Chapter 7: More Thought Patterns
Lab Activity 32: The Cause-and-Effect Pattern
 
Objective
To use transitions and the cause-and-effect pattern to see the relationships of details to the main idea.

arrow.gifStep 2: Read each of the following passages from college textbooks, and then answer the questions about them.


      5.      After the fall of the Soviet Union, American military might seemed unassailable, and its backing of Israel, unshakeable. Opponents of either now pursued their objectives through terrorism. An early instance of this occurred in October 1985. Four Arabs seized control of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro in the eastern Mediterranean. After killing an elderly Jewish-American tourist and tossing his body into the sea, they surrendered to Egyptian authorities on condition that they be provided with safe passage to Libya on an Egyptian airliner.

—Carnes and Garraty, The American Nation, 11th ed., p. 884

The signal words for an example in this paragraph are 

 
 
 
 
      6.      Armed with an indictment (or an information filed on the basis of the preliminary hearing outcome in states not requiring grand jury proceedings), the prosecutor files the case against the accused in felony court (variably called a district, superior, or common pleas court), which sets a date for arraignment. The arraignment proceeding is the first time defendants (the accused's status has changed from suspect to defendant on the basis of the indictment or information) have had the opportunity to respond to the charges against them. After the charges are read to the defendant, he or she must then enter a formal response to them, known as a plea.

—Ellis and Walsh, Criminology, 2000, pp. 564, 516

Determine which concept map best indicates the cause-and-effect pattern used in this paragraph. 

 
 
 
 
      7. 1The plea alternatives are guilty, not guilty, or no contest (nolo contendere). 2A guilty plea is usually the result of a plea bargain agreement concluded before the arraignment. 3About 90 percent of all felony cases in the United States are settled by plea bargains in which the state extends some benefit to the defendant (e.g., reduced charges, a lighter sentence) in exchange for his or her cooperation. 4By pleading guilty, defendants give up their rights to be proven guilty "beyond a reasonable doubt," their right against self-incrimination, and their right to appeal. 5A number of studies have demonstrated that defendants who insist on their constitutional right to a trial are subjected to harsher penalties than those who plead guilty by a system that relies on plea bargains to keep functioning.

—Ellis and Walsh, Criminology,2000, p. 564

Which sentence states the main idea of this paragraph? 

 
 
 
 
      8. The details of this paragraph indicate the  

 
 
 
 
      9. Which word from the paragraph signals an effect? 

 
 
 
 
      10.      1A "no contest" plea is the equivalent of a "guilty" plea in terms of criminal processing, and is treated as such. 2Defendants usually plead no contest rather than guilty to protect themselves from civil litigation arising from the same set of circumstances involved in the criminal case. 3A guilty plea is a direct admission of guilt, and can thus be used in civil proceedings, but a no contest plea admits nothing, thus the conviction based on it cannot be used in civil court. 4A "not guilty" plea results in a date being set for trial; a "guilty" or "no contest" plea results in a date being set for sentencing.

—Ellis and Walsh, Criminology, 2000, p. 565

Which sentence shows the cause-and-effect relationship that structures the stated main idea? 

 
 
 
 





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