Arguing That a Cause Is Plausible
Making a cause-effect argument can be quite challenging and usually requires evidence. To think about how you could make a convincing argument, get together with two or three other students and follow these guidelines:
Part 1. The health effects of smoking are well known—particularly the increased risks of lung cancer and heart disease. Smoking by teenagers has been declining for at least a decade. Using the statistics in the following table, from the annual Monitoring the Future study conducted by University of Michigan researchers, discuss a few possible causes that would help explain why some high school students today choose to smoke cigarettes. (If you have some ideas about why there has been a decline in smoking over the last decade, you could explore causes of that trend instead.)
Percentage of 12th graders reporting that they | 2011 | 1996 |
---|---|---|
are daily smokers | 10% | 22% |
have smoked in the last 30 days | 19 | 34 |
have ever tried smoking | 40 | 64 |
Then, pick one of those causes and discuss these questions:
Part 2. As a group, discuss what you learned from this activity: