define coherence in an essay

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Writing with artificial intelligence, coherence – how to achieve coherence in writing.

• © 2023 by Joseph M. Moxley - Professor of English - USF

Coherence refers to a style of writing where ideas, themes, and language connect logically, consistently, and clearly to guide the reader's understanding. By mastering coherence , alongside flow , inclusiveness , simplicity,  and unity , you'll be well-equipped to craft professional or academic pieces that engage and inform effectively. Acquire the skills to instill coherence in your work and discern it in the writings of others.

What is Coherence?

Coherence in writing refers to the logical connections and consistency that hold a text together, making it understandable and meaningful to the reader. Writers create coherence in three ways:

• logical consistency
• conceptual consistency
• linguistic consistency.

What is Logical Consistency?

• For instance, if they argue, “If it rains, the ground gets wet,” and later state, “It’s raining but the ground isn’t wet,” without additional explanation, this represents a logical inconsistency.

What is Conceptual Consistency?

• For example, if you are writing an essay arguing that regular exercise has multiple benefits for mental health, each paragraph should introduce and discuss a different benefit of exercise, all contributing to your main argument. Including a paragraph discussing the nutritional value of various foods, while interesting, would break the conceptual consistency, as it doesn’t directly relate to the benefits of exercise for mental health.

What is Linguistic Consistency?

• For example, if a writer jumps erratically between different tenses or switches point of view without clear demarcation, the reader might find it hard to follow the narrative, leading to a lack of linguistic coherence.

Related Concepts: Flow ; Given to New Contract ; Grammar ; Organization ; Organizational Structures ; Organizational Patterns ; Sentence Errors

Why Does Coherence Matter?

Coherence is crucial in writing as it ensures that the text is understandable and that the ideas flow logically from one to the next. When writing is coherent, readers can easily follow the progression of ideas, making the content more engaging and easier to comprehend. Coherence connects the dots for the reader, linking concepts, arguments, and details in a clear, logical manner.

Without coherence, even the most interesting or groundbreaking ideas can become muddled and lose their impact. A coherent piece of writing keeps the reader’s attention, demonstrates the writer’s control over their subject matter, and can effectively persuade, inform, or entertain. Thus, coherence contributes significantly to the effectiveness of writing in achieving its intended purpose.

How Do Writers Create Coherence in Writing?

• Your thesis statement serves as the guiding star of your paper. It sets the direction and focus, ensuring all subsequent points relate back to this central idea.
• Acknowledge and address potential counterarguments to strengthen your position and add depth to your writing.
• Use the genres and organizational patterns appropriate for your rhetorical situation . A deductive structure (general to specific) is often effective, guiding the reader logically through your argument. Yet different disciplines may privilege more inductive approaches , such as law and philosophy.
• When following a given-to-new order, writers move from what the reader already knows to new information. In formal or persuasive contexts, writers are careful to vet new information for the reader following information literacy laws and conventions .
• Strategic repetition of crucial terms and your thesis helps your readers follow your main ideas and evidence for claims 
• While repetition is useful, varying language with synonyms can prevent redundancy and keep the reader engaged.
• Parallelism in sentences can provide rhythm and clarity, making complex ideas easier to follow.
• Consistent use of pronouns avoids confusion and helps in maintaining a clear line of thought.
• Arrange your ideas in a sequence that naturally builds from one point to the next, ensuring each paragraph flows smoothly into the next .
• Signposting , or using phrases that indicate what’s coming next or what just happened, can help orient the reader within your argument.
• Don’t bother repeating your argument in your conclusion. Prioritize conciseness. Yet end with a call to action or appeal to kairos and ethos .

Recommended Resources

• Organization
• Organizational Patterns

Brevity - Say More with Less

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Flow - How to Create Flow in Writing

Inclusivity - Inclusive Language

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• Unity and Coherence in Essays
• The Writing Process
• Paragraphs and Essays
• Proving the Thesis/Critical Thinking
• Appropriate Language

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Related Pages

• Proving the Thesis

Unity is the idea that all parts of the writing work to achieve the same goal: proving the thesis. Just as the content of a paragraph should focus on a topic sentence, the content of an essay must focus on the thesis.  The introduction paragraph introduces the thesis, the body paragraphs each have a proof point (topic sentence) with content that proves the thesis, and the concluding paragraph sums up the proof and restates the thesis. Extraneous information in any part of the essay that is not related to the thesis is distracting and takes away from the strength of proving the thesis.

An essay must have coherence. The sentences must flow smoothly and logically from one to the next as they support the purpose of each paragraph in proving the thesis.

Just as the last sentence in a paragraph must connect back to the topic sentence of the paragraph, the last paragraph of the essay should connect back to the thesis by reviewing the proof and restating the thesis.

Example of Essay with Problems of Unity and Coherence

Here is an example of a brief essay that includes a paragraph that does not support the thesis “Many people are changing their diets to be healthier.”

     People are concerned about pesticides, steroids, and antibiotics in the food they eat.  Many now shop for organic foods since they don’t have the pesticides used in conventionally grown food.  Meat from chicken and cows that are not given steroids or antibiotics are gaining popularity even though they are much more expensive. More and more, people are eliminating pesticides, steroids, and antibiotics from their diets.     Eating healthier also is beneficial to the environment since there are less pesticides poisoning the earth. Pesticides getting into the waterways is creating a problem with drinking water.  Historically, safe drinking water has been a problem. It is believed the Ancient Egyptians drank beer since the water was not safe to drink.  Brewing beer killed the harmful organisms and bacteria in the water from the Nile. There is a growing concern about eating genetically modified foods, and people are opting for non-GMO diets.  Some people say there are more allergic reactions and other health problems resulting from these foods.  Others are concerned because there are no long-term studies that clearly show no adverse health effects such as cancers or other illnesses. Avoiding GMO food is another way people are eating healthier food.

See how just one paragraph can take away from the effectiveness of the essay in showing how people are changing to healthier food since unity and coherence are affected. There is no longer unity among all the paragraphs. The thought pattern is disjointed and the essay loses its coherence.

Transitions and Logical Flow of Ideas

Transitions are words, groups of words, or sentences that connect one sentence to another or one paragraph to another.

They promote a logical flow from one idea to the next and overall unity and coherence.

While transitions are not needed in every sentence or at the end of every paragraph, they are missed when they are omitted since the flow of thoughts becomes disjointed or even confusing.

There are different types of transitions:

• Time – before, after, during, in the meantime, nowadays
• Space – over, around, under
• Examples – for instance, one example is
• Comparison – on the other hand, the opposing view
• Consequence – as a result, subsequently

These are just a few examples.  The idea is to paint a clear, logical connection between sentences and between paragraphs.

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Definition of Coherence

Types of coherence, examples of coherence in literature, example #1:  one man’s meat (by e.b. white).

“Scientific agriculture, however sound in principle, often seems strangely unrelated to, and unaware of, the vital, grueling job of making a living by farming. Farmers sense this quality in it as they study their bulletins, just as a poor man senses in a rich man an incomprehension of his own problems. The farmer of today knows, for example, that manure loses some of its value when exposed to the weather … But he knows also that to make hay he needs settled weather – better weather than you usually get in June.”

Example #2:  A Tale of Two Cities (by Charles Dickens)

“The wine was red wine, and had stained the ground of the narrow street in the suburb of Saint Antoine, in Paris, where it was spilled. It had stained many hands, too, and many faces, and many naked feet, and many wooden shoes. The hands of the man who sawed the wood, left red marks on the billets; and the forehead of the woman who nursed her baby, was stained with the stain of the old rag she wound about her head again. Those who had been greedy with the staves of the cask … scrawled upon a wall with his finger dipped in muddy wine-lees—BLOOD.”

Example #3:  Animal Farm (by George Orwell)

“ Now , comrades, what is the nature of this life of ours? Let us face it: our lives are miserable, laborious, and short. We are born, we are given just so much food as will keep the breath in our bodies, and those of us who are capable of it are forced to work to the last atom of our strength … “No animal in England knows the meaning of happiness or leisure after he is a year old. The life of an animal is misery and slavery: that is the plain truth.”

Example #4:  Unpopular Essays (by Bertrand Russell)

“The word “philosophy” is one of which the meaning is by no means fixed. Like the word “religion,” it has one sense when used to describe certain features of historical cultures, and another when used to denote a study or an attitude of mind which is considered desirable in the present day. Philosophy, as pursued in the universities of the Western democratic world, is, at least in intention, part of the pursuit of knowledge, aiming at the same kind of detachment as is sought in science …”

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Cohesion And Coherence In Essay Writing

Table of contents, introduction, definitions cohesion and coherence, what is coherence, what is cohesion.

If the elements of a text are cohesive, they are united and work together or fit well together.

How to Achieve Cohesion And Coherence In Essay Writing

Lexical cohesion, grammatical cohesion, substitutions, conjunctions transition words, cohesive but not coherent texts.

The player threw the ball toward the goalkeeper. Balls are used in many sports. Most balls are spheres, but American football is an ellipsoid. Fortunately, the goalkeeper jumped to catch the ball. The crossbar in the soccer game is made of iron. The goalkeeper was standing there.

How to write a coherent essay?

1. start with an outline, 2. structure your essay.

3. Structure your paragraphs

4. relevance to the main topic, 5. stick to the purpose of the type of essay you’re-writing, 6. use cohesive devices and signposting phrases.

What is signposting in writing?

Essay signposting phrases.

7. Draft, revise, and edit

• Literary Terms
• Definition & Examples
• When & How to Write Coherently

I. What is Coherence?

Coherence describes the way anything, such as an argument (or part of an argument) “hangs together.”  If something has coherence, its parts are well-connected and all heading in the same direction. Without coherence, a discussion may not make sense or may be difficult for the audience to follow. It’s an extremely important quality of formal writing.

Coherence is relevant to every level of organization, from the sentence level up to the complete argument. However, we’ll be focused on the paragraph level in this article. That’s because:

• Sentence-level coherence is a matter of grammar, and it would take too long to explain all the features of coherent grammar.
• Most people can already write a fairly coherent sentence, even if their grammar is not perfect.
• When you write coherent paragraphs, the argument as a whole will usually seem coherent to your readers.

Although coherence is primarily a feature of arguments, you may also hear people talk about the “coherence” of a story, poem, etc. However, in this context the term is extremely vague, so we’ll focus on formal essays for the sake of simplicity.

Coherence is, in the end, a matter of perception. This means it’s a completely subjective judgement. A piece of writing is coherent if and only if the reader thinks it is.

II. Examples of Coherence

There are many distinct features that help create a sense of coherence. Let’s look at an extended example and go through some of the features that make it seem coherent. Most people would agree that this is a fairly coherent paragraph:

Credit cards are convenient , but dangerous . People often get them in order to make large purchases easily without saving up lots of money in advance. This is especially helpful for purchases like cars, kitchen appliances, etc., that you may need to get without delay . However, this convenience comes at a high price : interest rates. The more money you put on your credit card, the more the bank or credit union will charge you for that convenience . If you’re not careful, credit card debt can quickly break the bank and leave you in very dire economic circumstances!

