Cause/Effect

and

Causal Chain

[CauseEffect.pptx]
 For further study
Read:
• Chapter 9, pp.179-198, Strategies for
Analytical Writing: Cause and Effect,
Strategies for Successful Writing. 5.
• Chapter 2.3, pp. 109-114, Cause and effect,
Academic Writing: A handbook for
International students. 3.

See also: Grammar & Composition

 Claims of cause and effect

• Claims of cause and effect: These

claims argue that one person, thing, or
event caused another thing or event to
occur.
- What are the causes or series of
causes for a particular effect?
- What effect(s) will result from
specific causes?
 What are the causes or series of causes for a particular
effect?

• History: What were the causes of the

Seven Day War between Israel and
Egypt?
• Political Science: What are the reasons
why Trump won the 2016 election?
Yuval Harari, Sapiens: A brief history of humankind.
Toronto, McClelland, 2014. 143
 What effect(s) will result from
specific causes?
• Sociology: Predict the effect(s) that changes
in Social Security could have on seniors?
• The popularity of SUVs in America has
caused pollution to increase.
• Economics: How will the deregulation of
the stock market affect the middle class?
Relationship of trust and credit as it affects growth

Yuval Harari, Sapiens: A brief history of humankind.

Toronto, McClelland, 2014. 309.
 Exercise 1

Suggest five sample questions from your

major that would require a cause/effect
answer.
These questions may be required for the
weekly assignment.
 Types of Causes

1. Immediate Causes - closest to the effect and

most apparent

2. Ultimate Causes - Somewhat removed,

somewhat hidden
 Causal Chain
This is a complex problem because
ultimate causes are immediate causes to
the successive cause. i.e., causal chain

i.e., An ultimate cause may be, at any

point on the continuum, either an
ultimate cause, an immediate cause, or
an effect.
 Example #1

1. Computer salesman prepared

extensively to meet with a client
(ultimate)
2. Impressed the client (ultimate)
3. Made very large sale (immediate)
4. Given a promotion (effect)
 Example #2

List the possible causes of an upset stomach.

 Possible answers
1. overeating,
2. flu,
3. allergy (intolerance),
4. spoiled food,
5. nerves,
6. pregnancy,
7. (and many more)
Some or all may operate at the same time.
 Example #3

List the possible effects of higher energy

costs.
 Results of high energy costs
• Higher profits for utility companies
• Fewer sales of appliances
• Higher prices for other products
• Higher wages for the workers
• Development of alternate sources
(competition)
 Successful Causal Analysis
Requires:

1. Sound reasoning
2. Objectivity (free from bias)
3. Willingness to admit other possible
causes/effects
4. Careful development of essay organization
 Caution
One event immediately preceding another does
not necessarily cause that event. (superstition)

Example:
Every time I see a black cat something
bad happens. Today I saw a black cat
and I know that something bad will
happen.
Cause/effect analysis is especially useful
in writing about social, economic or
political events or problems, as the next
paragraphs illustrate.
In the first example, the author looks at
the causes of Japanese collectivism
(which he elsewhere contrasts with
American individualism).
 Exercise 2

Identify and state what each sentence is doing in

the following paragraph.

Analyse each sentence to ascertain what each is

doing.
 Handout
(1)The shinkansen or "bullet train" speeds across the rural
areas of Japan giving a quick view of cluster after cluster of
farmhouses surrounded by rice paddies. (2)This particular
pattern did not develop purely by chance, but as a
consequence of the technology peculiar to the growing of rice,
the staple of the Japanese diet. (3)The growing of rice requires
the construction and maintenance of an irrigation system,
something that takes many hands to build. (4)More importantly,
the planting and the harvesting of rice can only be done
efficiently with the cooperation of twenty or more people. (5)The
"bottom line" is that a single family working alone cannot
produce enough rice to survive, but a dozen families working
together can produce a surplus. (6)Thus the Japanese have
had to develop the capacity to work together in harmony, no
matter what the forces of (William
disagreement
the Japanese Challenge) or social disintegration,
Ouchi, Theory Z: How American Business Can Meet

in order to survive.
In sentences 1, 2, and 6 Ouchi specifies
an effect: the Japanese live close
together and work in harmony.

The middle sentences explain the

conditions that caused this effect: the
Japanese depend heavily on rice, and
growing rice demands collective effort.
 Exercise 3
The following paragraph is a good example
of the difference between immediate and
ultimate causes.

List the links that are used in this and all

model paragraphs.

How many did you find?

The depression was precipitated by the stock
market crash in October 1929, but the actual cause
of the crash was the collapse of an unhealthy
economy. While the ability of the manufacturing
industry to produce consumer goods had increased
rapidly, mass purchasing power had remained
relatively static. Most labourers, farmers, and
white-collar workers, therefore, could not afford to
buy the automobiles and refrigerators turned out by
factories in the 1920s, because their incomes were
too low. At the same time, the federal government
increased the problem through economic policies
that tended to encourage the very rich to over-save.
The depression was precipitated by the stock
market crash in October 1929, but the actual cause
of the crash was the collapse of an unhealthy
economy. While the ability of the manufacturing
industry to produce consumer goods had increased
rapidly, mass purchasing power had remained
relatively static. Most labourers, farmers, and
white-collar workers, therefore, could not afford to
buy the automobiles and refrigerators turned out by
factories in the 1920s, because their incomes were
too low. At the same time, the federal government
increased the problem through economic policies
that tended to encourage the very rich to over-save.
Discuss, criticize, the soundness of the
reasoning processes in the following
sentences.

Test to see that there is no possible

cause that might have been omitted.
1. The rain always bothers my arthritis. My fingers
and ankles ache today because of the rain.
2. I have an allergy to peanuts that causes my throat
to swell. I have just eaten a peanut butter sandwich
and expect to suffocate soon.
3. Wars are caused by hunger and poverty. These are
characteristic of Third World countries, and we
shall have war there soon.
4. My love affair with Gladys broke up because she
was jealous of me. Gertrude is jealous and we will
breakup soon.
 Assignment Due Next Week

Write a 4 to 5 paragraph essay in which you

answer one of the cause/effects questions
which you created in Exercise No. 1 above.

OR
 Go to

A list of 40 possible topics here.

OR

Write about any topic of your choice.

 Remember.

Correlation does not mean causation!

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