how to organise a coherent essay

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Cohesion And Coherence In Essay Writing

Table of contents, introduction.

Before illustrating how to write coherent essays, let us start with the definitions of coherence and cohesion and list the ways we can achieve cohesion in a coherent text.

Definitions Cohesion and Coherence

What is coherence.

Coherence is related to the macro-level features of a text which enable it to have a sense as a whole.

What is cohesion?

How to achieve cohesion and coherence in essay writing, lexical cohesion.

Repeating words may contribute to cohesion. Repetition creates cohesive ties within the text.

Grammatical cohesion

Substitutions, conjunctions transition words, cohesive but not coherent texts.

The player threw the ball toward the goalkeeper. Balls are used in many sports. Most balls are spheres, but American football is an ellipsoid. Fortunately, the goalkeeper jumped to catch the ball. The crossbar in the soccer game is made of iron. The goalkeeper was standing there.

How to write a coherent essay?

1. start with an outline, 2. structure your essay.

3. Structure your paragraphs

4. relevance to the main topic, 5. stick to the purpose of the type of essay you’re-writing, 6. use cohesive devices and signposting phrases.

What is signposting in writing?

Essay signposting phrases.

7. Draft, revise, and edit

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• How to structure an essay: Templates and tips

How to Structure an Essay | Tips & Templates

Published on September 18, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on July 23, 2023.

The basic structure of an essay always consists of an introduction , a body , and a conclusion . But for many students, the most difficult part of structuring an essay is deciding how to organize information within the body.

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Table of contents

The basics of essay structure, chronological structure, compare-and-contrast structure, problems-methods-solutions structure, signposting to clarify your structure, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about essay structure.

There are two main things to keep in mind when working on your essay structure: making sure to include the right information in each part, and deciding how you’ll organize the information within the body.

Parts of an essay

The three parts that make up all essays are described in the table below.

Order of information

You’ll also have to consider how to present information within the body. There are a few general principles that can guide you here.

The first is that your argument should move from the simplest claim to the most complex . The body of a good argumentative essay often begins with simple and widely accepted claims, and then moves towards more complex and contentious ones.

For example, you might begin by describing a generally accepted philosophical concept, and then apply it to a new topic. The grounding in the general concept will allow the reader to understand your unique application of it.

The second principle is that background information should appear towards the beginning of your essay . General background is presented in the introduction. If you have additional background to present, this information will usually come at the start of the body.

The third principle is that everything in your essay should be relevant to the thesis . Ask yourself whether each piece of information advances your argument or provides necessary background. And make sure that the text clearly expresses each piece of information’s relevance.

The sections below present several organizational templates for essays: the chronological approach, the compare-and-contrast approach, and the problems-methods-solutions approach.

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The chronological approach (sometimes called the cause-and-effect approach) is probably the simplest way to structure an essay. It just means discussing events in the order in which they occurred, discussing how they are related (i.e. the cause and effect involved) as you go.

A chronological approach can be useful when your essay is about a series of events. Don’t rule out other approaches, though—even when the chronological approach is the obvious one, you might be able to bring out more with a different structure.

Explore the tabs below to see a general template and a specific example outline from an essay on the invention of the printing press.

• Thesis statement
• Discussion of event/period
• Consequences
• Importance of topic
• Strong closing statement
• Claim that the printing press marks the end of the Middle Ages
• Background on the low levels of literacy before the printing press
• Thesis statement: The invention of the printing press increased circulation of information in Europe, paving the way for the Reformation
• High levels of illiteracy in medieval Europe
• Literacy and thus knowledge and education were mainly the domain of religious and political elites
• Consequence: this discouraged political and religious change
• Invention of the printing press in 1440 by Johannes Gutenberg
• Implications of the new technology for book production
• Consequence: Rapid spread of the technology and the printing of the Gutenberg Bible
• Trend for translating the Bible into vernacular languages during the years following the printing press’s invention
• Luther’s own translation of the Bible during the Reformation
• Consequence: The large-scale effects the Reformation would have on religion and politics
• Summarize the history described
• Stress the significance of the printing press to the events of this period

Essays with two or more main subjects are often structured around comparing and contrasting . For example, a literary analysis essay might compare two different texts, and an argumentative essay might compare the strengths of different arguments.

There are two main ways of structuring a compare-and-contrast essay: the alternating method, and the block method.

Alternating

In the alternating method, each paragraph compares your subjects in terms of a specific point of comparison. These points of comparison are therefore what defines each paragraph.

The tabs below show a general template for this structure, and a specific example for an essay comparing and contrasting distance learning with traditional classroom learning.

• Synthesis of arguments
• Topical relevance of distance learning in lockdown
• Increasing prevalence of distance learning over the last decade
• Thesis statement: While distance learning has certain advantages, it introduces multiple new accessibility issues that must be addressed for it to be as effective as classroom learning
• Classroom learning: Ease of identifying difficulties and privately discussing them
• Distance learning: Difficulty of noticing and unobtrusively helping
• Classroom learning: Difficulties accessing the classroom (disability, distance travelled from home)
• Distance learning: Difficulties with online work (lack of tech literacy, unreliable connection, distractions)
• Classroom learning: Tends to encourage personal engagement among students and with teacher, more relaxed social environment
• Distance learning: Greater ability to reach out to teacher privately
• Sum up, emphasize that distance learning introduces more difficulties than it solves
• Stress the importance of addressing issues with distance learning as it becomes increasingly common
• Distance learning may prove to be the future, but it still has a long way to go

In the block method, each subject is covered all in one go, potentially across multiple paragraphs. For example, you might write two paragraphs about your first subject and then two about your second subject, making comparisons back to the first.