• Topic Sentence . The paragraph starts with a very clear, declarative topic sentence, and the rest of the paragraph follows that sentence. Everything in the paragraph is tied back to the statement in the beginning.
• Key terms . The term “credit card” appears repeatedly in this short paragraph. This signals the reader that the whole paragraph is about the subject of credit cards. Similarly, the word convenience (and related words) are also peppered throughout. In addition, the key term “ danger ” appears in the topic sentence and is then explained fully as the paragraph goes on.
• Defined terms . For most readers, the terms in this paragraph will be quite clear and will not need to be defined. Some readers, however, might not understand the term “interest rates,” and they would need an explanation. To these readers, the paragraph will seem less coherent !

Clear transitions . Each sentence flows into the next quite easily, and readers can follow the line of logic without too much effort.

III. The Importance of Coherence

Say you’re reading a piece of academic writing – maybe a textbook. As you read, you find yourself drifting off, having to read the same sentence over and over before you understand it. Maybe, after a while, you get frustrated and give up on the chapter. What happened?

Nine times out of ten, this is a symptom of incoherence. Your brain is unable to find a unified argument or narrative in the book. This may become frustrating and often happens when a book is above your current level of understanding. To someone else, the writing might seem perfectly coherent, because they understand the concepts involved. But from your perspective, the chapter seems incoherent. And as a result, you don’t get as much out of it as you otherwise would.

How can you avoid this in your own writing? How can you make sure that readers don’t misunderstand you (or just give up altogether)? The answer is to work on coherent writing. Coherence is perhaps the most important feature of argumentative writing. Without it, everything falls apart. If an argument is not coherent, it doesn’t matter how good the evidence is, or how beautiful the writing is: an incoherent argument will never persuade anyone or even hold their attention.

V. Examples in Literature and Scholarship

Since coherence is subjective, people will disagree about the examples. This is especially true in scholarly fields , where authors are writing for a very specific audience of experts; anyone outside that audience is likely to see the work as incoherent. For example, the various fields of analytic philosophy are a great place to look for coherence in scholarly work. Analytic philosophers are trained to write very carefully, with all the steps in the argument carefully laid out ahead of time. So their arguments usually have a remarkable internal coherence. However, analytic philosophy is a very obscure topic, and very few people are trained to understand the terms these scholars use! Thus, ironically, some of the most coherent writers in academia (from an expert perspective) usually come across as incoherent to the majority of readers.

For writing Indian Schools: a Nation’s Neglect , journalist Jill Burcum was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in the editorial writing category. An excellent example of coherence in journalistic writing, the editorial deals with the shabby federal schools that are meant for Native Americans on reservations. The essay’s paragraphs are much shorter than they would be in an essay. Yet each one still revolves around a single, tightly focused set of ideas. You can find key concepts (such as “neglect”) that run as themes throughout the piece. The whole editorial is also full of smooth and clear transitions.

VI. Examples in Media and Pop Culture

You can often see something like argumentative coherence in political satire. Good satire always focuses on a single question and lampoons it in a highly coherent manner. Watch, for example, Jon Stewart’s opening monologues on The Daily Show. Whatever your opinion on Stewart’s politics, it’s hard to argue with the fact that he uses terms carefully. He transitions smoothly and focuses on a single, tightly controlled set of concepts in each monologue.

Sports debates can also provide a good example of coherence. When you watch a show about sports (like SportsCenter or First Take), pay attention to the attributes of coherence. How do the hosts and guests use their terms? Do they repeat key terms? Do they start each monologue with a “topic sentence”? Do they stick to one topic, or do they go off on tangents?

VII. Related Terms

“Cogency” sounds like “coherence,” but means convincing or persuasive . The two terms are related, though: an argument cannot be cogent if it’s not coherent, because coherence is essential to persuasion. However, an argument could be coherent but not cogent (i.e. it’s clear, unified, and easy to read, but the argument does not persuade its reader).

Focus is also related to coherence. Often, coherence problems emerge when the focus is too broad. When the focus is broad, there are just too many parts to cover all at once, and writers struggle to maintain coherence.

List of Terms

• Alliteration
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• Anachronism
• Anthropomorphism
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• APA Citation
• Aposiopesis
• Autobiography
• Bildungsroman
• Characterization
• Circumlocution
• Cliffhanger
• Comic Relief
• Connotation
• Deus ex machina
• Deuteragonist
• Doppelganger
• Double Entendre
• Dramatic irony
• Equivocation
• Extended Metaphor
• Figures of Speech
• Flash-forward
• Foreshadowing
• Intertextuality
• Juxtaposition
• Literary Device
• Malapropism
• Onomatopoeia
• Parallelism
• Pathetic Fallacy
• Personification
• Point of View
• Polysyndeton
• Protagonist
• Red Herring
• Rhetorical Device
• Rhetorical Question
• Science Fiction
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
• Synesthesia
• Turning Point
• Understatement
• Urban Legend
• Verisimilitude
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What is cohesion?

• Cohesion vs coherence

Transition signals

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Cohesion How to make texts stick together

Cohesion and coherence are important features of academic writing. They are one of the features tested in exams of academic English, including the IELTS test and the TOEFL test . This page gives information on what cohesion is and how to achieve good cohesion. It also explains the difference between cohesion and coherence , and how to achieve good coherence. There is also an example essay to highlight the main features of cohesion mentioned in this section, as well as some exercises to help you practise.

For another look at the same content, check out YouTube or Youku , or the infographic .

It is important for the parts of a written text to be connected together. Another word for this is cohesion . This word comes from the verb cohere , which means 'to stick together'. Cohesion is therefore related to ensuring that the words and sentences you use stick together.

Good cohesion is achieved through the following five main methods, each of which is described in more detail below:

• repeated words/ideas
• reference words
• transition signals
• substitution

Two other ways in which cohesion is achieved in a text, which are covered less frequently in academic English courses, are shell nouns and thematic development . These are also considered below.

Repeated words/ideas

Check out the cohesion infographic »

One way to achieve cohesion is to repeat words, or to repeat ideas using different words (synonyms). Study the following example. Repeated words (or synonyms) are shown in bold.

Cohesion is an important feature of academic writing . It can help ensure that your writing coheres or 'sticks together', which will make it easier for the reader to follow the main ideas in your essay or report . You can achieve good cohesion by paying attention to five important features . The first of these is repeated words. The second key feature is reference words. The third one is transition signals. The fourth is substitution. The final important aspect is ellipsis.

In this example, the word cohesion is used several times, including as a verb ( coheres ). It is important, in academic writing, to avoid too much repetition, so using different word forms or synonyms is common. The word writing is also used several times, including the phrase essay or report , which is a synonym for writing . The words important features are also repeated, again using synonyms: key feature , important aspect .

Reference words

Reference words are words which are used to refer to something which is mentioned elsewhere in the text, usually in a preceding sentence. The most common type is pronouns, such as 'it' or 'this' or 'these'. Study the previous example again. This time, the reference words are shown in bold.

Cohesion is an important feature of academic writing. It can help ensure that your writing coheres or 'sticks together', which will make it easier for the reader to follow the main ideas in your essay or report. You can achieve good cohesion by paying attention to five important features. The first of these is repeated words. The second key feature is reference words. The third one is transition signals. The fourth is substitution. The final important aspect is ellipsis.

The words it , which and these are reference words. The first two of these, it and which , both refer to 'cohesion' used in the preceding sentence. The final example, these , refers to 'important features', again used in the sentence that precedes it.

Transition signals, also called cohesive devices or linking words, are words or phrases which show the relationship between ideas. There are many different types, the most common of which are explained in the next section on transition signals . Some examples of transition signals are:

• for example - used to give examples
• in contrast - used to show a contrasting or opposite idea
• first - used to show the first item in a list
• as a result - used to show a result or effect

Study the previous example again. This time, the transition signals are shown in bold. Here the transition signals simply give a list, relating to the five important features: first , second , third , fourth , and final .

Substitution

Substitution means using one or more words to replace (substitute) for one or more words used earlier in the text. Grammatically, it is similar to reference words, the main difference being that substitution is usually limited to the clause which follows the word(s) being substituted, whereas reference words can refer to something far back in the text. The most common words used for substitution are one , so , and auxiliary verbs such as do, have and be . The following is an example.

• Drinking alcohol before driving is illegal in many countries, since doing so can seriously impair one's ability to drive safely.

In this sentence, the phrase 'doing so' substitutes for the phrase 'drinking alcohol before driving' which appears at the beginning of the sentence.

Below is the example used throughout this section. There is just one example of substitution: the word one , which substitutes for the phrase 'important features'.

Ellipsis means leaving out one or more words, because the meaning is clear from the context. Ellipsis is sometimes called substitution by zero , since essentially one or more words are substituted with no word taking their place.

Below is the example passage again. There is one example of ellipsis: the phrase 'The fourth is', which means 'The fourth [important feature] is', so the words 'important feature' have been omitted.

Shell nouns

Shell nouns are abstract nouns which summarise the meaning of preceding or succeeding information. This summarising helps to generate cohesion. Shell nouns may also be called carrier nouns , signalling nouns , or anaphoric nouns . Examples are: approach, aspect, category, challenge, change, characteristics, class, difficulty, effect, event, fact, factor, feature, form, issue, manner, method, problem, process, purpose, reason, result, stage, subject, system, task, tendency, trend, and type . They are often used with pronouns 'this', 'these', 'that' or 'those', or with the definite article 'the'. For example:

• Virus transmission can be reduced via frequent washing of hands, use of face masks, and isolation of infected individuals. These methods , however, are not completely effective and transmission may still occur, especially among health workers who have close contact with infected individuals.
• An increasing number of overseas students are attending university in the UK. This trend has led to increased support networks for overseas students.

In the example passage used throughout this section, the word features serves as a shell noun, summarising the information later in the passage.

Cohesion is an important feature of academic writing. It can help ensure that your writing coheres or 'sticks together', which will make it easier for the reader to follow the main ideas in your essay or report. You can achieve good cohesion by paying attention to five important features . The first of these is repeated words. The second key feature is reference words. The third one is transition signals. The fourth is substitution. The final important aspect is ellipsis.

Thematic development

Cohesion can also be achieved by thematic development. The term theme refers to the first element of a sentence or clause. The development of the theme in the rest of the sentence is called the rheme . It is common for the rheme of one sentence to form the theme of the next sentence; this type of organisation is often referred to as given-to-new structure, and helps to make writing cohere.

Consider the following short passage, which is an extension of the first example above.

• Virus transmission can be reduced via frequent washing of hands, use of face masks, and isolation of infected individuals. These methods, however, are not completely effective and transmission may still occur, especially among health workers who have close contact with infected individuals. It is important for such health workers to pay particular attention to transmission methods and undergo regular screening.

Here we have the following pattern:

• Virus transmission [ theme ]
• can be reduced via frequent washing of hands, use of face masks, and isolation of infected individuals [ rheme ]
• These methods [ theme = rheme of preceding sentence ]
• are not completely effective and transmission may still occur, especially among health workers who have close contact with infected individuals [ rheme ]
• health workers [ theme, contained in rheme of preceding sentence ]
• [need to] to pay particular attention to transmission methods and undergo regular screening [ rheme ]

Cohesion vs. coherence

The words 'cohesion' and 'coherence' are often used together with a similar meaning, which relates to how a text joins together to make a unified whole. Although they are similar, they are not the same. Cohesion relates to the micro level of the text, i.e. the words and sentences and how they join together. Coherence , in contrast, relates to the organisation and connection of ideas and whether they can be understood by the reader, and as such is concerned with the macro level features of a text, such as topic sentences , thesis statement , the summary in the concluding paragraph (dealt with in the essay structure section), and other 'bigger' features including headings such as those used in reports .

