Cause/Effect

What is it?
Causes are:
Explanations of WHY things happen

Effects are:
Explanations of what happens as a
RESULT of an action or event

Cause - Effect

Cause - Effect

Applying your skills to writing

about Cause-Effect
Write an effective thesis statement.
Remember your topic charts?
The Beatles Lucy in the Sky is a song about
drugs.

Remember your purpose

Focus on primary c/e
Use supporting evidence (RESEARCH)
Do not use false reasons
Use only cause effect relationships.

Cause/Effect
The concept of cause and effect
which is also known as causality is
the relationship between two events:
one which is the cause and other
which is the effect of the previous
event.
As per Aristotle's classification,
causality is of two types: accidental
causality and essential causality.

 The concept of accidental causality

is easy to understand and in this type
cause precedes the effect.
In essential causality however, the
cause and effect could be observed in
a single event. Construction of a
building is an example of essential
causality. The builder building the
house and the house being built are
the cause and effect respectively.
Thus, the cause and effect are included
in the single event itself in this case.

Causal Relation:
Necessary Cause - one that must be
present for the effect to occur.
Ex. Combustion is necessary to drive a
gasoline engine.
Sufficient Cause - one that can produce an
effect unaided, though there may be more
than one sufficient cause of a given
effect.
Ex. A dead battery is enough to keep a car
from starting--but faulty spark plugs or
an empty gas tank will have the same
effect.

Causal Relation cont:

Contributory Cause - one that
helps to produce an effect but
cannot do so by itself.
Ex. Running a red light might
help to cause an
accident....though other facts -pedestrians or other cars in the
intersection -- must also be
present.

Signal Words in Cause-and-Effect Writing

as a result

Degrees of
Certainty
certainly

Levels of
Importance
above all

because

may

equally important

consequently

necessarily

finally

due to

perhaps

first

if....then

possibly

initially

leads to

probably

last

therefore

undoubtedly

primarily

thus

unquestionably

second

Cause and Effect

Possible Cause-Effect Topics

1. Explain the effects of stress on you. Focus by limiting to
a specific situation.
2. Think about your favorite author. What caused him/her
to write as he/she did?
3. What are the effects of television on study habits?
4. Why are you such a good/poor/mediocre student?
5. What were the effects of Sputnik on American
education?
6. What are the effects of overcrowding?
7. How can one individual have an effect on the
8.What are the signs of teenage depression? How can teenage depression
environment?
be prevented or treated?
9. What are the typical causes of poor behavior in the classroom?
10. What are the effects of the computer on the quality of your writing?

Open window (A) and fly kite (B). String (C) lifts small door (D) allowing moths (E) to
escape and eat red flannel shirt (F). As weight of shirt becomes less, shoe (G) steps on
switch (H) which heats electric iron (I) and burns hole in pants (J). Smoke (K) enters hole
in tree (L), smoking out opossum (M) which jumps into basket (N), pulling rope (O) and
lifting cage (P), allowing woodpecker (Q) to chew wood from pencil (R), exposing lead.
Emergency knife (S) is always handy in case opossum or the woodpecker gets sick and
can't work.

QUIZ

How can we rewrite these

two sentences into one?
1.

Hartford is the capital of

Connecticut. It is the second
largest city in the state.

Again?
2. Hartford was once known as an

industrial center. It was the home of

several manufacturers. They made
firearms, typewriters, bicycles, and even
cars.
Hartford was once known as an industrial
center that was the home of several
manufacturers; as a result, that made
firearms, typewriters, bicycles and even cars.