The report must establish why the selected issue is global and explain the relationships that produce it and result from it. High-level analysis moves beyond lists to connected chains of reasoning.
Learning Objectives
By The End Of This Lesson, You Should Be Able To
- Establish the global nature of an issue using relevant evidence.
- Distinguish underlying causes, immediate causes and contributing conditions.
- Analyse short-term and long-term consequences for different groups.
- Develop cause-and-effect chains rather than descriptive lists.
- Avoid unsupported claims about scale or importance.
Establishing The Global Nature Of The Issue
The introduction should show why the issue matters beyond one isolated community. Useful evidence may include the number of countries affected, international flows of goods or people, shared environmental systems, global markets, cross-border technology, international agreements or widely repeated patterns. The aim is not to overload the opening with statistics but to make the global dimension clear and relevant to the question.
Global does not mean identical everywhere. A strong report recognises variation. For example, air pollution is a global health issue, but its sources, exposure levels, regulation and consequences differ between industrial cities, agricultural regions and lower-density communities.
From Information To Analysis
Information becomes analysis when the writer explains a relationship. “Low wages exist in garment factories” is information. “Intense price competition and short purchasing deadlines can transfer pressure from international brands to suppliers, which may respond by limiting wages or safety investment” is analysis because it links market structure to workplace outcomes.
Analytical Link Words
- because
- therefore
- this leads to
- this increases or reduces
- as a result
- which means that
- in turn
- however
- the effect is greater when
- this depends on
Types Of Causes
Underlying causes are deep structures or long-term conditions, such as inequality, weak institutions, historical patterns or dependence on fossil fuels. Immediate causes are events or decisions that directly trigger the problem. Contributing conditions make the issue more likely or more severe. Separating these types prevents simplistic conclusions.
Example: Food Insecurity
Underlying cause: persistent poverty limits households’ ability to buy food.
Immediate cause: a sharp rise in staple prices reduces affordability.
Contributing condition: weak transport systems delay supplies to remote areas.
Interaction: drought may reduce harvests, but the consequence becomes more severe where poverty, conflict and weak distribution systems already exist.
Analyse Interacting Causes
Global issues rarely have one cause. Economic, political, environmental, technological and cultural factors may reinforce each other. A strong paragraph explains the interaction and judges relative importance. It may also show that the same factor operates differently in different contexts.
Avoid assuming correlation proves causation. Two trends may move together because one affects the other, because both are influenced by a third factor, or by coincidence. Check whether the source explains method, controls alternative explanations or uses evidence over a suitable period.
Types Of Consequences
Consequences may be social, economic, environmental, political, cultural or health-related. They may be immediate or delayed, intended or unintended, direct or indirect. They may also affect groups unequally. For example, a transport policy might reduce emissions overall but increase costs for rural workers who lack alternatives.
Analyse both scale and distribution. An average national improvement may hide severe impacts on a minority. Similarly, a small local effect may be highly significant for a vulnerable group.
Building A Developed Cause-And-Consequence Paragraph
Paragraph Method
- Make a focused analytical claim.
- Present relevant evidence and cite the source.
- Explain how the evidence supports the claim.
- Connect the cause to a consequence through a clear chain.
- Consider variation, limitation or an alternative explanation.
- Link the paragraph back to the research question.
Example pattern: One major cause of electronic waste is rapid device replacement encouraged by short software-support periods. When devices no longer receive security updates, consumers and institutions may replace functioning hardware. This increases discarded equipment and transfers recycling costs to municipalities or lower-income importing countries. However, replacement also depends on repair cost, consumer income and local collection systems, so software support is an important but not sufficient explanation.
Prioritising Causes And Consequences
The report does not need to mention every possible factor. Select the most relevant and well-supported causes and consequences, then analyse them in depth. Judgement can be shown by explaining which cause is most influential, which consequence is most serious, or under what conditions an impact becomes stronger.
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Claiming an issue is global only because it appears in many news reports.
- Listing causes in one paragraph and consequences in another without explaining links.
- Treating one example as representative of every country.
- Using dramatic statistics without context, date or source evaluation.
- Confusing a symptom of the issue with its underlying cause.
- Ignoring positive, mixed or unintended consequences.
- Trying to cover too many factors briefly instead of analysing selected factors well.
Quick Practice
Analysis Task
Choose one issue. Write one chain containing an underlying cause, an immediate cause, an affected group, a direct consequence and a longer-term consequence. Add one condition that could make the chain weaker or stronger.