Coherence can be improved by using an outline before writing (or a reverse outline , which is an outline written after the writing is finished), to check that the ideas are logical and well organised. Asking a peer to check the writing to see if it makes sense, i.e. peer feedback , is another way to help improve coherence in your writing.

Example essay

Below is an example essay. It is the one used in the persuasion essay section. Click on the different areas (in the shaded boxes to the right) to highlight the different cohesive aspects in this essay, i.e. repeated words/ideas, reference words, transition signals, substitution and ellipsis.

Title: Consider whether human activity has made the world a better place.

History shows that human beings have come a long way from where they started. They have developed new technologies which means that everybody can enjoy luxuries they never previously imagined. However , the technologies that are temporarily making this world a better place to live could well prove to be an ultimate disaster due to , among other things, the creation of nuclear weapons , increasing pollution , and loss of animal species . The biggest threat to the earth caused by modern human activity comes from the creation of nuclear weapons . Although it cannot be denied that countries have to defend themselves, the kind of weapons that some of them currently possess are far in excess of what is needed for defence . If these [nuclear] weapons were used, they could lead to the destruction of the entire planet . Another harm caused by human activity to this earth is pollution . People have become reliant on modern technology, which can have adverse effects on the environment . For example , reliance on cars causes air and noise pollution . Even seemingly innocent devices, such as computers and mobile phones, use electricity, most of which is produced from coal-burning power stations, which further adds to environmental pollution . If we do not curb our direct and indirect use of fossil fuels, the harm to the environment may be catastrophic. Animals are an important feature of this earth and the past decades have witnessed the extinction of a considerable number of animal species . This is the consequence of human encroachment on wildlife habitats, for example deforestation to expand cities. Some may argue that such loss of [animal]   species is natural and has occurred throughout earth's history. However , the current rate of [animal]   species loss far exceeds normal levels   [of animal species loss] , and is threatening to become a mass extinction event. In summary , there is no doubt that current human activities such as the creation of nuclear weapons , pollution , and destruction of wildlife , are harmful to the earth . It is important for us to see not only the short-term effects of our actions, but their long-term ones as well. Otherwise , human activities will be just another step towards destruction .

Aktas, R.N. and Cortes, V. (2008), 'Shell nouns as cohesive devices in published and ESL student writing', Journal of English for Academic Purposes , 7 (2008) 3-14.

Alexander, O., Argent, S. and Spencer, J. (2008) EAP Essentials: A teacher's guide to principles and practice . Reading: Garnet Publishing Ltd.

Gray, B. (2010) 'On the use of demonstrative pronouns and determiners as cohesive devices: A focus on sentence-initial this/these in academic prose', Journal of English for Academic Purposes , 9 (2010) 167-183.

Halliday, M. A. K., and Hasan, R. (1976). Cohesion in English . London: Longman.

Hinkel, E. (2004). Teaching Academic ESL Writing: Practical Techniques in Vocabulary and Grammar . Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc Publishers.

Hyland, K. (2006) English for Academic Purposes: An advanced resource book . Abingdon: Routledge.

Thornbury, S. (2005) Beyond the Sentence: Introducing discourse analysis . Oxford: Macmillan Education.

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Below is a checklist for essay cohesion and coherence. Use it to check your own writing, or get a peer (another student) to help you.

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Author: Sheldon Smith    ‖    Last modified: 03 February 2022.

Sheldon Smith is the founder and editor of EAPFoundation.com. He has been teaching English for Academic Purposes since 2004. Find out more about him in the about section and connect with him on Twitter , Facebook and LinkedIn .

Compare & contrast essays examine the similarities of two or more objects, and the differences.

Cause & effect essays consider the reasons (or causes) for something, then discuss the results (or effects).

Discussion essays require you to examine both sides of a situation and to conclude by saying which side you favour.

Problem-solution essays are a sub-type of SPSE essays (Situation, Problem, Solution, Evaluation).

Transition signals are useful in achieving good cohesion and coherence in your writing.

Reporting verbs are used to link your in-text citations to the information cited.

Cohesion and Coherence

Introduction

Every writer wishes to make their points clearly to their readers, with pieces of writing that are are easy to read and have logical links between the various points made. This coherence , this clarity of expression , is created by grammar and vocabulary (lexis) through cohesion . This is the “glue” that joins your ideas together to form a cohesive whole.

In this Learning Object we are going to focus on how this is done, in order to assist you when you come to write your next assignments and in your reading. In reading, if you understand how the author makes connections within the text, you gain a better understanding of his or her message. As regards your writing, after analysing the texts in this Learning Object, you should analyse your own writing in the same way. This will help you to realise which techniques you could use more to benefit your reader.

Before starting the activities, you can obtain an overview of how best to use this Learning Object, using a Screencast (with audio), by following this link Overview

• To raise awareness of how cohesion contributes to coherence in text
• To raise awareness of how cohesion is created through: reference, conjunction, ellipsis, substitution and lexis , including cohesive nouns .
• To raise your awareness of cohesion at paragraph level and how punctuation plays a crucial role in this

Activity 1: Ways of creating cohesion in text

According to the writers Halliday and Hasan (1976), there are six main ways that cohesion is created in a text. These they called: Reference , Substitution , Ellipsis , Lexical Chains , Cohesive Nouns and Conjunction .

Open this Cohesion Presentation PDF document that shows you examples of each of them.

For the following six ways of creating cohesion, select each one to read detailed explanations and examples:

This way of creating cohesion uses:

• determiners (e.g. "this" , "that" , "these" and "those" );
• pronouns (e.g. "him" , "them" , "me" );
• possessive pronouns (e.g. "your" , "their" , "hers" );
• relative pronouns (e.g. "which" , "who" , "whose" ).
• This type of cohesion can also be achieved comparatively with expressions like: "similarly" , "likewise" , "less" .

In this way of creating cohesion you can use:

• synonyms (e.g. "beautiful" for "lovely" );
• hyponyms and superordinates (e.g. "daffodil" , "rose" and "daisy" , are all hyponyms of the superordinate "flower" ).
• Lexical chains are created in a text by using words in the same lexical set (e.g. "army" , "soldiers" , "barracks" , "weapons" ).

These techniques allow for the central themes to be reiterated in a way that avoids monotony for the reader.

These words are a kind of lexical reference.

• They can summarise many words in one (e.g. "attitude" , "solution" , "difficulty" ), and have been called 'umbrella' nouns for this reason (Bailey 2006:150).
• They are used to signal what is to come (e.g. "the problem to be discussed..." ), or can refer back (e.g. "The issue mentioned above..." ).

This method of creating cohesion uses one word/phrase to replace a word/phrase used earlier. For example,

• "the one(s)" and "the same" can be used to replace nouns (e.g. "I'll have the same." ).
• Verbs can be replaced by "do" (e.g. "The authorities said they had acted , but nobody believed they had done .").
• In speaking, whole clauses can be replaced by, "so" or "not" (e.g. "I hope so/not." ).

In this way of creating cohesion, words are omitted because they are understood from the context. e.g.

• " John can type and I can [type] too! ";
• " I don't want to go out, do you? [want to go out] ."

This type of cohesion includes:

• listing words (e.g. "firstly" , "next" , "lastly" );
• linkers for addition (e.g. " moreover" , "and" , "also" );
• concession (e.g. "but" , "however" , "despite" ); and
• cause and effect (e.g. "so" , "because" , "as a result" ).

Then try this Cohesion quiz to test your memory of the terms.

Activity 2: Highlighting cohesion in a text

For this activity you are going to read the short narrative text below, which is a piece of creative writing about a student, and then complete an exercise in highlighting the cohesive words, using colour codes. First, read the text quickly and try to think of a title for it.

The student sighed as she handed in the assignment, at last it was finished. This was the most difficult piece of writing which she had been set, but she had completed it. The ‘magnum opus’ was 10,000 words long. This project, though not quite a dissertation, was still the longest piece of academic writing she had ever written. She had thought she would never complete it and it had taken all her strength to do so.

Her achievement made her elated, but had left her exhausted. When she had read the title of the task, she knew it was not going to be just another essay, not an easy one at all. Finally, the completed work lay on the counter of the reception [and was] beautifully bound. She would sleep easy at night, [and she would be] no longer troubled by thoughts of its accusing blank pages – the nightmare was over!

Instruction

Now try this colour coding exercise to highlight the 6 different ways of creating cohesion.

--> Show feedback Hide feedback

The original title of the piece of writing was “The Assignment” .

Now try this interactive exercise to colour-code the words and phrases that create cohesion in the 6 different ways using the six colours.

You can download this Feedback 1 PDF for a summary of the answers to the task.

Activity 3: Cohesion in a discursive text

In this exercise you are going to see how the 6 ways of creating cohesion are used in a short text arguing in favour of working in groups as a way to learn better in class. Before you read the text, you might like to predict what the arguments might be in favour of and against classes being organised to work together in this way.

To do a series of exercises to raise awareness of different forms of cohesion used in academic writing, try these interactive cloze exercises .

Activity 4: Colour coding the cohesion in the discursive text

Now, we are going to use the same text to see how your awareness of cohesion is improving.

Read this longer discursive text about working in groups. As you read, notice the different forms of cohesion that are used in the text. After you’ve read it, move on to the colour-coding exercise that follows.

“Working in groups is a bad idea because it encourages weak students to let the others do the work.” Discuss

The idea that working in groups is a bad thing is fundamentally mistaken because, overall, the advantages of this way of configuring the class outweigh the potential disadvantages [of this way of configuring the class]. In groups there is the opportunity for peer teaching, which can often be invaluable. In addition, lessons organised in this way become less teacher-centred. Moreover, in life today, team-working is a feature of every workplace and one of the roles of university education is to provide a preparation for students’ future careers.

Firstly, peer teaching can contribute to effective learning in most classroom situations. Many students (especially in large classes) can benefit from this approach. Weaker students are often less afraid of making mistakes and taking risks in front of their peers, than in close contact with their teacher or in front of the whole class. Also, with regard to the stronger students, a perfect way to consolidate their learning is to transmit that knowledge to others. Furthermore, most pedagogic approaches today concur that a lesson that is focused on the teacher at all times, is one from which the students are unlikely to benefit. Certainly, some classroom activities, like project work for example, are best conducted in small groups. The teacher as the source of all wisdom standing at the front of the class, the ‘jug and mug’ model of education, is not only antiquated, but also ineffective.

A further benefit of group-teaching is the preparation it provides for working in teams. In a great variety of careers today, the employees are asked to, and are judged on their ability to work in teams. Group working in class represents basically the same concept. The same skills are being tested and developed – interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence, to mention just two. In business today, the ability to lead effectively and to support one’s peers is prized almost above all other skills.

In conclusion then, while it may sometimes be true that the weak students may ‘take it easy’ sometimes in groups, allowing others to work hard to compensate for their laziness, if the lesson materials are interesting and the teacher motivating, this is a rare occurrence. As outlined above, there are so many ‘pros’ to this method of classroom configuration that these easily outweigh this somewhat questionable ‘con’.

