Novice writers often struggle with structuring their scientific papers and proposals so that
the writing is clear and easy to comprehend.
Here, I'm talking about cohesion and coherence, which are a function of sentence and paragraph
level structure.
In this video, I'm going to show you how to restructure your writing so that it is easier
to read and comprehend.
Let's first define what these terms mean and then look at an example of writing.
Cohesion just means sticking together and works at the sentence level.
In a paragraph, each sentence is linked to the sentences before and after it so that
the writing flows well.
Coherence in a piece of writing means that it exhibits a systematic or logical consistency.
That is, all the sentences in a paragraph support a main point.
The best way to understand this is to see an example.
Let's consider a paragraph that presents a series of facts in a logical sequence but
lacks cohesion and coherence.
Halophytes are plants that can grow in saltwater.
The concentration of salts in oceans is about 36 parts per thousand.
Salt stress is avoided or tolerated through plant adaptations to a salty environment.
Exclusion of salts by the roots, excretion of salts from salt glands in the leaves, and
dilution of salts by increased water content are some examples of adaptation strategies.
First, let's deal with coherence.
This short paragraph is not coherent because not all the sentences support the main point,
which is to explain how halophytes are able to grow in a saline environment.
The sentence about the saltiness of oceans is accurate but off topic.
We remove that sentence.
Now, all the remaining sentences deal with the main point of the paragraph.
Let's now tackle cohesion.
There is nothing grammatically wrong with these three sentences and they provide the
essential facts, but the way they are structured makes the reader work harder to see how they
all fit together.
One of the main tricks writers use to promote cohesion is to begin sentences with old or
familiar information that links backward to the previous material, and to end sentences
with the new or unfamiliar information.
In other words, the writer does not present the reader with new information until she
has provided some background or context for it.
In the second and third sentences of this example, the new information is presented
first and the old information is presented last, which makes the reader struggle to comprehend
the writer's message.
To improve cohesion and make this paragraph flow better, the second and third sentences
need to be restructured so that they first provide some context before introducing the
new information.
In the second sentence, we need to switch positions of the new information in red and
the old information in blue.
What I've done here is start the second sentence by restating the old or familiar information,
which was presented in the first sentence.
The phrase, their ability to inhabit salty environments, links backward to the information
in the first sentence.
The sentence ends with the new information in red.
the result of adaptations that allow the plants to avoid or tolerate salt stress.
We do the same thing with the third sentence by moving the new information in red to the
end of the sentence and the old information in blue to the beginning.
Examples of adaptation strategies include exclusion of salts by the roots, excretion
of salts from salt glands in the leaves, and dilution of salts by increased water content.
The exact same content is presented in the second version but it's now much easier to
follow.
Halophytes are plants that can grow in saltwater.
Their ability to inhabit salty environments is the result of adaptations that allow the
plants to avoid or tolerate salt stress.
Examples of adaptation strategies include exclusion of salts by the roots, excretion
of salts from salt glands in the leaves, and dilution of salts by increased water content.
In summary, you can greatly improve the clarity of your writing by paying attention to coherence
and cohesion.
If you found these writing tips useful, don't forget to let me know by leaving a comment
or liking my video.