I will". It spends words and signals nothing the structure will not show.
The contextual paragraph, and how to stop it swelling
- Concise is a judgement, and judgements slip. Use a count instead: three sentences.
- What goes in: what the event was, when, and who was involved. That is all.
- What does not go in: how it came about (that is your causes section), what followed (your consequences section), or anything you know that is interesting but unasked.
- Context makes an essay stronger, but narrative is the commonest way this essay fails. Present and short is the resolution.
The conclusion that is worth writing
- Return to the question in its own words. If it asked how two consequences resulted, say that they did and how.
- State your comparative judgement, briefly, with its criterion.
- Do not introduce new evidence. A fact appearing for the first time in a conclusion reads as something you forgot.
- Do not summarise what you just wrote. It was read four hundred words ago and repeating it adds nothing.
- Two or three sentences. A long conclusion is almost always a summary of what has just been read.
Worked Example
The question is: How did TWO different consequences result from your chosen historical event?
Plan the whole essay in the planning space in under five minutes.
Step 1 — direction, at the top of the page. CONSEQUENCES. Not causes. Everything I write gets checked against that word.
Step 2 — the event, in the box, with boundaries. One sentence with a date, a place and the people involved. Not a topic — an event.
Step 3 — the two link sentences, written out in full. This is the only part of the plan that is worth writing as prose.
Step 4 — check they are different. Link 1 is social, immediate, and reaches those directly involved. Link 2 is political, longer-term, and reaches everyone in the measure's scope. Three axes apart. Good.
Step 5 — check dependency on each. Link 1: founded explicitly in response, and said so. Link 2: the drafting committee cited the event, and the proposal had failed twice before. Both are documented, not inferred.
Step 6 — evidence, three or four items each, as a list. Names, dates, figures, one contemporary statement per consequence. Bullet points, not sentences — nothing in the planning space is part of your answer.
Step 7 — the comparative judgement, in note form. Duration → measure wins (decades vs. months). Depth → organisation wins (transformed those involved). Both, with criteria named.
Step 8 — start writing. Introduction, three sentences of context, then the two paragraphs, comparative judgement, conclusion. No further planning.