An Introduction to Cohesion in Academic Writing

Summary

In this academic writing tutorial, John Connor Oskie from the National University of Science and Technology's Academic Writing Center discusses the concept of cohesion in writing. He explains cohesion as the use of vocabulary and grammatical structures to connect ideas within a text, emphasizing its importance for clarity. Oskie outlines various cohesive devices, including pronouns, lexical signposts, keyword repetition, anaphoric nouns, and reviewing work. He illustrates how these devices help writers establish clear connections between sentences and paragraphs, enhancing the reader's understanding of academic texts.

Takeaways

• 📚 Cohesion in academic writing is crucial for clarity and understanding, ensuring that ideas within a text are logically connected.
• 🔗 Cohesive devices are words and strategies that help establish meaningful connections between ideas, aiding the reader in following the writer's argument.
• 📝 Pronouns are cohesive devices that help avoid repetition by referring back to previously mentioned subjects, thus linking sentences.
• 🚦 Lexical signposts, such as transition words and phrases, guide the reader through the text by indicating relationships between ideas, like examples, summaries, and consequences.
• 🔑 Repeating keywords strategically can reinforce the main topics and themes of a paragraph, enhancing cohesion without being repetitive.
• 🔍 Anaphoric nouns, like 'this situation' or 'these findings,' summarize and connect previous information, providing a bridge between ideas.
• ✍️ Reviewing and revising writing multiple times is essential for enhancing cohesion, as it allows the writer to clarify connections and improve the flow of ideas.
• 🔎 Cohesion is not only about connecting sentences but also about ensuring that the reader can easily perceive these connections, which is vital for effective academic communication.
• 📈 The use of cohesive devices improves the overall quality of academic writing, making it more coherent and easier to follow for the reader.
• 💡 The video encourages further exploration of cohesive devices beyond those mentioned, suggesting that there is a wide array of tools available to writers to enhance cohesion.

Q & A

What is cohesion in academic writing?

Cohesion in academic writing refers to the way vocabulary and grammatical structures are used to make connections between ideas within a text, making these connections clear to the reader.

Why is cohesion important for academic writing?

Cohesion is important because it promotes clarity and ensures that sentences and paragraphs within an academic text are related to one another, making the writing more comprehensible.

What are cohesive devices and how do they help in writing?

Cohesive devices are words and strategies used to make meaningful connections between ideas in a text. They help by guiding the reader through the text and clarifying the relationships between ideas.

How can pronouns be used as cohesive devices in academic writing?

Pronouns can be used to avoid repetition by referring back to something already mentioned, thus creating a connection between sentences.

What are lexical signposts and how do they contribute to cohesion?

Lexical signposts are words and phrases that organize writing and guide readers by making specific kinds of connections, such as listing, exemplifying, generalizing, showing results, summarizing, and expressing alternatives.

Can you provide an example of how lexical signposts are used in a paragraph?

In the provided example, lexical signposts like 'first', 'second', 'moreover', 'then', 'finally', and 'another possibility' are used to guide the reader through the steps of the writing process.

How does repeating keywords help in creating cohesion?

Repeating keywords helps by emphasizing certain topics and maintaining focus on them throughout a paragraph, which aids in connecting related ideas.

What are anaphoric nouns and how do they show connections between ideas?

Anaphoric nouns are pronouns or noun phrases that refer back to a noun or idea previously mentioned in the text, highlighting the connection between different sentences or ideas.

Why is it recommended to review your work multiple times before submission?

Reviewing your work multiple times helps in understanding the connections between ideas better, allowing the writer to use cohesive devices to clarify these connections for the readers.

What is the role of the academic writing center in helping with cohesion?

The academic writing center assists students by providing guidance and resources to improve their understanding and use of cohesion in their academic writing.

How can a writer explore more about cohesive devices on their own?

A writer can explore more about cohesive devices by researching academic writing resources, reading scholarly articles, and analyzing cohesive techniques in well-written texts.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction to Cohesion in Academic Writing

This paragraph introduces the concept of cohesion in academic writing, emphasizing its importance for clarity and understanding. Cohesion is achieved through the use of vocabulary and grammatical structures that connect ideas within a text. The speaker, John Connor Oskie, outlines three key questions to be addressed in the video: defining cohesion, explaining its importance, and suggesting ways to enhance cohesion in writing. Cohesive devices, such as pronouns, lexical signposts, and repeating keywords, are introduced as tools to create meaningful connections between ideas, thereby improving the readability and coherence of academic texts.

05:02

🔍 Enhancing Cohesion Through Various Devices

This paragraph delves into specific cohesive devices that can be utilized to improve the cohesion of academic writing. It discusses the use of pronouns to avoid repetition and create connections between sentences. Lexical signposts, which serve as organizational aids similar to road signs, are categorized into various types such as those used for listing, exemplifying, generalizing, showing results, summarizing, and expressing alternatives. The paragraph provides an example of how these signposts can be effectively used in a text to guide the reader and clarify the relationships between different pieces of information. The speaker also touches on the use of anaphoric nouns to summarize and connect ideas, and the importance of reviewing one's work to ensure the clarity of these connections.

