The Five Strategies to Achieve Coherence in Essey Writing

FIVE STRATEGIES TO ACHIEVE COHERENCE IN ESSAY WRITING

Coherence is a quality of an essay when all parts are clearly connected. An essay is normally written in paragraphs form which forms introduction, the main body, and the conclusion. Even if all the ideas in a paragraph relate to the main idea, they will not be effective if they are presented in a chaotic jumble. Coherence is therefore, created when the ideas are arranged in a logical pattern. The following are some of the strategies to achieve coherence in essay writing.

One of the ways to achieve coherence is to observe unity which is a key quality for any effective paragraph. A unified paragraph sticks to one topic from the beginning to the end, with every sentence contributing to central purpose and main idea of that paragraph. In fact to be effective, each paragraph must have controlling ideas known as a topic sentence. A topic sentence works like a thesis statement, giving a paragraph a sense of direction. For instance, “English is the language of international youth culture. Youths worldwide sing the lyrics of Michael Jackson, and Madonna songs without fully understanding them. Break dance, and rap music are invading the slang of West German youth.” Thus, all the sentences in the example explain the main idea.

Another strategy to achieve coherence in essay writing is the use of pronouns and sayings. In order to achieve coherence in essay writing the uses of pronouns and sayings help to avoid the repetition of the same nouns and sharp words. Moreover the pronouns attract the reader to read as she/he is not getting bored. For instance, batteries are not bio degradable, so people should not dispose them in normal household waste. A pronoun therefore, will usually be the last one to be mentioned.

Transitional expressions are also useful to link one paragraph with another. Just as they guide readers through shifts within a paragraph, these expression works like hooks to link one paragraph with another. Without these linking devices, an essay can seem like a loose chain of unrelated blocks of information. Examples of them are besides and next to (show place relationship); in addition, again, too, also and moreover (to show time relationships) and many others.

In addition, supporting details help to create coherence in essay writing. These are a number of supporting sentences which follow a topic sentence and develop the main idea with specific details. Facts alone are not interesting or dramatic unless the writer ties them to a general statement, giving the details a sense of importance. As in the following “sub urbanization quickly gathered amazing speed. The number of single family new housing starts rising from 114,000 in 1944 to 1.7 million in 1950 with the developer’s magic, every kind of terrain-broccoli, spinach, and dairy farms, apple orchards, avocados, orange, and garbage dumps, hillside scrub, and just plain desert - gave way to sub-division. Between 1945 and 1954, 9 million people moved to the suburbs. Millions more followed………..” Supporting details can, therefore, be facts, statistics, quotes from experts, or one own observations and experiences.

Furthermore, consistence is very important strategy for writing coherent essay. This can be achieved by mentioning things in the order with which they should be dealt. For example, major points should be explained and mentioned in the order with which they are dealt without changing or diverging from the concept to be explained. Sometimes when the writer is tired can find himself/herself explaining fully a certain point and fail to explain well another point, something which can lead an essay to be not coherent.

In summary, a good and coherent essay must not escape the general structure of essay, which is introduction, main body and conclusion. A coherently written essay must also observe proper sequence as well as punctuation marks from the introduction part to the conclusion. When all strategies are employed accordingly, the reader of particular essay will neither confuse nor be bored but he/she will only enjoy and become more interested in reading such kind of an essay.

REFERENCES

Kumar S. and Lata P. (2011), Communication Skills, Britain; Oxford University Press.

Krishna M. and Benerji M. (1990), Developing Communication, New Delhi, India; Macmillan.

Connelly M. (1994), The McGraw-Hill Workbook, McGraw Hill, USA.