Now try these Cohesion colour-coding exercies , using the 6 different colours.

Show feedback Hide feedback

You can download this Feedback 2 PDF document for a summary of the answers to the task.

Activity 5: Cohesive nouns, reference and substitution

For more exercises to practise cohesive nouns, reference and substitution try this Reference and Substitution cloze exercise .

Activity 6: Cohesion and coherence at paragraph level

Cohesion has a strong connection to coherence (logic and meaning). In fact, cohesion is the grammatical and lexical realisation of coherence at a profound level within the text. It is what makes a text more than just a jumbled mixture of sentences.

In this exercise, you will use your understanding of cohesion and punctuation, and your understanding of the underlying meaning of paragraphs, to put them into the most logical order. Now try these Paragraph Cohesion Activities .

Would you like to review the main points?

Show review Hide review

To review the way we create cohesion in texts follow this link The 6 Ways of Creating Cohesion

For websites with more information and exercises to raise your awareness of cohesion and the way we organise information following a ‘given-to-new’ pattern, we recommend the following websites:

• The Grammar of English Ideas
• Academic Writing in English

References:

Batstone, R. (1994). Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Cook, G. (1996). Discourse. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Halliday, M. A. K. and R. Hasan (1976). Cohesion in English. London: Longman UK Group Limited.

Lubelska, D. (1991). “An approach to teaching cohesion to improve in reading” in Reading in a Foreign Language, 7 (2)

© William Tweddle, Queen Mary, University of London, 2010, visual created by the author using a Smartboard and Jing

• Writing Center
• Writing Resources

Cohesion & Coherence

What this resource is about:.

This resource defines both cohesive and coherent writing and explains how to write cohesively and coherently.   

Creating Cohesive and Coherent Paragraphs  

Cohesive writing is “based on how each sentence ends and the next begins” (Williams & Bizup, 2017, p. 65). Each sentence should, in terms of their content , connect to the sentences surrounding it.  

Here are a few tips for composing cohesive paragraphs:  

     "1. Begin sentences with information familiar to your readers.

      2. End sentences with information that readers cannot anticipate.

      3. Begin sentences with information that readers will find simple; end with information they will find complex”              (Williams & Bizup, 2017, p. 67).  

Coherent writing is “based on how all the sentences in it cumulatively begin” (Williams & Bizup, 2017, p. 65). The ideas of the sentences in the passage ought to be related in topic and structured so the reader increases their understanding within each sentence and between sentences.  

Here are a few tips for composing coherent paragraphs:  

• Analyze: Find the subjects (or noun phrases) of your sentences.
• Assess: Do these subjects reference related ideas? Will your reader see this relatedness of ideas? Are they referencing your “actors” (subject) doing the main “actions” (action verb)?
• Rewrite: Rewrite your paragraphs so that you answer ‘yes’ to the questions above (Williams & Bizup, 2017)

Example paragraphs

To illustrate the difference between noncoherent and coherent writing, consider these paragraphs. Subjects are bolded both paragraphs.  

• "Consistent ideas toward the beginnings of sentences, especially in their subjects, help readers understand what a passage is generally about. A sense of coherence arises when a sequence of topics comprises a narrow set of related ideas. But the context of each sentence is lost by seemingly random shifts of topics. Unfocused, even disorganized paragraphs result when that happens" (Williams & Bizup, 2017, p. 71).
•   “ Readers  understand what a passage is generally about when  they  see consistent ideas toward the beginnings of sentences, especially in their subjects.  They  feel a passage is coherent when  they  read a sequence of topics that focuses on a narrow set of related ideas. But when  topics  seem to shift randomly,  readers  lose their context of each sentence. When  that  happens,  they feel they are reading paragraphs that are unfocused and even disorganized” (Williams & Bizup, 2017, p. 71-72).  

The subjects in the second paragraph are only ‘readers’ and ‘topics,' whereas the subjects in the first paragraph are more scattered. By unifying the subjects of your paragraphs to one or two kinds of subjects, you can write coherently. By following these tips, writers may establish a flow of information that helpfully and logically organizes information for the reader.  

The purpose of these aspects of writing is to think about, understand, and write for your readers. You can improve the clarity and organization of your writing by knowing the differences between concrete versus abstract language and making your paragraphs cohesive and coherent.  

Source: Williams, J.M., & Bizup, J. (2017). Style: Lessons in clarity and grace (12th ed.). Pearson Education Inc.  

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11 Unity & Coherence

Preserving unity.

Academic essays need unity, which means that all of the ideas in an essay need to relate to the thesis, and all of the ideas in a paragraph need to relate to the paragraph’s topic. It can be easy to get “off track” and start writing about an idea that is somewhat related to your main idea, but does not directly connect to your main point.

All of the sentences in a paragraph should stay “on track;” that is, they should connect to the topic. One way to preserve unity in a paragraph is to start with a topic sentence that shows the main idea of the paragraph. Then, make sure each sentence in the paragraph relates to that main idea.

If you find a sentence that goes off track, perhaps you need to start a separate paragraph to write more about that different idea. Each paragraph should generally have only one main idea.

As you pre-write and draft an essay, try to pause occasionally. Go back to the assignment prompt and re-read it to make sure you are staying on topic. Use the prompt to guide your essay; make sure you are addressing all of the questions. Do not just re-state the words in the prompt. Instead, respond to the questions with your own ideas, in your own words, and make sure everything connects to the prompt and your thesis.

Activity A ~ Finding Breaks in Unity

Consider the following paragraphs. Is there a topic sentence? If so, do all of the other sentences relate to the topic sentence? Can you find any sentences that don’t relate?

     The planned community of Columbia, Maryland, was designed as a city open to all, regardless of race, level of income, or religion. When Columbia began in 1967, many cities in the U.S. did not allow people of certain races to rent or buy homes. Its developer, James W. Rouse, wanted to build a new city that had fair and open housing options for everyone. HCC has a building named for James W. Rouse. Today, the city’s nearly 100,000 remain diverse, as shown by recent census data. *****

    College can be expensive and difficult. Critical thinking is a very important skill for college students to develop so that they can be successful in their careers. Employers look for graduates who can understand information, analyze data, and solve problems. They also want employees who can think creatively and communicate their ideas clearly. College students need to practice these skills in all of their classes so that they can demonstrate their abilities to potential employers. ***** Bananas are one of Americans’ favorite types of fruit. The Cavendish variety, grown in Central and South America, is the most commonly sold here in the U.S. Recent problems with a fungus called Panama disease (or TR4), however, have led to a shortage of Cavendish bananas. Similar problems occurred a few years ago in parts of Asia and the Middle East. Because the fungus kills the crop and contaminates the soil, scientists are concerned that the popular Cavendish banana could be completely eradicated. Bananas contain many nutrients, including potassium and Vitamin B6. *****

Whether you choose to include a topic sentence or not, all of the sentences in your paragraph need to relate to the one main idea of the paragraph.

Another way to think about unity in a paragraph is to imagine your family tree. Draw a quick sketch of your family tree in your notebook. If you were writing an essay about your family, you might write a paragraph about close family members first. Next, you might branch out into another paragraph to write about more distant relatives. You might even include a paragraph about very close family friends, or pets. Each paragraph would have just one main idea (immediate family, more distant relatives, close family friends), and every sentence in each paragraph would relate to that main idea.

Activity B ~ Preserving Unity in Your Own Writing

Examine a composition that you have written for this class. Do all of your paragraphs have unity? Can you find any sentences that don’t relate to the topic of each paragraph? Exchange papers with a partner to peer review.

Ensuring Coherence

There are several ways to create connections between ideas in your essay. Here are some suggestions:

1. Repeat key words and phrases. This can be a powerful way to make a point. Consider this excerpt from Rev. Martin Luther King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, in which he uses parallel structure :

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.

2. Use synonyms , as in this example, where King uses both repetition (“Let freedom ring”) and synonyms (for “mountains”):

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania. Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California. But not only that: Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

3. Use pronouns to refer to antecedents , as King does here; this can be more elegant than just repeating the key words and phrases:

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

4. Use demonstratives ( this, that, these, those ) as adjectives or pronouns, as King does here:

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”…. This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.  

Questions to Ponder

Pause for a moment here to think about the examples above. Think about audience, purpose, and context of an academic essay. Would you use the techniques for coherence in the same way that Dr. King did in his speech, or would you use the techniques in a different way? Discuss with a small group.

5. Use transitions. Transition words and phrases will help you to make sure your essay has coherence. Also called signal words/phrases or signposts, these help to guide your readers.

Transitions connect your related ideas; they can also show your reader that you are starting a new topic, giving an example, adding information, explaining causes and effects, and so on. Using the correct transition word or phrase in a sentence can make your writing much clearer. Try the activity below to think of possible transitions.

Activity C ~ Transition Words & Phrases

With your partner, brainstorm a list of transition words and phrases for each of the categories below.

Can you think of other transition words and phrases? What other categories do they belong to?

After you have completed these activities with your partner, consult  Transition Words & Phrases ~ Useful Lists for more on compare/contrast, addition, cause/effect, and other transitions to try.

Activity D ~ Ensuring Coherence in Your Own Writing

Examine a composition that you have written for this class for coherence. Find and mark examples of places where you used repetition, synonyms, pronouns or demonstratives to build connections between ideas.

Underline your transition words and phrases. Did you use the strongest signal words? Can you find examples where you need to add a transition? Or, did you use too many transitions? Exchange papers with a partner to peer review.

Consult our chapter on Transitions for more inspiration on achieving coherence and cohesion in your writing. Challenge yourself to use some new transitions in your next composition.

Is this chapter:

…about right, but you would like more examples? –> Read “ Cohesion and Coherence ” from George Mason University’s Writing Center.

…too easy, or you would like more examples? –> Read “ ESL: Coherence and Cohesion ” from the Writing & Communication Center at the University of Washington/Bothell

Note: links open in new tabs.

King, Martin Luther, Jr. “I Have a Dream.” March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. 28 August 1963. Washington, D.C. Speech.

to start to do something different

short piece or sample, for example a direct quote in writing or a few measures of a musical composition

to think about

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Paragraph Unity, Coherence, and Development

In each paragraph of an essay, one particular idea or topic is developed and explained. In order to successfully do so, however, it is essential that the paragraph be written in a unified and coherent manner. 

A unified paragraph must follow the idea mentioned in the topic sentence and must not deviate from it. For a further explanation on topic sentences, see the Write Right on Topic Sentences .

A coherent paragraph has sentences that all logically follow each other; they are not isolated thoughts. Coherence can be achieved in several ways. First, using transitions helps connect ideas from one sentence to the next. For more on transitions, see the Write Right on Transitions . Second, ordering thoughts in numerical sequence helps to direct the reader from one point to the next. Third, structuring each paragraph according to one of the following patterns helps to organize sentences: general to particular; particular to general; whole to parts; question to answer; or effect to cause. 

