Download Writing a Cause and Effect Paragraph

Created by Dr Yang Ying
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Focus on cause(s)?
Focus on effect(s)
Explain a causal chain?
Regardless of the focus, both the cause(s) and
the effect(s) will be mentioned in the
paragraph
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Americans nowadays spend more time having fun and there are two underlying
reasons for this trend. One obvious cause is that real income overall has risen. If
Americans in general are richer, their consumption of entertainment goods is
likely to be on the rise. Dora Costa, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology found out from her research that rising incomes are responsible for,
half of the changing structures of leisure spending. The rest may be due to the
fact that poorer Americans have more time off than they used to. In earlier years,
low-wage workers faced extremely long hours and enjoyed few days off. But since
the 1940s, the less skilled (and lower paid) have worked ever-fewer hours, giving
them more time to enjoy leisure pursuits.
Adapted from: Jakeman, V. & McDowell, C. (2001). IELTS Practice Tests: plus 1. Pearson Longman. (p122)
Focus on:
Reasons
Effect mentioned:
Americans nowadays spend more time having fun
Two reasons:
1. Rising income on the whole
2. More leisure time for poorer Americans
Ending: linking the causes to the effect again
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Africa provides enough proof that AIDS affects
economics. The disease takes the lives of adults in
their most productive working years. To train new
workers and take care of sick ones can come at a
high price. When tens of millions of working –age
adults become sick and die, economic output suffers.
Across the African continent, AIDS has cut deeply into
productivity. In Zambia and South Africa, income in
households of AIDS sufferers has declined by 66 to
80 percent. The International Monetary Fund predicts
that AIDS may reduce economic growth by as much
as 2 percent in sub-Saharan Africa. The World Bank
cautions that South Africa’s economy could collapse
in a few generations if the AIDS crisis isn’t averted.
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Focus on:
Effects: economy, economic output,
productivity, reduction of economic growth,
possible collapse of economy
Cause mentioned: AIDS
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Water pollution comes in every form and has a direct effect
on human health. “Even as the rain falls,” says Russell W.
Peterson, former chairman of the United States Council on
Environmental Quality, “it removes pollutants from the air.
In fact, nearly all the pollutants the people of the world
discharge into the air end up in our water systems.”
Therefore, whether polluted by industrial waste, sewage or
other pollution, water supplies can allow deadly waterborne diseases to develop when safety and purification
methods are poor. Worldwide, the ugly fact remains that
something like 250 million new cases of water-borne
diseases are discovered every year – and 25,000 people
die from them every day. Water pollution is thus a serious
threat to our well-being.
Source: Materials adapted from past ES1000 handouts
Focus on:
Explain a causal chain: how water pollution
affects human health
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Water pollution (cause) & negative effect on
human health (effect)
One of the negative effects of smoking is that
it can cause serious health problems.
Smoking can increase the chance of getting
lung cancer, as well as cancer of the mouth,
throat, bladder, pancreas and kidneys. Heart
disease and ulcers are also related to
smoking. Further, pregnant women who
smoke are more likely to have premature
babies than women who do not smoke.
Taken from Gillie, J. W., Ingle, S. & Mumford, H. (2001). Read to write. P244. Singapore: McGrawHill
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Procrastination keeps me one step behind in life and
school as I try to catch up on what should already be done.
While most students diligently do homework for tonight, I
diligently do the homework from last night, or even last
week. Because I can never seem to do a task when it is
assigned, I never get that satisfied feeling that comes with
getting things done, with being on top of everything.
Rather, I always end up feeling as if I am at the bottom of
a pit, trying to climb up—one late assignment at a time.
But since I am always behind, catching up on my work is
like trying to walk up the down escalator– very difficult and
nearly impossible. Because of procrastination, I am never
free to live in the present; instead, I always find myself
trapped by unfinished business from the past.
Taken from Gillie, J. W., Ingle, S. & Mumford, H. (2001). Read to write. P242. Singapore:
McGraw-Hill
because, due to, one cause is, another is,
since, for, first, second, the reason for,
decrease, owing to the fact that, for this
reason, … caused by… arise from, lead to,
produce, give rise to, bring about
consequently, as a result, thus, resulted in,
one result is, another is, therefore, effect,
change, consequence, thus, so, hence, with
the result that