The tabs again show a general template, followed by another essay on distance learning, this time with the body structured in blocks.

• Point 1 (compare)
• Point 2 (compare)
• Point 3 (compare)
• Point 4 (compare)
• Advantages: Flexibility, accessibility
• Disadvantages: Discomfort, challenges for those with poor internet or tech literacy
• Advantages: Potential for teacher to discuss issues with a student in a separate private call
• Disadvantages: Difficulty of identifying struggling students and aiding them unobtrusively, lack of personal interaction among students
• Advantages: More accessible to those with low tech literacy, equality of all sharing one learning environment
• Disadvantages: Students must live close enough to attend, commutes may vary, classrooms not always accessible for disabled students
• Advantages: Ease of picking up on signs a student is struggling, more personal interaction among students
• Disadvantages: May be harder for students to approach teacher privately in person to raise issues

An essay that concerns a specific problem (practical or theoretical) may be structured according to the problems-methods-solutions approach.

This is just what it sounds like: You define the problem, characterize a method or theory that may solve it, and finally analyze the problem, using this method or theory to arrive at a solution. If the problem is theoretical, the solution might be the analysis you present in the essay itself; otherwise, you might just present a proposed solution.

The tabs below show a template for this structure and an example outline for an essay about the problem of fake news.

• Introduce the problem
• Provide background
• Describe your approach to solving it
• Define the problem precisely
• Describe why it’s important
• Indicate previous approaches to the problem
• Present your new approach, and why it’s better
• Apply the new method or theory to the problem
• Indicate the solution you arrive at by doing so
• Assess (potential or actual) effectiveness of solution
• Describe the implications
• Problem: The growth of “fake news” online
• Prevalence of polarized/conspiracy-focused news sources online
• Thesis statement: Rather than attempting to stamp out online fake news through social media moderation, an effective approach to combating it must work with educational institutions to improve media literacy
• Definition: Deliberate disinformation designed to spread virally online
• Popularization of the term, growth of the phenomenon
• Previous approaches: Labeling and moderation on social media platforms
• Critique: This approach feeds conspiracies; the real solution is to improve media literacy so users can better identify fake news
• Greater emphasis should be placed on media literacy education in schools
• This allows people to assess news sources independently, rather than just being told which ones to trust
• This is a long-term solution but could be highly effective
• It would require significant organization and investment, but would equip people to judge news sources more effectively
• Rather than trying to contain the spread of fake news, we must teach the next generation not to fall for it

Signposting means guiding the reader through your essay with language that describes or hints at the structure of what follows.  It can help you clarify your structure for yourself as well as helping your reader follow your ideas.

The essay overview

In longer essays whose body is split into multiple named sections, the introduction often ends with an overview of the rest of the essay. This gives a brief description of the main idea or argument of each section.

The overview allows the reader to immediately understand what will be covered in the essay and in what order. Though it describes what  comes later in the text, it is generally written in the present tense . The following example is from a literary analysis essay on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein .

Transitions

Transition words and phrases are used throughout all good essays to link together different ideas. They help guide the reader through your text, and an essay that uses them effectively will be much easier to follow.

Various different relationships can be expressed by transition words, as shown in this example.

Because Hitler failed to respond to the British ultimatum, France and the UK declared war on Germany. Although it was an outcome the Allies had hoped to avoid, they were prepared to back up their ultimatum in order to combat the existential threat posed by the Third Reich.

Transition sentences may be included to transition between different paragraphs or sections of an essay. A good transition sentence moves the reader on to the next topic while indicating how it relates to the previous one.

… Distance learning, then, seems to improve accessibility in some ways while representing a step backwards in others.

However , considering the issue of personal interaction among students presents a different picture.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

• Ad hominem fallacy
• Post hoc fallacy
• Appeal to authority fallacy
• False cause fallacy
• Sunk cost fallacy

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• Write a College Essay
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• College Essay Format & Structure
• Comparing and Contrasting in an Essay

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The structure of an essay is divided into an introduction that presents your topic and thesis statement , a body containing your in-depth analysis and arguments, and a conclusion wrapping up your ideas.

The structure of the body is flexible, but you should always spend some time thinking about how you can organize your essay to best serve your ideas.

An essay isn’t just a loose collection of facts and ideas. Instead, it should be centered on an overarching argument (summarized in your thesis statement ) that every part of the essay relates to.

The way you structure your essay is crucial to presenting your argument coherently. A well-structured essay helps your reader follow the logic of your ideas and understand your overall point.

Comparisons in essays are generally structured in one of two ways:

• The alternating method, where you compare your subjects side by side according to one specific aspect at a time.
• The block method, where you cover each subject separately in its entirety.