Remember that a paragraph should have enough sentences so that the main idea of the topic sentence is completely developed. Generalizations should be supported with examples or illustrations. Also, details and descriptions help the reader to understand what you mean. Don't ever assume that the reader can read your mind: be specific enough to develop your ideas thoroughly, but avoid repetition

An effective paragraph might look like this:

It is commonly recognized that dogs have an extreme antagonism toward cats. This enmity between these two species can be traced back to the time of the early Egyptian dynasties. Archaeologists in recent years have discovered Egyptian texts in which there are detailed accounts of canines brutally mauling felines. Today this type of cruelty between these two domestic pets can be witnessed in regions as close as your own neighborhood. For example, when dogs are walked by their masters (and they happen to catch sight of a stray cat), they will pull with all their strength on their leash until the master is forced to yield; the typical result is that a feline is chased up a tree. The hatred between dogs and cats has lasted for many centuries, so it is unlikely that this conflict will ever end.

This paragraph is effective for the following reasons:

• The paragraph shows unity. All the sentences effectively relate back to the topic sentence at the beginning of the paragraph. 
• The paragraph shows coherence. There is a flow of thoughts and ideas among the sentences in this paragraph. There are good transitions employed in the paragraph. The writer also presents her sub-topics in an orderly fashion that the reader can follow easily.
• The paragraph is developed. The writer gives herself enough space to develop the topic. She gives us at least two reasons to accept her argument and incorporates some examples in order to give those reasons more validity.

Reference: Strunk, Wiliam Jr., and E. B. White. The Elements of Style . 4th ed., Allyn and Bacon, 2000.

Copyright © 2009 Wheaton College Writing Center

Coherence in Composition

Guiding the Reader to Understand a Piece of Writing or Speech

• An Introduction to Punctuation
• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

In composition , coherence refers to the meaningful connections that readers or listeners perceive in a written or oral text , often called linguistic or discourse coherence, and can occur on either the local or global level, depending on the audience and writer.

Coherence is directly increased by the amount of guidance a writer provides to the reader, either through context clues or through direct use of transitional phrases to direct the reader through an argument or narrative.

Word choice and sentence and paragraph structure influence the coherence of a written or spoken piece, but cultural knowledge, or understanding of the processes and natural orders on the local and global levels, can also serve as cohesive elements of writing. 

Guiding the Reader

It is important in composition to maintain the coherence of a piece by leading the reader or listener through the narrative or process by providing cohesive elements to the form. In "Marking Discourse Coherence," Uta Lenk states that the reader or listener's understanding of coherence "is influenced by the degree and kind of guidance given by the speaker: the more guidance is given, the easier it is for the hearer to establish the coherence according to the speaker's intentions."

Transitional words and phrases  like "therefore," "as a result," "because" and the like serve to move connect one posit to the next, either through cause and effect or correlation of data, while other transitional elements like combining and connecting sentences or repetition of keywords and structures can similarly guide the reader to make connections in tandem with their cultural knowledge of the topic.

Thomas S. Kane describes this cohesive element as "flow" in "The New Oxford Guide to Writing," wherein these "invisible links which bind the sentences of a paragraph can be established in two basic ways." The first, he says, is to establish a plan in the first of the paragraph and introduce each new idea with a word marking its place in this plan while the second concentrates on the successive linking of sentences to develop the plan through connecting each sentence to the one before it.

Constructing Coherence Relations

Coherence in composition and constructionist theory relies on a readers' local and global understanding of the written and spoken language, inferring the binding elements of text that help guide them through understanding the author's intentions. 

As Arthur C. Graesser, Peter Wiemer-Hasting and Katka Wiener-Hastings put it in "constructing Inferences and Relations During Text Comprehension," local coherence "is achieved if the reader can connect the incoming sentence to information in the previous sentence or to the content in working memory." On the other hand, global coherence comes from the major message or point of the structure of the sentence or from an earlier statement in the text. 

If not driven by these global or local understanding, the sentence is typically given coherence by explicit features like anaphoric references, connectives, predicates, signaling devices and transitional phrases. 

In any case, coherence is a mental process and the Coherence Principle accounts for "the fact that we do not communicate by verbal means only," according to Edda Weigand's "Language as Dialogue: From Rules to Principles." Ultimately, then, it comes down to the listener or leader's own comprehension skills, their interaction with the text, that influences the true coherence of a piece of writing.

• What Is Cohesion in Composition?
• Unity in Composition
• Learn About Précis Through Definition and Examples
• Definition and Examples of Transitional Paragraphs
• What Is an Echo Word?
• Definition Examples of Collage Essays
• Editing and Proofreading Marks in Composition
• Focusing in Composition
• The Four Master Tropes in Rhetoric
• English Phrasal Verbs: Definition
• Cue Word (or Phrase) in English
• Substitution in English Grammar
• Definition and Examples of Text Linguistics
• Paragraph Transition: Definition and Examples
• The Definition of a Review in Composition
• Definition and Examples of Body Paragraphs in Composition

Module 8: Revising a Research Paper

Writing coherently, learning objectives.

• Define coherence in terms of writing
• Identify strategies to revise your argument for coherence

The term “coherence” comes from the verb “to cohere,” which means “to be united,” “to form a whole,” or “to be logically consistent”.

Coherence in writing refers to the big picture of a text. How can you construct an essay or research paper to create a united, logically consistent whole?

The USDA’s controversial and now deprecated food pyramid.

Consider this example:

Micronutrients play a vital role in the maintenance of healthy skin and immune function.  Of course, nothing is better for healthy skin than sleep and proper hydration. Many Americans drink too little water every day. There has been a good deal of debate about the 8-glasses-of-water advice that many of us remember from growing up. Will this advice go the way of the food pyramid? As it turns out, the food pyramid does not represent a medically ideal diet. A number of health organizations have criticized the food pyramid’s advice, and some have even suggested that the food industry had far too great a role in its creation. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time the food industry has intervened in public health policy.

This passage is cohesive, meaning that one sentence flows from the next. But it’s not coherent. Why?

• The topics of the individual sentences vary widely. We go from hearing about micronutrients to sleep and hydration to recommended water intake to the food pyramid. If sentences (and paragraphs) in a piece of writing don’t share common topics and ideas, how is the reader supposed to understand what the piece is about?
• The paragraph lacks a topic sentence signaling its main idea or purpose. The first sentence sounds like it could be a topic sentence, but the paragraph doesn’t stay with micronutrients for long.

Overall, this paragraph illustrates the pitfalls of associative organization (healthy skin → water → nutrition advice→ food pyramid) and topic sentences that fail to live up to the promise they make to readers. Your reader will become disoriented, fail to see your point (if you have one), and walk away frustrated.

Revising for Coherence

A coherent text needs a strong, logical structure. To revise for coherence, you must first check the logic and flow of your draft to ensure readers can see the big picture you are trying to create.

Reverse Outlining

Let’s face it: the process of writing a draft can be hectic, messy, and confusing. Sometimes we don’t really know what we’ve written until the dust settles. Reverse outlining can help us see the overall structure of the draft, which often differs significantly from what we set out to write!

To write a reverse outline,

• Number each paragraph in your draft (write in the margin or use the comment feature in Docs or Word).
• In a separate document, write down these numbers, one per line.
• If you have trouble figuring out what the paragraph is about, make a note for yourself that the paragraph needs to be reworked.
• If the paragraph is has more than one main idea, make a note for yourself that it needs to be split in two.
• If you find a redundant paragraph that repeats a point made in another paragraph using different words, make a note to combine or differentiate the two paragraphs.
• If a paragraph doesn’t relate to the overall argument, make a note to revise or remove this paragraph.
• How does this sequence of topics help you achieve your purpose (or not)?
• Are any topics unnecessary or redundant?
• Are there any extended side-notes or rabbit-holes that risk confusing the reader?
• How could you revise and reorder paragraph topics to better accomplish your goals?

Compare the sequence of points in your reverse outline with your original outline (if you have one) to see where you diverged from your plan. Finally, you can create a new outline that represents the best possible sequence of points and revise your draft accordingly.

The following video describes reverse outlining, its benefits, and a technique you can use to reverse outline your draft.

Question Outlining

If you’re still not sure about the overall order of your argument, you can try writing an outline of questions:

• Create a new list of numbers corresponding to the paragraphs of your paper.
• For each paragraph, think about what question this paragraph is answering.
• Write this question down from the point of view of the audience.
• Does this sequence of questions reflect how a reasonable person might seek answers about your topic?
• How do the questions connect to one another?
• Does it make sense to answer some before others?
• Would it be beneficial to have these questions follow a more logical pattern of development (general to specific, or specific to general)?
• Food Pyramid. Provided by : USDA. Located at : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_pyramid_(nutrition)#/media/File:USDA_Food_Pyramid.gif . License : Public Domain: No Known Copyright
• Writing Coherently. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution

What this handout is about

This handout will explain what flow is, discuss how it works, and offer strategies to improve the flow of your writing.

What is flow?

Writing that “flows” is easy to read smoothly from beginning to end. Readers don’t have to stop, double back, reread, or work hard to find connections between ideas. Writers have structured the text so that it’s clear and easy to follow. But how do you make your writing flow? Pay attention to coherence and cohesion.

Coherence—global flow

Coherence, or global flow, means that ideas are sequenced logically at the higher levels: paragraphs, sections, and chapters. Readers can move easily from one major idea to the next without confusing jumps in the writer’s train of thought. There’s no single way to organize ideas, but there are common organizational patterns, including (but not limited to):

• Chronological (e.g., a history or a step-by-step process)
• Grouping similar ideas (e.g., advantages / disadvantages; causes / effects)
• Moving from large to small (e.g., national to local) or vice versa (local to national)
• Assertion, evidence, reasoning (e.g., an argument essay)
• Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion (e.g., lab reports)

More than a single organizational strategy can be present in a single draft, with one pattern for the draft as a whole and another pattern within sections or paragraphs of that draft. Take a look at some examples:

Assignment: Describe how domestic and international travel has changed over the last two centuries.

Primary pattern: chronological Additional pattern: grouping

Travel in the 19th century: Domestic travel. International travel. Travel in the 20th century: Domestic travel. International travel.

Assignment: “Analyze the contribution of support services to student success.”

Primary pattern: Assertion, evidence Additional patterns: various

(Assertion) Students who actively use support services have a better college experience (Chronological) Story of first-year student’s difficult experience in college (Grouping) Social and psychological reasons students may avoid using resources (Evidence) Research on academic resources and academic performance (Evidence) Research on self-care resources and student well-being (Chronological) Story of student’s much-improved second-year experience in college

Even though there are various patterns, there’s also a certain logic and consistency. If your readers can follow your organization and understand how you’re connecting your ideas, they will likely feel as though the essay “flows.”

You can also preview your organization through signposting. This strategy involves giving your readers a roadmap before they delve into the body of your paper, and it’s typically found near the beginning of a shorter essay or at the end of the first section of a longer work, such as a thesis. It may look something like this:

“This paper examines the value of using resources in university settings. The first section describes the experience of a first-year student at a top-tier university who did not use resources. The following section describes possible reasons for not using them. It then describes the types of resources available and surveys the research on the benefits of using these resources. The essay concludes with an analysis of how the student’s experience changed after taking advantage of the available support.”

Analyzing coherence

Try these two strategies to analyze the flow of your draft at the global level.

Reverse outlining

A reverse outline allows you to see how you have organized your topics based on what you actually wrote, rather than what you planned to write. After making the reverse outline, you can analyze the order of your ideas. To learn more about reverse outlining, you can watch our demo of this strategy , or read our Reorganizing Drafts handout for a more in-depth explanation. Some questions to consider:

• How am I ordering ideas? Can I describe the pattern?
• Why are the ideas presented in this order? Would they make more sense if I reorder them?
• What effect does the order of ideas have on my readers?
• How would reordering the information affect my paper?

