Recap
Narration: writers offer details about real-life experiences and reflections and insights on their significance. Cause-effect: writers present a cause, assert effects or consequences of that cause, or present a series of causes and the subsequent effect(s). Each has two halves: narration needs story and significance; cause-effect needs links and reasoning for the links.
Narration checklist
| Feature | Question |
|---|---|
| Specific detail | Are who, where, when and what concrete? |
| Selection | Does every detail serve the point? |
| Sequence | Can the reader follow the order? |
| Perspective | Who tells it, and what do they know now? |
| Reflection | Does the writer say what it means? |
Use narration to open, to illustrate midway or to close by returning with new understanding. A sceptical audience also wants data.
Cause-effect shapes
| Shape | Example |
|---|---|
| One cause, effects | The bridge closure forced longer routes and fewer clinic visits |
| Chain | Later closing, less homework-club, lower marks, fewer qualified |
| Several causes, one effect | Rents, footfall and the lost market emptied the high street |
Test each link: is there evidence, a rival cause, proportion, and a degree of certainty matched by the wording (“caused” or “may have contributed to”)?
Signals
Cause-effect: because, since, as a result, therefore, consequently, led to, resulted in, contributed to, if… then.
Worked mini-example
Thoreau, Walden (1854): “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life…” An experience (went to the woods) joined to reflection on its significance (a test of whether he could live fully).
Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792): “Strengthen the female mind by enlarging it, and there will be an end to blind obedience.” Cause: educating women’s minds. Effect: the end of blind obedience.
Chain analysis: bus cut leads to lower homework-club attendance (supported by figures); less support leads to lower marks (assumed); fewer qualify (plausible); “far more cost to the town” (overstated). Add evidence or soften the wording.
Where this appears on the exam
- Reading: how a narrative contributes to an argument; what reflection adds to an anecdote; where a causal chain is weak.
- Writing: which sentence best adds reflection; which revision makes a causal claim clearer.
- Essays: link either method to the writer’s purpose and audience.
Mistakes to avoid
- Telling a story with no reflection.
- Including details that do not serve the point.
- Treating one story as proof of a general claim.
- Treating sequence as cause.
- Building a long chain of assumed links.
- Overstating the strength of the effect.
Quick self-check
- What two parts must narration have? Details of a real experience and reflection on its significance.
- Name the three cause-effect shapes. One cause with effects; a chain; several causes with one effect.
- Which word shows a weaker causal claim, “caused” or “contributed to”? “Contributed to”.
- Why add reflection to a story? It states what the story means and links it to the claim.
- What is a risk of a long causal chain? Each added link adds an assumption that may be weak.
For the full explanation and worked examples, return to the study guide.