Transcript Cause and Consequence Analysis

Cause and Consequence
Analysis
An Introduction
Cause and Consequence Analysis
Links events along a timeline
 Explains why things happen or
predicts certain events (or certain
sets of events will lead to particular
consequences (or set of
consequences)
 Reveals a complex array of causes
 Predicts a complex array of
consequences
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Thinking About Causes and
Consequences
Why did the War of 1812 [or any
war] occur?
 What are the consequences of the
Great Depression [or any economic
disaster]?
 What are the effects of a particular
chemical reaction or medication?
 How did one author influence
another?
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Cause and Consequence Analysis
An analysis of causes and effects is
necessary speculative—it is based on
educated theorizing. Disciplines that
use cause and consequence analysis:
 Meteorology
 History
 Can you think of any others?
Reading Cause and Consequence
Analysis
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Does the author’s presentation of causes
and/or consequences seem plausible?
If the analysis discusses multiple causes of
something, is it clear how they are related
or which one is most important?
How well does the analysis achieve its
specific purpose—to entertain, to inform,
to speculate, or to argue a point—for its
specific audience?
How does the author use language and
terminology?
Writing Cause and
Consequence Analysis
Pay careful attention to subject,
purpose, audience, thesis
statement, and method of
organization.
Considering Your Subject
What event or situation are you
analyzing?
 What causes or consequences of it
can you think of immediately?
 Is it a subject that is complex or
unfamiliar enough that you should
consult sources to find other possible
causes or consequences?
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Determining Your Purpose
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What do you want your readers to do as a
result of your analysis?
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Laugh?
Understand your subject more fully?
Ponder the future?
Change their behavior or way of thinking about
the subject?
As you determine which of the four
purposes your analysis will have, you’ll
also need to determine whether you want
to concentrate on the causes or the
consequences of something.
Considering Your Audience
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Who is your audience?
• Whether you are writing a causal or
consequence analysis, you’ll want to consider
specific characteristics of your audience: age,
education, experience, attitudes, etc.
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How informed are audience members
about the event or situation you are
analyzing?
What causes or consequences might they
be expecting you to mention?
Thinking Critically About Different
Causes or Consequences
Primary cause: the most important factor
 Contributory causes: other factors
 Immediate cause: the factor directly
producing the event
 Remote causes: less obvious (not always
less important) factors
 In terms of consequences, you will want
to distinguish the primary consequence
from the secondary consequences and the
immediate consequence from the remote
consequences.
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Consider this situation:
You’re exhausted. Sometimes you feel too tired to
get out of bed and go to class. You’ve felt this
way for several weeks now, and you’re beginning
to worry. Your mother says it’s because you’re
studying too hard, working too many hours, and
partying too hard on the weekends. So you cut
back on your studying, but you’re still dead tired.
You drag yourself over to the health center and
tell the doctor all the reasons you are tired. She
tells you that you have mononucleosis.
 What is the primary cause of your fatigue?
 What are the contributory causes?
Let’s think about it another way:
You know you’re tired on a Monday morning
because you stayed out so late on Friday
and Saturday nights. Indeed, partying
(keeping late hours, eating junk food,
etc.) is the immediate cause of your
malaise. But the remote causes are that
you’re not getting enough rest during the
week because you attend classes, have a
lot of homework, and work twenty hours a
week. The most remote cause of all is
your mono, a factor you never suspected.
Causal Chains
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If your analysis reveals a series of related
events, you may see how one situation or
event causes another situation or event,
which results in yet another situation or
event.
In this case, you’ll be analyzing both causes
and consequences in your essay.
Don’t confuse causes and consequences with
chronology. Don’t assume that just because
one event preceded another, the first caused
the second (or that the second event was a
consequence of the first).
Considering Your Thesis Statement
Whatever your focus (causes, consequences, or both),
your thesis statement should introduce your subject,
suggest the reason you’re analyzing it, and state the
idea about causes and/or consequences that you want
your readers to accept. For example:
 I blamed myself for being lazy and stretched too thin
with school, work, and play, but only when I went to
the health center did I discover I was suffering from
an undiagnosed case of mononucleosis.
 Because my mononucleosis went undiagnosed for too
long, I was unable to remain in school.
 Even though mononucleosis is a terrible disease, my
bout with it provided me time to rethink my life’s
goals.
Organizing Your Essay
How are you organizing your analysis?
You might open your essay with a
description of the event or situation
you are analyzing and then introduce
your thesis statement.
After this introduction, you’ll need to
decide if you want to use
 Chronological order
 Emphatic order
Chronological v. Emphatic Order
In general, chronological (or reverse
chronological) order is most effective if
you are focusing on the distinction
between immediate and remote causes or
consequences.
Emphatic (or reverse emphatic) order is
most effective if you are focusing on the
distinction between primary and
contributory causes or consequences.
Considering Your Language
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Your thesis should clearly indicate whether
you are focusing on causes,
consequences, or both.
Using qualified language such as probably,
most likely, and might well be will
enhance your credibility.
Using clear transitional words, phrases,
and sentences will help guide your reader
through your line of thinking.
Choose a tone to suit your purpose.
Considering Your Conclusion
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Your conclusion allows you to push your
readers and your own thinking beyond
your thesis statement.
What do you want your readers to take
away with them?
What did the analysis reveal to you, and
what do you want it to reveal to them?
What are its larger and long-term
implications?