Cohesion or Writing That Flows Clint Losee Flow

Cohesion, or Writing That Flows Clint Losee

Flow may seem mysterious Michael Carian

but really, it’s simple. By Juni from Kyoto, Japan (Flickr)

Cohesive writing leads the reader from the known to the unknown, or from the given to the new.

By Flickr user LOSINPUN We call this the given-new contract.

Good writers remember that just because an argument you’re making is clear in your own head,

that doesn’t mean it’s automatically clear to people who are reading the written version of your argument.

Utah Transit Authority Writers need to use transitional devices

to help readers figure out Marsha Maxwell where to go next.

A useful definition of cohesion was written by Wayne Booth, a well known rhetorical scholar who happens to have been born in Utah:

"[W]riting must have not only coherence, an effective design, but cohesion, an explicit set of 'hooks' and 'ties' that ensure a reader's interest and comprehension. Coherence is the kind of 'holding together' that a good design will give any discourse, whether written or spoken. Cohesion is the result of giving readers the right kind of explicit help in figuring out the design. Cohesion gives readers the clues for discovering coherence. " (Wayne C. Booth and Marshall W. Gregory, The Harper & Row Rhetoric: Writing as Thinking/Thinking as Writing, 1987)

One important cohesion strategy is end emphasis. English speakers tend to remember the information at the end of a sentence. You can take advantage of that fact by putting new information at the end of a sentence.

Let’s look at an example from Open 2010, an explanation of the Creative Commons, and figure out how that explanation fulfills the given-new contract and employs the principle of end emphasis.

Other important cohesion strategies include: • Transitional words and phrases • Pronouns • Repetition Flickr user County. Lemonade

There are dozens of transitional phrases (many of them listed in Open 2010) that writers can use to show elements of a sentence are related by • Time • Space • or Logic

Let’s look at a paragraph that uses transitional words and phrases to show elements of a sentence are logically related.

National Fancy Rat Society Dr. Edward C. Tolman, after experimenting with rats over a long period of years, found that rats that learned to run a maze under the pressure of hunger took much longer to learn the maze than rats that learned under non-crisis conditions. Furthermore, the learning that did take place was of a narrow type. That is, after learning the "right" route, these rats panicked if one avenue were blocked off. They were not able to survey the field to notice alternative routes. On the other hand, when the rats were permitted to learn under non-crisis conditions, they later performed well in a crisis. (adapted from How to Study in College, by

Here’s another paragraph that uses logical transitions:

There is a source of energy that produces no radioactive waste, nothing in the way of petrodollars, and very little pollution. Moreover, the source can provide the energy that conventional sources may not be able to furnish. Unhappily, however, it does not receive the emphasis and attention it deserves. The source might be called energy efficiency, for Americans like to think of themselves as efficient people. But the energy source is generally known by the more prosaic term conservation. To be semantically accurate, the source should be called conservation energy, to remind us of the reality - that conservation is no less an energy alternative than oil, gas, coal, or nuclear. Indeed, in the near term, conservation could do no more than any of the conventional sources to help the country deal with the energy problem it has. (adapted from Energy Future, by Daniel Yergin, Random House, 1979)

Nathanael Hevelone It may not seem obvious, but pronouns are also transitional devices. Using a pronoun to replace a noun can remind a reader of prior concepts and information.

How are pronouns used in this paragraph to help create cohesion?

A society that has no heroes will soon grow enfeebled. Its purposes will be less elevated; its aspirations less challenging; its endeavors less strenuous. Its individual members will "hang loose" and "lay back" and, so mellowed out, the last thing of which they wish to hear is heroism. They do not want to be told of men and women whose example might disturb them, calling them to effort and duty and sacrifice or even the chance of glory. (Henry Fairlie, "Too Rich for Heroes. " Harper's, November, 1978)

Natalie Burdick Our final cohesive strategy is repetition. Repeating key words and phrases reminds readers of key concepts and can also create a sense of rhythm, play or drama.

By Cliff (originally posted to Flickr as Wedding Cake) What is the effect of repetition in this witty quote about marriage by George Bernard Shaw?

“There are couples who dislike one another furiously for several hours at a time; there are couples who dislike one another permanently; and there are couples who never dislike one another; but these last are people who are incapable of disliking anybody. ” (George Bernard Shaw, from Getting Married)

Let’s go look at a few more examples and see how they use end emphasis, transitional words and phrases, pronouns and repetition to create coherence.