Structuring Your Essay for Clarity and Coherence

by Tom

Joined Jun 2023
Published Books 1

Clear essay writing is an essential part of good academic writing. It allows readers to understand your ideas and helps them follow your argument.

Coherence is how the sentences and paragraphs of an essay logically connect. This can be done using lexical and grammatical cohesive devices (see our page on Cohesive Devices). It also involves ordering your thoughts into a suitable structure.

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Introduction

When an essay is clear and coherent, all ideas within each paragraph and across paragraphs belong together. The logical order of the ideas makes sense, and the wording clearly shows how one idea leads to another both within the paragraph and from paragraph to paragraph.

Careful writers use transitional words and phrases to make the flow of ideas in their essays even smoother. These are not the only way to improve coherence, but they can help create a more mature feel to your writing.

Finally, an essay must answer the question Why?>>. This question addresses the larger implications of your essay’s argument and should be included in the essay’s final paragraph. It is possible to hint at the answer to this question in the introduction, but the full explanation of why your interpretation of a phenomenon matters should appear in your essay’s conclusion.

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Body

When writing an essay, your ideas must be arranged in a coherent manner. Each idea should have its paragraph, and the ideas should be connected using logical transitions. Each paragraph should contain enough details to support the main idea of the paragraph.

The first step is planning your essay by creating a visual map of the different ideas you want to include. Each topic should be represented by a different color and labeled with its own title. Next, you should create a list of everything you will need to do to complete your essay. This is where you can use the information from your research to develop a plan for addressing each topic.

When you write your paragraphs, think about the unity and coherence of the ideas being developed rather than the length of the paragraph. Mariah has revised her paragraph by removing contractions and eliminating the pronoun you, which helped to strengthen its coherence.

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Conclusion

A well-rounded essay includes a final paragraph that brings your argument to its full and natural conclusion. Your essay’s conclusion should re-state your thesis (for example, “my interpretation of this phenomenon has broader implications than previously realized”) and offer your solution to the problem you have identified.

In a compare-and-contrast essay, the conclusion should include a result of the series you discussed, such as a decisive battle in a war or a critical stage in a trial. In this way, your essay demonstrates that its claim has relevance beyond its own confines.

Another factor that affects clarity is the use of vocabulary and jargon that may confuse readers. If you have included a word that is too specialized, consider whether the information it conveys contributes to your argument and remove the word from your sentence or paragraph. Reread your work to determine how this change affects the flow and connection of ideas.

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Conclusion

A well-rounded essay includes a final paragraph that brings your argument to its full and natural conclusion. Your essay’s conclusion should re-state your thesis (for example, “my interpretation of this phenomenon has broader implications than previously realized”) and offer your solution to the problem you have identified.

In a compare-and-contrast essay, the conclusion should include a result of the series you discussed, such as a decisive battle in a war or a critical stage in a trial. In this way, your essay demonstrates that its claim has relevance beyond its own confines.

Another factor that affects clarity is the use of vocabulary and jargon that may confuse readers. If you have included a word that is too specialized, consider whether the information it conveys contributes to your argument and remove the word from your sentence or paragraph. Reread your work to determine how this change affects the flow and connection of ideas.

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Essay Examples with a Good Structure

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