When it comes to planned, non-spontaneous texts including written discourse and speeches, the manner in which the text is put together can be explained by elements of coherence and cohesion. While spontaneous discourse will also display coherence and cohesion, it is emphasized in planned texts because there is a greater deal of thought and intention behind the use of cohesive ties and devices of coherence.
They can however often be difficult concepts to grasp. For starters, it is essential to understand the difference between the two terms.
Coherence is defined as the quality of being logical, consistent and able to be understood. Imagine coherence as a building (It’s an analogy, go with it).
Cohesion on the other hand refers to the act of forming a whole unit. It is effectively a subset of coherence. Picture cohesion as the bricks and cement which make up the building.
Bricks and cement can be put together to create any form of structure. However, it is only when they are laid together properly that they form a building. Similarly, a text will be cohesive if cohesive ties are used however it will only be coherent if the cohesive ties are used appropriately to create meaning.
You can have cohesion without coherence but you cannot have coherence without cohesion. The picture does not make sense unless the correct pieces are placed in the correct order, even if certain pieces may be the same size and shape.
“I bought some hummus to eat with celery. Green vegetables can boost your metabolism. The Australian Greens is a political party. I couldn’t decide what to wear to the new year’s party.”
In the example above, there are lexical links from one sentence to the next; cohesive ties are used to join the sentences. There is evidence of lexical repetition, ‘green’ ‘party’ and collocations, ‘new years’.
However, this string of sentences do not make any sense; there is no binding semantic link. This is an example of cohesion without coherence.
Cohesive devices effectively help the discourse flow. They include collocations, lexical repetition, linking adverbials, substitution, ellipsis, conjunctions, synonymy/antonymy, hypernyms/hyponyms and referencing (anaphoric, cataphoric, deictic). These devices create physical links between the words in a discourse.
Coherence which we previously defined as understanding can be achieved through devices such as cohesive ties, formatting techniques, inference, logical ordering of information, semantic patterning and consistency.
These all enhance the ability of a text to be successfully interpreted and understood. Recipes, terms and condition documents, informative brochures all make use of formatting in the form of headings, bolding, underlines etc. to emphasis certain aspects of the text and draw audience attention to the most important elements.
The focus of coherence factors is determined by the social purpose of the text. Is the text made to entertain? Inform? Persuade? Celebrate? If so, why? What is the overarching intention of the text? Answering such questions can help explain the purpose of coherence factors and cohesive devices within a discourse.
This is effectively what you are aiming to do in your analytical commentaries and short answer questions in the exam. Identify the social purposes of the text and use them to explain the role of coherence and cohesion within the discourse.
The other major factor of consideration is the intended audience of the text. Is the text aimed at teenagers? the Australian public? Or specifically to “bogan” Australians? The language choices and ideas implied in the text will reflect the intended audience. If a text is aimed at Victorian’s it may include lexemes such as “Mornington Peninsula” or “Shepparton” which Victorian’s can infer as locations within Victoria, however these terms would need to be further explained to those who reside outside this state. Lexical choices which require outside inference would be included if it can be reasonably interpreted that the intended audience would be aware of their meaning. Finding examples of inference in texts can be useful in identifying the social purpose of the text.
The main thing to be mindful of is that finding cohesive devices and evidence of coherence in texts alone is not enough. You will gain your marks in your exam for linking these fragments of evidence to the wider social purposes of the text.
143.When all your sentences work together to develop a single idea, the result isa.the “you” attitude.b.paragraph unity.c.coherence.d.parallelisme.reader benefits.
Sentences should logically fit together in writing, connecting one idea to the next. This is referred to as cohesion. To ensure your writing is cohesive, consider using the old-new principle, where sentences begin with old information and end with new information. Notice how these two sentences work together:
For many economists, the Great Depression was less a result of historical events than it was of poor international monetary policy. Such policy included the Federal Reserve’s failure to regulate interest rates and Great Britain’s return to Pre-WWI gold standard rate.
The second sentence begins by recapping the ending of the first sentence. This enables readers to solidify the connection between one idea and the next.
Just as sentences are cohesive when they “stick” together, paragraphs are coherent when they contain one controlling idea. Paragraphs should contain a single focus supported by related sentences that form into a major and coherent point. It is helpful to first state the topic of the paragraph thus informing the reader of its purpose and summarizing what the paragraph is about. The rest of the paragraph should be focused on that topic. To ensure that your paragraphs are coherent, make sure each paragraph is structured to make a particular point.
Let’s look at the difference between two paragraphs, which are about the same thing.
Paragraph A: “The particular ideas toward the beginning of sentences define what a passage is “about” for a reader. Moving through a paragraph from a cumulatively coherent point of view is made possible by a sequence of topics that seem to constitute a limited set of related ideas. A seeming absence of context for each sentence is one consequence of making random shifts in topics. Feelings of dislocation, disorientation, and a lack of focus in a passage occur when that happens.”*
Paragraph B: “Readerslook for the topics of sentences to tell them what a whole passage is “about.” If theyfeel that its sequence of topics focuses on a limited set of related topics, then they will feel that they are moving through that passage from a cumulatively coherent point of view. But if topics seem to shift randomly, then readers have to begin each sentence from no coherent point of view, and when that happens, readers feel dislocated, disoriented, and the passage seems out of focus. For many readers, such an experience is like riding in a car that has a poor transmission.”*
*Paragraphs A & B are adapted from Williamson and Bizup (2011).
