An important aspect of writing an essay is maintaining paragraph unity. This key element is necessary to keep the paragraph focused on the point it is intended to address (Internal Unity) and to maintain its ties to the other paragraphs of the essay (External Unity). A paragraph is a unit by itself and, at the same time, part of the larger essay unit. Paragraph unity can be achieved by focusing on cohesion and coherence
As you move into drafting and revising your paragraphs later in the process, you will want to focus on developing clear transitions within and between paragraphs. Transitions are words or phrases that indicate linkages in ideas. When writing, you need to lead your readers from one idea to the next, showing how those ideas are logically linked. Transition words and phrases help you keep your paragraphs and groups of paragraphs logically connected for a reader.
Cohesion refers to the flow from sentence to sentence.
In the example above, Version A has the exact same information as Version B, but it is harder to read because it is less cohesive. Each sentence in Version B 53 begins with old information and bridges to new information. The first sentence establishes the key idea of balance theory. The next sentence begins with balance theory and ends with social ties, which is the focus of the third sentence. The concept of weak ties connects the third and fourth sentences and concept of cliques the fifth and sixth sentences. In Version A, in contrast, the first sentence focuses on balance theory, but then the second sentence makes a new point about social ties before telling the reader that the point comes from balance theory. The reader has to take in a lot of unfamiliar information before learning how it fits in with familiar concepts. Version A is coherent, but the lack of cohesion makes it tedious to read. The lesson is this: if you or others perceive a passage you’ve written to be awkward or choppy, even though the topic is consistent, try rewriting it to ensure that each sentence begins with a familiar term or concept. If your points don’t naturally daisy-chain together like the examples given here, consider numbering them. For example, you may choose to write, “Proponents of the legislation point to four major benefits.” Then you could discuss four loosely related ideas without leaving your reader wondering how they relate.
While cohesion is about the sense of flow, coherence is about the sense of the whole. In order to maintain some sense of sanity and unobstructed comprehension and access to content, you, as a writer, need to make sure the written material follows a logical order.
Each sentence in the above passage starts with a familiar idea and progresses to a new one, but it lacks coherence—a sense of being about one thing. Good writers often write passages like that when they’re free-writing or using the drafting stage to cast a wide net for ideas. A writer weighing the power and limits of social network analysis may free-write something like that example and, from there, develop a more specific plan for summarizing key insights about social networks and then discussing them with reference to the core tenets of social science. As a draft, an incoherent paragraph often points to a productive line of reasoning; one just has to continue thinking it through in order to identify a clear argumentative purpose for each paragraph. With its purpose defined, each paragraph, then, becomes a lot easier to write. Coherent paragraphs aren’t just about style; they are a sign of a thoughtful, well developed analysis.
Ensuring unity through cohesion and coherence requires strong topic and concluding sentences. The topic sentence identifies the purpose of the paragraph. The last sentence of the paragraph should succeed in carrying out the task that it has been assigned by its topic sentence; however, you do not necessarily need to worry about whether that last sentence has an air of conclusiveness.
In that example, the first and last sentences in the paragraph are somewhat symmetrical: the authors introduce the idea of accessible science, contrast it with big science, and bring it back to the phrase “little science."
The last sentence of the paragraph doesn’t mirror the first, but the paragraph still works just fine. In general, every sentence of academic writing should add some unique content. Don’t trouble yourself with having the last sentence in every paragraph serve as a mini-conclusion. Instead, worry about developing each point sufficiently and making your logical sequence clear.
Attribution:
English Composition I. Schoolcraft College.