It’s also possible to combine both methods, for example by writing a full paragraph on each of your topics and then a final paragraph contrasting the two according to a specific metric.

You should try to follow your outline as you write your essay . However, if your ideas change or it becomes clear that your structure could be better, it’s okay to depart from your essay outline . Just make sure you know why you’re doing so.

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• Writing Resources

Creating Cohesive and Coherent Paragraphs

What this resource is about:  .

Readers rely on a text’s organization to help them understand it. Well-organized and connected sentences lead to a cohesive, coherent piece of writing. Sometimes we refer to this as “flow.”  This resource explores some ways to create more cohesive and coherent writing.  

Topic and Stress:

Topic: The beginning of the sentence is what the reader understands to be the topic. When the reader knows the topic right away, the sentence feels clearer.   

In the example below, the topics are bolded. The first sentence isn’t wrong, but in the second one, you can see that naming the topic right away makes the idea more concrete.  

      1.  It has been predicted that the global average temperature will increase at a rate of 0.2*C/decade.

      2.  Global average temperature has been predicted to increase at a rate of 0.2*C/decade.  

                                                                                                                                                                       (Schimel, 2012, p.117)

Stress: The end of the sentence is what is being emphasized, i.e. what the writer wants the reader to know about the topic. In the examples below, the topic is bolded and the stress is italicized. The information is the same in all three sentences, but where that information is placed emphasizes different things.  

• Viruses were not studied in the sea until 1989 yet are its most abundant biological entities.
• The most abundant biological entities in the sea are viruses, yet they were not studied until 1989.
• The most abundant biological entities in the sea were not studied until 1989: viruses.  

                                                                                                                                                                       (Schimel, 2012, p.114)

Cohesive Writing Connects Topic and Stress:  

Sentences are cohesive when the stress of one sentence is used as the topic of the next. Below, the first example reads like a list of facts. The ideas are related but the sentences don’t connect. The second example connects the topics and stress which creates a sense of flow.  

• Molecules are comprised of covalently bonded atoms. Molecules’ reactions are controlled by the strength of the bonds. Molecules, however, sometimes react slower than bond strength would predict.  
• Molecules are comprised of covalently bonded atoms. Bond strength controls a molecule’s reactions. Sometimes, however, those reactions are slower than bond strength would predict.  

                                                                                                                                                                       (Schimel, 2012, p.126)

Another way to connect topics and stress is to vary sentence constructions. In the first example both sentences are written in active voice . In the second example, the second sentence is written in passive voice  in order to better connect the topic and stress.  

       1. Some astonishing questions about the nature of the universe have been raised by scientists studying black               holes in space. The collapse of a dead star into a point perhaps no larger than a marble creates a black                     hole.  

       2. Some astonishing questions about the nature of the universe have been raised by scientists studying black               holes in space. A black hole is created by the collapse of a dead star into a point perhaps no larger than a                 marble.  

                                                                                                                                                        (Williams & Bizup, 2017, p. 66)

Orienting-Informing Pattern

Readers are less confused when sentences start with something they already know or have already been introduced to. Then the writer can add new information, and the reader is better prepared for it. In other words, the writer orients the reader, then informs them (Cayley, 2011). Building sentences and paragraphs this way contributes to the overall sense of cohesion.  

Below, in the first example about salvage logging, the idea cavities is a new idea that comes out of nowhere. The writer skipped orienting the reader to the new idea; they went straight to informing. To make the paragraph more coherent, the writer describes what a cavity is before stating why it matters.  

• Salvage logging is an increasingly common way of harvesting forests that have been attacked by insect pests. In salvage logging, trees that have been attacked are selectively harvested. Cavities in standing dead trees serve as nesting sites for birds. The population biology of cavity-nesting birds is therefore likely affected by salvage logging.  
• Salvage logging is an increasingly common way of harvesting forests that have been attacked by insect pests. In salvage logging, trees that have been attacked are selectively harvested. The dead trees that are harvested, however, can provide cavities that are nesting sites for birds. The population biology of cavity-nesting birds is therefore likely affected by salvage logging.  

                                                                                                                                                                      (Schimel, 2012, p. 127)

Sources:  

Caley, R. (2011, March 020. Sentences . Explorations of Style: A Blog about Academic Writing. https://explorationsofstyle.com/2011/03/02/sentences/

Schimel, J. (2012). Writing science: How to write papers that get cited and proposals that get funded. Oxford University Press.  

Williams, J.M., & Bizup, J. (2017).  Style: Lessons in clarity and grace  (12th ed.).Pearson Education Inc. 

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5 Coherent Paragraphs

When you think about it, there’s no contradiction in the advice of these two American writers. You should respond with genuine feeling and without inhibition to what stimulates you – in our case, a set of texts. But feeling isn’t enough. When Gustave Flaubert asked “Has a drinking song ever been written by a drunken man?” he meant a coherent song. Between “getting it down” and “handing it in” good writers show respect for their readers by organizing their material into recognizable patterns. An important benefit of this is that by distancing yourself from your ideas and putting them in order for your reader, you are forced to shape your own nebulous feelings into clear thoughts.

