Writing IIDevelopment by Cause and Effect

Fall 2013By: SU, Xiaoxiang

Overview

• Questions with why are often asked and answered in our daily life.

• Sound reasoning or logic is naturally the most important quality of any causal analysis.

Sample• Global climate change resulting from the accumulation of

greenhouse gases, for example, is likely to have significant health effects, both direct and indirect. An average global temperature rise of 3-4°C, predicted for the year 2100 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, will greatly increase the number of days in the United States with temperatures over 38°C (100°F), with a resulting sharp rise in heat-related mortality. Deaths would occur primarily from heat strokes, heart attacks, and cerebral strokes. The very young, poor, and elderly, as well as those with chronic cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, are most at risk. During the two-week heat wave of July 1993 in the eastern United States, 84 people died in Philadelphia alone as a result of the higher temperatures.

• In recent decades, cities have grown so large that now about 50% of the Earth's population lives in urban areas. There are several reasons for this occurrence. First, the increasing industrialization of the nineteenth century resulted in the creation of many factory jobs, which tended to be located in cities. These jobs, with their promise of a better material life, attracted many people from rural areas. Second, there were many schools established to educate the children of the new factory laborers. The promise of a better education persuaded many families to leave farming communities and move to the cities. Finally, as the cities grew, people established places of leisure, entertainment, and culture, such as sports stadiums, theaters, and museums. For many people, these facilities made city life appear more interesting than life on the farm, and therefore drew them away from rural communities.

• (1) Begin the paragraph with an effect and then follow with the causes of the effect.

• (2) Begin with a cause and follow with its effects.

• If the writer's objective is show why something exists or occurs, then effects-to-causes is the better choice. If the writer's goal is to show consequences, then the causes-to-effects order is more appropriate.

• (1)While there were many contributing factors to the French Revolution, a primary cause was a financial crisis brought on by royal extravagance. (2) For years before the revolution finally exploded in 1789, the royal government had been borrowing heavily to cover deficit spending. (Cobb, 1988.) (3) Even though France’s high courts of appeal cautioned against such borrowing, the royal’s extravagance continued, eventually resulting in a financial crisis that required the government to institute a series of taxes. (4) As the press highlighted the government’s spending with cartoons and stories, the peasants, already burdened by high taxes, low wages and poor harvests, began to resent the demands of the royals. (5)Finally, in 1789, the Third Estate—the common people—became so enraged, they demanded a new constitution and refused to compromise with the existing government until it was written. (6) This demand set off the first sparks of revolution.

• In the topic sentence (1), the writer introduces both the cause (a financial crisis) and the effect (the French Revolution ) she will discuss.

• In sentence (2), she then suggests the first cause, the royal government’s spending and borrowing.

• In sentence (3) the writer announces the first result, a financial crisis, which she signals with the word resulting.

• Then, in sentence (4) she introduces a contributing cause—that of high taxes, etc.—and suggests the effect—the peasants’ resentment.

• The writer then suggests the effects of this resentment in sentence (5) and finally states the overall effect in the concluding sentence (6) of the paragraph.

Activity One

• Task 20, 21 on P. 93-94

Activity Two

• Write 2 paragraphs about The Causes and Effects of Air Pollution

• Air pollution is perhaps the most devastating form of pollution since it destroys a resource that every life form as we know it needs to sustain itself. The effects of this menace, both immediate and far ranging, are easy to summarize: unbreathable air. The causes, however, need some more inspection. Every citizen who drives a car that is not properly serviced and that does not have emission control devices is contributing noxious gases into the atmosphere. Large industries that do not have filtration mechanisms on their smoke stacks are also contributors. Every government which does not pass, or passes but does not enforce, strict air pollution legislation is also destroying the atmosphere.

• One may wonder why these three aspects of society are so cavalier about the air they breathe. Well, there is an underlying cause which motivates all three group: money. Legislation and enforcement of laws, installation and maintenance of filtration systems cost money. The majority of these three groups seems content to save a bit of money now and to sacrifice an invaluable commodity later.

• Air pollution is perhaps the most devastating type of pollution because it destroys a resource every life form as we know it needs to sustain itself. The cause of this menace is a century or so of unconcern among individual citizens, large corporations, and governments. The effects of disregarding the warning signs influence present life styles and determine the future. Now people are only inconvenienced by air pollution. Large urban areas such as Los Angeles have pollution alerts which warn elderly people and those with pulmonary diseases to stay indoors. For those intrepid enough to venture outdoors, alerts mean stinging eyes, irritated sinuses, scratchy throats. Even though people living outside large urban areas are seldom inconvenienced today, no one should be complacent about what the future holds. If pollutants keep building up in the atmosphere at present

• rates a few years into the 21st century will find the delicate layers of the atmosphere so damaged as to admit the sun's ultraviolet rays full throttle, or the atmosphere will be so clogged with pollutants that not enough of the sun's warming ways will filter through to support life. Whatever happens in the upper air, the city streets will surely be nonnegotiable without a gas mask, and every home will have to have special filtration systems to make the air breathable. Without strict controls on polluters, today's inconveniences will be tomorrow's crises.

Homework

• Cause of Elimination of English in the College Entrance Examination

• Effect of Elimination of English in the College Entrance Examination