Coherence and Cohesion

Lessons from Joseph Williams

Writing ExerciseBreak into groups of four. Select a headline. Write your headline on a sheet of paper. Without talking, pass the sheet around from

group member to group member. Each group member will write one sentence.The sentence should relate to the headline.

HeadlinesWhy Are We Staying In Tonight?Super Bowl Draws Underage ProstitutesScrew Charity!6 Weird Things That Influence Bad Behavior M

ore Than Laws

20,000 Sacrificed In Annual Blood Offering To Corporate America

States Eyeing Texting-While-Walking Legislation

A. The collapse of a dead star into a point perhaps no larger than a marble creates a black hole.

B. A black hole is created by the collapse of a dead star into a point perhaps no larger than a marble.

Some astonishing questions about the nature of the universe have been raised by scientists studying black holes in space. (A or B?) So much matter compressed into so little volume changes the fabric of space around it in puzzling ways.

Clarity & CohesionClarity is determined by how sentences begin.Cohesion is determined by how sentences end

and the next one begins. It is a sense of flow. You arrange sentences so that they flow from one to the next. There is information in the new sentences that is at the end of the old sentence. You move from old to new information.

Make sure to end sentences with information that the reader does not anticipate.

Sayner, Wisconsin, is the snowmobile capital of the world. The buzzing of snowmobile engines fills the air, and their tank-like tracks crisscross the snow. The snow reminds me of Mom’s mashed potatoes, covered with furrows I would draw with my fork. Her mashed potatoes usually make me sick, that’s why I play with them. I like to make a hole in the middle of the potatoes and fill it with melted butter. This behavior has been the subject of long chats between me and my analyst.

Revise and Create Consistent Topic Strings 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 most richly, but also at the edge of perpetual snow in high mountains. The oceans and its edges as well as in and around lakes and swamps are densely vegetated. The cracks of busy sidewalks have plants in them as well as in seemingly barren cliffs. Before humans existed, the earth was covered in vegetation, and the earth will have vegetation long after the evolutionary history swallows us up.

Some potential threats exist in the modern mass communications media, though there are many significant advantages. If a powerful minority should happen to control it, public opinion could be manipulated through biased reporting. And while a wide knowledge of public affairs is a great advantage that results from national coverage, divisiveness and factionalism can be accentuated by connecting otherwise isolated, local conflicts into a single larger conflict as a result of showing that conflicts about the same issues are occurring in different places. It will always be true, of course, that human nature produces differences of opinion, but the threat of faction and division may be reinforced when national coverage publicizes uniformed opinions. According to some, education can suppress faction when the true nature of conflicts reaches the public through the media, but history has shown that as much coverage is given to people who encourage conflict as to people who try to remove conflict.

CoherenceCoherence can be thought of as how meanings

and sequences of ideas relate to each other. Typical examples would be general> particular; statement> example; problem> solution; question> answer; claim> counter-claim.

CohesionCohesion can be thought of as all the

grammatical and lexical links that link one part of a text to another. This includes use of synonyms, lexical sets, pronouns, verb tenses, time references, grammatical reference, etc. For example, 'it', 'neither' and 'this' all refer to an idea previously mentioned. 'First of all', 'then' and 'after that' help to sequence a text. 'However', 'in addition' and 'for instance' link ideas and arguments in a text.

Cohesion is the glue that holds a piece of writing together. In other words, if a paper is cohesive, it sticks together from sentence to sentence and from paragraph to paragraph. Cohesive devices certainly include transitional words and phrases, such as therefore, furthermore, or for instance, that clarify for readers the relationships among ideas in a piece of writing. However, transitions aren't enough to make writing cohesive. Repetition of key words and use of reference words are also needed for cohesion.

Synonyms

Synonyms are words that have essentially the same meaning, and they provide some variety in your word choices, helping the reader to stay focused on the idea being discussed.

Example: Myths narrate sacred histories and explain sacred origins. These traditional narratives are, in short, a set of beliefs that are a very real force in the lives of the people who tell them.

Pronouns

This, that, these, those, he, she, it, they, and we are useful pronouns for referring back to something previously mentioned. Be sure, however, that what you are referring to is clear.

Example: When scientific experiments do not work out as expected, they are often considered failures until some other scientist tries them again. Those that work out better the second time around are the ones that promise the most rewards.

Transitional Words

There are many words in English that cue our readers to relationships between sentences, joining sentences together. Words such as however, therefore, in addition, also, but, moreover, etc.

Example: I like autumn, and yet autumn is a sad time of the year, too. The leaves turn bright shades of red and the weather is mild, but I can't help thinking ahead to the winter and the ice storms that will surely blow through here. In addition, that will be the season of chapped faces, too many layers of clothes to put on, and days when I'll have to shovel heaps of snow from my car's windshield.

Sentence Patterns

Sometimes, repeated or parallel sentence patterns can help the reader follow along and keep ideas tied together.

Example: (from a speech by President John F. Kennedy) And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country.

Strategy

Try underlining the first 5-6 words of every sentence. Read through the paragraph, focusing on those underlined passages. Do they reflect a single topic string?