This brings us to the well-known (but apparently not well enough known) paragraph: the basic unit of composition. The traditional and still useful rule that a paragraph must have unity, coherence, and emphasis only means that it must make sense, that the sentences should fit together smoothly, and that not all the sentences function in the same way.

When you see that its purpose is to support your thesis by developing and connecting your ideas meaningfully, then paragraph structure should appeal to your common sense. As a point of emphasis a topic sentence – whether you choose to put it at the beginning, middle, or end – allows you to control your writing and guide your reader by expressing the main idea of the paragraph. Remember, you’re not writing a mystery novel. There will be relatively few instances in this type of essay when you’ll want to surprise your reader.

Must every paragraph have a topic sentence? Not necessarily: if the main idea is obvious, then a topic sentence may be omitted. But even if it is only implied by your paragraph, you and your reader should be able to state easily the main idea . Whether explicit or implicit, the topic sentence of each of your paragraphs should come out of your thesis statement and lead to your conclusion. Like the paragraph, the whole essay should have unity, coherence, and emphasis. Try this: next time you read an essay, underline only the topic sentences of each paragraph; then reread only what you’ve underlined. In many cases you’ll see that the underlined sentences make up a coherent paragraph all by themselves (this is an easy way to write an abstract, incidentally). That’s because most topic sentences are more specific than the thesis statement that generates them, but still more general than the supporting sentences in the paragraphs that illustrate them. Thus they are transitions between the writer’s promise to the reader and the keeping of that promise.

Examples: Opening Paragraphs

From a student essay discussing Kafka’s The Metamorphosis :

When Nietzsche declared that “God is dead,” he did so with an air of optimism. No longer could man be led about on the tight leash of religion; a man liberated could strive for the status of Overman. But what happens if a man refuses to let go of his “dead” God and remains too fearful to evolve into an Overman? Rejecting the concept of the Christian God means renouncing the scapegoat for the sins of man and accepting responsibility for one’s own actions. In The Metamorphosis Gregor Samsa plays the god-like role of financial provider for his family. However, when his transformation renders him useless in this role, the rest of Samsa’s family undergoes a change of its own: Kafka uses the metamorphoses of both Gregor and his family to illustrate a modern crisis.

Some comments on the structure:   Two provocative introductory sentences, then a transition question and a response that presents the central idea of the essay. Next, introduction of the text and characters under discussion. Finally, the topic sentence of the paragraph, which, as the thesis statement, promises an interpretation. A paragraph such as this engages the reader’s interest right away and makes the reader look forward to the rest of the essay.

From a student essay on the question, “What Do Historians of Childhood Do?”

In his 1982 book The Disappearance of Childhood , Neil Postman argues that the concept of childhood is a recent invention of literate society, enabled by the invention of moveable-type printing. Postman says as a result of television, literate adulthood and preliterate childhood are both vanishing. While Postman’s indictment of TV-culture is provocative, he ignores race, class, ideology, and economic circumstance as factors in the experience of both children and adults. Worse, he ignores history, making sweeping generalizations such as the claim that the pre-modern Greeks had no concept of children. These claims are contradicted by the appearance of children in classical Greek literature and in the Christian Gospels, written in Greek, which admonish their readers to “be as children.” A more useful and much more interesting observation might be that the idea of childhood and the experience of young people has changed significantly since ancient times, and continues to change.

Some comments on the structure:   Like the previous example, this essay begins with a statement from a text (this time with a paraphrase rather than a quotation) and builds towards a thesis statement. In this case the build-up, where the writer disagrees with one of the class texts, is stronger than the thesis. The writer has not stated exactly what he will argue, aside from saying he finds at least some of the ideas of childhood advanced in the course materials unsatisfactory. Keeping the reader in suspense may add to the interest of the essay, but in a short paper it might also waste valuable time and leave the reader unsure whether the writer has really thought things through.

From an essay on Crime and Punishment :

“Freedom depends upon the real…It is as impossible to exercise freedom in an unreal world as it is to jump while you are falling” (Colin Wilson, The Outsider, p. 39). Even without God, modern man is still tempted to create unreal worlds. In Feodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment Raskolnikov conceives the fantastic theory of the “overman.” After committing murder in an attempt to satisfy his theory, Raskolnikov falls into a delirious, death-like state; then, Lazarus-like, he is raised from the “dead.” His “resurrection” is not, as some critics suggest, a consequence of his love for Sonya and Sonya’s God. Rather, his salvation results from the freedom he gains when he chooses to live without illusions.

Comments: Once more, a stimulating opening. Between the first and last sentences, which frame the paragraph (the last one, as well as being the thesis sentence, is the specific application of the general first sentence), the writer makes her transition to the central idea and introduces the text and character she wishes to discuss. The reader is given enough information to know what to expect. It promises to be an interesting essay.

Each of the writers above chooses to open with a quotation or reference that helps to focus the reader’s attention and reveal the point of view from which a specific interpretation will be made. Movement from the general to the specific is very common in introductory thesis paragraphs, but it is not obligatory. You can begin with your thesis statement as the first sentence; start with a question; or use the entire opening paragraph to set the scene and provide background, then present your thesis in the second paragraph. Make choices and even create new options, so long as your sentences move to create a dominant impression on the reader.

