An Introduction to Cohesion in Academic Writing
Summary
TLDRIn 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
📚 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.
🔍 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.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Cohesion
💡Academic Writing
💡Lexical Signposts
💡Pronouns
💡Key Words
💡Anaphoric Nouns
💡Reviewing
💡Economic Recession
💡National Restaurant Association
💡Cohesive Devices
💡Feedback
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
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)