CauseandEffectpengyu@gucas.ac.cn•Anothercommonpatternofessayorganizationiscalledcauseandeffect.Inacause/effectessay,youdiscussthecauses(reasons)forsomething,theeffects(results),orbothcausesandeffects.Youmightusecause/effectorganizationtoanswertypicaltestquestionssuchasthese:•Explainthedeclineinreadingabilityamongschoolchildren.•Discusstheeffectsofglobalwarmingontheenvironment.•DiscusshousepriceanditseffectsontheChineseeconomy.•ExplainthecausesandeffectsoftheStockholmsyndrome.•Youcanorganizeacause/effectessayintwomainways:•blockorganization•chainorganization.blockorganization•Inblockorganization,youfirstdiscussallthecausesasablock(inone,two,three,ormoreparagraphs,dependingonthenumberofcauses).Thenyoudiscussalltheeffectstogetherasablock.Youcandiscusseithercausesoreffectsfirst.Ofcourse,youcanalsodiscussonlycausesoronlyeffects.BlockOrganizationBlockOrganizationTask1•Workouttheoutlineoftheessaywithyourteammates.ChainOrganization•Inthispattern,causesandeffectsarelinkedtoeachotherinachain.Oneeventcausesasecondevent,whichinturncausesathirdevent,whichinturncausesafourthevent,andsoon.Eachnewcauseanditseffectarelinksinachain.Dependingonthecomplexityoftheideasineachlink,youcandevoteanentireparagraphtoonelink,oryoumayincludeseverallinksinoneparagraph,oryoumaydescribetheentirechaininoneparagraph.Chainorganizationusuallyworksbetterthanblockorganizationwhenthecausesandeffectsaretoocloselylinkedtobeseparated.Noticethechainpatterninthefollowingdiagram.ChainOrganization:HowFertileLandBecomesDesert•Peoplemovetonewareasandclearlandforagriculturebycuttingdowntrees.•Thetreerootsnolongerholdthesoilinplace.•Thetreerootsdonotholdthesoilinplace.•Thetopsoilwashesawayduringheavyrains.•Thetopsoilwashesawayduringheavyrains.•Thereisnogoodsoiltogrowcropsin.•Thereisnogoodsoiltogrowcropsin.•Peoplemoveintonewareasandclearlandforagriculturebycuttingdowntrees.Thetypeofcause/effectorganizationyouchoosedependsonyourtopic•Achainpatternisusuallyeasierifthecausesandeffectsareverycloselyinterrelated.Youmightuseachainpatterntowriteaboutthecausesofaparticulardiseaseorphenomenoninnaturesuchasathunderstormorarainbow.•Theblockpatternisusuallyeasierwithlarger,complextopicssuchasglobalwarmingorhomelessness.•Sometimesyouwillwanttouseacombinationofblockandchainorganization.Cause/EffectSignalWordsandPhrasesTask2•Step1Underlinethepartofthesentencethatstatesacause.•Step2Circlethewordorwordsthatintroducethecause.•Step3Beabletodiscusstheuseofeachwordorphraseyouhavecircled.•Whatkindofgrammaticalstructurefollowseachone?NoticeespeciallythedifferencebetweentheuseofbecauseandbecauseofEffectSignalWordsTask3•Step1Underlinethepartofthesentencethatstatesaneffect.•Step2Circlethewordorwordsthatintroducetheeffect.•Step3Beabletodiscusstheuseofeachwordorphrasethatyouhavecircled.Whatkindofgrammaticalstructurefollowseachone?Howisthesentencepunctuated?Task4•Step1Decidewhichsentenceineachitemisacauseandwhichisaneffect.WriteCforcauseorEforeffectnexttoeachsentence.•Step2Combinethesentencesineachitemintoanewsentencethatshowsacause/effectrelationship.Usethecauseoreffectsignalwordorphrasegiventoformyournewsentence,andcircletheword.Youwillhavetoadd,delete,orchangewordsinmostsentences.Thesearetheimportantpointsyoushouldhavelearnedfromthischapter.•1.Cause/effectorganizationisacommonpatterninacademicwritingtowriteaboutcauses(orreasons)andeffects(orresults).•2.Therearetwocommoncause/effectpatternsoforganization.•Inblockorganization,thecauses(orreasons)aregroupedtogetherinoneblock,andtheeffects(orresults)aregroupedtogetherinanotherblock.Theremaybeatransitionparagraphbetweenblocks.•Inchainorganization,thecausesandeffectsaretoocloselylinkedtobeseparated.Onecauseleadstoaneffect,whichisthecauseofthenexteffect.•3.Useavarietyofcause/effectsignalwordstohelpyourreaderfollowyourideas.