Examples: Middle Paragraphs

From a student essay comparing P’u Sung-ling’s (17th century) The Cricket Boy and Franz Kafka’s (20th century) The Metamorphosis , two stories that deal with a son’s relationship to his family. (The writer’s thesis: according to these authors, one must connect in meaningful ways with other human beings in order to achieve what Virginia Woolf calls “health,” “truth,” and “happiness.”)

The most obvious similarity between Kiti and Gregor is that they both take the forms of insects; however, their and their families’ reactions to the changes account for the essential difference between the characters. Whereas Kiti thinks a cricket represents “all that [is] good and strong and beautiful in the world ( Cricket Boy , p. 2), Gregor is repulsed by his insect body and “closes his eyes so as not to have to see his squirming legs” ( Metamorphosis , p, 3). Their situations also affect their families differently.  Kiti’s experience serves as a catalyst that brings his family closer together: “For the first time, his father had become human, and he loved his father then” ( CB , p. 2). Gregor’s transformation, on the other hand, succeeds in further alienating him from his family: his parents “could not bring themselves to come in to him” ( M , p. 31). While Kiti and his parents develop a bond based on understanding and mutual respect, Gregor becomes not only emotionally estranged from his family, but also physically separated from them.

Some comments on the structure:   The writer is clearly on her way, with specific examples from the texts, to supporting her argument concerning the need for self-respect and communication. Notice that she uses transitions such as “however,” “whereas,” “also,” “on the other hand,” while,” and “not only…, but also…” to connect her thoughts and make her sentences cohere. Transitional words and phrases are the “glue” both within and between paragraphs: they help writers stick to the point, and also allow readers to stay on the path the writer intends.

Transitions

Writers use transitional words and expressions as markers to guide readers on their exploratory journey. They can express relationships very explicitly , which is often exactly what is needed. However, experienced writers can also build more subtle bridges between ideas, hinting at relationships with implicit transitions. These relationships may change from vague impressions to a very concrete statement, as the argument develops, allowing the reader to “discover” the writer’s conclusion as the essay builds to its final paragraph.

Examples of explicit transitional expressions

• Comparison: such as, like, similarly, likewise, in the same way, in comparison, correspondingly, analogous to
• Contrast: but, however, in contrast, although, different from, opposing, another distinction, paradoxically
•   Cause-effect: because, as a result, consequently, for this reason, produced, generated, yielded
•   Sequence: initially, subsequently, at the onset, next, in turn, then, ultimately
•  Emphasis: above all, of major interest, unequivocally, significantly, of great concern, notably
•   Examples: for example, in this instance, specifically, such as, to illustrate, in particular
•   Adding points: as well as, furthermore, also, moreover, in addition, again, besides

If you find that you are overusing explicit connectors and your transitions are beginning to feel mechanical (How many times have you used “furthermore” or “however”?  How many “other hands” do you have?), you can improve the flow of your writing either by changing up the transitional expressions, or by shifting toward more implicit transitions. One technique is, in the first sentence of the new paragraph, refer (either explicitly or implicitly) to material in the preceding paragraph. For example:

When Alcibiades does give his speech, we see that his example is Socrates himself.

While this interpretation still seems reasonable, I was surprised at the difficulty of uncovering useable data in the records of past societies.

This sometimes sickening detail that Dante uses to draw the reader emotionally into the Inferno also stimulates the reader to think about what he or she feels.

The Greek system is much more relaxed; obeisance and respect for the gods is not required, although in most cases it seems to make life easier.

Each of these implicit transition sentences builds on the previous paragraph and calls for support in the new paragraph. Even more subtle (that is, more difficult) would be to make the last sentence of the paragraph indicate the direction the next paragraph will take. If you try this, be careful you do not at the same time change the subject. You do not want to introduce a new idea at the end of a paragraph, and destroy its unity. Since it suggests a change in direction, we see this device used most commonly with thesis sentences at the end of introductory paragraphs, or in transitional paragraphs like the example above.

Other examples of hinges writers use to make connections include pronouns referring back to nouns in the previous paragraphs and synonyms to avoid repetition and overuse of pronouns. A good rule is not to overuse any device.

Concluding Paragraphs

From a student essay on Crime and Punishment :

Raskolnikov finally finds a new life:

Indeed he [is] not consciously reasoning at all; he [can] only feel .  Life [has] taken the place of logic and something quite different must be worked out in his mind. (Epi. II, p. 464)

Thus he ends his suffering by abandoning intelligence and reasoning.  Jean-Jacques Rousseau said that “above all the logic of the head is the feeling of the heart.” Ultimately, Raskolnikov transcends the “logic of the head” by discovering love and freedom.

Some comments on the structure: The paragraph works well as a conclusion because you can tell immediately that the writer has said all that she wants to say about the subject. She uses a quotation from another source, to “rub up against” Dostoevsky, expanding the dialogue between the text, the writer, and the reader by adding another voice. The answer to the “so what?” question is implied in the last sentence: love and freedom are values we all can share. Note that although this is a different conclusion from that of the earlier essay discussing Crime and Punishment , both interpretations are interesting and valid because both writers supported their arguments with careful readings of the text.

