HOW TO WRITE A COHERENT, COHESIVE, AND SUBSTANTIAL ESSAY

FLUENCY ComWithCon

22 Oct 202006:04

Summary

TLDRThis video script teaches how to develop an academic essay by focusing on coherence and cohesion. It explains the importance of a well-structured paragraph with a topic sentence that supports the thesis statement. The script emphasizes the use of minor details to elaborate on key points and the inclusion of personal analysis to create a cohesive paragraph. It also highlights the role of logical bridges and concluding sentences to maintain focus and ensure a coherent essay.

Takeaways

📝 **Structure of an Essay**: The script emphasizes the importance of understanding the structure of an essay, which includes an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion.
📄 **Paragraph Composition**: Each paragraph should consist of a topic sentence, minor details, and a concluding sentence to maintain coherence and cohesion.
💡 **Topic Sentence**: The topic sentence introduces the main idea of the paragraph and should align with the thesis statement, presenting one of its key points.
🔗 **Coherence**: Coherence is achieved by ensuring that the topic sentences in each paragraph are connected to the thesis statement through the use of keywords.
📚 **Minor Details**: These details elaborate on the key points introduced in the topic sentence and should include evidence from various sources and personal analysis.
🔍 **Cohesion**: Cohesion is the quality that makes a paragraph understandable by presenting connectedness in sentence level, achieved through specific details and cohesive devices.
🔗 **Intertextuality**: The script mentions the importance of intertextuality, which is creating relationships between texts and generating understanding across different references.
🔄 **Logical Flow**: Paragraphs should maintain a logical flow, starting and ending with the same focus, achieved through the use of transitional devices and pronouns.
✍️ **Concluding Sentence**: The concluding sentence synthesizes the paragraph, often rephrasing the topic sentence and using transitional devices without additional citations.
📈 **Essay Development**: The script guides on how to develop an essay by putting different pieces together in a cohesive and coherent manner, ensuring each part supports the overall thesis.

Q & A

What is the purpose of a topic sentence in a paragraph?
-The topic sentence indicates the general idea that the paragraph will address. It presents a sub-topic that supports the thesis statement and is typically the first sentence of a paragraph.
How does the topic sentence relate to the thesis statement?
-The topic sentence presents one of the key points from the thesis statement, ensuring coherence in the essay by maintaining a connection between the thesis and each body paragraph.
What are the three key components of a paragraph?
-A paragraph is comprised of the topic sentence, minor details, and a concluding sentence.
What is the difference between coherence and cohesion in essay writing?
-Coherence refers to the connectedness of ideas at the paragraph level, while cohesion refers to the connectedness at the sentence level, making the text easy to follow and understand.
How can you ensure coherence in an essay?
-To ensure coherence, the key points from the thesis statement should appear in the topic sentences of each body paragraph, maintaining consistency and connectedness throughout the essay.
What are minor details in a paragraph, and why are they important?
-Minor details elaborate on the topic sentence, providing specific support such as examples, citations, or analysis. They are important for adding depth and clarity to the main point.
What is intertextuality, and how is it applied in paragraph writing?
-Intertextuality is a literary device that creates relationships between different texts or references. In essay writing, it involves connecting various sources or pieces of information to build a cohesive argument.
Why should a paragraph not be just a compilation of citations?
-A paragraph should include the author's own analysis and voice to avoid being just a collection of citations. This adds original insight and personal engagement with the topic.
What are logical bridges, and how do they help in paragraph writing?
-Logical bridges ensure that the same idea flows from one sentence to the next, maintaining coherence. This is often achieved through cohesive devices like keywords, pronouns, and transitional phrases.
What is the purpose of the concluding sentence in a paragraph?
-The concluding sentence synthesizes the entire paragraph, often rephrasing the topic sentence and using transitional devices to link to the next idea or paragraph.

Outlines

00:00

📝 Understanding Paragraph Structure for Essay Writing

The first paragraph introduces how to develop and elaborate on an essay after planning through academic outlining. It explains that constructing an essay involves assembling pieces to form a cohesive whole. The paragraph focuses on understanding the structure of a paragraph, which is crucial for a coherent essay. A paragraph is made up of a topic sentence, minor details, and a concluding sentence. The topic sentence introduces the idea of the paragraph and supports the thesis statement. The essay's thesis statement contains three key points, and each body paragraph's topic sentence should align with one of these key points. The paragraph emphasizes the importance of coherence, ensuring that the ideas from the thesis are connected to each topic sentence.

