Techniques to Achieve Coherence in Writing

Following the concept of coherence taken in this paper, a writer must remind the readers wherever the controlling ideas are located and show how one part of a text is related to another and how a text moves naturally from one idea to another in an essay. Martin and Ohmann (1963:222) assert that there are two main techniques to achieve coherence namely the first technique is by judicious use of connectors (explicit technique), the second technique is by rational arrangement of material (implicit technique). In applying the explicit technique, a writer links parts of a sentence, different sentences, or large sections of a text using explicit linguistic devices (words or phrases) to help a reader to understand the text easier. For example, in the following excerpt from a letter written by a mother asking for advice on dealing with pre-teens, there are some examples of grammatical cohesive devices as follow.

I am a working mother with two pre-teens. After dropping them off at school, I have to get right to work. But my children are disorganized and always late. A few times, I have had to turn around and go back home because one or the other forgot something.

            (Children-LA’s Best Calendar of Family Events, July 1198:12)

The use of the pronoun them in the first line is a reference to “two pre-teens”. The conjunction but, which begins the second sentence, expresses the counter expectation arising from the second and third sentences. The phrase “always late” is an elliptical form of the clause “they are always late” and the phrase one or the other is a good example of ellipsis at the noun phrase level meaning “one child or the other child”. There is also lexical cohesion in this text, most obviously in the repetition of working and work in lines 1 and 2; children refers back to pre-teens and also relates more indirectly to mother. The words school and home are semantically related items as are disorganized and forgot something. The use of explicit technique to achieve coherence in the text above is the result of all these cohesive devices, which link together the words and propositions occurring in the text.

The implicit technique is implemented if the relationship is made evident by the content itself and so it does not need any signals to show the relationship. The existence of transitional signals helps the reader to continue rapidly, and extract full meaning from the writing; when they are absent, the reader may lose his train of thought (Willis, 1966:47; Breadsley, 1976:4).

In addition, Oshima and Hogue (1991:39) mention that there are four ways to achieve coherence. The first two ways involve repeating key nouns and using pronouns which refer back to key nouns. The third way is to use transition signals to show one idea is related to the next. The fourth way to achieve coherence is to arrange the sentences in logical order.

The first, the most natural and the easiest way to achieve coherence is to repeat key nouns frequently in the paragraph. Oshima and Hogue (1991:39) exemplify a model paragraph about gold to see how it uses the repeating key nouns technique to achieve coherence. The key noun in the following paragraph is gold.

               Gold, a precious metal, is prized for two important characteristics. First of all, gold has a lustrous beauty that is resistant to corrosion. Therefore, it is suitable for jewelry, coins, and ornamental purposes. Gold never needs to be polished and will remain beautiful forever. For example, a Macedonian coin remains as untamished today as the day it was minted twenty-three centuries ago. Another important characteristic of gold is its usefulness to industry and science. For example, many years, it has been in hundreds of industrial applications. The most recent use of gold is in astronauts’ suits. Astronauts wear gold-plated heat shields for protection outside the spaceship. In conclusion, gold is treasured not only for its beauty but also for its utility.

                                                               (Oshima and Hogue, 1991:39)

From the paragraph above, it could be identified that there are the noun gold seven times, the pronoun it twice, and the pronoun its three times. (The word it in line refers to coin, not gold). Besides, Oshima and Hogue (1991) explain that there is no fixed rule about how often to repeat key nouns or when to substitute pronouns. At the very least, a writer needs to repeat a key noun instead of using a pronoun when the meaning is not clear.

The second is the use of consistent pronouns in order to achieve coherence writing. A pronoun is used as a substitute for a noun which is its antecedent. This help in maintaining continuity of thought. For example: he, she, they, we, you and it are all pronouns. Here is an example of using consistent pronouns:

Olympic Athletes

An Olympic athlete must be strong both physically and mentally. First of all, if he or she hopes to compete in an Olympic sport, he or she must be strong. Furthermore, a hopeful Olympian must train rigorously for many years. For the most demanding sports, he or she trains several hours a day, five or six days a week, for ten or more years. In addition to being physically strong, he or she must also be mentally tough. It means that he or she has to be totally dedicated to his or her sport, often giving up a normal school, family, and social life. Being mentally strong also means that he or she must be able to withstand the intensive pressure of international competition with its attendant media coverage. Finally, not everyone can win a medal, so he or she must possess the inner strength to live with defeat.

                                                                          (Oshima and Hogue, 1991:41)

The paragraph above exemplifies the use of pronouns in the appropriate place and consistent way. Fowler (1983:224) states that a pronoun must refer clearly and unmistakably to its antecedent in order for the sentence containing the pronoun to be clear. Whether a pronoun and its antecedent appear in the same sentence or in adjacent sentences, a writer should be certain their relation is clear. One way to achieve clarity is to ensure that pronoun and antecedent agree in person and number. The other way is to ensure that the pronoun refers unambiguously close, specific antecedent.

