Written by Bess Chan

A common challenge in academic writing is presenting ideas clearly and logically. Organisation has two layers: micro (cohesion) and macro (coherence). Cohesion involves grammatical and lexical links, such as conjunctions (and, but), linking phrases (however, consequently), and reference pronouns (it, they, this). Coherence, on the other hand, ensures the overall flow and logical structure of a text. Below are some strategies to improve cohesion in academic writing.

Using linking words and phrases

The easiest way to join ideas together is to use a variety of linking words and phrases appropriately. Proper use of such words and phrases can help you show clearly how sentences are related to each other.

However, research has found that some students who speak English as their first language, or who are advanced English speakers, may underuse linking words (Granger and Tyson, 1996; Appel, 2020). On the other hand, some others who speak English as an additional language tend to use them too frequently (Lei, 2012; Patriana, Rachmajanti and Mukminatien, 2016; Appel and Szeib, 2018; Torn-Leesik, 2025).

To solve these issues, review your work and check how frequently you use linking words and phrases. If there are only a few instances throughout your text, check carefully whether the relationship between the sentences is always clear. If it isn’t, consider adding a linking word and phrase. However, if you rely on these words and phrases too much, such as using one at the beginning of each sentence, think about using other strategies instead, such as establishing a good information flow within a paragraph or using synonyms of key words.

Find out more about using linking words and phrases here.

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Establishing strong word connections

As mentioned above, you don’t necessarily have to use a lot of linking links and phrases to show the relationships between ideas. You can still make your work cohesive by creating a good information flow between sentences in a paragraph. Essentially, you use one of the key words in the previous sentence and make it the focus of the following sentence.

Example:

One of the ways to show critical writing is synthesising information from academic sources. Such synthesis can show one’s understanding of the original texts.

In the first sentence, one of the key phrases is “synthesising information from academic sources”, which is reduced to “such synthesis” and used as the subject of the second sentence. You can establish connections like this by using a synonym of the key word or a referencing word like “it” or “this”. Alternatively, you may choose to repeat the same word.

Find out more about establishing strong word connections here.

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Making reference words clear

It’s quite common to see unclear references in sentences, and this occurs when a pronoun, such as “it” or “they”, or a demonstrative, such as “this” or “that”, does not clearly point to a single, identifiable word mentioned in the previous sentence.

Example:

The study examined teacher feedback and student motivation. This was found to be significant.

In the example, “this” is unclear because we aren’t sure whether it refers to teacher feedback, student motivation, or the relationship between the two. Therefore, when you use any pronouns or demonstratives, make sure that there is clear reference for each of them.

Find out more about making reference words clear here.

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In addition to creating a cohesive text, we should also aim to achieve coherence in writing. Here are a few strategies to do so.

Writing clear topic sentences

Topic sentences are key to understanding the focus of different paragraphs. They usually come first in body paragraphs and clearly state the main point of the paragraph. For example, if you’re writing a paragraph on why students ignore the feedback on their assessments, you should state the reason explicitly at the beginning by saying something like:

Students tend to ignore the feedback on their assessments because they lack the skill of decoding the comments.

In this way, readers can expect the focus will be on the lack of skill to truly understand the feedback.

Find out more about writing clear topic sentences here.

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Expanding short paragraphs

You may wonder why writing short paragraphs can lead to coherence problems. Remember that coherence is to do with the overall flow of ideas and logical structure, meaning that readers need to see how ideas develop. Since short paragraphs often fail to show how a claim is supported or explained, all the ideas in a paragraph may appear equal in weight, and readers may not be able to see which ideas are central and which are supporting. Therefore, short paragraphs should be expanded through synthesis of more evidence and your critical voice, offering example and explanation.

Find out more about expanding short paragraphs here.

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Showing explicit links between paragraphs

It’s not uncommon to see students fail to show links between paragraphs. This causes issues with coherence because there may not be logical sequencing of paragraphs, possibly making readers fail to understand why one paragraph follows another.

Example topic sentences supporting the following claim: “Reading teacher feedback is essential for students’ academic development”:

• Paragraph 1: Reading teacher feedback helps students identify gaps in their understanding.
• Paragraph 2: Reading teacher feedback strengthens students’ capacity for self-regulated learning.

If we just simply show the topic sentences like this, we don’t know how the two reasons are related. Therefore, one way to demonstrate the logical connection between the paragraphs is to add a link to the topic sentence of paragraph 2, such as:

Engaging with teacher feedback actively not only helps students understand what to improve, but also strengthens their capacity for self-regulated learning, allowing them to apply insights to future assignments.

In short, showing a link between the two paragraphs helps readers better understand the flow of ideas and prevents confusion caused by possible gaps.

Find out more about showing explicit links between paragraphs here.

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If you’re unsure whether your writing flows well, I encourage you to book 1-2-1 meetings with me, Bess Chan, your London-based EAP Tutor, via email or the booking form