Keywords

💡Cohesion

Cohesion in academic writing refers to the use of vocabulary and grammatical structures to create meaningful connections between ideas within a text. It is crucial for ensuring that the text is clear and logically organized, making it easier for readers to follow the flow of ideas. In the video, cohesion is illustrated through the use of various cohesive devices, such as pronouns and lexical signposts, which help to link sentences and paragraphs together.

💡Academic Writing

Academic writing is a formal style of expression used in scholarly and educational contexts. It is characterized by its clarity, precision, and the use of evidence to support arguments. The video emphasizes the importance of cohesion in academic writing, as it is a key factor in producing well-structured and comprehensible texts that are typical in academic circles.

💡Lexical Signposts

Lexical signposts are words and phrases that guide readers through a text by indicating the relationships between ideas. They serve as organizational tools, similar to road signs, and include expressions for listing, exemplifying, generalizing, showing results, and summarizing. In the script, examples of lexical signposts are used to demonstrate how they can help control the flow of information and enhance the reader's understanding.

💡Pronouns

Pronouns are used in writing to avoid repetition and to refer back to nouns or ideas previously mentioned. They contribute to cohesion by creating clear connections between sentences. The video gives an example where 'it' is used to refer back to 'my professors' lecture,' illustrating how pronouns can link ideas and maintain coherence within a text.

💡Key Words

Key words are significant terms that encapsulate the main ideas or concepts within a text. Repeating key words strategically can help to reinforce the theme and maintain cohesion. The video script uses the repetition of economic-related terms to highlight the central issue being discussed and to provide a consistent focus for the reader.

💡Anaphoric Nouns

Anaphoric nouns are nouns that refer back to a previously mentioned noun or idea, often using phrases like 'this situation' or 'these factors.' They are cohesive devices that help to summarize or connect ideas across sentences. In the provided script, 'this situation' is used to refer back to the issue of jargon in scientific reports, demonstrating how anaphoric nouns can create a bridge between related ideas.

💡Reviewing

Reviewing one's work is the process of re-examining and revising a text to improve its clarity, coherence, and overall quality. The video emphasizes the importance of multiple reviews in enhancing cohesion, as it allows writers to identify and strengthen connections between ideas. This iterative process is crucial for producing polished and effective academic writing.

💡Economic Recession

An economic recession is a period of negative economic growth and is often characterized by a decline in GDP, high unemployment, and reduced industrial production. In the context of the video, the economic recession is used as a keyword to discuss its impact on the restaurant industry, illustrating how cohesion can be achieved through the repetition of relevant key terms.

💡National Restaurant Association

The National Restaurant Association is mentioned in the script as a source of data regarding the performance of the restaurant industry. This reference serves as an example of how cohesive devices, such as the use of authoritative sources, can lend credibility and cohesion to an academic argument by connecting the discussion to empirical evidence.

💡Cohesive Devices

Cohesive devices are the linguistic tools used to create and maintain cohesion in a text. They include pronouns, lexical signposts, repetition of keywords, anaphoric nouns, and others. The video discusses various cohesive devices and provides examples of how they are used to link ideas and enhance the clarity of academic writing.

💡Feedback

Feedback in the context of academic writing refers to the comments, suggestions, or critiques provided by others to help improve a draft. The video mentions getting feedback on drafts as part of the writing process, highlighting the importance of external perspectives in enhancing the cohesion and overall quality of a text.

Highlights

Cohesion is crucial for academic writing as it promotes clarity and connects ideas within a text.

Cohesive devices are words and strategies that make meaningful connections between ideas clear to the reader.

English is a writer-responsible language, so it's the writer's job to make connections clear.

Pronouns help promote cohesion by avoiding repetition and referring to previously mentioned subjects.

Lexical signposts are words that organize writing and guide readers through different connections.

There are various categories of lexical signposts, including words for listing, exemplifying, generalizing, and summarizing.

Repeating keywords can help maintain cohesion by referring back to important terms within a paragraph.

Anaphoric nouns, such as 'this situation', are used to summarize and connect ideas in a text.

Reviewing your work multiple times helps identify and clarify connections between ideas for better cohesion.

Cohesion ensures that ideas are properly connected, allowing the reader to follow the text's logic.

Academic writing should be cohesive to ensure that the reader can clearly observe the connections between ideas.

Using cohesive devices effectively can enhance the clarity and coherence of academic writing.

The video provides examples of how cohesive devices are used in practice to improve academic writing.

The importance of cohesion is emphasized for both the writer's clarity and the reader's comprehension.

The video encourages viewers to explore more about cohesive devices to enhance their academic writing skills.

The video concludes by inviting viewers to the Academic Writing Center for further questions on cohesion.

