4.8  Methods of Development: Using Cause and Effect

We couldn't get through a day without using cause and effect reasoning. You squeeze the toothpaste (cause) and expect it to come out of the tube (effect). If it doesn't come out (effect), your roll it up tighter or squeeze it harder, expecting the revised cause to produce the desired effect. You watch a weather report to see how today's causes are going to produce tomorrow's effects. If you watch a detective or criminal investigation show on television, the whole show is devoted to working backward from the crime, the effect, to find the causes, the person(s) who did it.

We're going to develop that second reason in the opinion-reason outline through the method of using cause and effect. You'll see how the effect of something not changing is traced back to the cause.

It [the set of 3 photos] would also show that some things don't change. The things that don't change are kept as they are not by buildings but by the people who work in them.

We moved the plaque with our mission statement from the old building to the new one, but the plaque just states what we can all see about the spirit and quality of our school being caused by the spirit and quality of the people in it.

Activity: Using Cause and Effect

Now, you try using cause and effect. Start by writing the grade you would like to receive in this year's social studies class. Then list three things you will have to do to produce that grade.

You prewriting will be writing the grade and listing possible causes. Then pick the three most important causes. Write a draft of a paragraph.

Grade desired:

Required causes:

1.

2.

3.

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