

For readers to be able to understand writing,
the information needs to be cohesive; it
needs to stick together.
Writers have developed several strategies for
making information cohere:
◦ Repetition of key words and phrases
◦ Using the known-new contract
◦ Parallelism

Writers and readers depend on conventions,
accepted ways of presenting written material
◦ Writers who are aware of writing conventions can
use them to make reading easier for audiences
◦ Readers appreciate conventional writing strategies
without always even being aware of them
◦ However, when these conventions are missing or
misused, the reader will think the writing is “bad” or
“awkward” even if they do not understand why

what they have read in the past
◦ Just a title such as “Apes in Outer Space” will make some
readers assume the piece is science fiction

what they read in YOUR writing
◦ So, if you title your piece, “Apes in Outer Space” and then
talk about the feeding and care of cats, obviously, you are
not meeting reader expectations. The title, the first
sentence, the first paragraph and so on set up reader
expectations that a writer MUST meet. Everything must
CONNECT.


The repetition of key words and phrases in an
essay strengthens cohesion in writing
You may have been told that repetition is a
“bad” thing, and sometimes repetition
becomes monotonous and/or annoying;
however, the repetition of key words and
phrases can be good, effective writing


Even the English majors who have taken my
classes have complained to me about being
“marked down” for repeating words in essays
written for other classes
And, even I mark “repetitive” in students’
essays, but I do so only if I feel the repetition
is not doing anything to move the argument
forward or to help strengthen cohesion


Variety in wording IS important, so when an
instructor NOTICES and marks the writing for
overuse of certain words, the writing
probably DOES sound repetitive
On the other hand, NOT REPEATING key ideas
will lead to such comments as “lacks
cohesion” or “seems disconnected” or
“difficult to follow”


Writing is an art rather than a science, so
there is no easy answer, no “perfect” number
of allowed repetitions of a word
Kolln and Gray advise us
◦ To aim for the middle ground
◦ To remember that using synonyms IS a form of
repetition
◦ To pay attention to feedback from your
instructors—it is most likely very accurate




Repeating important words and phrases, or using
synonyms, is different from redundantly
repeating information
To be “redundant” is to repeat information
needlessly
“Repetition” is to repeat information needfully.
As you become more proficient as a writer, you
will learn to balance repetition with variety



Human beings understand information within
the context of what they already know.
This reality is reflected in writing, with old
information coming first and new information
following
Writers use this understanding of how human
beings comprehend information to make
their works cohesive.

On a sentence level, writers can increase
coherence by referring to “known” information in
a new sentence. In other words, in some way
repeat information in the old sentence and then
move on to provide new information at the end
of the sentence:
EX: My dog is old and dying. His impending death
makes me feel sad and lonely.
In the second sentence, death refers to old information in the first sentence.
The new information about my feelings appears at the end of the second
sentence.


The known-new technique works on an essay
level as well.
Referring to previous information such as the
title, the introduction, the thesis, or the
previous paragraph later in an essay tends to
increase cohesion.

As you may already have guessed, the
known-new contract is closely related to
repetition:
◦ The writer mentions or refers to an old idea before
giving the new information

My daughter’s Siamese cat is hyper. I walk by her
hiding place, and she attacks me. The back door
opens. Out she dashes every time. Her 5-foot cat
pole is the place she acts the most crazy by hanging
from it upside down like a crazed monkey and
peering at us with her wide blue eyes.

My daughter’s Siamese cat is hyper. She attacks my
feet every time I walk by her hiding place. She
dashes outside whenever the back door opens,
almost falling off the edge of the balcony. And she
attacks her 5-foot cat pole like a crazed monkey,
often hanging upside down to peer at us with her
wide blue eyes.

My daughter’s Siamese cat is hyper. She attacks my
feet every time I walk by her hiding place. She
dashes outside whenever the back door opens,
almost falling off the edge of the balcony. And she
attacks her 5-foot cat pole like a crazed monkey,
often hanging upside down to peer at us with her
wide blue eyes.


The topic sentence tells us we are talking
about a cat, so the pronoun “she” at the
beginning of each sentence is “old”
information.
Then the “new” information comes at the end,
continually adding to our conception of the
cat as “hyper” through each new example.

Pronouns can provide a strong cohesive
element in a paragraph. Remember,
pronouns substitute for nouns. Further, the
noun the pronoun refers to is called an
antecedent.
noun/antecedent

pronoun
As John walked home, he enjoyed the cool
breeze.


Just remember that for a pronoun to provide
cohesion, the reader must be clearly aware to
whom or to what the pronoun refers. You
must use the noun before you can use the
pronoun.
Simply sprinkling a paragraph with pronouns
will not increase cohesion but will inspire
CONFUSION.



Readers expect pronouns to substitute for
nouns.
Therefore, if it does not refer to a specific
noun or if the pronoun does not match the
noun in number (either singular or plural), the
reader frowns, scratches her head, and
reaches for red ink.
For instance, what do you make of the word
“it” in the previous sentence?

Weak: My roommate told me she has decided
to drop out of school and look for a job.
This has taken me completely by surprise,
and I know it will shock her parents.
◦ 1. This and it try to refer to the entire previous idea
rather than a specific noun. This pronoun use is
confusing.
◦ 2. To repair, add a noun after the pronoun

Stronger: This decision of hers has taken me
completely by surprise.

When a grammatical structure is parallel, we are
repeating a structure, a technique which is just as
effective at promoting cohesion as repeating key
words and phrases:
It can be a lonely place. It can be a place of discovery. It
can be a wild place. And it can be an exciting place.*
Note: Repeating grammatical structures has a
strong effect on readers. So use this technique,
but don’t overdo it.
“You know, my friends, there comes a time
when people get tired of being trampled over
by the iron feet of oppression. . . . There
comes a time, my friends, when people get
tired of being thrown across the abyss of
humiliation…. There comes a time when
people get tired of being pushed out of the
glittering sunlight of life’s July, and left
standing amidst the piercing chill of an
Alpine November”—Martin Luther King



Using parallel structures like King can be
viewed as over-the-top drama
Such drama is appropriate in the voice of
Martin Luther King but may NOT be
appropriate in all of your work
Use this technique carefully, always
considering context and audience




Use repetition to help tie information
together
Put old information first before moving to
new information
Use parallel structures to increase cohesion
Do not forget to be thoughtful about using
repetition and parallelism because both
devices can be overdone