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Literary Analysis: Analyze Text Structure: Cause and Effect
Academic Vocabulary

  • • create (krē-āt) verb To create means to make something new.

How Is Text Organized? Some nonfiction writers use cause and effect to organize their ideas. A cause is an event that leads to another event, called the effect. Authors use cause and effect to explain why something happens and how one thing leads to another.

Practice Together

Note Causes and Effects Read this passage from “Volcano!” Think about how the forces of Earth create volcanoes. Focus on the causes and effects.

The layer of rock below the Earth’s crust is called the mantle. But the pressure and high temperature near the center of the Earth change the rock to liquid. The pressure can force the liquid rock upward. It moves up through cracks in the Earth’s crust. This can form a volcano.

Make a Chart A Cause-and-Effect Chain shows how one event leads to another. The first box tells the first cause. The next box shows the effect of that cause. The third box shows what follows next. Work with your class to complete a Cause-and-Effect Chain for the passage above.

Cause-and-Effect Chain

Cause-and-Effect Chain

Try It!

Make a New Chain Work with a partner and follow these steps:

  • • Reread the text about the eruption of Mount St. Helens on pages 142–143.

  • • Create a Cause-and-Effect Chain to tell about the events.

  • • Add as many boxes as you need.