Most readers find Paragraph A incoherent, because its string of topics is inconsistent and diffuse; they do not focus our attention on a limited set of related ideas. In contrast, Paragraph B is much more coherent because it focuses on one central topic: readers.
Along with limiting the topics in your paragraph, consider a specific strategy for developing your paragraphs. Typically, a well written paragraph will move from general to increasingly more specific claims or vice versa. Regardless of whether you move from general to specific or specific to general, be consistent with your pattern. If you do use a general-to-specific pattern in your paragraph, avoid beginning with an overly broad claim. Sentences (and essays) that begin “Every since time began…” encompass too much information for the writer and reader to manage.
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Identify strategies to revise for coherence at the paragraph level
Reverse outlining can help you revise for high-level coherence. But it can also help you to make sure the individual paragraphs in your essay hold together and follow a coherent internal logic.
Let’s return to the reverse outline. For each paragraph, you summarized the point (or claim) made in the paragraph. As you did so, you may have noticed that some paragraphs were easier to summarize than others. In cases where you struggled to identify the point of the paragraph, think about why it was difficult. Looking at paragraphs this way allows you to identify two of the main obstacles to paragraph coherence:
- A paragraph that lacks a point, probably because it is presenting unnecessary summary
- Too many points in one paragraph. This is an indication you need to break up the paragraph and possibly add evidence to better support individual points.
To think about what makes a paragraph coherent, let’s look at the elements of a paragraph in academic prose:
What is a Paragraph?
A paragraph is a single unit of thought made up of a group of related sentences. Two principles govern effective paragraphing: unity and coherence. Unity refers to the paragraph’s single main idea, which should be readily identifiable, introduced up front, developed convincingly, and concluded. Coherence refers to the relationships among the sentences in the paragraph. Each sentence should participate in the main idea and be arranged to create the sense of a developing logic rather than a random list.
Paragraph Unity
Consider the following paragraph.
Identity politics provide a way for different social groups to fight for their own interests. Although fighting for one’s own interest might be beneficial on an individual scale, it could also be detrimental for the country as a whole. Due to interest conflicts between different groups, a nation can hardly redistribute its resources. Failing to redistribute the resources would likely cause socioeconomic inequality. This inequality will lead to systemic social problems over time. These problems can include national protests, riots, and even revolution.
This paragraph lacks unity and coherence. Why? First, the bolded subjects of each sentence lack consistency and connection. Second, the first two sentences share a common topic (fighting for group interests), but the following sentences introduce new ideas (redistribution of national resources, socioeconomic inequality, and ensuing social problems), losing sight of the paragraph’s original focus. Finally, it’s difficult to identify a single point about identity politics these sentences work together to develop. Is the writer arguing for or against identity politics here? It’s difficult to tell.
To revise for unity at the paragraph level. You should carefully review each paragraph in order to:
- Make sure the subjects (or main noun phrases) of the sentences are related.
- Confirm that sentences share common topics or ideas.
- Be able to identify the main point that the sentences, taken together, work to develop.
Paragraph Coherence
One way to achieve paragraph coherence is to follow the ADVICE format. Here’s how this structure looks in practice:
- Announce: Announce the paragraph’s main idea in the first sentence. This is also called the topic sentence.
- Develop: Develop the core idea of the paragraph and anticipate your proof, support, or evidence.
- Validate & Interpret: Validate your claim with illustrative examples or supporting evidence. Remember, no evidence is self-evident; you will probably need to explain how it ties into your paragraph claim and/or overall claim.
- Conclude & Extend: The final sentence(s) should pull the paragraph argument together and provide a link forward to the next paragraph.
Many health professional writers struggle because of situational issues. They write in time increments of minutes, not hours or days. They lack a quiet work space conducive to sustained focus. They work in isolation, without access to a group of writers to provide feedback. And they inhabit an institutional culture that may prevent the vulnerability necessary to even ask for such feedback. According to Sword (2017), such situational factors can be as detrimental to writing productivity as more technical challenges such as grammar or writing in a second language. Given this, situational issues should be addressed in faculty development programs directed at health professional writers.
The ADVICE framework provides a vocabulary for paying careful attention to paragraphs—your own, or those of the writers you’re supporting. Critical questions we can now ask include:
- Does the first sentence clearly announce the topic of the paragraph? In the example above, the use of a simple sentence structure (subject, verb, object) helps to ensure that the reader can’t miss the main idea. In paragraphs that develop sophisticated ideas, using simple sentences to announce the topic and tie up the paragraph can improve clarity.
