Fortunately, writers can enhance cohesion with the following sentence-level strategies.
With clear connections between sentences, readers can move smoothly from one sentence to the next without stopping, doubling back, or trying to make sense of the text. Cohesion-local flowĬohesion, or local flow, means that the ideas are connected clearly at the sentence level. The reverse outlining demo above illustrates this strategy applied to an existing draft. For example, how do blue ideas relate to one another? How does this blue idea connect to this yellow idea? We have a short color coding demo that illustrates using the strategy before you draft. After sorting your ideas into differently colored groups, figure out how these ideas relate to one another, both within color groups and between color groups. You can use color coding to group similar ideas or ideas that are connected in various ways. How would reordering the information affect my paper?.What effect does the order of ideas have on my readers?.Why are the ideas presented in this order? Would they make more sense if I reorder them?.How am I ordering ideas? Can I describe the pattern?.To learn more about reverse outlining, you can watch our demo of this strategy, or read our Reorganizing Drafts handout for a more in-depth explanation.
After making the reverse outline, you can analyze the order of your ideas. Try these two strategies to analyze the flow of your draft at the global level.Ī reverse outline allows you to see how you have organized your topics based on what you actually wrote, rather than what you planned to write. The essay concludes with an analysis of how the student’s experience changed after taking advantage of the available support.” Analyzing coherence It then describes the types of resources available and surveys the research on the benefits of using these resources. The following section describes possible reasons for not using them. The first section describes the experience of a first-year student at a top-tier university who did not use resources. “This paper examines the value of using resources in university settings. This strategy involves giving your readers a roadmap before they delve into the body of your paper, and it’s typically found near the beginning of a shorter essay or at the end of the first section of a longer work, such as a thesis. You can also preview your organization through signposting. If your readers can follow your organization and understand how you’re connecting your ideas, they will likely feel as though the essay “flows.” (Chronological) Story of student’s much-improved second-year experience in collegeĮven though there are various patterns, there’s also a certain logic and consistency. (Evidence) Research on self-care resources and student well-being (Evidence) Research on academic resources and academic performance (Grouping) Social and psychological reasons students may avoid using resources (Chronological) Story of first-year student’s difficult experience in college (Assertion) Students who actively use support services have a better college experience International travel.Īssignment: “Analyze the contribution of support services to student success.” Travel in the 20th century: Domestic travel. Travel in the 19th century: Domestic travel. Take a look at some examples:Īssignment: Describe how domestic and international travel has changed over the last two centuries. More than a single organizational strategy can be present in a single draft, with one pattern for the draft as a whole and another pattern within sections or paragraphs of that draft. Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion (e.g., lab reports).Assertion, evidence, reasoning (e.g., an argument essay).Moving from large to small (e.g., national to local) or vice versa (local to national).Grouping similar ideas (e.g., advantages / disadvantages causes / effects).Chronological (e.g., a history or a step-by-step process).There’s no single way to organize ideas, but there are common organizational patterns, including (but not limited to): Readers can move easily from one major idea to the next without confusing jumps in the writer’s train of thought. Coherence-global flowĬoherence, or global flow, means that ideas are sequenced logically at the higher levels: paragraphs, sections, and chapters. But how do you make your writing flow? Pay attention to coherence and cohesion. Writers have structured the text so that it’s clear and easy to follow. Readers don’t have to stop, double back, reread, or work hard to find connections between ideas.
Writing that “flows” is easy to read smoothly from beginning to end. This handout will explain what flow is, discuss how it works, and offer strategies to improve the flow of your writing.
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