IELTS Writing- Coherence and Cohesion
Coherence and Cohesion is one of the four band descriptors of the IELTS Writing that examiners use to assess your writing skills and comprises 25% of your writing band score. Overall, it is all about the flow and structure of your essay which includes organizing paragraphs and logically connecting your ideas.
Coherence
Coherence is essential for your writing task and refers to the flow of your writing. It is about structure that includes both paragraph and essay structure where you are expected to logically organize and sequence your ideas into paragraphs so that your reader can easily understand and follow those ideas.
How can you improve coherence in your writing?
In order to achieve a high score in this particular band descriptor, students are suggested that they work on the structure of their essays and paragraphs.
The structure for introduction includes writing a general statement about the topic to introduce the general topic then, writing a thesis statement to give your reader an idea about what will be in your essay.
Body paragraphs in the essay should always focus on a central idea which is generally introduced with the help of a topic sentence. You could introduce the idea and further extend and elaborate the ideas using supporting sentences with the help of examples, reasons or results. Concluding sentences in the body paragraphs are optional however, it can really be helpful. It is important to note that the central idea of your body paragraphs should link to your thesis statement.
Finally, the conclusion of the essay usually includes restatement of the thesis statement which is a summary of what was in the essay and you could also give any recommendation, opinion or prediction.
Cohesion
Cohesion refers to the linking words that helps connect ideas to show the relationships between sentences, parts of sentences that are linked together to form a paragraph and paragraphs that are linked together to write an essay. There are various linking words that you could use to logically relate your ideas to each other.
How can you make your essay cohesive?
It is highly suggested that students do not mix up more than one idea in one paragraph. Rather, it is always better when you focus on one central idea and elaborate it with sufficient supporting sentences to prove your point. Complex sentences are usually helpful but, you have to learn to write accurate sentences. Punctuations are often helpful to frame your complex sentences.
Cohesive Devices which are also known are transitional words can help you connect and link words and phrases in your essay. There are several Cohesive Devices you could use to add ideas, give examples, introduce ideas, contrast ideas or give results however, it is equally important that you do not overuse these as using too many linking words could often end up making your writing very unnatural.
To prevent using overuse of linking words, an alternative is to use referencing words such as pronouns to link an idea of one sentence to an idea in the previous sentence.
The best way for students is to keep practicing and then get feedback from someone experienced!
