Paragraph Coherence and Unity

elisabeth alfrida

Coherence literally means “to stick together”. Coherence in paragraph writing means that all of the ideas in a paragraph support the topic sentence of your paragraph and allow the reader to easily understand the ideas you want to express.

Paragraph coherence can be achieved by using major and minor connectors, these

are also called “transitions”.

Major Connectors: Major connectors help organize the main points of your

paragraph. These can also be expressed as bulleted or numbered lists.

Examples: 

* First, * Second, * Third,

* Finally, * In conclusion, * To summarize,

Minor Connectors: Minor connectors provide coherence to a paragraph by connecting

the sentences within each of the main parts of your paragraph.

Examples: * In addition, * Others include, * ...,but...

* also * That is, * For example, * For instance,

Paragraph Unity means that the paragraph is about only one main idea or topic. All

the sentences in the paragraph (topic, supporting/detail sentences and sometimes,

the conclusion sentence) are telling the reader about one main topic or idea. If you

have a sentence that is not directly related to your main topic, your paragraph is

considered to “lack unity” or the sentence is “off-topic” and should be removed from

the paragraph.

Each paragraph in your article is a sub-division of your complete article topic.

Example of EzineArticles Components and Support System:

I. Article Title

II. Article Summary

III. Article Body

    A. Introduction Paragraph

         1. Topic Sentence

              a. Supporting Sentence

              b. Supporting Sentence

              c. Supporting Sentence

         2. Concluding Sentence (optional)

    B. Supporting Paragraph(s)

IV. Article Conclusion-summary of entire article theme

V. Resource Box