The term “coherence” comes from the verb “to cohere,” which means “to be united,” “to form a whole,” or “to be logically consistent”.

Coherence in writing refers to the big picture of a text. How can you construct an essay or research paper to create a united, logically consistent whole?

The USDA’s controversial and now deprecated food pyramid.

Consider this example:

Micronutrients play a vital role in the maintenance of healthy skin and immune function.  Of course, nothing is better for healthy skin than sleep and proper hydration. Many Americans drink too little water every day. There has been a good deal of debate about the 8-glasses-of-water advice that many of us remember from growing up. Will this advice go the way of the food pyramid? As it turns out, the food pyramid does not represent a medically ideal diet. A number of health organizations have criticized the food pyramid’s advice, and some have even suggested that the food industry had far too great a role in its creation. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time the food industry has intervened in public health policy.

This passage is cohesive, meaning that one sentence flows from the next. But it’s not coherent. Why?

• The topics of the individual sentences vary widely. We go from hearing about micronutrients to sleep and hydration to recommended water intake to the food pyramid. If sentences (and paragraphs) in a piece of writing don’t share common topics and ideas, how is the reader supposed to understand what the piece is about?
• The paragraph lacks a topic sentence signaling its main idea or purpose. The first sentence sounds like it could be a topic sentence, but the paragraph doesn’t stay with micronutrients for long.

Overall, this paragraph illustrates the pitfalls of associative organization (healthy skin → water → nutrition advice→ food pyramid) and topic sentences that fail to live up to the promise they make to readers. Your reader will become disoriented, fail to see your point (if you have one), and walk away frustrated.

Revising for Coherence

A coherent text needs a strong, logical structure. To revise for coherence, you must first check the logic and flow of your draft to ensure readers can see the big picture you are trying to create.

Reverse Outlining

Let’s face it: the process of writing a draft can be hectic, messy, and confusing. Sometimes we don’t really know what we’ve written until the dust settles. Reverse outlining can help us see the overall structure of the draft, which often differs significantly from what we set out to write!

To write a reverse outline,

1. Number each paragraph in your draft (write in the margin or use the comment feature in Docs or Word).
2. In a separate document, write down these numbers, one per line.
3. Next to each number, explain concisely and in your own words what that paragraph is about.
   • If you have trouble figuring out what the paragraph is about, make a note for yourself that the paragraph needs to be reworked.
   • If the paragraph is has more than one main idea, make a note for yourself that it needs to be split in two.
   • If you find a redundant paragraph that repeats a point made in another paragraph using different words, make a note to combine or differentiate the two paragraphs.
4. Look at the overall claim of your essay (your thesis statement). Now consider how each paragraph works to support this claim.
   • If a paragraph doesn’t relate to the overall argument, make a note to revise or remove this paragraph.
5. Using this initial outline as a high-level overview, consider the overall flow of the argument. Ask yourself:
   • How does this sequence of topics help you achieve your purpose (or not)?
   • Are any topics unnecessary or redundant?
   • Are there any extended side-notes or rabbit-holes that risk confusing the reader?
   • How could you revise and reorder paragraph topics to better accomplish your goals?

Compare the sequence of points in your reverse outline with your original outline (if you have one) to see where you diverged from your plan. Finally, you can create a new outline that represents the best possible sequence of points and revise your draft accordingly.

The following video describes reverse outlining, its benefits, and a technique you can use to reverse outline your draft.

Question Outlining

If you’re still not sure about the overall order of your argument, you can try writing an outline of questions:

1. Create a new list of numbers corresponding to the paragraphs of your paper.
2. For each paragraph, think about what question this paragraph is answering.
3. Write this question down from the point of view of the audience.
4. Looking over the list of questions, ask yourself:
   • Does this sequence of questions reflect how a reasonable person might seek answers about your topic?
   • How do the questions connect to one another?
   • Does it make sense to answer some before others?
   • Would it be beneficial to have these questions follow a more logical pattern of development (general to specific, or specific to general)?