Diaz 1
Cristina Diaz V
Cindy Chavez
English 1A
17 May 2015
Revised Reading Log #5
“Causal Arguments” (242-72)
20-30 facts
7-10 personal comments
Personal Comments
Facts
Big causes lead to these
1. Causal arguments appear s part of other arguments
a+b=c+d=e
2. Divide your causal arguments
Search the roots
3. Arguments that state a cause and then examine its effect
Trace the effect to the
4. Arguments that state an effect and then trace the effect
cause
back to its causes.
Domino theory
5. Arguments that move through a series of links.
Norm decisions
6. Causal arguments are the heart of policy decisions
Informative arguments
7. Causal arguments about cause and effect also inform
many choices that people make daily
We all want this
8. Identifying the causes of the situation you are arguing
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Cold cases
9. Arguments from the past to present dilemmas
Cause and effect
10. Event A causes B, leads to C, and maybe to D
Companions
11. Causal arguments support other causal arguments
Same outline
12. Causal arguments share characteristics
Causal arguments reflect
13. Causal arguments are fundamentals of our well being
our society/culture?
Derives from…
14. Causal arguments are arguments from causes
What is the real cause?
15. “Why are we so fat?”
Major policy decisions
16. Poverty in rural community areas
negativity
17. Prone to enumerate failure reasons
18. Different scenarios on opposite sides
19. Questions fundamental for our well being
20. Analyze causes with complexity
Diaz 3
Cristina Diaz V
Cindy Chavez
English 1A
17 May 2015
Revised Student Reader Response #5
“Causal Arguments” (242-72)
Natural V.S. Human Causes
Natural disasters have been among us since the beginning according to science. We are
told that they are the explanation for our changing earth and biodiversity. Many of the natural
disasters that occur to our earth result in fatal deaths of humans. Although we have found a
couple of ways to prevent them, overcoming a natural disaster is always a tough struggle. A
couple of examples of natural disasters that leave devastating results would be earthquakes and
tsunamis. These two naturally occurring events happen all the time around the earth, taking many
human lives each time they strike. Earthquakes and tsunamis are two similar friends when it
comes to the source of their action. They are both the result of the movements of tectonic plates
that are located under the earth’s crust.
Tectonic plates are consistently moving, although not always with the same intensity.
Depending on the force they shake the earth a number of intensity is assigned to each earthquake
or tsunami. During tsunamis the tectonic plates on the ocean floor shift around causing waves, if
the ocean floor is deep, it will only cause small waves. Nevertheless, if the ocean floor is not
sufficiently deep, it will move a great volume of water into forming an immense wave. This
gigantic wave will reach the ocean shore and will move onto dry land, causing death and
destruction among its path. Tsunamis can now be predicted, although not in sufficient advantage
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to evict all the people in danger on time. A similar action happens when earthquakes occur. The
tectonic plates under our ground, likewise as the ones in the ocean floor, begin to shift around
causing the savage movement of our ground. Although in earthquakes in non ocean floors, do
not involve water when they occur. In these the prevention strategies have also been developed
but not to their full potential, there are still many unknown facts.
Discussing climate change, its causes might differ from different prospects. A few
examples might be evolution or human hand. The theory of evolution tells us that our changing
earth is responsible for all the abnormalities that occur from what we think are normal for the
earth’s state. Human hand on the other side it is thought to be responsible for all the shifts in
climate. It is discussed that by the burning of fossil fuels, we are making the layer of green house
thicker, which makes the earth feel warmer, thus making the ozone layer thinner and changing
our climate.
The bottom line about these two topics is that they are both open to be seen from
different perspectives. Although the one that is more susceptible to be open to debate, I say,
would be the topic on “climate change”. This event has two door way explanations that a debate
can be launched onto, which one is the real cause of the earth’s change. The participants in this
debate could be anyone starting from a simple citizen to a scientist. The truth is that finding the
correct cause for this effect will always be debated. People will always have different ways of
thinking and viewing events in life. Man hand, earth itself, or even other causes might be the
correct answer of why the earth and its surroundings are changing. The point is that no matter
which one is the correct answer, our climate is changing for the worst, and we need to take action
into stopping this change that eventually will roughly affect us.
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Works cited:


Lunsford, Ruszkiewicz, and Keith Walters.everything’s an argument with readings.
Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2013. (1-988).
<http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/anoutcc/cause/>