Transcripts

hello again John cotton arouse key here

once more in another video for the

national university of science and

technology news missus academic writing

center we began the series with a video

that provided a brief introduction to

the field of academic writing in this

next video I'll be talking about the

importance of cohesion in academic

writing to do this I will try to answer

the following questions one what is

cohesion two why is it important for

writing to be cohesive and three what

are some ways to make one's writing more

cohesive part one what is cohesion

cohesion refers to the way we use

vocabulary and grammatical structures to

make connections between the ideas

within a text cohesive devices are the

words and strategies we use to make the

meaningful connections between ideas

within a text clear to the reader

cohesion is a vitally important

characteristic of good academic writing

because it promotes clarity the

sentences and paragraphs within an

academic text should all be related to

one another since English is a writer

responsible language it is the job of

the writer to make these connections

between sentences and paragraphs as

clear as possible one way to do this is

through the effective use of cohesive

devices there are many different ways to

make your writing more cohesive cohesive

device number one pronouns one way to

promote cohesion in your writing is to

use different kinds of pronouns pronouns

are helpful because they let writers

avoid repetition by referring to

something that has already been

mentioned for example my professors

lecture today was quite interesting it

was about the poetry of TS Eliot

we can see in this sentence that the

pronoun it is used to refer to my

professors lecture in the previous

sentence by referring to the lecture

with the pronoun it the writer creates a

connection between the two sentences

cohesive device number two lexical

signpost another way to make your

writing more cohesive is by using words

that make

cific kinds of connections I call these

words lexical signposts just like road

signs help control the flow of traffic

and make what could be a chaotic

situation more manageable writers can

use certain words and phrases to help

organize their writing and guide their

readers there are many different

categories of lexical signposts

some of them include words and phrases

used to make lists like 1st 2nd 3rd

there are also words and phrases used to

give examples like for example for

instance namely and in other words there

are words and phrases used to generalize

like in general on the whole for the

most part and words and phrases used to

show a result or a consequences such as

so therefore accordingly consequently

thus and hence finally we have words and

phrases used to summarize like in

conclusion to conclude overall and words

and phrases used to express an

alternative like alternatively on the

other hand rather and another

possibility would be using these words

and phrases effectively helps the reader

better understand the meaning and

relationships between information and a

text there are a wide variety of lexical

signposts at work in the following

paragraph to begin writing well as a

multi-step process first a writer should

brainstorm to help generate ideas second

writing an outline is important because

it allows the writer to organize his or

her thoughts

moreover outlines help to ensure that

the writer includes all the necessary

information after outlining the writer

should create the first draft of his or

her work then he or she should get

feedback on the draft from a classmate

another possibility would be asking a

teacher for suggestions for improvement

finally after several drafts the writer

will produce a final version for

submission cohesive device number three

repeating

keywords sometimes that is helpful to

repeat keywords throughout the course of

a paragraph to do this you do not have

to use the exact same word take a look

at the following example many problems

in the economy are impacting the

restaurant industry the factor

responsible for most of these negative

impacts is the economic recession due to

weak economic conditions the u.s.

foodservice industry revenues will only

rise 2.5 percent in 2008 compared to the

4.6 increase in 2007 the National

Restaurant Association reports this to

be among the poorest sales performances

by the domestic restaurant industry in

nearly four decades in response to the

weak economic conditions restaurants are

increasing prices only enough to offset

higher costs rather than to expand

profit margins that example comes from

Bosch from 2008 B in this example we see

the repeat of words that refer to the

state of the economy it's important to

note that these words do not only refer

to the economy they also give

qualitative information about its

relatively poor condition cohesive

device number four and a phoric nouns

one final way to show the connection

between different ideas in a paragraph

is through the use of anaphoric nouns

take a look at the following example

reports of original work became too full

of jargon to be understood even by

trained scientists who were not working

in the particular field this situation

persists a day and this example the

phrase this situation refers to and

summarizes the information in the

previous sentence the phrase this or

these followed by a noun such as claim

example observation explanation or view

is a useful way to highlight the

connection between two sentences or

ideas cohesive device number 5 reviewing

your work the final way to make your

writing more cohesive is to review it

multiple times before you submit it even

the best writers very rarely write

something perfectly the first time

the more you review what you've written

the better you will understand the

connections between ideas with this

greater understanding you can use some

of the cohesive devices mentioned

previously to highlight and clarify the

connections for your readers cohesion is

an important quality of effective

academic writing because it ensures that

ideas are properly connected and that

the reader can clearly observe these

connections there are many different

ways to promote cohesion through the use

of cohesive devices like the ones

mentioned in this video however this is

not an exhaustive list I encourage you

to do a little exploring on your own to

try and find some more information about

cohesive devices I hope this video has

helped improve your understanding of

what people mean when they talk about

cohesion in academic writing if you have

any questions please feel free to bring

them to us at the academic Writing

Center I'm John Connor Oskie see you

next time

you