05:01

🔗 Ensuring Coherence and Cohesion in Paragraphs

The second paragraph dives deeper into ensuring coherence and cohesion in essay paragraphs. It explains that after achieving coherence (connection of ideas between paragraphs), cohesion is needed to ensure the sentences within a paragraph are logically connected and flow smoothly. Minor details are used to elaborate on the topic sentence, offering specific examples or evidence from sources like books, research, and personal experiences. It stresses the importance of including the writer's own analysis and maintaining intertextuality, a technique that connects multiple texts or references. Logical bridges between sentences using cohesive devices (such as pronouns or transitions) ensure that paragraphs don't lose focus and remain unified in their ideas.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Topic Sentence

A topic sentence introduces the main idea of a paragraph and directly relates to the essay’s thesis statement. It sets the focus for the paragraph and ensures the reader understands what the paragraph will discuss. In the video, it is highlighted as the first sentence of each body paragraph, and it is essential for maintaining coherence between the thesis and body of the essay.

💡Thesis Statement

A thesis statement presents the main argument or point of an essay. It often includes several key points that will be expanded upon in the body paragraphs. In the video, the thesis statement is referred to as the focal point of the essay, with its key points reflected in the topic sentences of the body paragraphs to ensure coherence.

💡Coherence

Coherence refers to the logical connection and consistency of ideas throughout an essay. In the video, coherence is achieved by ensuring that the topic sentences of body paragraphs align with the thesis statement, helping to maintain the flow and clarity of the overall argument.

💡Cohesion

Cohesion refers to the clarity and connectivity of sentences within a paragraph. It involves using specific words, pronouns, and transitional phrases to ensure that sentences within a paragraph flow logically and make sense together. The video emphasizes cohesion as crucial for making paragraphs easily understandable and ensuring each sentence contributes to the central idea.

💡Minor Details

Minor details are supporting details that elaborate on the topic sentence by providing specific examples, evidence, or explanations. These details help to expand on the key point of a paragraph and are essential for building a well-rounded argument. The video mentions that minor details include elaboration from books, articles, and personal analysis.

💡Major Details

Major details, also referred to as the topic sentence in the video, introduce the main idea of a paragraph. They are supported by minor details, which provide further explanation or evidence. Major details establish the primary focus of the paragraph, ensuring it aligns with the thesis.

💡Intertextuality

Intertextuality is a literary device that connects various texts or ideas, allowing for deeper understanding and relationships between different works. In the context of the video, intertextuality refers to using sources and references in an essay in a way that they interact meaningfully, rather than being simply listed or quoted without connection.

💡Logical Bridges

Logical bridges refer to the connections between sentences or paragraphs that help maintain a clear flow of ideas. These bridges are created using cohesive devices like keywords, pronouns, and transitional phrases, ensuring that the essay's argument progresses smoothly without losing focus. The video stresses the importance of logical bridges for maintaining coherence within a paragraph.

💡Transitional Devices

Transitional devices are words or phrases used to link sentences and paragraphs, helping to guide the reader through the argument. They include terms like 'thus,' 'therefore,' and 'hence.' The video suggests using transitional devices in both topic sentences and concluding sentences to ensure cohesion and a logical progression of ideas.

💡Concluding Sentence

The concluding sentence synthesizes the main idea of a paragraph and wraps up the discussion. It often mirrors the topic sentence but does so by summarizing the paragraph’s minor details and showing the paragraph’s relevance to the overall thesis. The video explains that this sentence should reflect the author's analysis and voice, rather than introducing new citations.

Highlights

Learning how to plan an essay through academic outlining helps prepare for essay development.

Understanding paragraph structure is essential for writing a cohesive and coherent essay.

A paragraph is comprised of a topic sentence, minor details, and a concluding sentence.

The topic sentence indicates the main idea of the paragraph and connects it to the thesis statement.

Coherence ensures the ideas in the essay are connected and flow logically between paragraphs.

The topic sentence of each body paragraph should reflect the key points in the thesis statement.

Example thesis statement: 'Reduction of carbon emissions can be done by changing non-renewable resources, driving behavior, and vehicle models.'

The topic sentence of body paragraphs should consistently include keywords from the thesis statement.

Cohesion makes the paragraph understandable at the sentence level by linking ideas effectively.

To maintain cohesion, elaborate on each key point in the topic sentence with specific minor details.

Support and elaboration can come from credible sources like books, articles, or research.

Including your own analysis and discussion in each paragraph adds your personal voice to the essay.

A paragraph should not just be a collection of citations; there should be intertextuality.

Logical bridges and cohesive devices (keywords, pronouns, transitional phrases) ensure the paragraph remains focused.

The concluding sentence synthesizes the paragraph's content, using transitional devices and presenting the author's analysis.