A sequence tells you what happened and in what order. A causal explanation tells you why, and it needs more than timing. When an exam asks you to explain why something happened, a list of events in order is not yet an answer.
This lesson builds on constructing a dated sequence and prepares the ground for the module on causation and supported explanation.
How do you tell the two apart?
Look at the connecting words.
Words such as then, after, next and by 1904 describe order. Words such as because, led to, resulted in and so claim a link. Once you use the second kind, you owe the reader evidence.
A useful test has three questions:
- Order: did the possible cause come first?
- Link: does any source or reasoned step show how it could produce the result?
- Rivals: what else happened in the same period that could also explain the result?
Worked example
The town of Port Selan, its seawall and its harbour records are all invented for practice.
Source F (invented harbour summary): Ships arriving each year: 1902, 140. 1903, 150. 1904, 210. 1905, 230.
Source G (invented railway notice): The railway line to the inland towns opened on 1 February 1904.
The seawall was finished on 15 August 1903 (see the sequence in the previous lesson). A student writes: “The seawall was built, then ship arrivals rose, so the seawall caused more trade.”
Step 1, order. The wall was finished in August 1903. The rise from 150 to 210 is recorded for 1904. The order is possible. The arithmetic is 210 − 150 = 60 more arrivals, which is 60 ÷ 150 = 40% more than 1903.
Step 2, link. Is there evidence that the wall brought ships? The figures alone show no link. A source might say that captains avoided the harbour before the wall, but none of these sources says so.
Step 3, rivals. Source G shows that a railway opened in February 1904. A railway could bring goods to the harbour and make shipping worth using. The rise appears in the same year, so the railway is a rival explanation.
Conclusion. The sequence is established: wall in 1903, railway in early 1904, arrivals rising from 150 to 210. The claim that the wall caused the rise is an interpretation that these sources do not yet support. A careful answer is: “The rise in arrivals followed both the wall and the railway. These sources do not show which mattered more. A source from a ship’s captain explaining the choice of port would help.”
What mistake do students make?
Mistaken answer: “Arrivals rose after the wall, therefore the wall caused the rise.”
This is the “after, therefore because” slip.
The writer has the order right but jumps to a cause without a link or a check on rivals. The correction is to name the second event in the same period and say what evidence would separate them. You are not required to settle the question if the sources cannot; saying clearly what they do and do not show is stronger.
Check yourself
1. Mark each sentence as sequence (S) or causal claim (C). (a) The council voted in May 1902, then signed the contract in December. (b) The council signed the contract because the storm had frightened the merchants.
Show answer
(a) is a sequence: it gives order and does not claim why. (b) is a causal claim: “because” asserts a link that needs evidence, such as a merchant’s letter.
2. In the worked example, arrivals went from 210 in 1904 to 230 in 1905. By how many did they rise, and is the rise bigger or smaller than the 1903 to 1904 rise?
Show answer
230 − 210 = 20 arrivals. That is smaller than the rise of 60 from 1903 to 1904. The numbers say nothing about the cause of either rise.
3. Name one extra source that would help show whether the seawall mattered to ship captains.
Show answer
Any sensible source works, for example an invented captain’s letter saying he chose Port Selan because the harbour was now sheltered. It shows the link directly instead of leaving it to be guessed.
Where this leads next
Next, explain a source’s context without assuming later knowledge, so that you read each source as the writer’s own world saw it. You can test all four skills with the integrated practice set.
If you find it hard to say what a source can and cannot prove, that is a skill a teacher can build with you on your own topic through online one-to-one History tuition.