Cohesion and coherence

Cohesion and coherence Dan, Will & Xingxuan

Outline of the class • Warm-up activity • Definition of cohesion • Examples • Specifics in cohesive writing • Group activity • Summary

What is cohesion? • ‘Cohesion’ is the quality in writing which makes your writing feel ‘joined up’ and makes it flow, and hang together well. • Coherence in writing is much more difficult to sustain than coherent speech simply because writers have no nonverbal clues to inform them if their message is clear or not. Therefore, writers must make their patterns of coherence much more explicit and much more carefully planned. Coherence itself is the product of two factors — paragraph unity and sentence cohesion.

Questions to Ask Yourself as You Revise----The OWL at Purdue • Sentences • Do your sentences "hang together?" • Readers must feel that they move easily from one sentence to the next, that each sentence "coheres" with the one before and after it. • Readers must feel that sentences in a paragraph are not just individually clear, but are unified with each other. • Does the sentence begin with information familiar to the reader? • Does the sentence end with interesting information the reader would not anticipate? • Paragraphs • Will your reader be able to identify quickly the "topic" of each paragraph?

Examples • Which one is more cohesive?

Some astonishing questions about the nature of the universe have been raised by scientists studying black holes in the space. The collapse of a dead star into a point perhaps no longer than a marble creates a black hole.So much matter compressed into so little volume changes the fabric of space around it in puzzling ways. • Some astonishing questions about the nature of the universe have been raised by scientists studying black holds in space. A black hole is created by the collapse of a dead star into a point perhaps no larger than a marble. So much matter compressed into so little volume changes the fabric of space around it in puzzling ways.

What’s the difference? • The sentence with the passive voice causes the paragraph to flow better. • It connects easily to the sentence that precedes it and the sentence that follows.

What’s wrong with it? • “I tried to get to sleep. My neighbor owns a acoustic guitar and an electric guitar. He likes to play the electric guitar. I had to get up at the crack of dawn for work the next day. The other neighbor and his wife must be more tolerant than me. I don't know what his other neighbor thinks about it. I don't know what his wife thinks about it. My neighbor plays the guitar quite badly. I wish my neighbor would take up another hobby.”

I'm trying to get to sleep but he's at it again, my neighbor, playing the guitar. He actually owns two guitars, a simple acoustic one and an expensive electric one. But he seems to prefer to play the electric one late at night when I'm trying to get to sleep and have to get up at the crack of dawn for work the next day. I don't know what his other neighbor thinks about it, or his wife for that matter. They must be more tolerant than me. The problem is, not only does he play the guitar very loudly, but he also plays it quite badly. I really wish he would take up another hobby altogether, or at least find a quieter musical instrument to play. (Cutting 2000: 213)

Specific markers in writing • Cohesive devices in writing: • 1.Reference words: • point to a specific thing or to a location in space or time. • Definite articles, pronouns, place and time markers

2. Transitions • connect sentences, showing relationships between ideas or clarifying the progression of an argument • Adverbs, phrases, clauses, logical markers, modifying phrases

3. Repetition • continuous use or emphasis of key phrases/words or ideas

Group activity • Little Red Riding Hood • Read Part A & C, work in groups to fill in Part B

Part B • "Your grandchild, Little Red Riding Hood," replied the wolf, counterfeiting her voice; "who has brought you a cake and a little pot of butter sent you by mother." • The good grandmother, who was in bed, because she was somewhat ill, cried out, "Pull the bobbin, and the latch will go up." • The wolf pulled the bobbin, and the door opened, and then he immediately fell upon the good woman and ate her up in a moment, for it been more than three days since he had eaten. He then shut the door and got into the grandmother's bed, expecting Little Red Riding Hood, who came some time afterwards and knocked at the door: tap, tap.

Summary • Sentences build off each other, and paragraphs build off of those sentences; like the relation of a part to the whole, the sentences must be coherent for the paragraph to make sense, and each paragraph must relate to the one following it • Cohesion and coherence are essential to all aspects of writing, academic or not

Helpful sources • http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/561/04 • HUNTER COLLEGE WRITING CENTER • http://uwp.duke.edu/wstudio/resources/ppt/StyleCCC.pdf Duke University’s Writing Studio

Cohesion and coherence