Library Resources: Dual Enrollment Research Resources: Cause & Effect

Writing Center Help

Need help with your paper? Visit the Writing Center:

Building: CL

Phone: 623) 845-3812

Cause & Effect

A cause and effect essay explains the cause of a problem and details the resulting effect. You will collect and evaluate evidence to support your position.

Identify Your Topic

Identify your topic (be specific) – in most cases, you will choose a contemporary topic.

What topic are you going to research?

Example: Teen Driver Accidents

List the causes of your topic.

Examples:
Cause 1 - Teens have less experience driving and avoiding other bad drivers than adults.
Cause 2 - Teens have a high incidence of "distracted driving" (e.g. texting while driving, putting on makeup, etc).
Cause 3 - Teens have a high incidence of driving under the influence of alcohol and/or other substances.

List the effects of your topic.

Examples:
Effect 1 - Higher insurance costs for teen drivers.
Effect 2 - Teens have a high incidence of injury or mortality.

Browse Topics/ Collect Facts & Evidence

Here are some places in the databases to EXPLORE "hot" topics or conversations--

(To connect from off-campus, enter your MEID and Password.)

Opposing Viewpoints -- Click "Browse Issues" for a list a list of today's hottest topics.

Issues & Controversies -- Click "Issues" to explore current hot issues.

Global Issues Click "Browse Topics" to explore issues.

Once you have decided on a topic, you can browse the various articles for evidence and facts (reference, viewpoints, news...).

Collect Background Research

Use these databases to collect reliable, credible BACKGROUND INFORMATION on your topic.

Gale eBooks (Gale Virtual Reference) This link opens in a new window
Provides access to popular Gale specialized encyclopedias and resources in arts, biography, business, education, environment, history, science, social science and more. PROVIDES WORD and PAGE COUNT for EACH ARTICLE when browsing.
Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Credo Reference is a full-text online reference service. Our collection includes over three million entries from hundreds of well-regarded titles from some of world's the best reference publishers. Credo’s collection is intelligently integrated with millions of cross-references and contains dictionaries, bilingual dictionaries, thesauri, encyclopedias, quotations and atlases, plus a wide range of subject-specific titles covering everything from art to accountancy, science to Shakespeare and law to literature.
Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Multidisciplinary database with more extensive full text holdings than Academic Search Premier, including over 9,000 full text journals. Includes 459 unique titles (54% of its collection) as compared to current GCC Library databases.

Collect Recent News

Use these databases to find specific EXAMPLES of how your topic impacts people in the real world.

Proquest Newspaper Multi-Search This link opens in a new window
This search option searches all the Proquest newspaper databases including Newspaper Core, Arizona Republic, Ethnic Newswatch, and the Historic New York Times.
Gale News (formerly Infotrac Newstand) This link opens in a new window
Provides full-text access to more than 2,300 major U.S., regional, national, and local newspapers as well as leading international titles. It also includes thousands of images, radio and TV broadcasts and transcripts.

Cause/ Effect Practice Handout

Cause/Effect