1. Cause and Effect & Hypothesizing
PROVIDENCE UNIVERSITY
College of Management
Cause and Effect & Hypothesizing
Wu-Lin Chen
Department of Computer Science and Information Management

2. Cause and Effect

3. Purposes of Cause and Effect Essay
Persuade your audience to approve or disapprove of something
Inform your audience
EX: newspaper or magazine type essay
Speculate about cause and effect relationships

4. Consider Your Audience
Explain any unfamiliar processes or terms that are part of the cause and effect relationship you are presenting (Inform type essay)
Do not pretend your cause and effect relationship is anything more than speculative if you are trying to persuade your audience with a speculative cause and effect essay
After all, it is not a fact

5. Two Questions in Cause and Effect
Cause and effect analysis seeks answers for the following two questions:
Why (or how) did something happen? (Causes)
What were the results? (Effects)

6. Cause and Effect in English
Cause explain why something happens and effect describe outcomes.
…a wavelength of 400 nanometers (nm) causes us to see violet.
CAUSE: wavelength of 400 nm
EFFECT: we see violet
Sentence pattern: the cause precedes the effect.
The color brown is induced by the mixing of wavelengths.
EFFECT: the color brown
CAUSE: a mixing of wavelengths
Sentence pattern: the effect precedes the cause.
Yellow can be produced by either its own wavelength or a mixture of the wavelengths for red and green.
EFFECT: yellow
CAUSE 1: its own wavelength or
CAUSE 2: a mixture if the wavelengths for red and green.
Wavelengths shorter than that of violet produce ultraviolet light that can damage skin cells.
CAUSE: wavelengths shorter than that of violet
EFFECT/CAUSE: ultraviolet light
EFFECT: damaged skin cells

7. Sentence Patterns Effect Cause causes results in produces induces
a white light.
A mixing of all wavelengths
Effect
Cause
caused by
due to
induced by
a result of
produced by
a mixing of wavelengths.
White light is

8. Sentence Patterns (cont.)
Cause
Effect If
When As
all the wavelengths are mixed, a white light is produced.
Effect
Cause if
when as
A white light is produced
all the wavelengths are mixed.
Note: If effects are also predictions, it can be expressed with the future tense.

9. Subordinations
Using subordination to focus on the important part of the sentence
putting the focus in a main clause
following by the less important idea in the subordination or secondary clause
EX: Human beings cannot live on the moon because there is no air or water there.
Main clause: It is a independent sentence and stands alone as a sentence.
Subordination: It is a dependent sentence and depends on the main clause.

10. Organizing the Cause and Effect Essay
Proceed from a cause to an effect
Give an effect and then discuss the possible reasons or causes for that effect
Connection between the effect and the cause may be speculative and beyond proof

11. Organizing the Cause and Effect Essay
Tips
Start with what you want to emphasize
If you are dealing with more than one cause or one effect, you could
first discuss all the causes then all the effects
or alternate them
or discuss one set of cause and effect relationships, then a second set, …and so on
DO NOT confuse your reader, make sure your presentation is clear about which cause is related to which effect

12. Reasoning
Should not give your audience any reason to question your logic
Before writing,
list the cause and their effects next to each other
Examine each cause and effect relationship and label it speculative or proved
Start with proved relationship and then proceed to speculative ones, or only discuss the speculative
Make sure these cause and effect relationships fit into your paper and help you make your points

13. Reasoning (Cont.) DO NOT oversimplify cause and effect relationships
DO NOT mistake simple coincidence for a cause and effect relationship (i.e. Do not jump to conclusion)
EX: Firing the football coach at the end of the poor season does not mean he was the cause of the team’s poor record, nor does hiring a new coach mean the team will have a good season.

14. Writing Skills Patterns of Organization Time (chronology) Space Logic
Move from the general to the specific (deductive)
Move from the specific to the general (inductive)
Move from the simple to the complex (never the reverse!)

15. Writing Skills (Cont.) Effect to cause Cause to effect
Try to answer why (or how) did something happen. (the effect is already known)
Discuss possible causes
Cause to effect
Try to answer what were the results? (the cause is already known)
Discuss possible effects

16. Hypothesizing

17. Definition Hypothesis Theory Principle or natural law
a tentative or temporary solution to a science problem or an explanation for why something happens
Theory
a hypothesis becomes accepted in the science world
Principle or natural law
a theory explains or unifies a great deal of information

18. Hypothesis in English Aristotle’s hypotheses
Objects fall with a speed proportional to their weight.
The natural state of an object is to be at rest and a force is necessary to keep an object in motion
The hypothesis is always in the form of a complete sentence, not a sentence fragment or a question

19. Hypothesis in English (Cont.)
Galileo’s hypotheses
All bodies fall at equal rates.
If an object does not meet with resistance, it will continue to move at a constant speed even if no force is applied.
Many hypotheses are stated in the present simple tense
Sometimes, a hypothesis is expressed as a prediction, using the future tense with will

20. Expressing Probability in Hypotheses
Hypotheses are often expressed with words that indicate their tentative nature or unproven status
There is life on Jupiter.
There must be life on Jupiter.
There is probably life on Jupiter.
There may be life on Jupiter.
There could be life on Jupiter.
There might be life on Jupiter.
It is unlikely that there is life on Jupiter.
It is impossible for there to be life on Jupiter.
There is no life on Jupiter.
Strong
Weak

21. Modal A group of auxiliary verbs that modify verbs
Modals of expressing probability
must
may
could
might

22. Writing Skills Writing conclusions
Restate the main point for emphasis
Summary the information to review or clarify it
Relate the significant of what was written
Transition words for writing a conclusion
therefore
as a result
for this reason
thus
hence
consequently so
because of this