Color coding

You can use color coding to group similar ideas or ideas that are connected in various ways. After sorting your ideas into differently colored groups, figure out how these ideas relate to one another, both within color groups and between color groups. For example, how do blue ideas relate to one another? How does this blue idea connect to this yellow idea? We have a short color coding demo that illustrates using the strategy before you draft. The reverse outlining demo above illustrates this strategy applied to an existing draft.

Cohesion—local flow

Cohesion, or local flow, means that the ideas are connected clearly at the sentence level. With clear connections between sentences, readers can move smoothly from one sentence to the next without stopping, doubling back, or trying to make sense of the text. Fortunately, writers can enhance cohesion with the following sentence-level strategies.

Known-to-new sequencing

Readers can process familiar (“known”) information more quickly than unfamiliar (“new”) information. When familiar information appears at the beginning of sentences, readers can concentrate their attention on new information in later parts of the sentence. In other words, sequencing information from “known to new” can help enhance the flow.

The paragraphs below illustrate this sequencing. They both contain the same information, but notice where the known and new information is located in each version.

1. The compact fluorescent bulb has become the standard bulb for household lamps. Until recently, most people used incandescent bulbs in their lamps. Heating a tungsten filament until it glows, throwing off light, is how this type of bulb operates. Unfortunately, approximately 90% of the energy used to produce the light is wasted by heating the filament.

2. The compact fluorescent bulb has become the standard bulb for household lamps. Until recently, most lamps used incandescent bulbs. This type of bulb operates by heating a tungsten filament until it glows, throwing off light. Unfortunately, heating the filament wastes approximately 90% of the energy used to produce the light.

The second version flows better because it follows the known-to-new strategy. In the second paragraph, notice how “household lamps” appears in the “new” position (the end of the sentence), and in the next sentence, “most lamps” appears in the “known” position (or beginning of the sentence). Similarly, “incandescent bulbs” appears for the first time in the “new” position, and then “this type of bulb” appears in the “known” position of the next sentence, and so on.

In this example, the new information in one sentence appeared in the known position of the very next sentence, but that isn’t always the case. Once the new information has been introduced in the later part of a sentence, it becomes known and can occupy the beginning part of any subsequent sentence.

Transitional expressions

Transitions indicate the logical relationships between ideas—relationships like similarity, contrast, addition, cause and effect, or exemplification. For an in-depth look at how to use transitions effectively, take a look at our transitions handout . For an explanation of the subtle differences between transitional expressions, see our transitions (ESL) handout .

Clear pronoun reference

Flow can be interrupted when pronoun reference is unclear. Pronouns are words like he, she, it, they, which, and this. We use these words to substitute for nouns that have been mentioned earlier. We call these nouns “antecedents.” For example,

Clear reference: Active listening strategies help you learn. They focus your attention on important lecture content.

It’s clear that “strategies” is the antecedent for “they” because it’s the only noun that comes before the pronoun. When there’s more than one possible antecedent, the choice may be less clear, and the cohesion won’t be as strong. Take a look at the example below.

Unclear reference: I went by the bookstore earlier and bought some textbooks and notebooks for my classes, but I’m going to have to return them because I bought the wrong ones.

Here, “them” could refer to two antecedents: the textbooks or the notebooks. It’s unclear which of these purchases needs to be returned, so your reader may have to pause to try to figure it out, thus interrupting the flow of the reading experience. Generally, this problem can be fixed by either adding another noun, or rephrasing the sentence. Let’s try both strategies by adding a noun and breaking the sentence in two.

Clear reference: I went by the bookstore earlier and bought some textbooks and notebooks for my classes. I’m going to have to return the textbooks because I bought the wrong ones.

Now, it is clear what needs to be returned.

A common cause of confusion in a text is the use of “which.” Look at this example:

Unclear reference: I’ve begun spending more time in the library and have been getting more sleep , which has resulted in an improvement in my test scores.

Does “which” here refer to spending more time in the library, getting more sleep, or both? Again, let’s solve this by splitting it into two sentences and changing our wording:

Clear reference: I’ve begun spending more of my free time in the library and have been getting more sleep. These habits have resulted in an improvement in my test scores.

Here’s another example of “which” being used in a sentence. In this sentence, “which” only has one antecedent, the roommate’s habit of staying up late, so it is clear why the writer is having difficulties sleeping.

Clear reference: My new roommate tends to stay up late, which has made it hard for me to get enough sleep.

This/these + summary noun

Another way to clarify the reference of pronouns like “this” or “these” is to add a summary noun. Look at this example:

The school board put forth a motion to remove the school vending machines and a motion to move detention to the weekend instead of after school. This created backlash from students and parents.

In the sentence above, “this” is vague, and could be referring to a number of things. It could refer to:

• The removal of vending machines
• The moving of detention
• Both motions

We can make this sentence more clear by adding something called a “summary noun,” like so:

The school board put forth a motion to remove the school vending machines, and a motion to move detention to the weekend instead of after school. These motions created backlash from students and parents.

By adding “motions,” the sentence can now only refer to both motions, rather than either individually.

Parallel structure

Parallel structure means using the same grammatical structure for things that come in sets. The similarity creates a rhythm that helps the writing flow.

Not parallel: walking, talked, and chewing gum

Parallel: walking, talking, and chewing gum

Not parallel: teenagers…people in their thirties…octogenarians

Parallel: people in their teens…people in their thirties…people in their eighties

Not parallel: To perform at your peak, you will need to get enough sleep each night, read the material and prepare questions before class every day, and be eating nutritious, well-balanced meals.

Parallel: To perform at your peak, you will need to get enough sleep each night, read the material and prepare questions before class every day, and eat nutritious, well-balanced meals.

Getting to the verb

Academic writers often disguise actions as things, making those things the subject of the sentence.

This change is called “nominalization” (“changing a verb to a noun”). It can be a useful strategy, but it can lead to excessively long subjects, pushing the verb far away from the beginning of the sentence. When there are too many words before the verb, the connection between the verb and the subject may not be clear. Readers may have to look backward in the sentence to find the subject, interrupting the flow of their reading.

Look at this example:

Student government’s recent decision to increase the rental fee on spaces that student groups reserve in the Union for regular meetings or special events, especially during high demand periods of the semester like homecoming week or the Week of Welcome but not during low-demand periods like midterm or finals week, elicited a response from several groups that were concerned about the potential impact of the change on their budgets.

“Student government’s decision…elicited a response.” There are 50 words before the verb “elicited” in this sentence! Compare this revision:

Student government recently decided to increase the rental fee on spaces that student groups reserve in the Union for regular meetings or special events, especially during high demand periods of the semester like homecoming week or the Week of Welcome but not during low-demand periods like midterm or finals week. This decision elicited a response from several groups that were concerned about the potential impact of the change on their budgets.

By changing the thing “decision” into the action “decided,” we’ve created a sentence with just two words before the verb, so it’s very clear who did what. We’ve also split the longer sentence into two, keeping the verb “elicited” and adding “this decision.”

Look for nouns that have underlying actions and try turning them into verbs near the beginning of your sentence: decision–>decide; emergence–>emerge; notification–>notify; description–>describe; etc.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Ruszkiewicz, John J., Christy Friend, Daniel Seward, and Maxine Hairston. 2010. The Scott, Foresman Handbook for Writers , 9th ed. Boston: Pearson Education.

Towson University. n.d. “Pronoun Reference.” Online Writing Support. https://webapps.towson.edu/ows/proref.htm .

Williams, Joseph, and Joseph Bizup. 2017. Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace , 12th ed. Boston: Pearson.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Guilford College Writing Manual

Revising to improve coherence.

• Practical Considerations
• Write to Learn
• Defining and Freeing the Self
• Joining a Community of Seekers
• Final Thoughts
• A Proposed Categorization of the Academic Writer's Responsibilities
• Required Writing Courses
• Placement in First-Year Writing Courses
• Writing Courses Beyond First-Year English
• Informal vs. Formal Writing
• Essay vs. Article
• Two Models of Papers
• What is the Real Difference?
• Specific Expectations of Papers
• Grade Descriptions
• The A Paper
• The B Paper
• The C Paper
• The D Paper
• The F Paper
• What makes college reading different?
• Levels of Reading
• An Overview
• Sample Schedule
• Suggestions for Prewriting
• Modes of Invention
• Four Categories of Invention
• Intuition Heuristics
• The Five Perspectives
• Loosening Heuristics
• Closing Observations
• Introduction
• Preliminary Tasks
• The Search Strategy
• Finding Materials
• Finding Appropriate Websites
• Selected Websites
• Documenting Your Sources
• Open Form vs. Fixed Form
• Geography of a Thesis and Proof Essay
• Introductions
• Body Paragraphs
• Conclusions
• Maintaining Control
• Geography of an Issues and Exploration Paper
• Reader Expectations
• What is Style?
• Festival of Verbs
• Two Zones of the Word Stock
• Levels of Generality
• Writing with Nouns and Verbs
• Avoiding Cliches
• The Two Faces of Jargon
• Using "I" in Academic Writing
• What Kinds of Sentences to Use
• Hemingway vs. Faulkner
• Three Syntactic Devices Worth Using
• Subject-Verb-Object
• Touches of Elegance
• Gunning's Fog Index
• Why It's Important
• Two General Principles
• Some College-Level Problems
• A Word on Typos
• An Important General Rap
• Revising Checklist
• Revising for Concreteness
• Revising to Eliminate Wordiness
• Revising to Sharpen
• Revising to Make More Effective Use of Quotations
• Revising to Make Language More Inclusive
• Revising to Brighten
• What It Is and Why We Do It
• Sample Edit Guide

REVISING TO IMPROVE COHERENCE

            Coherence describes the way that the elements in our sentences and para­graphs hang together to produce meaning. Usually when we write rough drafts, we are concerned mainly with getting our thoughts on paper, not with making sure that they interconnect well so that a reader can process our reasoning easily. We may even leave logical steps out.

            Revising for coherence means going back to the draft with the reader's needs in mind. It may mean inserting transitional words and phrases, or creating parallelism so that the reader can see at a glance that a pair of elements carry the same weight, or rearranging material within a sentence so that the reader gets an accurate sense of what’s important and what’s not. Generally, it means instructing the reader on how to read our discourse.

            The goal? Sharp focus.

            It may be profitable to think of focus in terms of its original meaning. Borrowed without change from Latin, this word surprisingly first meant "hearth" or "fireplace" (compare fellow derivatives FOYER and FUEL)—in other words, that central point from which heat and light radiate throughout a structure.  Focus entered the language of optical science with the sense of a place where things converge, and it is this sense of convergence and centrality and the sharp image that a correctly focused lens produces that we intend when we speak of FOCUS in writing.

Original paragraph :

            Vegetation covers the earth, except for those areas continuously covered with ice or utterly scorched by continual heat. Richly fertilized plains and river valleys are places where plants grow, as well as at the edge of perpetual snow in high mountains. There is plant growth not only in and around lakes and swamps but under the ocean and next to it. The cracks of busy city sidewalks have plants in them as well as in barren rocks. Before man existed the earth was covered with vegetation, and the earth will have vegetation long after evolutionary history swallows us up.

