Patterns in Casual Analysis
Several organizational patterns are possible for a causal analysis. Sometimes, a single cause produces several effects. For instance, poor language skills prevent college students from keeping up with required reading, taking adequate notes, and writing competent papers and essay exams. To explore such a single cause-multiple effect relationship, construct an outline similar to the one following: I.Introduction: identifies cause II. Body A. Effect number 1 B.Effect number 2 С. Effect number 3 III. Conclusion Alternatively, you might discuss the cause after the effects are presented. On the other hand, several causes may join forces to produce one effect. Zinc production in the United States, for example, has decreased over the last few years because it can be produced more cheaply abroad than it can here, it is being replaced on cars by plastics and lighter metals, and it cannot be recycled. Here's how you might organize a typical multiple cause-single effect paper. I. Introduction: identifies effect II. Body A. Cause number 1 B. Cause number 2 C. Cause number 3 III. Conclusion Sometimes discussion of the effect follows the presentation of causes. At times a set of events forms a causal chain, with each event the effect of the preceding one and the cause of the following one. For example, a student sleeps late and so misses breakfast and ends up hungry and distracted, which in turn results in a poor performance on an exam. Interrupting the chain at any point halts the sequence. Such chains can be likened to a row of upright dominoes that fall one after the other when the first one is pushed. Belief in a domino theory, which held that if one nation in Southeast Asia fell to the communists all would, one after the other, helped bring about U.S. entry into the Vietnam War. Causal chains can also help explain how devices function and some social changes proceed. The following outline typifies the arrangement of a paper explaining a causal chain: I. Introduction II. Body A. Cause B. Effect C. Cause D. Effect III. Conclusion Papers of this kind resemble process analyses, but process is concerned with how the events occur, cause and effect with why. In many situations the sequence of causes and effects is too complex to fit the image of a chain. Suppose you are driving to a movie on a rainy night. You approach an intersection screened by bushes and, because you have the right-of-way, start across. Suddenly a car with unlit headlights looms directly in your path. You hit the brakes but skid on the slippery pavement and crash into the other car, crumpling its left fender and damaging your own bumper. Later, as you think about the episode, you begin to sense its complexities. Obviously, the immediate cause of the accident was the other driver's failure to heed the stop sign. But other causes also played roles: the bushes and unlit headlights that kept you from seeing the other car sooner; the starts and stops, speedups and slowdowns that brought the two cars to the intersection at the same time; the wet pavement you skidded on; and the movie that brought you out in the first place. You also realize that the effects of the accident go beyond the fender and bumper damage. After the accident, a police officer ticketed the other driver. As a result of the delay, you missed the movie. Further, the accident unnerved you so badly that you couldn't attend classes the next day and therefore missed an important writing assignment. Because of a bad driving record, the other driver lost his license for sixty days. Clearly, the effects of this accident rival the causes in complexity. Here's how you might organize a multiple cause-multiple effect essay: I. Introduction II. Body A. Cause number 1 B. Cause number 2 C. Cause number 3 D. Effect number 1 E. Effect number 2 F. Effect number 3 III.Conclusion In some situations, however, you might first present the effects, then turn to the causes. Exercise 1. Read the following selection and then arrange the events in a causal chain. Although some folk societies still exist today, similar human groups began the slow process of evolving into more complex societies many millennia ago, through settlement in villages and through advances in technology and organizational structure. This gave rise to the second level of organization: civilized preindustrial, or "feudal," society. Here there is a surplus of food because of the selective cultivation of grains—and also because of the practice of animal husbandry. The food surplus permits both the specialization of labor and the kind of class structure that can, for instance, provide the leadership and command the manpower to develop and maintain extensive irrigation systems (which in turn makes possible further increases in the food supply).... Gideon Sjoberg, "The Origin and Development of Cities" Exercise 2. Trace the possible effects of the following occurrences: a.You pick out a salad at the cafeteria and sit down to eat. Suddenly you notice a large green worm on one of the lettuce leaves. b. As you leave your composition classroom, you trip and break your arm. c. Your boss has warned you not to be late to work again. You are driving to work with ten minutes to spare when you get a flat tire.
|