From a History essay analyzing the influence of Philippe Ariès’s book Centuries of Childhood on later historians:

In the end, Centuries of Childhood did not establish a conceptual framework for children’s history. Nor did the rival philosophies of history create a new paradigm for children’s history. Ariès identified a subject of study. He was a prospector who uncovered a rich vein of material. Subsequent miners should use whatever tools and techniques are best suited to getting the ore out of the ground. Historians should stop fighting over theories and get to work uncovering the lives of children and families. This will involve, as Jordanova suggested, self-awareness and sensitivity. But it should not be sidetracked by ideological debates. As Cunningham observed, the stakes for modern children and families are high. To make children’s history useful for the present, historians of children and families need to put aside their differences and get back to work.

Some comments on the structure:   As in the previous example, the writer includes the perspectives of other commentators. This is especially common in essays on secondary sources in history, because “historiography” is often imagined as an ongoing conversation about primary and important secondary texts. The “so what” statement is more explicit this time, relating the study of children in the past to improving the lives of children and families today. The importance of connecting with the needs of today is problematic (many historians would criticize this as “presentism”); so the writer includes a supporting perspective from a sympathetic commentator.

From an essay in which the writer compares and contrasts the character she is examining with a character from another work:

Like Ophelia, Gretchen has moments of confusion and despair, but she decides to give in to her feelings and take responsibility for them. By having Gretchen freely stay behind to face her execution, Goethe casts aside any similarities that his character shares with Shakespeare’s Ophelia. Along with the empowering freedom of Gretchen’s striving comes the struggle to act rightly. But if no objective absolutes exist, according to Goethe’s God, on what basis can Gretchen make her decisions in order to be saved? She comes to the realization that the only absolutes exist within herself. Goethe’s God saves her, not for being a penitent Christian, but for staying true to these self-imposed absolutes.

Some comments on the structure:  Another strong conclusion. The writer’s interpretation could be contested, but she has argued it well and convincingly throughout the essay and concluded strongly. Incidentally, note also that by specifying “Goethe’s God” in her interpretation she avoids any distracting discussion of religion and keeps her writing focused on literary analysis. We don’t argue the nature of “God” in an essay about literature; only the nature of the “God” in the text.

A Short Handbook for writing essays in the Humanities and Social Sciences Copyright © 2019 by Salvatore F. Allosso and Dan Allosso is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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How to Organise an Essay – A Comprehensive Guide & Examples

Published by Grace Graffin at August 17th, 2021 , Revised On October 11, 2023

The quality of a well-written essay largely depends on the quality of the content and the author’s writing style. Students with little to no essay writing experience  almost always struggle to figure out how to organise an essay.

Even if you have great essay writing skills but are unable to keep the sequence of information right in your essay, you may not impress the readers.

A narrator cannot craft an engaging story until he learns to organise his vivid thoughts. The best way to organise an essay is to create a map of the essay beforehand to ensure that your essay’s structure allows for a smooth flow of information.

Here is all you need to learn in order to organise an essay.

The Importance of Organisation of an Essay

Readers are always looking for an essay that is easy in its approach, i.e. an essay that is reader-friendly and follows an easy-to-understand structure, etc.

Your essay should be organised to convey a clear message to the reader without using any vague statements. As an essayist, it will be your responsibility to make sure that there are  no spelling, grammar, capitalization, and punctuation  errors in the essay paper.

You might wonder why you need to put increased effort into the organisation of an essay. If you had the opportunity to work with a professional essayist or any other individual working in English literature, you would get to know that each of these professionals pays a lot of attention to organising an essay because a poorly structured essay can really turn away your readers.

Basic Essay Organisation

The first things to organise are what you are going to say and in what order you are going to say those things. After this, it is a case of refining those things. You can start by separating all your text into three sections: introduction , main body , and conclusion . Can it really be so simple? Yes, and of course, no. There are several ways to organise an essay depending on different factors.

Different Patterns for the Organisation of an Essay

There is no specific way of organising an essay. Multiple styles and methods are utilised by writers based on the academic subject, academic level, and expectations of the audience. Below we have discussed some of the most common ways to organise an essay.

Chronological Organisation

Organising an essay chronologically – sometimes called the cause-and-effect approach – is one of the simpler ways to organise your essay. This way of organisation tends to discuss the events in the specific order they occurred. The chronological organisation method is especially important for  narrative  and  reflective essays .

The writer will be expected to recognise the sequence of events and structure the essay accordingly, i.e. what happens in the beginning, middle, and at end. Use this approach if it allows for the clearest and most logical presentation of your information.

Where is Chronological Organisation Used?

• Scientific processes – Where a process has many steps, it is likely that the order of these steps is vital.
• Historical events – Things are clearer for the reader when events in the past are relayed in the order in which they happened. This can also apply to political progress.
• Biographies – Events that occurred in someone’s lifetime or examining events covering just a short time in one person’s life, such as a JFK’s final day.

Specific Language Needed

Essays that describe a succession of events following each other will require good use of prepositions of time. These are words, often pairs, such as next, after this/that, following on from that, later… Be careful not to overuse the same word, as this can become repetitive and tedious for the reader.