                                                                                    (from Joseph Williams, Style )

            The sentences contain sufficient information, but when read together they seem hazy, disconnected. It's not clear‑‑really‑‑what the main point is, even though one can sense the underlying logic. Note how the revising choices in the following version alleviate the problem.  Then we'll look at the specific changes that were made.

Revised paragraph :

Except in those areas continually covered with ice or scorched by  continual heat, the earth is covered with vegetation.  Plants grow not only in richly fertilized plains and river valleys but at the edge of perpetual snow in high mountains, not only in and around lakes and swamps but under the ocean and next to it.  They survive in the cracks of busy city sidewalks as well as in barren rocks.  Vegetation covered the earth before we existed and will cover the earth after evolution swallows us up.

            This version is much more reader‑friendly because the writer has made the following changes:

            (1)  Shifted the material in the first sentence so that the main point comes at the end of the sentence. Readers expect the most important informa­tion to come at the end. By putting it there, the writer has insured that the reader will not interpret the exception ("except for . . .") to be what this paragraph is about.  Instead, the reader can confidently go to the next sentence looking for examples of "the earth is covered with vegetation."

            (2)  Taken the six examples which make up the meat of the paragraph and put them in grammatically parallel constructions so the reader can see at a glance that they are all being used in the same way‑‑as examples.  Note how in the revi­sion, the grammatical subject is "plants" throughout the middle sentences, whereas in the previous version the subjects are "plains and river valleys," "plants," "plant growth," "the cracks of busy city sidewalks."  The subject‑shifts in the original are abrupt and confusing.

            (3) Strengthened the continuity from second last sentence to final sentence by beginning with "vegetation."  "Vegetation" connects immediately with the previous sentences, whereas in the original version, the opening clause suddenly shifts us into a historical perspective in which the first grammatical subject is "man."  Note also how the writer has sharpened the paragraph's focus‑-and hence the coherence‑‑by eliminating wordiness and strengthening the verbs.

Using transitions

             Another sure‑fire way of improving coherence is to use transitional words and phrases. Such devices function like road signs. They signal immediately the logical relationship between parts of a sentence, or, if positioned near the beginning of a sentence, the relationship between that sentence and the sentence that preceded it. Any two consecutive sentences have an implicit logical relationship; often it helps the reader if you make the relationship explicit. In looking at the following list of transitions drawn from the Harbrace College Handbook , note the logical relationships indicated by the category headings:

            1.  Alternative and addition : or, nor, and, and then, moreover, further, furthermore, besides, likewise, also, too, again, in addition, even more important, next, first, second, third, in the first place, in the second place, finally, last.

            2.  Comparison : similarly, likewise, in like manner.

            3.  Contrast : but, yet, or, and yet, however, still, nevertheless, on the other hand, on the contrary, conversely, even so, notwithstanding, for  all that, in contrast, at the same time, although this may be true, otherwise, nonetheless.

            4.  Place : here, beyond, nearby, opposite to, adjacent to, on the opposite side.

            5.  Purpose : to this end, for this purpose, with this object.         

            6.  Cause, result : so, for, hence, therefore, accordingly, consequently, thus, thereupon, as a result, then, because.

            7.  Summary, repetition, exemplification, intensification : to sum up, in brief, on the whole, in sum, in short, as I have said, in other words, that is, to be sure, as has been noted, for example, for instance, in fact, indeed, to tell the truth, in any event.

            8.  Time : meanwhile, at length, soon, after a few days, in the mean­time, afterward, later, now, then, in the past, while.

            See the improvement in coherence that results when transitions are added to the following paragraph:

            Cable television sounds like a good deal at first. All available local channels can be piped into a television set for a relatively low cost per month. The reception is clear‑‑a real bonus in fringe and rural areas.  Several channels for news and local access are in the basic monthly fee.  A cable connection to a second or third TV set costs extra. In most places subscribers have to pay as much as thirty dollars a month extra to get the channels like Home Box Office and The Disney Channel.  The movies change each month. The pay‑TV movie channels run the same films over and over during a month's time.  Many of the films offered each month are box office flops or reruns of old movies that can be viewed on regular channels.  Cable television isn't really a bargain.

                                                                        from Harbrace College Handbook

            Cable television sounds like a good deal at first. All available local channels can be piped into a television set for a relatively low cost per month. And the reception is clear‑‑a real bonus in fringe and rural areas. Moreover , several channels for news and local access are in the basic monthly fee. On the other hand , a cable connection to a second or third TV set costs extra. And in most places subscribers have to pay as much as thirty dollars a month extra to get the channels like Home Box Office and The Disney Channel. While it is true that the movies change each month, the pay‑TV channels run the same films over and over during a month's time, and many of the films offered each month are box office flops or reruns of old movies that can be viewed on regular channels.  In sum , cable television isn't really a bargain.

A final comment about transitional words and phrases : don’t overuse them. As historian Richard Marius observes, “when we use them too frequently to hold an essay together, they leave the rivets in our writing showing."

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Flow and Cohesion

• Reverse Outline
• Paper Skeleton
• Creating a Research Space
• Personal Statements
• Literature Reviews

Our Writing Center gets a lot of students who are concerned about the  flow  of their writing, but this can mean a lot of different things. When we talk about "flow" we mean  cohesion  or how ideas and relationships are communicated to readers. Flow can involve the  big-picture  (how parts of the essay fit together and the way the sequence of these parts affect how readers understand it) and the  sentence-level  (how the structure of a sentence affects the ways meanings and relationships come across to readers). This page has an overview of ways to think about revising the  flow  of an essay on both of these levels.

Big-Picture Revision Strategies

Reading out-loud.

Oftentimes, you can identify places that need some extra attention sharing your writing with a friend, or reading it out loud to yourself. For example, if it's hard to actually say a sentence at a normal conversational pace, this might indicate that there's something you can change about the structure that will make it easier to say (and probably, easier to understand). A few more tips:

• When you read out-loud, make sure to  slow down . If you are talking too fast, you might fill-in gaps or otherwise not notice things you want to change. You also want to give yourself time to process what you're saying  as you say it.
• If there's nobody around, there are also many computer programs that can convert text to speech and read to you, including  Microsoft Word .
• Take notes while you read. While you might want to fix things as you read, if you're worried about flow, it's also good to read your essay all the way through so that you can hear how parts fit together. If you don't want to interrupt your reading, you can take notes by doing things like putting a checkmark in the margins, using a highlighter, or making a list on a separate sheet of paper.

Structure and Sequence

Sometimes issues of flow and cohesion might actually be structural. It's good to reflect on the structure of an essay, the order of the different parts, and how they all fit together. If you want to revise the structure of your essay, consider trying one of the following activities.

Sign-Posting and Transitions

A great way to help readers comprehend the flow of ideas is include things like sign-posts and transitions. A sign-post is basically just language to point out different parts of the essay for readers in order to help them navigate your ideas. For example,  strong topic sentences  are a good as sign-posts because they tell readers what upcoming paragraphs are going to be about.  Transition sentences  can help readers understand how the ideas you were just discussing in a previous paragraph relate to what's coming up with the next paragraph. Here are a couple questions that can help you brainstorm sign-posting statements. After you brainstorm, you can then revise these sign-posting sentences so they fit better with your writing.

• Try starting a sentence by writing "In this paragraph, I will discuss..." After you complete this sentence, you can then revise it to make it fit better with your writing.
• "In the previous paragraph I discuss [purpose of paragraph 1] and this helps better understand [purpose of paragraph 2] because..."
• This paragraph supports my argument because..."
• While I discuss [previous idea or concept] above, I will now talk about [new idea or concept] because..."

Revision on the Sentence-Level

Verbs, or stuff we do.

A sentence seems clear when its important actions are in verbs. Compare these sentences where the actions are in bold and the verbs are UPPERCASE:

Because we  LACKED  data, we could not  EVALUATE  whether the UN  HAD TARGETED  funds to areas that most needed assistance. Our  lack  of data PREVENTED  evaluation  of UN  actions  in  targeting  funds to areas most in  need  of  assistance .

Nominalization

Turning a verb or adjective into a noun is called a “nominalization.” No element of style more characterizes turgid writing, writing that feels abstract, indirect, and difficult, than lots of nominalizations, especially as the subjects of verbs.  

Our request IS that you DO a review of the data.     vs. We REQUEST that you REVIEW the data.    

Try this:  when editing, underline the actions in your sentences.  Are those actions in the form of verbs?  If not, you might try rewriting your sentences to turn those actions into the main verbs in the sentence.

Active and Passive Verbs

Some critics of style tell us to avoid the passive everywhere because it adds a couple of words and often deletes the agent, the “doer” of the action.  But in fact, the passive is sometimes the better choice.  To choose between the active and passive, you have to answer two questions:

• The president  was rumored  to have considered resigning.
• Those who  are found  guilty can  be fined .
• Valuable records should always  be kept  in a safe.
• Because the test  was not done , the flaw  was not corrected .
• The weight given to industrial competitiveness as opposed to the value we attach to liberal arts   will determine  our decision.  
• Our decision  will be determined   by the weight we give to industrial competitiveness as opposed to the value we attach to the liberal arts .

Try this:   We need to find our passive verbs before we can evaluate whether or not to change them.  While you’re editing, try underlining all the “to be” verbs, since these are often paired with other verbs to make passive constructions.  The verbs you’re looking for are: am, are, is, was, were, be, become, became.  Once you’ve identified these verbs, check to see if they are necessary, or if the sentence would be clearer or stronger without them.  Example:  “There is one explanation in the story…” vs “The story explains…”

Writing is more coherent when readers are able to make connections across sentences and paragraphs. On the sentence level, this can include when the last few words of one set up information that appears in the first few words of the next.  That’s what gives us our experience of flow.

• Begin sentences with information familiar to your readers.  Readers get that information from two sources:  first, they remember words from the sentence they just read.  Second, readers bring to a sentence a general knowledge of its subject.  In a paper on black holes, for example, readers would find references to “astronomers”  familiar, even without prior mention.
• End sentences with information that readers cannot anticipate.  Readers prefer to read what’s easy before what’s hard, and what’s familiar and simple is easier to understand that what’ new and complex.  

Compare these two passages:

Try this:  While editing, check for these words: this, these, that, those, another, such, second, or more. Writers often refer to something in a previous sentence with these kinds of words. When you use any of those signals, try to put them at or close to the beginning of the sentence that you use them in.

Here are some tips to help your writing become more precise and cut out extra words.

• Delete what readers can infer.  This can include redundant categories like “period of time,” “pink in color,” or “shiny in appearance.

• Can you make sense of the negatives in this sentence?

Except when you have failed to submit applications without documentation, benefits will not be denied.

This handout contains excerpts from Joseph M. Williams'  Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace ( New York: Longman, 2000).

EnglishPost.org

Cohesion and Coherence: Features of Better Writing

There are several characteristics that make up a good piece of writing in a foreign language class.

Two fundamental features of good writing are Cohesion and c oherence.

Coherence  means the connection of ideas at the idea level, and cohesion means the connection of ideas at the sentence level.

Table of Contents

What’s the Difference Between Cohesion and Coherence?

