Writing

Lecture on Coherence

Objective: Understand various coherence strategies and how they improve audience comprehension. 

The word coherence comes from the two words: com-together & haere-to stick “to stick together.”

In writing, your body paragraphs cohere when ideas in a paragraph flow smoothly from one sentence to the next. And ultimately your essay coheres when your ideas flow from one paragraph to another. That doesn't mean your ideas have to be predictable or your structure so overly transparent. Nevertheless, you want your ideas to feel inevitable in their connection and order. You want to create a sense of unity to increase your audience’s understanding of your main points.

So how do you create coherence? 

There are five primary strategies to create coherence. More than one can be used at a time. 

Ordering principles

Pronouns/Antecedents

Combining sentences

Transition words

Repetition

 

Ordering Principles

When you write a paragraph or full essay, choose words or groups of words to give the reader clues about what moves you are making. This is a short (general) list of different types of words.

Chronology (First, next, after, until,…)

Contrast (On the other hand, but, although)

In addition (Furthermore, and,

Cause/effect(Therefore, so, since)

Location (under, above, between, alongside)

Pronouns/Antecedents

When you write use pronouns and their antecedents regularly to ensure your readers are clear about who and what you are referring to. Here's a paragraph from the first few pages of Coates' text that shows how much he uses these pronouns and their antecedents (nouns they are referring to). 

The host read these words for the audience, and when she finished she turned to the subject of my body, although she did not mention it specifically. But by now I am accustomed to intelligent people asking about the condition of my body without realizing the nature of their request. Specifically, the host wished to know why I felt that white America’s progress, or rather the progress of those Americans who believe that they are white, was built on looting and violence.

Sentence Combining

Combining sentences using coordination (FANBOYS) or subordination (Dependent Clause words) can not only help with the flow of your ideas, but it can help readers better understand your emphasis or opinion.  See the two paragraphs below from Coates, without and then with sentence combining. Can you sense the difference? 

America’s prisons function as gulags. People are held without charges. They are driven to commit suicide. Wealth and income inequality have undermined American democracy. The US is, in fact, a plutocracy.

America’s prisons function as gulags, where people are held without charges until they are driven to commit suicide. Wealth and income inequality have undermined American democracy; the US is, in fact, a plutocracy.

Transition Words 

When you are trying to move from one opinion to a contrasting one (concession, counterargument, or general analysis on a complex topic), using a set of transition words can be very helpful. See the list below. 

It is true that… however… therefore

Certainly…. but ….. in short

Admittedly…. on the other hand… so

Of course….. Nevertheless….. as a result

Obviously… on the contrary… finally

Sure….. however….in addition

Repetition

Oftentimes we think of speeches, poetry or even music as the place for repetition to be effective. However, some repetition works well in essay writing to give the audience the emphasis or emotion you are trying to elicit. Review this paragraph of Coates' and see how often he repeats key phrases. 

When the journalist asked me about my body, it was like she was asking me to awaken her from the most gorgeous dream. I have seen that dream all my life. It is perfect houses with nice lawns. It is Memorial Day cookouts, block associations, and driveways. The Dream is tree houses and the Cub Scouts. And for so long I have wanted to escape into the Dream, to fold my country over my head like a blanket. But this has never been an option, because the Dream rests on our backs, the bedding made from our bodies. And knowing this, knowing that the Dream persists by warring with the known world, I was sad for the host, I was sad for all those families, I was sad for my country, but above all, in that moment, I was sad for you.

Try one or more of these strategies on Essay 2 as you explore ways to improve your writing techniques. 

Lecture on Quoting

Introducing Quotes

When you quote material from a text, you have to introduce, cite, and analyze the quote. However, you have options regarding how you want to do each of these steps. First, there are three ways to introduce a quote. You can see that each of these strategies impact how your reader experiences the evidence that you are presenting. Most writers start and sometimes rely too heavily on merely using signal phrases for each quote. It is a good idea to vary the way you introduce material. If the quoted material is a short phrase or is worded in a way that doesn't work well with your diction, you should choose to embed or use a longer complete sentence to prepare the reader for the quote.

Phrase:   Coates argues, “……..” (32).   According to the author, “…….” (Coates 32).

Complete Sentence: Coates rejects religious platitudes often used in the black community: “…….” (110).

Embedded into your sentence:   Coates believes those who dream “are sleepwalking in this world” (64).

 

Signal Phrases

If you are going to use introduce your quote with a signal phrase, choose ones that are specific and relevant to what your author is writing. Here's a good list for reference. 

Argues, avoids, adds

Begins, backs

Comments, criticizes, confronts, connects, continues

Describes, defends

Evades

Finds, follows

Maintains, notes, observes

Reports, Suggests

Adding Analysis

After a Quote (TEEA) After each quote, you'll need to add some analysis or a transition to a second quote before your analysis. Using phrases like “Therefore,” “As a result” or “So,” demonstrate why or how the evidence connects back to the topic sentence (claim). Here's a sentence of analysis for a quote from Coates' text. As a result of discriminatory housing policies, claiming that everyone has access to the dream if they work hard is naïve and neglects the challenges this country has directed towards people of color.

Ellipses and Brackets

Ellipses are used to indicate to your reader that the author has removed a portion of text. It may come at the middle or the end of the sentences. The original quote below had a lot of historical information about the NCAA which buffered the main claim about corruption and wasn't necessary for this quote. “The NCAA…is about as corrupt and mangled an institution as exists in the United States” (Zirin). Brackets are used to indicate to your reader that a word or phrase has been replaced for clarification purposes. In the example below the original said "they" which would have been unclear for the reader. “So [colleges] are realigning into different mega-conferences with the hope that this will provide enough money to maintain the status quo” (Zirin).

Citing Films

Citation for films and videos is more flexible than in print media, so you can control the order of the information based on your needs. For example, Include the following in the Works Cited: Title. Dir. Name or Actor/tress if important. Name of production company. Name of publisher (i.e. Youtube or Ted Talk or Vimeo). Year of release. Film. 13th. Dir. Ava DuVernay. 2016. Netflix. Film. Include the following in the in-text citation: In a recent documentary, the problem of over incarceration of African Americans can be traced back to slavery (13th). If my quote or point was to highlight the director or actor, I would have put her name first in the works cited entry and in the parenthesis.