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THE IMPORTANCE OF COHERENCE IN WRITING
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Rakhimova M.U. , Djumanazarova G.Sh. , Bobojonova Yu.I.
1Rakhimova Munira Ulugbek qizi - Student;
2Djumanazarova Gulnora Shukhratovna - Student;
3Bobojonova Yulduz Igorovna - Student, FOREIGN PHILOLOGY FACULTY, ENGLISH LINGUISTICS DEPARTMENT, URGENCH STATE UNIVERSITY, UREGENCH, REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN
Abstract: coherence in writing means that all the ideas in a paragraph flow smoothly from one sentence to the next sentence. With coherence, the reader has an easy time understanding the ideas that you wish to express. Coherence is an essential quality for good academic writing. In academic writing, the flow of ideas from one sentence to the next should be smooth and logical. Without cohesion, the reader will not understand the main points that you are trying to make. It also hampers readability. Cohesion necessarily precedes coherence.
Keywords: academic writing, readability, logical, connect, understand, strategies, paragraph.
There is a difference between the two terms: cohesion is achieved when sentences are connected at the sentence level, whereas as coherence is achieved when ideas are connected. In addition, cohesion focuses on the grammar and style of your paper. What is Coherence? Coherence also means "clarity of expression" and it is created when correct vocabulary and grammar are used. After all, the goal of writing is to benefit the readers. Without both coherence and cohesion, the readers may detect choppiness in the text and feel as if there are gaps in the ideas presented. Needless to say, texts without coherence are difficult to read and understand. It defeats the whole purpose of writing, which is to relay ideas in a clear and efficient manner. There are strategies that you can use to ensure coherence and cohesion in academic writing. To ensure that your paragraphs have unity, there are two things to keep in mind: it must have a single topic (found in the topic sentence) and sentences provide more detail than the topic sentence, while maintaining the focus on the idea presented. The paragraph below shows a lack of unity: Non-cohesive sample: Dogs are canines that people domesticated a long time ago. Wolves are predecessors of dogs and they help people in a variety of ways. There are various reasons for owning a dog, and the most important is companionship. Cohesive sample: Dogs are canines that people domesticated a long time ago, primarily for practical reasons. Even though dogs descended from wolves, they are tame and can be kept in households. Since they are tame, people have various reasons for owning a dog, such as companionship. Notice that the ideas in the non-cohesive sample are not arranged logically. The sentences are not connected by transitions and give the readers new ideas that are not found in the topic sentence. Thus, the paragraph is hard to read, leaving readers confused about the topic. On the other hand, the cohesive sample has ideas arranged logically. All ideas in this sample flow from the topic sentence. In addition, they give more details about the topic while maintaining their focus on the topic sentence. It is important to focus on coherence when writing at the sentence level. However, cohesion smoothens the flow of writing and should be established. There are various ways to ensure coherent writing.
Coherence is sometimes called cohesion, even though some would claim that the two terms denote phenomena that are obviously related, but clearly different. We use coherence to cover both the extent to which a text hangs together, as it were, and the various linguistic and structural means of achieving this coherence. In a coherent text, there are logical links between the words, sentences, and paragraphs of the text. The term comes from the Latin verb co-haerere, which means 'to stick together' (OED). Another way to describe coherence is to say that it has to do with good and smooth text flow.
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A writer must maximise understanding of a text by making it as clear and logical as possible. Coherence can be achieved in a number of ways. Oshima & Hogue (2006) suggest the following four:*.Repeating key nouns*.Using consistent pronouns*.Using transition signals to link ideas*.Arranging your ideas in logical order Starting with the last point, for the reason that it is a paramount aspect, any academic text will be incomprehensible unless the ideas expressed in it are arranged in some sort of logical fashion. There are several different kinds of logical order, but some of the more frequently used are chronology ,importance, and contrast. Chronology, firstly, has to do with time, and in terms of logic, events are ordered in a sequence. Secondly, importance means that ideas are discussed in a sequence which implies either a increasing or decreasing order of importance. Thirdly, contrast has to do with ordering ideas by contrasting or comparing them. The last but one point -transition signals (sometimes called linking words or linking adverbials) - has to do with the use of specific words and phrases that evoke links and transition between ideas.
To achieve good writing: you need "paragraph unity, development, and coherence." Paragraph unity and development are easy to understand. But the notion of coherence is a little more difficult to comprehend. Let's look at why coherence is so important, how it differs from cohesion (another commonly used writing term), and three ways you can make a paragraph more coherent. Why is coherence so important in business writing? Coherence makes a text easy to read and understand. Good writers know how to communicate well through writing. To begin with, they know the purpose of the text and they know who the intended audience is. They have a sense of what questions readers may have in mind. Good writers also know how to link sentences together in a logical and orderly way. What is the difference between coherence and cohesion? As I mentioned above, coherence makes it easy for the reader to see the link between sentences in a paragraph or text. It creates a sense of continuity for the reader that makes the message clear. Cohesion, on the other hand, has to do with the stylistic ways a text is linked together. Think of it as the glue that connects sentences. There are many techniques a writer can use to effectively link sentences together. For example, you can use transitional expressions such as "indeed" or "in fact" to show emphasis. Common traditional signals to indicate sequence include "first, second, followed by, next, and then, meanwhile" and so on. There are many other signals that good writers know how to use. You should learn them to. In another blog post I'll talk more about other techniques for creating a cohesive text. How do you make a paragraph more coherent? Your goal as a good writer is to make your text logical and orderly. One simple way to do this is by using pronouns throughout the text.
"Coherence makes it easy for the reader to see the link between sentences in a paragraph or text. It creates a sense of continuity". The pronoun "it" refers back to "coherence" and ties the two sentences together. A second effective way to create a coherent text is by using a clear topic or main sentence. This entire blog post is built on this topic sentence appearing in the first paragraph: "Let's look at why coherence is so important, how it differs from cohesion (another commonly used writing term), and three ways you can make a paragraph more coherent".
References
1. Horvath B.M. (1985). Variation in Australian English: The sociolects of Sydney. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2. SussexR. (1989). T7. Turner G.W. (1994). English in Australia. The Cambridge history of the English language. pp. 277-327.
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