Coherence and Cohesion: How to make your writing answer flow smoothly

Read the following texts. Which one conveys information more completely and accurately?

The effects of the Global Financial Crisis were first felt in 2007. Stock markets fell sharply around
the world. Australia has experienced a period of relative economic prosperity since 2007. Good
business practices lessened the effect of the Global Financial Crisis. There has been a surge in
mining investment.
The effects of the Global Financial Crisis were first felt in 2007 as a result of a sharp fall in Stock
markets around the world. However, Australia has experienced a period of relative economic
prosperity in the same period. This can partly be attributed to good business practices as well as a
surge in mining investment, which have lessened the effect of economic downturn.
The first passage lacks cohesion, in that the connections between the ideas are unclear. The second text
employs a number of cohesive devices that answer questions like those above. Cohesive devices are words
and expressions that indicate relationships between parts of text, such as cause and effect, time, addition, or
comparison and contrast. The first text is also somewhat repetitive. Cohesive devices not only reduce
repetition but also supply valuable additional information in a few words, and create connections at multiple
levels in the text. The next section provides ways that you can achieve more cohesive writing.

It is the responsibility of the writer in English to make it clear to the reader how various parts of the
paragraph are connected. These connections can be made explicit grammatically and lexically by the use of
different reference words. Words like "it", "this", "that", "here", "there" etc. refer to other parts of the text.
There are four main types of links used in academic texts: reference, ellipsis and substitution, conjunction
and lexical cohesion (Halliday and Hasan, 1976).

Reference

Certain items of language in English have the property of reference. That is, they do not have meaning
themselves, but they refer to something else.

The scientific study of memory began in the early 1870s when a German philosopher, Hermann Ebbinghaus,
came up with the revolutionary idea that memory could be studied experimentally. In doing so, he broke
away from a 2000-year-old tradition that firmly assigned the study of memory to the philosopher rather than
to the scientist. He argued that the philosophers had come up with a wide range of possible interpretations of
memory but had produced no way of deciding which amongst these theories offered the best explanation of
memory. He aimed to collect objective experimental evidence of the way in which memory worked in the
hope that this would allow him to choose between the various theories.

In this text, "he" and "him" refers to "Hermann Ebbinghaus". In order to create such a text, you need to us
these words correctly in the text.

Similarly,

These theories all stem from some underlying assumptions about people. To a large extent
unproven, they tend to represent the dominant mood or climate of opinion at that time. Schein has
classified them as follows, and it is interesting to note that the categories follow each other in a sort of
historical procession, starting from the time of the industrial revolution.

Other words used in this way are "he", "him", "it", "this", "that", "these", "those", "here", "there" etc.

Substitution and ellipsis

Substitution is the replacement of one item by another and ellipsis is the omission of the item. To emphasise
or focus of attention on a part of text, we sometimes repeat the same word or phrase. But we also try to
avoid too much repetition by using words and phrases with similar meaning (synonyms).

The scientific study of memory began in the early 1870s when a German philosopher, Hermann Ebbinghaus,
came up with the revolutionary idea that memory could be studied experimentally. In doing so he broke away
from a 2000-year-old tradition that firmly assigned the study of memory to the philosopher rather than to
the scientist. He argued that the philosophers had come up with a wide range of possible interpretations of
memory but had produced no way of deciding which amongst these theories offered the best explanation of
memory. He aimed to collect objective experimental evidence of the way in which memory worked in the
hope that this would allow him to choose between the various theories.

Here, "so" means "studying memory experimentally". The writer has substituted "studying memory
experimentally" with "so". Other words that can be used are "one", "ones", "do", "so", "not".

Ellipsis is substitution by zero.

Some of the water which falls as rain flows on the surface as streams. Another part is evaporated. The
remainder sinks into the ground and is known as ground water.

"Another part" means "Another part of the water" and "The remainder" means "The remainder of the
water".

Similarly,

The 74 species of African antelope share certain basic features: all are exclusively vegetarian and bear one
large and precocious calf each year.

Conjunction/Transitional devices /Connecting words

Conjunction shows meaningful relationships between clauses. It shows how what follows is connected to
what has gone before.