Spatial Organisation

The spatial organisation refers to describing items based on their physical locations or relation to other items. It often involves describing things as and when they appear. It makes it easier for the writer to give a vivid picture through the essay. This method tends to discuss comparisons, narrations, and descriptions .

When using this technique, make sure to organise the information pertaining to comparisons, narrations, and descriptions from either top to bottom or left to right. Note that while location and position are very important with this method, time is largely ignored.

Where is Spatial Organisation Used?

• Descriptive essays – It is excellent for describing objects, people, and places. It is also useful for showing social or physical phenomena – the arrangement of a rainforest.
• Narrating events – You can take the reader through a visual processor to describe events that occurred, showing them everything on the way.
• Medical – Those who need to describe the workings of bodies, medicines, operations on bodies, and anatomy might choose this approach.
• Technical construction – You can describe how a physical mechanism or building works or is constructed.

If you do not have a picture to show, you need to describe it.

For instance, if you are writing an essay about a brand-new, impressively featured smartphone, you can begin to brief about the smartphone starting from the top camera down to the buttons located at the bottom .

From the example above, you can see that an essay using spatial organisation will require you to talk about where things are. This will mean quite extensive and careful use of a group of words called prepositions , such as next to, attached to, near, behind, under, alongside… If you are describing movement, then there are prepositions that indicate movement, such as through, into, out of, toward, away from, and past.

You need to be specific in your use of prepositions as the reader might be imagining events with no image to refer to other than what you have described.

Climactic Order

This method is also known as organising by importance or ascending order. Following this technique, the writer  starts the essay with the least important information and gradually moves towards the most important – the climax. The idea is to save the best till the last.

The introduction and conclusion are unaffected by this organisational style. The main body of the essay is where the structure is used. This type of organisation is applicable where there is no need for logical ordering. For example, in a scientific process, each step logically follows the previous one. Steps will vary in how eventful they are; you cannot write about such a process by saving the most eventful for the end.

When to Use Climactic Order

This method is sometimes used as a way of keeping readers interested, even in suspense. If written in the opposite direction, anticlimactic, you might lose readers after they have learned about the most exciting part.

In narrating a story or sequence of events that culminate in something serious or important, this is a good style to use.

Interested in ordering an essay?

Topical Organisation

As the name itself suggests, this form of  organisation explains different features and sides of the topic with no specific order. Unlike climactic order, this type of essay organisation treats different aspects of one topic with the same importance. The way to achieve this is to divide the whole topic up into its subtopics and then define each one.

Where is Topical Organisation Used?

• Scientific essays – This could be an exploratory essay, especially where an organism or something consisting of multiple parts has to be described.
• Compare-and-contrast essays – Where things have to be compared against each other for their similarities and differences. This could be when comparing two pieces of art or literature; the works’ various aspects could be examined separately.
• Descriptive essays – If, for example, you have to write an essay about yourself, you can describe the different aspects of your body and personality in their own sections.
• Expository essays – Where something is explained with facts, not opinions, the subject can be broken down and looked at piece by piece.

For example , describing how information technology has had serious consequences on mankind can start with how people overlooked technology in the beginning. It could then discuss the causes of social media addiction that have taken the world by storm in recent times.

Comparing and Contrasting: Alternating and Block Methods

It is worth noting that compare-and-contrast essays can be structured in two distinct ways. They are the alternating method, where each part is compared in turn, and the block method, where each thing is considered in its entirety.

Using the alternating method to compare two cars, you might compare the bodywork of both, then move on to their interiors, and then the engines. The other way is the block method; here, you would write a full block discussing all aspects of one car and then a block discussing the same aspects of the other car.

Also Read:  How to Develop Essay Topic Ideas

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Key Tips for Organising your Essay

Planning and organising your essay not only benefit the reader, but the writer also gets great help from the whole process. Following organisational patterns helps the writer by saving time without having to go through the same content repeatedly.

If you plan to develop a  great essay , you must ensure good planning for your essay. Using the correct format to present your material will complement the material itself. Let’s discuss some key tips on how to organise an essay:

Also Read:  Organisational Templates for Essays

Start your Essay with Simple Arguments

A good tactic in producing an organised essay is to start your essay by providing simple arguments. It does not mean that only simple arguments should be part of the essay. Relatively complex or difficult arguments should also be placed later in  the main body of the essay .

If your readers can understand the most basic arguments, they will be more likely to grasp the message resulting from more complicated arguments and statements.

This further relates to the point that if you  start your essay  with simple information that your readers can agree to without much hesitation, you will be more likely to convince them to agree to more controversial arguments.

Get the Readers on your Side

As an example, by presenting a simple, well-understood scientific argument early on, you start to get your readers on board. You then present another argument that can be seen as a logical progression from the first. When you raise a more complex and possibly contentious argument, it helps if you can apply principles from your initial example. If the readers agreed with the basic argument, logically they would agree with the more complex version.

This early presentation of a simpler argument ties in with giving your audience background information early in the essay. While you might assume your readers understand the subject you are writing about, you should not skip background information by assuming they will know it.

