Arranging Speech Points Using a Causal (Cause-Effect) Pattern

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:

  1. Cause
  2. Effect

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)
  1. Cause 1 (lack of funds)
  2. Cause 2 (unsatisfactory social life)
  3. Cause 3 (unsatisfactory academic performance)
  4. Effect (drop out of college)
  1. Cause (lack of funds)
  2. Effect 1 (lowered earnings over lifetime)
  3. Effect 2 (decreased job satisfaction over lifetime)
  4. Effect 3 (increased stress level over lifetime)

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.
  1. (Effect) Two hundred and fifty-nine passengers and crew members died; an additional eleven people on the ground perished.
  2. (Effect) Longest-running aviation investigation in history.
  3. (Cause) Court found cause of explosion was a terrorist act, a bomb planted by Libyan citizen Al Megrahi.
  4. (Cause) Many people believe that Megrahi did not act alone, if he acted at all.

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.