writing an essay about reason

TWO WRITING TEACHERS

A meeting place for a world of reflective writers.

Stronger Essay Writing: Differentiating Between Reasons and Evidence

The word essay comes from the latin  exigere , meaning “to ascertain,” or “to weigh.” It was used in the late 15th century as a verb, meaning “to test the quality of.” Writing in essay form certainly leads to these things: weighing of evidence, testing the quality of reasons, ascertaining the strength of an argument.

When we teach students to write heartfelt essays, we are teaching them that their opinions matter.

When we teach students to write clear essays, we are teaching them that the way they share their opinions matters.

There are common problems that students who are learning to write essays well encounter. Such as:

• Naming one clear idea as a thesis.
• Beginning with an introduction that sets up the structure of the essay.
• Gathering a variety of rich evidence.
• Organizing the evidence into like categories and in a way that best supports the essay’s argument.
• Differentiating between reasons and evidence.

It is this last issue that has become a theme in my instruction lately. I have noticed many students who name a clear thesis, but then somewhere in their first body paragraph they make a statement that goes something like this:

One reason that we should have homework is because I am too tired from a long day at school to have the energy to do my homework when I get home. 

What this student has done is named an example rather than a reason. This common issue muddles the organization of the piece and weakens the argument. It can be difficult to recognize because there is so much that is great about what this student has done – he begins with a phrase to offset the reason, and he discusses what he feels is a reason his thesis is true.

Fortunately, this issue is often a quick fix with some targeted instruction. Here are ideas for instruction intended to help your students to strengthen and clarify their reasons and keep examples in their rightful place. This would work well as a minilesson, a small group, or a conference.

PREPARATION

To prepare for this teaching, you need your own essay as an example. In my essay, the thesis is: Fish are the best pets.  List three reasons why your thesis is true. Then, list examples to go with each reason. Enlarge all of these statements and cut them up separately. Place each reason and its accompanying examples in an envelope. Duplicate these if you are doing this lesson with more than three partnerships.

Below are the statements I used, both enlarged to be cut up for the lesson, and organized into my final version.

Fish Essay Statements

Fish Essay Statements Organized

Begin by asking students to talk with partners to brainstorm the parts of an essay. As they do this, listen in and record what they say on a chart. Doing this allows you not only to engage students, but also allows you to assess what they know about essay structure.

Create a very simple chart that looks something like this:

• NAME THESIS

Congratulate students on their knowledge of essay structure. Tell them that because they understand basic essay structure, they are ready for some fine-tuning.

NAME THE TEACHING POINT

Tell students that today, you want to teach them that essay writers make sure they have given clear reasons and examples.

TEACHING AND ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT

Tell students you are working on an essay and that you would like some help organizing it. Then, set them up to work with a partner. Give each partnership an envelope containing the reasons and examples for one of your body paragraphs. Then, ask them to sort the statements by choosing one statement to be the reason, and the others to be pieces of evidence.

Coach students as they sort, and when they are finished, share with them the final organization (see document two, above). Remind them the purposes and characteristics of reasons (explain why the thesis is true, concise, universal), and the purposes and characteristics of evidence (explains the reason, often personal, often stories, often detailed).

Next, guide students to try this in their own writing. Ask them to first find a place where they may have named an example rather than a reason. Then, guide them to rework their writing according to what they have learned. Coach them as they work. Make sure your essay is available for them to use as an example.

Ask students to show their partner a place where they revised their writing based on what you talked about today. Remind them to check their reasons and evidence each time they write an essay.

Note: I dedicate this post, as I dedicate so much of my teaching practice, to Kathleen Tolan. Kathleen was a mentor, a leader, a friend. She was the best of the best in this field. Her loss is staggering, and will be felt far and wide and for a long time to come. Our thoughts at Two Writing Teachers are with Kathleen’s family and her colleagues at The Reading and Writing Project.

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Published by Anna Gratz Cockerille

Anna is a staff developer, literacy coach, and writer, based in New York City. She taught internationally in places such as Sydney, Australia; San Pedro Sula, Honduras, and Auckland, New Zealand in addition to New York before becoming a staff developer for the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project at Columbia University (TCRWP). She has been an adjunct instructor in the Literacy Specialist Program at Teachers College, and teaches at TCRWP where she helps participants bring strong literacy instruction into their classrooms. Anna recently co-wrote Bringing History to Life with Lucy Calkins, part of the 2013 series Units of Study in Opinion, Information, and Narrative Writing (Heinemann). She has been a researcher for Lucy Calkins, contributing especially to Pathways to the Common Core (Heinemann, 2012) and Navigating Nonfiction (Heinemann, 2010). View all posts by Anna Gratz Cockerille

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• Humanities ›

How to Write a Paragraph Developed With Reasons

A Sample Paragraph Using "The Bogeyman" as an Example

marcduf / Getty Images

• Writing Essays
• Writing Research Papers
• English Grammar
• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

College writing assignments often call on students to explain why : Why did a certain event in history take place? Why does an experiment in biology produce a particular result? Why do people behave the way they do? This last question was the starting point for "Why Do We Threaten Children With the Bogeyman?" — a student's paragraph developed with reasons.

Notice that the paragraph below begins with a quotation meant to grab the reader's attention: "You better stop wetting your bed, or else the bogeyman is going to get you." The quotation is followed by a general observation that leads to the topic sentence of the paragraph: "There are several reasons why young children are so often threatened with a visit from the mysterious and terrifying bogeyman." The rest of the paragraph supports this topic sentence with three distinct reasons.

