technical writing s03 providence university 1 cause and effect & hypothesizing wu-lin chen...

Technical Writing S03 Providence University 1

Cause and Effect &Hypothesizing

Wu-Lin Chen ([email protected])

Department of Computer Science and Information Management

PROVIDENCE UNIVERSITY

College of Management


Cause and Effect


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


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


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)


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


Sentence Patterns

A mixing of all wavelengths

causesresults inproducesinduces

caused bydue toinduced bya result ofproduced by

a white light.

a mixing of wavelengths.White light is

Cause Effect

Effect Cause


Sentence Patterns (cont.)

IfWhenAs

all the wavelengths are mixed, a white light is produced.

A white light is producedifwhenas

all the wavelengths are mixed.

Note: If effects are also predictions, it can be expressed with the future tense.

Cause Effect

Effect Cause


• 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.

Subordinations

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.


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


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


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


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.


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!)


Writing Skills (Cont.)

• Effect to cause– 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


Hypothesizing


Definition

• Hypothesis– 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


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


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


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


Modal

• A group of auxiliary verbs that modify verbs

• Modals of expressing probability– must– may– could– might


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

technical writing s03 providence university 1 cause and effect & hypothesizing wu-lin chen...

Documents

effect slide

speculative cause

yellow cause

purposes of cause

english cause

causeeffect cause slide

nm effect

effect relationships