Cause and effect graphic organizers

UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE INGENIERÍA

Cause and Effect-Graphic Organizers

Teacher´s name: Brenny Martínez Aragón

Date of elaboration: January, 2019

Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería

Cause and Effect Graphic Organizers Content:  

Cause and effect graphic organizers Reading comprehension

Objective: To classify relevant cause-effect information, through the critical analysis of a technical text related to computer engineering.

Definition: During the English I course you learned that the graphic organizers are used to classify information briefly. This time, we are going to focus on those that will help us to identify, sort and display causes and effects.

There are some benefits that we can have using a cause and effect graphic organizer:   

This is an easy-to-read way to diagram a cause and effect relationship It helps to determine the root causes of a problem Indicates possible causes of a variation in a process

Let´s look at some examples of cause and effect diagrams:

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Cause and effect chart: In this diagram you can add the marker or connectors that help you to identify the causes and effects in the reading.

Cause

Marker

Effect

Let´s use the information below to complete the chart as an example: A computer virus is a program that can reproduce itself and spread from one computer to another. Some viruses may cause only testing infect while others can damage your hardware, software or files. Almost all viruses are attached to an executable file.

Steps: The first thing you need to do is identifying the cause and effect markers that are in the reading. In this case the marker is may cause.

Once you have identified the marker, you ask the question: why is it happen? The answer for this question will be cause. In this case it is a computer virus.

Finally, ask the question: what happen as a result? The answer(s) will be the effect(s). The results or effects in the paragraph are two: Testing infection and damage in the Hardware, software or files.

So, the completed chart will look like this:

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Cause

Marker

A computer virus

May cause

Effect -Testing infection -Damage in the Hardware, software or files

Cause and effect chain diagram: This diagram is helpful when you want to show a cause and effect chain. Do not forget that it is the relationship in which one event makes another event happens.

Let´s look at the following paragraph to complete the graphic as an example: George skipped his dinner because he was studying. As a result, he grew hungry late at night. Since he became hungry after Subway closed, he bought some snacks from the vending machine in his dorm. The snacks that he bought had little nutritional value; as a result, he lacked energy the following day.

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In this example we can see that the event George skipped his dinner cause 4 events related to each other.

Fishbone diagram:

It is also known as Ishikawa diagram and shows the relationship of all factors (causes) that lead to the given situation (effect). It identifies major causes and break them down into sub-causes and further sub-divisions (if any).

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There are some easy steps to create or to complete a Fishbone diagram. so, let´s use the information below to practice how to do it.

Website problems When your website goes down is a big deal that can be compared when a business locks its doors during open hours. There are a lot of reasons why your website experiences an outage, but here are some of the most common ones.

Plugin error is one of the causes that leads to an outage. It happens when the additional pieces of code and software on your website are having trouble. Other common one is having a code error. Your website can crash because someone who has access to it accidentally broke the web code while doing maintenance or updating it. Another cause is having a traffic error. It means that too many people tried to visit your website at once.

Sometimes a problem can be caused by a domain error. Your domain may be a few small words, but it is one of the biggest parts of your website. It is the address of your website. If people cannot find your domain, they cannot find your website. Take into account that the domains expire and when it happens, your website will no longer appear online. Make a habit of checking the expiration date of your domain to make sure it never expires.

Step 1: find the problem to be analyzed After reading the example, we can identify that the problem is a website went down.

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Step 2: write the specific problem in the diagram that will be the “head” of the fish.

Step 3: draw a line extending from the left edge of the fish head to the right edge of the diagram. This represents the spine of the Fishbone Diagram.

This step is in the case that your are drawing or using an app to create the diagram. We already have one, so it is not necessary to do more than complete it with the information we read.

Step 4: write down the potential causes of the problem and group related topics.

We can find 4 causes in the example given that lead to the problem which are: plugin error, code error, traffic error and domain error.

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Step 5: review the diagram for accuracy and clarity.

Do not forget that the graphic organizers must be completed only with the most relevant information, it means keywords instead of sentences or even paragraphs. So, your completed Fishbone diagram will look like this:

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There are other types of cause and effect graphic organizers that can be used when there is more than one cause or effect:

This graphic organizer can be used when there is more than one cause that leads to an effect. Let´s read the following paragraph: In simple words, poverty is about not having enough money to meet basic needs including food, clothing and shelter. Unfortunately, there is no a “magic bullet” to eradicate this problem. But, if we want to do something about, we must understand its causes.

Over the world there are more than 2 billion people do not have access to clean water and nutritious food. This leads to lack of energy and illnesses. Besides, one of the most common cause is little or no access to a job or a way to make money. This is caused by the lack of quality education which is a barrier that stop children to open the doors to get a job and other resources or skills that a family needs not just to survive but thrive. Ineffective governments also contribute to several and other causes of poverty due to the fact that they are unable to provide necessary infrastructure or ensure the safety and security of their citizens in the event of conflict.

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In this short reading we can find that 4 causes that lead to the effect or the problem of poverty. So, the graphic organizer will be arranged in the following way:

We can use circles, arrows or boxes to show causes-effects relationships in graphic organizers. Also, we can use them to show that a cause leads to more than one effect. For example:

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Let´s complete the graphic organizer using the following information: Using social media is generally fun and entertained. However, there is a dark side of it. Too much of it can cause negative effects on your physical and mental health. When you spend too much time being exposure to it, you can suffer addiction, cyber bullying and psychological problems. Spending too long on social networking sites could be affect your mood causing anxiety or depression which are common symptoms of addiction. Besides, it is easy that someone can bully you online anonymously. In addition, social media can help you to form unrealistic expectations of life and friendship. Also, today body image is an issue for many people which push to be seeing perfect in accordance with the society standards. Some people can have psychological problems when they do not fulfill those beauty requirements. So, enjoy social media with responsibility stablishing a schedule for not being the whole time using it.

This graphic shows us that using too much social media can leads to three effects.

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