Chapter 9. Writing Coherent Documents © 2010 by Bedford/St. Martin's 1

Consider these eight questions as you revise the document for coherence:

• Have you left out anything in turning your outline into a draft?

• Have you included all the elements your readers expect to see?

• Is the organization logical?

• Is the evidence sufficient and appropriate?

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Consider these eight questions as you revise the document for coherence (cont.):

• Is the reasoning valid and persuasive?

• Do you come across as reliable, honest, and helpful?

• Are all the elements presented consistently?

• Is the emphasis appropriate throughout the document?

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Follow these four guidelines while revising headings:

• Avoid long noun strings.

• Be informative.

• Use a grammatical form appropriate to your audience.

• Avoid back-to-back headings.

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Turning paragraphs into lists presents four advantages:

• It forces you to look at the big picture.• It forces you to examine the sequence.• It forces you to create a clear lead-in.• It forces you to tighten and clarify your prose.

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Study documents from other cultures to answer four questions:

• How does the writer make information accessible?

• How does the writer show the relationship among units?

• How does the writer communicate the organization of the document?

• How does the writer make transitions from one subject to another?

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There are two kinds of paragraphs:

• A body paragraph, the basic unit for communicating information, is a group of sentences (or sometimes a single sentence) that is complete and self-sufficient and that contributes to a larger discussion.

• A transitional paragraph helps readers move from one major point to another.

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Most paragraphs contain two elements:

• the topic sentence, which summarizes or forecasts the main point of the paragraph

• the support, which makes the topic sentence clear and convincing

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Avoid burying bad news in paragraphs

• The most emphatic location is the topic sentence.

• The second most emphatic location is the end of the paragraph.

• The least emphatic location is the middle of the paragraph.

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Supporting information usually fulfills one of five roles:

• It defines a key term or idea included in the topic sentence.

• It provides examples or illustrations of the situation described in the topic sentence.

• It identifies causes: factors that led to the situation.

• It defines effects: implications of the situation.

• It supports the claim made in the topic sentence.

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Follow these three guidelines for dividing long paragraphs:

• Break the discussion at a logical place.

• Make the topic sentence a separate paragraph and break up the support.

• Use a list.

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Use these three techniques to emphasize coherence:

• Use transitional words and phrases.

• Repeat key words.

• Use demonstrative pronouns followed by nouns.

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Use transitional words and phrases

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Use three techniques to create a coherent design:

• Use headers and footers to enhance coherence.

• Use typefaces to enhance coherence.• Use the styles feature to make the design of

different elements consistent.

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Headers and footers are coherence devices