Strategies for coherence
1. Make sure you arrange your ideas in a logical order.
2. Repeat key words, use appropriate pronouns, and use synonyms.
3. Use transition expressions and words.
Transitional Expressions.
To keep your paragraph-idea flowing clearly and smoothly, you should use reference guides as aids for your reader. Most important in achieving coherence of sentences in a paragraph are transitional expressions, a consistent point of view, and proper pronoun reference.
Single words, phrases and clauses, and even symbols help show the relationship of ideas in successive sentences. They are bridges that make the progress of thought easy. Use them, when needed, to anticipate an idea that is to follow or to refer to an idea already stated. The following lists give examples.
Single words
| first second, secondly third next last finally | similarly accordingly namely incidentally meanwhile conversely | thus also then besides therefore moreover |
| Groups of words | ||
| at first at last to repeat in effect | that is in summary in conclusion another reason | in other words on the contrary for example now let us turn to |
The following two forms of the same paragraph illustrate the roughness of transition when guides are not used and the smoothness of transition when they are.
| without transitional expressions | with transitional expressions |
| There are reasons why I like to fish. I enjoy the pull of a four-pound bass at the other end of the line. My enjoyment increases if the fish is in the deep waters of the lake. I don’t like him close to shore among the weeds. The hope of catching a big one lures me to the less-known pools and the cool waters beneath some underwater rocky ledge. I like to have a well-oiled and smooth-running motor to drive my boat from spot to spot on the open lake. I like the quiet under the open sky away from the weekend campers and two-week vacationers. I prefer the last reason. | There are reasons why I like to fish. First, I enjoy the pull of a four-pound bass at the other end of the line. Moreover, my enjoyment increases if the fish is in the deep waters of the lake, rather than close to shore among the weeds. Second, the hope of catching a big one lures me to the less-known pools and the cool waters beneath some underwater rocky ledge. Still, I like to have a well-oiled and smooth-running motor to drive my boat from spot to spot on the open lake. Finally, I like the quiet under the open sky away from the weekend campers and two-week vacationers. Of the three reasons, I prefer the last reason. |
The writer can also use a different type of transitional expression: numerical
{(1), (2)…} and alphabetical symbols {(a), (b)…}. Used carefully, such symbols are an effective and convenient method of achieving coherence.
Most magazine articles and newspaper editorials today avoid these formal symbols, although they are frequently used in books, particularly textbooks, where the author wants to stress sections of thought or to emphasize transitions. Instead of symbols, therefore, single words and word groups are more generally chosen. They are less conspicuous, but when used discriminately, they are probably equally successful.
Summing up what we have discussed it is necessary to point out that the study of paragraph development has stressed the need of
(1) a topic sentence with a definite controlling idea,
(2) a constant checking of sentences with the controlling idea in order to maintain unity,
(3) an appropriate choice of basic materials, such as detail, reason, and illustration or example,
(4) a careful use of proper co-ordination and subordination within the sentences,
(5) methods of achieving coherence within the paragraph and within the sentences of the paragraph,
(6) selecting not only effective but also serviceable complex methods of paragraph development (definition, comparison, contrast, combination of comparison and contrast, analogy) when needed, for a particular paragraph idea.
The Essay
If you can write a good paragraph, you should be able to write a good essay (composition). The difference is that the essay requires more material and more planning. The principles of unity and coherence are basically the same.
| A paragraph has | An essay has |
| A topic sentence | An essay sentence |
| A controlling idea | A (essay) thesis statement |
| Every sentence supports the topic sentence and the controlling idea | Every paragraph supports the essay sentence and the essay statement |
| Basic materials of a paragraph development are details, reasons, and illustrations | Basic materials of an essay development are paragraphs of details, reasons, and illustrations |
| Sentences are composed and arranged in a plan of major and minor supports | Paragraphs are composed and arranged in a plan of major and minor supports |
| Sentences are linked together with appropriate means of coherence | Paragraphs are arranged and linked together with appropriate means of coherence |
Most academic writing is longer than one paragraph. In fact, paragraphs are usually building blocks for essays. An essay is a group of paragraphs about one topic. Like a good paragraph, a good essay is unified and coherent. To achieve unity and coherence in both you can use the same techniques. You can classify essays and paragraphs according to the same purposes (process, cause/effect, etc.), but an essay contains more details and examples than a paragraph. Therefore, it is a larger piece of writing.
To guide readers through a piece of writing presented in an essay, a writer can provide four basic kinds of signals:
(1) Thesis and forecasting statements, to orient the readers to ideas and organization; (2) paragraphing, to group related (взаимосвязанный) ideas and details;
(3) cohesive devices, to connect ideas to one another and bring about coherence and clarity;
(4) transitions, to signal relationships or shifts in meaning.
Each essay has three major parts: an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. These parts correspond to the three major parts of the paragraph, but they are longer. An essay’s introductory paragraph contains some general statements about the essay topic as its thesis statement(тезис, положение, тема очерка, сочинения) or its main idea.
Compare the structures of a paragraph and an essay.
The topic sentence The introductory Paragraph (Introduction)
The Body The Body
(Major and minor supports) (Body paragraphs)
The Concluding sentence The Concluding Paragraph (Conclusion)
Each paragraph in the body of an essay supports the thesis statement. Each contains a topic sentence and major, and minor supporting sentences that are linked together coherently and that develop the essay topic.
The essay’s conclusion, like the paragraph’s concluding sentence summarizes the essay’s main ideas and brings it to an end.
There are different types of essays, in this course of lectures we consider some of them.
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