Writing about Cause and Effect: An Online Treasure Hunt
for Fourth Year High School (English)
Authored by E. Ibones, J. Garde, and P. Arinto
Introduction
Why is the Philippines frequently visited by typhoons? What causes typhoons?
What kinds of damage do typhoons cause?
Imagine that you have been asked to write an essay answering the questions
above. Your essay would be an example of a cause-and-effect composition.
In this online treasure hunt, you will find out what a cause-and-effect
composition is. You will also learn how to write an example of it.
This is a group activity. In groups of three, answer the questions below using
the online resources listed. Write down your answers on a clean sheet of paper.
Afterwards, answer the Big Question.
Questions
- There are conjunctions that can be used to express cause and effect. List
down all of the conjunctions indicating cause-and-effect in the sample essay,
“Why Do Students Drop Out of College”.
- In the sample fishbone chart (a diagram showing cause and effect), which
is/are the cause/s and which is/are the effect/s?
- List down the phrases in the sample selection that answer the question,
“What caused the erosion of the middle section of the labor market?”
- Just because there is an association between two things or events does not
mean that they have a cause-and-effect relationship. Explain this statement
and/or cite an example of it.
- What pitfalls should a writer avoid in writing a cause and effect essay?
List these down.
- What is the place of grouping or classifying in writing about causes or
effects? Hint: Should you include all possible causes or all possible effects?
Should you list/enumerate them at random?
Resources
Cause and Effect
http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/composition/cause_effect.htm
Cause and Effect Paragraphs
http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/students/fwalters/cause.html
http://spot.pcc.edu/~jsparks/ENL252/ENL252EffectCauseEx.htm
The Cause and Effect Essay
http://www.howard.k12.md.us/mth/english_dept/adv-comp/eng_effect.html
Writing Cause or Effect Essays
http://eslbee.com/cause.htm
Cause-and-Effect Diagram
http://www.skymark.com/resources/tools/cause.asp
http://www.hci.com.au/hcisite2/toolkit/causeand.htm
http://www.smartdraw.com/resources/examples/business/orgchart10.htm
Fallacy: Confusing Cause and Effect
http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/confusing-cause-and-effect.html
The Big Question
Now write your own cause-effect essay on ONE of the following topics:
- The effects of using the Internet in learning
- The causes of student misbehavior in the classroom
- The effects of stress on young people
This is a group essay. This means you must work together in writing it. Below
are some pointers for doing this.
- First, agree on the topic of your essay (from the choices given). Then
brainstorm about the causes or effects of the phenomenon you have chosen to
explain or write about. When brainstorming, encourage as many ideas as
possible. All should contribute their ideas.
- When all ideas (causes or effects) have been listed, go over the list and
cluster or group related ideas. Label the clusters.
- Then decide on what the thesis or main point of your essay will be. Again,
this is something you must all discuss together. State this at the beginning
of your essay.
- Make an outline of your essay. Indicate the main ideas that you will
discuss and the order in which you will discuss them.
- Write the essay, taking care to observe the rules of grammar. You can try
taking turns writing the essay—that is, one will begin and stop at a certain
point; another will continue the essay and then stop at some point; and so on
until all have taken turns.
- When your draft is finished, everyone should read it carefully and suggest
revisions. Discuss the suggested revisions and decide on which ones to adopt.
And then revise the draft.
Submit your final group essay two days from today.
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