The whole Cabinet agreed that there should be a cut in the amount that the unemployed were receiving;
where they disagreed was in whether this should include a cut in the standard rate of benefit. The opposition
parties, however, were unwilling to accept any programme of economies which did not involve a cut in the
standard rate of benefit.

The word "however" shows that this statement is opposite to the ideas that have come before. Other words
used are "for example", "as a consequence of this", "firstly", "furthermore", "in spite of this", etc.

Lexical cohesion

This is a way of achieving a cohesive effect by the use of particular vocabulary items. You can refer to the
same idea by using the same or different words.

Patients who repeatedly take overdoses pose considerable management difficulties. The problem-orientated
approach is not usually effective with such patients. When a patient seems to be developing a pattern of
chronic repeats, it is recommended that all staff engaged in his or her care meet to reconstruct each attempt
in order to determine whether there appears to be a motive common to each act.

This first example illustrates an impulsive overdose taken by a woman who had experienced a recent loss
and had been unable to discuss her problems with her family. During the relatively short treatment, the
therapist helped the patient to begin discussing her feelings with her family.
Francis Bacon was born in London in 1561 and died there in 1626. His father was Sir Nicholas, Lord Keeper of
the Great Seal of Elizabeth I; his mother Anne Cooke, a well-educated and pious Calvinist, daughter of Sir
Anthony Cooke. His contemporary biographer, William Rawley, remarked that, with such parents, Bacon had
a flying start: he had "whatsoever nature or breeding could put into him".

For cohesion to occur, it is not necessary for each word to refer to exactly the same item or even be
grammatically equivalent. All the words related to "debt" contribute to the cohesion.

In each of these cases the basic problem is the same: a will has been made, and in it a debtor is left a legacy
of liberatio from what he owes the testator. The question is, if he has subsequently borrowed more from the
testator, up to what point he has been released from his debts. It is best to begin with the second case. Here
there is a straightforward legacy to the debtor of a sum of money and also of the amount of his debt to the
testator. This is followed by a clause in which there is a general damnatio and also a general trust that the
legacies in the will be paid. The debtor goes on to borrow more money, and the question is whether that is
taken to be included in the legacy too. The response is that since the words relate to the past, later debts are
not included.

Other commonly used devices are "repetitions", "synonyms" and "near synonyms", "collocations",
"super/sub-ordinate relationships" (e.g. fruit/apple, animal/cat) etc.

Anaphoric nouns

Another useful way to show the connection between the ideas in a paragraph is what Gill Francis calls
anaphoric nouns. Look at the following text:

Moulds do not usually grow fast, and conditions had to be found in which large quantities of Penicillium
notatum could be produced as quickly as they were wanted. The solution to this problem was helped by N. G.
Heatley, a young biochemist also from Hopkins's laboratory in Cambridge, who had been prevented by the
outbreak of war from going to work in the Carlsberg laboratories in Copenhagen.

The phrase "this problem" summarises the text in the first sentence and thus provides the connection
between the two sentences.

Reports of original work, headed often by the names of many joint authors, became too full of jargon to be
understood even by trained scientists who were not working in the particular field. This situation persists
today, though strong movements towards interdisciplinary research help to avoid total fragmentation of
scientific understanding.

Again, the phrase "This situation" summarises the first sentence.

This led many later Greek thinkers to regard musical theory as a branch of mathematics (together with
geometry, arithmetic, and astronomy it constituted what eventually came to be called the quadrivium). This
view, however, was not universally accepted, the most influential of those who rejected it being Aristoxenus
of Tarentum (fourth century BC).

Again, "This view" summarises the information in the first sentence, the view (opinion) that music was a
branch of mathematics.

Genetics deals with how genes are passed on from parents to their offspring. A great deal is known about the
mechanisms governing this process.

The phrase "this process" summarises the first sentence.

The phrase:
 This
noun ...
These

is very useful in showing the connection between sentences and therefore in making sure that the paragraph
flows.

Other nouns typically used in this way are: "account, advice, answer, argument, assertion, assumption,
claim, comment, conclusion, criticism, description, difficultly, discussion, distinction, emphasis, estimate,
example, explanation, fall, finding, idea, improvement, increase, observation, proof, proposal, reference,
rejection, report, rise, situation, suggestion, view, warning".

