What Is A Cause and Effect Essay in Statistics?
A cause and effect essay is aimed at explaining the reasons and outcomes of specific events or processes. The cause and effect essay is written to explore all parts of the processes and provide the audience with a general overview of the issue. It is assumed that the reader of the cause and effect essay has some knowledge about the topic because it does not contain basic facts or information but in-depth research and analysis of the issue. A cause and effect essay in statistics implies using exact data to make certain conclusions. As data and numbers are present in almost every aspect of people’s lives, a cause and effect essay in statistics may be written by a student of politics, economics, law, management, or even English. It is hard to find a direction that does not use various kinds of data and numbers. The cause and effect essays are mainly written at the university or graduate level as they require the use of professional terminology and knowledge of the basic terms and concepts. Additionally, the writer should have knowledge in the related areas of knowledge in order to analyze the issue considering other factors that could affect it.
Choosing a Topic for a Cause and Effect Essay in Statistics
Topics of the cause and effect essays in statistics greatly vary and cover different areas, from advanced and complicated issues to the easier topics on an academic level of college. You may choose a topic that you have already covered completely or some specific aspects of it and provide the audience with a new perspective through the analysis of data and numbers. As it was already stated, topics for this type of essay are quite different, and some of them include:
- Use of Statistics to Solve Crimes;
- Significance of Statistics in Development of Business;
- The Environmental Issue in Numbers;
- The Current Tendencies on the Labor Market;
- Main Factors That Contribute to the Development of the Refugee Issue;
- Statistical Analysis of Crime Rate in Different States of the United States.
Pre-Writing Tips
One should carefully consider which topic they want to explore and analyze. Choosing an appropriate topic is the most important step of the prewriting process in case the topic has not been already determined by the teacher or instructor. There are a few details that need to be taken into consideration while selecting a topic. Firstly, the writer is required to have some background knowledge about the topic; otherwise, it would be hard to perform an in-depth analysis. It would be wise to choose a problem that you worked on before and have enough knowledge to determine the cause and effects of the issue with the use of statistics. Secondly, one should keep the scope of research narrow in order to analyze all the data closely. Thirdly, the essay’s structure should be logical and understandable and provide the readers with clear and in-depth analysis.
While selecting a topic for cause and effect essay in statistics, one should avoid choosing an item that does not interest him/her. Even though such a principle is applicable for many forms of essays, this principle is especially relevant while writing cause and effect essays in statistics since choosing an issue that does not contain interest for the writer will result in a poor research of the available data. There is also a need to consider the context of the writer’s class. One may consider writing an essay that will be useful for the writer’s colleagues and will provide them with new insights about the topic.
There are two main types of statistics essays – inferential and descriptive. The writer should carefully consider what type of statistics essay would work better for the chosen topic. The descriptive statistics type would work better in case of writing a cause and effect essay in statistics as it includes various aspects such as median, range, mode, mean. These aspects will provide one with an understanding of topical tendencies and mainstreams.
Another important step of the prewriting process is the determination of the target audience. As statistics may be quite difficult to understand, the writer should think about the way to explain it as clear and coherent as possible. The essay that will be presented only to the instructor and the essay that will be presented to the class should be written in different ways. Additionally, one should not overestimate readers’ knowledge about the topic and provide the basic information at the beginning to make sure that the audience understands the problem.
Every person has different strategies for writing an essay. Some students do not need to prepare in advance and figure out the structure of the essay in the process of writing. Others need to prepare a detailed outline and create a thesis statement. While working on a cause and effect essay in statistics, one should look for credible and reliable sources in advance. The essays in statistics require the use of lots of data and numbers, and one should take this information from trustworthy sources. Additionally, one can write down as many causes and effects as one can think about. Later, the writer will take a second look on this list and will be able to determine what of these things are significant and what are not. Overall, an in-depth and thoroughly conducted research is one of the key factors of writing a high-quality cause and effect essay in statistics.
Structure of a Cause and Effect Essay in Statistics
A well-written cause and effect essay in statistics has a standard and logical structure that consists of well-organized parts that are easily understandable and coherent. There are two types of cause and effect essays. The first one describes the cause that has multiple effects. The second one describes the effect that has many causes. The cause and effect essay may be organized in two ways, depending on the type of the essay. The first method is called a block model and consists of:
- an introduction;
- the list of causes;
- transition;
- the list of effects;
- a conclusion.
The second method is called a chain model. The main difference is that in this model, each cause is followed by effect. As both of these methods are quite effective, the writer should choose which one will work better for him/her.
