If your article is a tree, then paragraphs are the limbs from which all the branches, leaves and fruit hang. Therefore, having well-organized paragraphs that show a coherent narrative is critical. There are quite a few things that contribute to coherence, but it mostly boils down to being careful, thinking about what you’re trying to say, considering your audience and revising.
A coherent paragraph will have every sentence relate back to its main idea. But there is more to coherence that just that. Each sentence in a coherent paragraph will transition smoothly into the next without awkward jumps. Coherency also relates to showing ties between old and new ideas to make your main idea clear. Incorporating the following elements will help to ensure your writing is clear for your readers.
1. Parallel Structure
Humans naturally look for patterns in their environment and they do the same when reading. One way to create parallelism is to craft sentences that have similar grammatical structures and similar parts of speech. Repeating a pattern is a good way to reinforce that your facts are connected without being explicit.
2. Continuity
A good way to yank your audience away from your ideas is to be inconsistent in your writing. Therefore, your writing needs to have a clear point-of-view that doesn’t vary, a verb tense that stays the same, and your nouns and verbs should agree in number. Suddenly changing from “you” to “one” or “she” to “they” is distracting and your information may get lost.
3. Consistency
Make sure you are consistent in the way you refer to the object or main idea of your paragraph. By referring to your object or idea in the same way, you will cement in your audience that it is important.
4. Transitional Phrases
Use transitional phrases to connect words, phrases or sentences. These phrases will emphasize the connections between your ideas, so your audience will be able to connect the dots easier. Well-chosen transitional phrases will lead the reader through your ideas smoothly. This is one of the most important aspects for creating coherence. Here is a good list of transitional phrases.
Know Your Audience
We naturally want to create coherence on the fly when we are having a conversation. But in writing, you want to be careful and consider your audience. They can’t ask clarifying questions, so it’s up to you to present your information in a way that goes down smoothly.