- Do the body sentences all develop the main idea, or are some a distraction? Is there a logical pattern to their organization? Pattern is a rhetorical strategy that makes a paragraph more convincing. In the example above, the organizing pattern is one of broadening scope, from the writer’s time and space to their peer group and their institution. Parallel structure is also used to cluster the body sentences elaborating situational issues: ‘They write … They lack … They work … And they inhabit …’.
- Is the claim validated by evidence that may be understood as authoritative within the rhetorical context of the essay? In academic writing, this will often mean credible data, textual evidence, or peer-reviewed scholarship. Is it clear how the evidence connects to the overall point of the paragraph and the essay?
- Is there a concluding sentence that ties up the paragraph and ties it into the next paragraph? Many paragraphs simply end, without concluding. A good concluding sentence should not just repeat the topic sentence, or the paragraph risks feeling that it has not developed meaningfully. In the example above, the final sentence introduces the implications of situational writing issues for faculty development, thus pointing forward to the next paragraph which will elaborate relevant faculty development approaches. Concluding sentences can also be written to elaborate a topic that was introduced simply. This can help to ensure that, in hindsight, the reader understands the paragraph as developing rather than meandering.
Paragraphing is a challenging skill to develop. Let’s consider some of the ways writers can get off track, and how these problems can be addressed.
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Readers not only get lost inside the infinity paragraph; they forget how they got to it in the first place.
The infinity paragraph seems to go on forever, straining the reader’s cognitive resources. This strain signals two problems. The first is a problem of internal coherence: i. e., the transitions between sentences within a paragraph that show relationships among them and create a sense of unity. The second is a problem of external coherence: i. e., the connections between this paragraph and the paragraphs that came before it in the paper’s unfolding argument. Readers not only get lost inside the infinity paragraph; they forget how they got to it in the first place. There is no rule to follow to know if your paragraph has gotten too long: the length of a paragraph is determined by the demands of content, not by the space on the page. But generally, if your paragraph is more than a manuscript page in length, ask yourself if it can be broken into two or three paragraphs. Crafted properly, with strong transitions between them to support external coherence, three shorter paragraphs may help you to develop your argument in a more persuasive manner.
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A very short paragraph can be used to provide emphasis in an argument, but a series of them could be a sign that your ideas are not well-developed.
The hiccup paragraph ends as abruptly as it started, leaving the reader uncertain how—or if—the argument has developed. As British grammarian H.W. Fowler said, “The paragraph is essentially a unit of thought, not of length. … A succession of very short ones is as irritating as very long ones are wearisome.” A very short paragraph can be used to provide emphasis in an argument, but a series of them could be a sign that your ideas are not well-developed. You can think of your paragraphs as links in a chain: the strength of each link is dependent on how well that paragraph develops its idea. If you tend toward hiccup paragraphs, one way to improve is to see if a sequence of them can be combined. Combining them will force you to articulate the relationships among these ideas, which is part of the work of developing an idea rather than simply stating it.
The blindfold paragraph leaves the reader to wander blindly in search of the paragraph’s topic.
- The blindfold paragraph leaves the reader to wander blindly in search of the paragraph’s topic. In what Dunleavy calls the ‘throat clearing intro’, academic writers can begin their paragraphs too broadly as they reference related ideas within the field, making the reader wait until the third or fourth sentence for the main topic. By then, paragraph unity is already threatened, particularly if the reader decided for themselves that something in those first sentences was the topic of interest. To improve a blindfold paragraph, ask yourself if your first few sentences can just be deleted, bringing an existing statement of the main idea into the Announce sentence slot.
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The maze paragraph has a clear entrance and exit but readers get lost inside it.
The maze paragraph has a clear entrance and exit but readers get lost inside it. Sometimes they become so lost that they give up trying to find the logical thread and simply jump to the next paragraph. To improve a maze paragraph, look to the content, number and organization of the Develop and Validate sentences. Are they all relevant? Is there a logic to their arrangement? Have you signaled the relationships between them through the use of conjunctions (such as “but”, “or”, “and”), adverbs (such as “however”, “similarly”), and prepositional phrases (such as “by contrast”, “in comparison”, “on the other hand”). These little connecting words are essential if your paragraphs are going to remain strong and coherent.
Cliff-hangers lack a clear concluding sentence.
- The cliff-hanger paragraph leaves the reader in mid-air and jumps to the next idea in the argument. Cliff-hangers lack a clear concluding sentence. In a common example, qualitative research writers often end a paragraph with a quotation. While the right quotation may serve as a conclusion, more often they act as validation to evidence a specific claim. If you want to end with a quotation, ask yourself which function it is serving. Without a conclusion, the writer forfeits two opportunities: both to reinforce what the reader has learned in the paragraph and to signal what is coming next in the argument. Concluding sentences can be used for summary alone or they can also accomplish forward signaling of the next idea in the logical chain; you should consider when each is most effective. Particularly when the next paragraph might otherwise feel like a strange departure from the paper’s logical thread, a forward-signaling final sentence can smooth this transition.