In order for the text to be clear for the reader, it is important to make sure that the texts that we write are cohesive. In other words, the text is connected in a logical and comprehensible way. This is perhaps the key factor for each text, and therefore also something worth spending time on as a writer.

What is most important for your text to become cohesive is that you relate to the purpose throughout the whole text. Some academic texts have clearly expressed aims and research questions. Other texts are not as explicit, but nonetheless, there is still a reason for them to be written and they should have a purpose that you can relate to in your text.

Building the structure

Photo: Skeleton (Pause08 n.d.) (CC-BY)

Often when we talk about the structure of a text we refer to its overall structure and in which order the information is presented. It is important to have a well-thought-out structure so that the reader can easily follow along and understand the message of your text.

A tip for how you can build up the content of your text step by step is to start with outlining headings and sub-headings. Under the different headings, you can start to write keywords or sentences for things that need to be addressed, and as you continue on you can add content under the different headings. This can help you to make sure that you keep track of the overall structure of your text.

Working with cohesive ties

Photo: Thread (Jemis mali n.d.) (CC-BY)

Use cohesive ties to create cohesion in your text. By using cohesive ties you can make the structure of the text clear for the reader. One way of creating cohesion in your text is to start the sentence with information known to the reader and then add new information. This principle is called theme-rheme and is very useful in academic texts since the information is often complex, but there are other ways of tying information together as well. Here is an example of how to help the reader carry information from one sentence to the next:

If you want to use a link in your reference, our recommendation is to primarily use a persistent link if it is available. A persistent link works even if the document is moved to another website.  Examples of persistent links are DOI, URN, URI and Handle ID. If you use a regular link in your reference, you need to include the date for when you visited the web page.

(https://www.slu.se/en/subweb/library/write-and-cite/writing-references/reference-list-using-harvard/)

On the following pages, more tips are given for how you can work with cohesive ties on different levels in the text (sections, paragraphs and sentences).