Thirdly, transition signals are words such as first, second, next, finally, therefore, and however, or phrase such as in conclusion, on the other hand, and as a result. To think the use of transition signals as traffic signs that tell the reader when to go forward, turn, slow down, and stop. In other words, it tells the reader when a writer is giving a similar idea ( similarly, moreover, furthermore, in addition), an opposite idea (on the other hand, however, in contrast) an example (for example), a result (as a result), or a conclusion (in conclusion). The following paragraph illustrates the existence of transition words to guide a reader makes it easier to follow a writer’s ideas:

Medical science has thus succeeded in identifying the hundreds of viruses that can cause the common cold. It has also discovered the most effective means of prevention. One person transmits the cold viruses to another most often by hand. For instance, an infected person covers his mouth to cough. Then he picks up the telephone. Half an hour later, his daughter picks up the telephone. Immediately afterward, she rubs her eyes. Within a few days, she, too, has a cold. And thus it spreads. To avoid colds, therefore, people should wash their hands often and keep their hands away from their faces.

Of paragraph above can be explained that the sentence 1, with thus, is a transition from the previous paragraph. The also in sentence 2 indicates clearly that this discovery is a second insight of medical science, not perhaps a clarification of the first. For instance in sentence 4 signals that an example is coming. And thus in sentence 9 helps pull a reader out of the example and prepares the reader for the conclusion, signaled by therefore, in sentence 10.

Fourthly, to achieve coherence is to arrange the sentences in some kind of logical order. Forlini (1990:480) explains that a paragraph is coherent if all of the sentences are ordered logically and connected clearly. Since there are different kinds of logical relationships, there are different ways to organize the ideas and sentences in a paragraph. When a writer choices of one kind of logical order over another will, of course, depends on her or his topic and on her or his purpose. The writer may even combine two or more different logical orders in the same paragraph. The important point to remember is to arrange a writer’s ideas in some kind of order that is logical to a reader accustomed to the English way of writing.

Oshima and Hogue (1991:48) classify some common kinds of logical order in English are chronological order, logical division of ideas, comparison and contrast, and cause and effect. Each kind of order has its own special words and phrases to show the relationships among the ideas. For example, in a piece of writing using chronological order, a writer would expect to use a lot of time expressions such as first, next, after that, finally, before the last war, after 1950, since then, in 1990, while working on the project, etc. In a paragraph describing differences (contrast), a writer would use these expressions: the most noticeable difference, larger than, unlike, on the other hand, in contrast, differ from and so forth. In a paragraph showing similarities (comparison), a writer would use these expressions: similarity, similarly, as expensive as, just like, compare with, in comparison and so on. Logical division of ideas  is another common method of organizing ideas to give a paragraph coherence. Ideas are put into groups, and each group is discussed one after the other. Transition words such as first, second, third introduce each group. In the following paragraph, the writer expresses her writing in chronological order:

Students who wish to become doctors must plan on many years of demanding study and strenuous work beyond high school. First, they must complete four years of liberal arts studies including certain premed courses. Once they have finished college, premed students must attend medical school, usually for an additional four years of intensive study in medicine. Then, following medical school, doctors must complete internship and residency requirements at a hospital or other medical facility for at least another one to two years. Finally, when reviewed by supervisors and other doctors, the new doctors are ready to practice their profession.

(Fowler, 1983:59)

           

From the paragraph above, the words first, once, then, and finally help the reader see immediately that the support is organized by time.

One promising attempt to describe coherence in a text is topical structure analysis, focusing on semantic relationships that exist between sentence topics and the overall discourse topic. Topical structure analysis examines how topics repeat, shift, and return to earlier topics in discourse. Coherence in texts can be identified using three kinds of progression: parallel progression, sequential progression, and extended parallel progression. In the parallel progression, topics of successive sentences are the same. Topics of successive sentences in the sequential progression are always different, as the comment of one sentence becomes the topic of the next. In addition, in the extended parallel progression, the first and the last topics of a text are the same but are interrupted with some sequential progression (Connor, 1996:85).

Budiharso (2005:28) describes that coherence can be developed in two ways: by use of consistent point of view and by means of chronological order of sentences. Coherence in a paragraph depends on orderly arrangements of ideas. However, coherence is not solely a matter of logical sequence. It also depends on the use of explicit connecting links between sentences. In addition, Mc Crimon (1967:120) states that if a paragraph lacks of coherence, the reader will feel that the sentences not the paragraph, is the unit writing, and she is reading a collection of separate statement rather than an integrated discussion. 

Similar to the paragraph level, coherence in an essay level is also important. Coherence means holding together; the movement from one sentence to the next or from one paragraph to the next must be consistent and smooth. Budiharso (2005:28) states that coherence is evaluated based on the semantic relationship. Then, coherence provides sequence of words and sentences in a paragraph and among paragraphs in the whole essay, showing clear relationships and development of ideas within and between units in the essay. More than sequence on the page must hold sentences in a paragraph and in the whole essay together.

To achieve a coherence discourse, a writer must formulate her ideas using appropriate words and syntactic in good order into sentences and sentences into paragraphs so that they relate reasoned and logical thought within and between units in the essay. Similar to the ways coherence is achieved in paragraph, in an essay level, coherence is achieved using four techniques: transitional words and phrases, repeated key terms, and parallelism (Winkler, AC and McCuen JR, 1974; Oshima and Hogue, 1991).