Some things you should ask yourself while writing are:

- Do you use a range of transition signals (for example, however, firstly..)?

- Do you avoid repeating words by using synonyms (increase, rise, jump..) or pronouns (it, them, they..)?
- Is your writing nicely arranged into logical paragraphs focusing on one idea?
- Do you have a thesis statement introducing your essay in your first paragraph?
- Is there good flow between sentences and paragraphs?

Try the following coherence and cohesion exercise then check your answers:

Exercise 1: Coherence & Cohesion

Study the essay below. There are some gaps in the text and some words that need improving. You should:
Ø add transition signals in some of the gaps;
Ø add phrases in the other gaps (e.g. in the thesis and summary – study the topic sentences to do that);
Ø change some words or phrases to make the coherence and cohesion better.

In the past, most women stayed at home to take care of housework ____________ cooking or cleaning.
Women’s liberation has meant that this situation has been changed, and in modern society women are
playing an almost equal role to men in employment. This has had significant effects, _______ in terms of the
________, for example by ________________ and increasing children’s __________________________, and
also for society itself with ______________
__________________.
The salary of a woman in her lifetime is generally much less than that of a man. A woman can nevertheless
make a big addition to the family income. One result of adding to the family income is an improved quality of
life. By helping to keep a stable salary for the family, the pressure on the husband is much
reduced, so improving both the husband’s and the wife’s good feeling. And the things that can be bought by
the family will also be raised. So the family can have enough money to buy more luxuries such as foreign
travel and a family car.
Secondly is the promotion of independence in the children. Some might argue that having both parents
working might be harmful to the children because of a lack of care by parents. But such children have to
learn to look after themselves at an earlier age, and their parents often depend on them to help with the
housework. So this teaches them important life skills.
As regards society, one impact of women going to work is greater sex equality. There are an increasing
number of women who are becoming politicians, lawyers, and even CEOs and company managers. This in
turn has led to greater equality for women in all areas of life, not just employment. Women are _________
allowed by law to vote, they can be in the armed forces, and they have legal rights to protect themselves
against
home violence or sex bothering or unfair treatment at work.
In conclusion, the increasing number of women at work has brought about some important changes to
__________, including _________________ and increased ______________________, as well as affecting
_____________. It is clear that the sexes are still a long way from being equal in all areas of life, however,
and perhaps the challenge for the present century is to ensure that this takes place.

Coherence & Cohesion: Answers

In the past, most women stayed at home to take care of housework such as cooking or cleaning. Women’s
liberation has meant that this situation has been changed, and in modern society women are playing an
almost equal role to men in employment. This has had significant effects, both in terms of the family, for
example by improving quality of lifeand increasing children’s sense of independence, and also for society
itself with greater equality for the sexes.
The salary of a woman in her lifetime is generally much less than that of a man. She can nevertheless make a
big addition to the family income. The most important result of this is an improved quality of life. By helping
to keep a stable salary for the family, the pressure on the husband is much reduced, hence improving both
the husband’s and the wife’s good feeling. Additionally, the things that can be bought by the family will also
be raised. This means that the family can have enough money to buy more luxuries such as foreign travel
and a family car.
A further effect on the family is the promotion of independence in the children. Some might argue that
having both parents working might be harmful to the children because of a lack of care by
parents. However,such children have to learn to look after themselves at an earlier age, and their parents
often depend on them to help with the housework. As a result, this teaches them important life skills.
As regards society, the most significant impact of women going to work is greater
sex equality. There are an increasing number of women who are becoming politicians, lawyers, and even
CEOs and company managers. This in turn has led to greater equality for women in all areas of life, not just
employment. Women are now allowed by law to vote, they can be in the armed forces, and they have legal
rights to protect themselves against home violence or sex bothering or unfair treatment at work.
In conclusion, the increasing number of women at work has brought about some important changes
to family life, including improved quality of life and increased independence for children, as well as
affecting society itself. It is clear that the sexes are still a long way from being equal in all areas of life,
however, and perhaps the challenge for the present century is to ensure that this takes place.