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Welcome to this UWA STUDYSmarter video all about writing clearly and concisely in Crime
and Society at UWA. I'm Siri Barrett-Lennard, I work with the STUDYSmarter team at the University
of Western Australia, and we’ve designed this as the second of three videos on this
topic. Here we'll look at how to build cohesive paragraphs.
Good writers ensure their paragraphs are cohesive, which means their paragraphs feel tight, their
ideas seem to belong together, and their writing just flows.
Let's explore how they do this by taking a look at a cohesive paragraph based on one
in which Ian Warren discusses how lawyers define crime.
Pause this video while you read this paragraph, then we'll look at what makes it cohesive.
Three things make it cohesive: paragraph structure, sentence structure and sentence links.
Let's take a look at each of these in turn. If we look at the paragraph structure, we
can see that it begins by stating topics up front.
It then develops these topics in the remainder of the paragraph.
In addition, the paragraph begins with simple, short, familiar information and concepts,
which are followed by new, long, complex information and ideas.
The paragraph's topic-development structure and its movement from simple, short, familiar
information to new, long, complex information helps the reader prepare for what comes next
and greatly assist cohesion. Sentence structure also contributes to cohesion.
Like the paragraph as a whole, the front of each sentence begins with simple, short, familiar
topics and the back of each sentence develops these
topics with new, long, complex ideas. Just as paragraph structure and sentence structure
aid cohesion, so too do sentence links. These include front-to-front and back-to-front
links, as well as explicit cohesive markers. When you link sentences front-to-front, you
take ideas from the fronts of sentences and include related ideas in the front of
subsequent sentences. When you link sentences back-to front, you
take ideas from the backs of sentences and use related ideas at the front of other
sentences. Explicit cohesive markers like connectives
(or transition words) can also make writing feel more cohesive,
as can pronouns (which are words like this, these, it, they, and so on).
The best writers use a variety of front-to-front links, back-to-front links, and explicit cohesive
markers. There are two things, however, that can disrupt
cohesion. Imagine, for example, if the writer included
this extra sentence and this extra connective in the paragraph we've just looked at.
The extra sentence contains information that detracts from the writer's main point.
In the context of this paragraph, the sentence is irrelevant.
In addition, the use of the connective 'however' is confusing and makes no logical sense. It's
an example of false cohesion, or trying to make ideas seem cohesive when they're not.
In summary, you can write cohesive paragraphs for Crime and Society if you follow these
guidelines.