What’s cohesion in writing, what’s coherence in writing, cohesion and coherence in writing .

Cohesion and coherence are two essential characteristics of good writing.

Coherence refers to the “rhetorical” aspects of your writing, which include developing and supporting your argument, synthesizing and integrating readings, organizing and clarifying ideas.

The  cohesion  of writing focuses on the “grammatical” aspects of writing. 

Cohesion  is the grammatical and lexical linking within a text or sentence that holds a text together and gives it meaning.

From a language point of view a text uses certain conventions that help to make a text cohesive.

The topic of the text enables the writer to select from a lexical set of related words.

We can also use grammatical features to allow the reader to comprehend what is being referred to throughout the text.

Let’s look at these in a little more details.

We can repeat key content words throughout the piece of writing. This helps the reader know who or what is being referred to.

Writers also use similar related words that form part of a lexical chain . 

An example of this is when describing a festival, the writer may use words such as celebration , party and festivity, or fancy dress , costumes and masks. Reference words (such as it, they or them) also may be part of a lexical chain .

A good writer tends to use the same tense to hold the text together. This helps to make the text more comprehensible for the reader, rather than jumping from one tense to another.

Writers use linking words to allow the reader to predict the information that is coming also helps the reader. These might be related to time; e.g. ‘an hour later’ or sequence ; e.g. ‘before that’.

Words are sometimes left out because the meaning is clear from a previous sentence or clause.

This is called ellipsis . For example, “I love horror movies!” might get an answer “I don’t.” which is short for “I don’t like horror movies.”

From a communicative point of view however, we need to examine the overall communicative aspect of a piece of writing. This involves other skills which relate to the overall organization and message of the text.

A written text usually has some kind of logic or coherence which allows the reader to follow the intended message.

This may reflect the writer’s reason for writing or their line of thought. If a written text lacks these features it may cause a strain on the reader.

Writing also involves knowledge of the genre o f texts (writing in such a way that is typical of the style, construction and choice of language, for example: email writing).

When we understand the audience and purpose of the text we are writing we can use the conventions of genre to make it easy to read.

The final consideration for a writer is the register or the actual language we use with a particular group of people .

For example, when writing an academic essay, we use formal language related to the topic and assume it is shared by the intended recipients.

In this video, we will look at the elements that create strong cohesion and coherence that will make your writing stronger, better, and easier for the reader to follow.

Manuel Campos

I am Jose Manuel, English professor and creator of EnglishPost.org, a blog whose mission is to share lessons for those who want to learn and improve their English

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ielts-yasi.englishlab.net    

Written July 21, 2009

Return to IELTS Writing Start Page

What do "Coherence" and "Cohesion" Mean?

The two words, " coherence " and " cohesion " mean different things but the two ideas are connected and, in fact, overlap. " Coherence " in an essay (or when you are speaking about interconnected idea in the Speaking test) means the overall "understandability" of what you write or say. When writing an essay, coherence involves such features as: summarizing the overall argument of an essay in the introductory paragraph; presenting ideas in a logical sequence; putting separate, major points into separate paragraphs; and beginning each paragraph with a 'topic sentence', following by supporting sentences. Coherence is based more on the logic of the ideas and how they are presented rather than on the language that is used to express these ideas.

" Cohesion " refers to the degree to which sentences (or even different parts of one sentence) are connected so that the flow of ideas is easy to follow. To achieve good cohesion , you need to know how to use " cohesive devices ", which are certain words or phrases that serve the purpose of connecting two statements, usually by referring back to what you have previously written or said. For example, if you write "Statement A" and then follow with the words, " On the other hand , Statement B", then these two sentences " cohere " or "stick together" and it is easy to follow the flow of ideas. Good cohesion leads to good coherence , which is the ultimate aim.

Here's an example of how coherence and cohesion overlap. If you have a major new point to add to your essay then you should put that in a paragraph by itself and begin the paragraph with a topic sentence that more or less summarizes the point you want to make. This topic sentence, following by supporting sentences, make your paragraph more coherent . However, your essay will be less coherent if you suddenly start a paragraph without some form of connection to what you have previously written, either in the previous paragraph or some other previous part of your essay. This problem can be overcome by beginning that topic sentence with words such as, "On the other hand", which connect to the last statement made in the previous paragraph. This shows good cohesion .

For both Task 1 and Task 2 of the Writing test, " Coherence and Cohesion" is one of the four items that is given a sub-score. The other three items are: ‘ Task Response ’ (or, ‘ Task Achievement ’ for Task 1), ‘ Lexical Resource ’ ( = vocabulary) and ‘ Grammatical Range and Accuracy ’.

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Guest Essay

Kamala Harris Has a Brief Window Before the Attacks Really Begin

By Chris Whipple

Mr. Whipple is the author of “The Fight of His Life: Inside Joe Biden’s White House.” He has written about 10 presidential administrations.

In the span of a few weeks, Kamala Harris has accomplished the seemingly impossible. The presumptive Democratic nominee has navigated the most politically fraught situation imaginable — a president’s reluctant abdication from the Democratic ticket — and rallied the party around her. She’s outmaneuvered potential rivals, galvanized voters and volunteers, shattered fund-raising records and pulled the Democratic campaign out of free fall.

Now comes the hard part: She must gird for a take-no-prisoners general election battle against Donald Trump. Between now and when the Democratic convention kicks off on Aug. 19, the vice president should frame the race on her own terms by establishing her identity, projecting strength, parrying Mr. Trump’s attacks immediately and continuing her pivot to offense.

Ms. Harris’s nearly flawless start knocked the Trump campaign on its heels. Convinced that Joe Biden, a doddering octogenarian, would be the nominee, Mr. Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, have groped for a line of attack against the relatively youthful Ms. Harris.

“They wanted this to be about a weak, dithering president who couldn’t handle the fact that the world was on fire and inflation and the border were out of control,” said Tim Miller, a former communications director for Jeb Bush. “And then this happens and discombobulates it all. And they haven’t landed on how to pivot.”

But Mr. Trump has plenty of heavy weaponry at his disposal. Unlike his previous races, when he went through campaign managers the way the Borgias went through family, the former president’s 2024 campaign has been a relatively no-drama affair, run by the political veterans Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita.

Ms. Harris has her own formidable team, including the campaign chair, Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, inherited from the Biden campaign, and the spokesman Brian Fallon. Her campaign is rumored to be talking with David Plouffe, who led Barack Obama’s winning 2008 campaign and whose strategic acumen would be a good fit with Ms. O’Malley Dillon’s ground game.

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The mutual joy of James Baldwin’s many brilliant friends

For Baldwin’s centenary, a National Portrait Gallery show examines his joyful connections with Nina Simone, Toni Morrison and many others.

James Baldwin opens his 1953 essay “Stranger in the Village” by describing the disconcerting experience of finding himself in a “tiny Swiss village” in which “no black man had ever set foot.” Greeted by the bafflement of the locals, he writes, he fell back on his accumulated experience confronting the differently textured qualities of American racism, grinning in the hope that it would show him to be likable, or at least human. “This smile-and-the-world-smiles-with-you routine worked about as well in this situation as it had in the situation for which it was designed, which is to say that it did not work at all,” he writes. “They did not, really, see my smile and I began to think that, should I take to snarling, no one would notice any difference.”

Baldwin’s smile, famously gap-toothed, unreservedly inviting, finds a different purchase in three photos by Bernard Gotfryd from 1965, placed near the back of the small gallery that houses “This Morning, This Evening, So Soon: James Baldwin and the Voices of Queer Resistance,” an exhibition celebrating the writer’s Aug. 2 birthday centennial now open at the National Portrait Gallery. Baldwin poses with his friend Nina Simone: In one image, their heads touch in easy intimacy, while in another their gazes are turned toward something or someone out of frame. In each, the pair exudes a confident, mutual joy.

“This Morning, This Evening, So Soon,” curated by Rhea L. Combs with the Pulitzer-winning critic Hilton Als, revels in such moments of companionship and possibility. “I think one of the things that is essential to our understanding of Baldwin is … the way in which he made families wherever he lived,” Als observes in the exhibition’s companion book. The gallery’s walls and cases testify to that attitude: here a photo of Baldwin with the actors Diana Sands and Burgess Meredith, there a set of poignant letters he exchanged in 1982 with Orilla Winfield, who had been his elementary school teacher and mentor almost half a century before. Elsewhere an elegant letter from Toni Morrison, thanking Baldwin for providing a quotation that would accompany her novel “Sula” and apologizing that Random House, her employer at the time, would not be buying his “If Beale Street Could Talk.”

The show bills itself as a “collective portrait,” revealing “how his sexuality, faith, artistic curiosities and notions of masculinity — coupled with his involvement in the civil rights movement — helped define his writing and long-lasting legacy.” Studying some of the images and artifacts with this context, it is tempting to read the exhibit as a testament to Baldwin’s circle throughout the years — those who supported him, and those he directly supported in turn.

The actual progression of the exhibit, however, at once undercuts and complicates that impression. Much of the Baldwin-focused material is tucked into the back of the room, behind a broad central pillar. Entering the gallery, one instead first encounters — almost trips over, really, since it is in a case that angles up from the floor — a large quilt made by Faith Ringgold in honor of the Black and queer filmmaker Marlon Riggs, who had died of AIDS not long before she made it. (A small image of Baldwin appears at the upper right. Cramped script near the bottom describes him as one of Riggs’s mentors.)

On a wall nearby, there is a Lyle Ashton Harris photograph from the early 1990s of Riggs with bell hooks, their poses echoing those of Baldwin and Simone, though the companionship here feels specific to a wholly different moment. A closely cropped, grainy video of Rep. Barbara Jordan testifying in favor of the impeachment of Richard M. Nixon — part of a larger work of video art by Donald Moffett — runs on the wall opposite the entrance. As one moves through the space, Jordan’s voice presses up against and overlaps with that of Simone, singing “To Be Young, Gifted and Black” on a separate screen nearby.

This crisscrossed jumble of images, individuals and forms of address can be disconcerting, especially if one comes to the exhibit in search of the more coherent narrative at which the explanatory placards sometimes seem to hint. Most of the subjects and artists are Black, and most of them were queer, too. But there is no one story here about, say, the juncture of Blackness and queerness in American art and letters. In its place, however, “This Evening, This Morning, So Soon” leaves us with a welcoming mesh of connections and contingencies, one that maintains the possibility of subsequent bonds.

Nowhere in the gallery is this more evident than in the contemporary conceptual artist Glenn Ligon’s monochromatic “Untitled (Hands/Stranger in the Village),” which hangs on the column at the center, facing out. On the surface of the canvas, Ligon has printed lines from Baldwin’s own “Stranger in the Village” in clean, legible lettering. But Baldwin’s words are obscured by a mass of coal dust that covers much of the work.

There is a similarly palimpsestic quality to much of the exhibit. Every object offers itself to be overwritten — but somehow also reinforced — by new communities, new action and new forms of life. No map could connect every one of these objects to every other, but their promise resides in the sometimes-unbridged spaces between them, voids as open and welcoming as the one at the center of Baldwin’s grin.

This Morning, This Evening, So Soon: James Baldwin and the Voices of Queer Resistance

National Portrait Gallery, Eighth and G streets NW. 202-633-1000. npg.si.edu .

Dates: Through April 20.

Prices: Free.