Some speech topics represent cause-effect relationships. Examples include (1) events leading to higher interest rates, (2) reasons students drop out of college, and (3) causes of domestic abuse. In speeches on topics such as these, the speaker relates something known to be a “cause” to its “effects.” The main points in a causal (cause-effect) pattern of arrangement usually take the following form:
Sometimes a topic can be discussed in terms of multiple causes for a single effect, or a single cause for multiple effects:
Multiple Causes for a Single Effect (Reasons Students Drop Out of College) |
Single Cause for Multiple Effects (Reasons Students Drop Out of College) |
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Some topics are best understood by presenting listeners with the effect(s) first and the cause(s) subsequently. For example, in an informative speech on the historic 1988 explosion of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, a student speaker arranges his main points as follows:
THESIS STATEMENT: | The explosion of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killed 270 people and resulted in the longest-running aviation investigation in history. |
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In this case, the speaker presents the effects of the airplane explosion as the first two main points. He subsequently addresses the causes of the explosion in the ensuing main points.