Outline
A cause and effect essay in statistics starts with an introduction that should provide the audience with the understanding of why it is important to analyze and evaluate statistics in this specific issue. The introduction should not be too general, but it should provide some basic facts and data about the topic. The audience should receive background information before diving into the problem itself.
An introduction of a cause and effect essay in statistics ends with a clear and concise thesis statement. The thesis statement of the cause and effect essay in statistics should reflect the main idea of the paper and the significance of the described issue. There are a few characteristics that make the thesis statement of cause and effect essay in statistics different from other types of essays. The thesis statement of a cause and effect essay in statistics has to represent one’s opinion about the matter, illustrate understanding of the information gained in the result of the conducted research. While reflecting one’s opinion about the topic, it should be based on specific evidence, coherent, and well-reasoned.
As it was mentioned before, the body paragraphs of the cause and effect essay in statistics may be organized in two different ways. Despite the chosen method, all of the paragraphs should be descriptive and logically organized. All of the body paragraphs should support some aspect of the thesis statement, and none of them can contradict the thesis statement of the paper. Additionally, it is important to write a smooth transition between the paragraphs so that the essay sounds coherent and cohesive.
There are a few things the writer needs to remember while writing a cause and effect essay in statistics. Firstly, the writer should use only those statistical procedures that he/she is well aware of. Secondly, the interpretation of the statistics results should be clear and coherent; if the writer is unable to provide it, he/she should seek professional assistance. Another thing that needs to be taken into consideration is the use of tables and graphs. Since the cause and effect essay in statistics is usually full of numbers, the visualization of information would allow the audience to gain a better understanding of the issue. If the writer wants to use his/her own statistics, he/she should describe the methods that were used. All of the data should be checked thoroughly. The statistical data should be derived from reliable sources and comply with the goal and topic of the paper. The writer has to refer to the sources that he/she has used. Finally, the writer has to provide the audience with persuasive and trustworthy information that would allow the readers to make their own conclusion regarding the topic.
The cause and effects essay in statistics ends with a conclusion. A conclusion of the paper should provide the audience with a summary of all the causes and effects that were mentioned in the paper. Additionally, it has to restate the thesis statement and provide some new insights or more in-depth thoughts that were gained in the process of the research.
Post-Writing Tips
After the draft of the cause and effects essay in statistics is finished, there are few more steps that need to be done. The post-writing process is also an important part of the writing process as it helps the writer improve his paper and make it sound coherent and professional. Firstly, one should check the paper for vocabulary and grammar mistakes. The used language should be appropriate and professional, spelling and punctuation should be correct. You should check whether the structure is logical and clear, and all of the points are valid and persuasive.
After you have proofread and checked the essay for a couple of times, you may ask a colleague or a classmate to take another look at the paper. This person may bring useful advice or notice mistakes that were not seen by the original writer. Additionally, the writer would be able to understand whether his/her paper is clear and makes sense to other people. After the feedback from another person is taken into consideration, the writer may use the following list of questions to check the essay for coherency. By answering those questions, one may understand whether the paper needs further improvements.
- Does the thesis statement reflect the main idea of the paper?
- Were the credible sources used while searching for the necessary data and numbers?
- Was the conducted research thorough enough and was the information analyzed well enough?
- Was the topic explained till the end or there still is room for discussion?
- Is the structure of the essay clear?
- Are the transitions between the paragraphs appropriate and flowing?
This list of questions may be expanded depending on the topic of the paper.
The writer has to check whether all of the statistics was correctly interpreted and whether all of the tables and graphs are relevant and help the audience to understand the topic better. Additionally, the text should not be overflooding with data, and all of the used statistics should be followed by the in-depth explanation or the author’s interpretation of it.
Finally, after the writer is sure that there are no more things that can be changed or improved, the draft of the cause and effect essay in statistics should be transformed into a final version of the paper. A final look on the paper will be useful to track down the minor mistakes if there are such, and the paper should be handed over to the instructor.
References
Definitive Guide to Writing a Cause and Effect Essay. Retrieved 31 July 2019, from https://www.aresearchguide.com/writing-cause-effect-essay.html
How to Write a Cause and Effect Essay: 60 Topics + Hints. Retrieved 31 July 2019, from https://writemyessay4me.org/blog/cause-and-effect-essay
How to Write a Statistic Essay: Guidelines and Tips. Retrieved 31 July 2019, from https://www.essaymasters.co.uk/how-to-write-a-statistics-essay