Example Paragraph Developed with Reasons

As you read the student's paragraph, see if you can identify the ways in which she guides the reader from one reason to the next.

Why Do We Threaten Children With the Bogeyman? "You better stop wetting your bed, or else the bogeyman is going to get you." Most of us probably remember a threat like this one being delivered at one time or another by a parent, babysitter, or older brother or sister. There are several reasons why young children are so often threatened with a visit from the mysterious and terrifying bogeyman. One reason is simply habit and tradition. The myth of the bogeyman is handed down from generation to generation, like the tale of the Easter Bunny or the tooth fairy. Another reason is the need to discipline. How much easier it is to frighten a child into good behavior than to explain to her just why she should be good. A more sinister reason is the perverse delight some people get out of scaring others. Older brothers and sisters, in particular, seem to thoroughly enjoy driving youngsters to tears with stories of the bogeyman in the closet or the bogeyman under the bed. In short , the bogeyman is a convenient myth that will probably be used to haunt children (and sometimes actually cause them to wet their beds) for a long time to come.

The three phrases in italics are sometimes called reason and addition signals : transitional expressions that guide the reader from one point in a paragraph to the next. Notice how the writer begins with the simplest or least serious reason, moves to "another reason," and finally shifts to "a more sinister reason." This pattern of moving from least important to most important gives the paragraph a clear sense of purpose and direction as it builds toward a logical conclusion (which links back to the quotation in the opening sentence).

Reason and Addition Signals or Transitional Expressions

Here are some other reason and addition signals:

• a more important reason
• in addition
• for this reason
• furthermore
• in the first place, in the second place
• more importantly, most importantly
• to begin with

These signals help to ensure cohesion in paragraphs and essays, thus making our writing easier for readers to follow and understand.

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How to Write ‘Causes (Reasons) and Effects’ Type of Essay in IELTS Writing Task 2

In “causes and effects” type of essay, IELTS examiners want you to discuss the causes or reasons of the problem in one paragraph.The likely effects of that problem in the second paragraph separately. Therefore, it is important that you find out relevant points of causes (reasons) and effects for IELTS Writing . Please note that in this question, you should not make any paragraph about solutions.

Let’s look at an example:

Obesity in children is a serious problem in a number of countries..

What are the causes of obesity in children?

Discuss the possible alarming effects of this problem in the future.

With this type of essay, you have two points to be discussed: 1. Causes of obesity in children in developed countries.

2. Effects of obesity in the future in developed countries.

You must discuss both of them by giving reasons and support them with examples.

If you do not discuss any of the above two points in the essay, you will lose marks.

So, in this type of essay, you must explain both the points.

How to structure it?

The essay can be structured mainly in 4 paragraphs as follows:

Introduction

Causes & Reasons

Further structuring of the paragraphs can be done as follows:

a. Introduction

Paraphrase the Question

Outline the sentence

b. -Body Paragraph 1 (Causes (reasons))

State the cause (reason)

Explain how it is the cause (reason)

Write an example

c. (Effects)

State the likely effect

Explain how this can be the possible effect

d. Conclusion

Sentence 1- Write summary of the main points Here, Four paragraphs are sufficient to explain your point of view. So,You may use any other structure you are comfortable with.This structure is approved by the IELTS examiners to help the students write in an effective and cohesive manner.

Sample Question:

Also, You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

Here, Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

Sample Answer:

Here, Over the past few years, developed countries have encountered various cases of children suffering from the problem of obesity. This essay will discuss the possible causes for this increasing problem among children and also suggests the possible consequences that may result in case of negligence.

Furthermore, To embark upon, one of the main causes of obesity among children is poor diet as they are often seen eating junk food. At almost every corner of the street, one can found restaurants offering mouth tempting fast foods. Kids at home also are found to eat processed food because their parents do not find sufficient time for preparing the food. For example, packaged foods are purchased and kept in fridge for days. This food is not fresh and healthy. Hence affects their health, leading to build up of fat and compromising their fitness.

As a result, there are many possible consequences faced by the children. One such ill-effect is the risk of developing health related severe diseases like diabetes. So,This kind of debilitating illness implies that the child would need to be injected with insulin for the whole life. Moreover, overweight children are often found to be bullied . For example, many overweight kids are found disturbed facing the negative stigma of being obese

Here,On the whole, it is evident that there are various causes responsible for obesity among children and can lead to serious consequences in the future. Also, It is the duty of their parents and relatives to ensure that appropriate steps are taken to prevent this problem from getting worst in the future.

(279 words)

Vocabulary and Phrases:

Useful vocabulary for causes (reasons).

• One of the causes/The reason is that
• Because/Since
• Due to this/Because of/Owing to/Lead to
• As a result/Lead to the problem/Can attribute to

Useful vocabulary for Effects

• Consequence of/As a result of/Because of/Due to
• Make/Create/Change/Effect/Affect/Result
• Risk of/Leading to

Write an essay of about 250 words on the following topics. Use the vocabulary mentioned above. 1. Also,There are a number of skin-whitening products available in the market. State the reasons why people are using these products? Discuss the possible negative outcomes of using these products.

2. Here,With the advancement of technology, social interaction among people has affected to a greater extent. What are the reasons of reduced social interaction? Suggest whether this would lead to a positive or negative effect in the future.

3. So,Almost everybody nowadays is found using personal vehicle for travelling purpose. What are the reasons of this increasing trend? Explain what negative outcomes may be faced in the society due to this.

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