Know your Audience

In this era of technological advancement, people tend to make quick decisions as they have to look at multiple platforms to find content. Understandably, the essay needs to be well structured and well formalised, yet it should be organised in a way that is user-friendly. If the audience you are going to target is not going to be enticed by it, you need to reconsider your approach and tactics.

Define Technical Terms

While providing information in the essay, make sure that you define all the technical terms that the readers may not be aware of. This needs to be done as the first step before you alienate and confuse your reader and he decides to avert.

It would be best if you drafted your essay in such a manner that a layperson can understand it without making any extra effort. Jargon or technical terms must be defined within the content.

If used excessively, you can describe these terms in a different paragraph, making it more convenient for the readers.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is an essay structure.

The structure of an essay is the way in which you present your material. This mostly applies to the main body of your essay. You can consider the introduction and conclusion parts as bookends that hold the main block of information in place. There are several ways to organise the main body, and they mostly depend on what kind of material you are presenting. Certain types of essays benefit from certain ways of delivering the information within.

An appropriately structured essay gives your arguments and ideas their best chance. When the correct structure is supported by well-written paragraphs and good use of transitions , it will be an impressive essay to read.

Is referencing affected by the essay style I choose?

No, the approach you take in organising your essay does not affect how you reference your sources. What affects your referencing is the formatting style you are instructed to use, such as Harvard , APA, MLA, or Chicago.

Are there fixed rules on which method of organising to use for certain subjects?

No, there is no rule that says you have to use a certain style. However, practice shows that the aims of certain types of essays are best achieved when presented in particular styles.

Do I have to provide a glossary of technical terms?

How you define technical terms to your readers is your choice. It can depend on the amount of them. If there are not many, they can be introduced within the text. If the essay topic is of a highly technical nature, then a separate sheet with definitions might be the best way to explain them without extending the length of your essay .

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How to Organize an Essay

Last Updated: March 27, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Jake Adams . Jake Adams is an academic tutor and the owner of Simplifi EDU, a Santa Monica, California based online tutoring business offering learning resources and online tutors for academic subjects K-College, SAT & ACT prep, and college admissions applications. With over 14 years of professional tutoring experience, Jake is dedicated to providing his clients the very best online tutoring experience and access to a network of excellent undergraduate and graduate-level tutors from top colleges all over the nation. Jake holds a BS in International Business and Marketing from Pepperdine University. There are 17 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 286,717 times.

Essay Template and Sample Essay

Laying the Groundwork

• For example, a high-school AP essay should have a very clear structure, with your introduction and thesis statement first, 3-4 body paragraphs that further your argument, and a conclusion that ties everything together.
• On the other hand, a creative nonfiction essay might wait to present the thesis till the very end of the essay and build up to it.
• A compare-and-contrast essay can be organized so that you compare two things in a single paragraph and then have a contrasting paragraph, or you can organize it so that you compare and contrast a single thing in the same paragraph.
• You can also choose to organize your essay chronologically, starting at the beginning of the work or historical period you're discussing and going through to the end. This can be helpful for essays where chronology is important to your argument (like a history paper or lab report), or if you're telling a story in your essay.
• The “support” structure begins with your thesis laid out clearly in the beginning and supports it through the rest of the essay.
• The “discovery” structure builds to the thesis by moving through points of discussion until the thesis seems the inevitable, correct view.
• The “exploratory” structure looks at the pros and cons of your chosen topic. It presents the various sides and usually concludes with your thesis.

• If you haven't been given an assignment, you can always run ideas by your instructor or advisor to see if they're on track.
• Ask questions about anything you don't understand. It's much better to ask questions before you put hours of work into your essay than it is to have to start over because you didn't clarify something. As long as you're polite, almost all instructors will be happy to answer your questions.

• For example, are you writing an opinion essay for your school newspaper? Your fellow students are probably your audience in this case. However, if you're writing an opinion essay for the local newspaper, your audience could be people who live in your town, people who agree with you, people who don't agree with you, people who are affected by your topic, or any other group you want to focus on.

Getting the Basics Down

• A thesis statement acts as the “road map” for your paper. It tells your audience what to expect from the rest of your essay.
• Include the most salient points within your thesis statement. For example, your thesis may be about the similarity between two literary works. Describe the similarities in general terms within your thesis statement.
• Consider the “So what?” question. A good thesis will explain why your idea or argument is important. Ask yourself: if a friend asked you “So what?” about your thesis, would you have an answer?
• The “3-prong thesis” is common in high school essays, but is often frowned upon in college and advanced writing. Don't feel like you have to restrict yourself to this limited form.
• Revise your thesis statement. If in the course of writing your essay you discover important points that were not touched upon in your thesis, edit your thesis.

• If you have a librarian available, don't be afraid to consult with him or her! Librarians are trained in helping you identify credible sources for research and can get you started in the right direction.

• Try freewriting. With freewriting, you don't edit or stop yourself. You just write (say, for 15 minutes at a time) about anything that comes into your head about your topic.
• Try a mind map. Start by writing down your central topic or idea, and then draw a box around it. Write down other ideas and connect them to see how they relate. [14] X Research source
• Try cubing. With cubing, you consider your chosen topic from 6 different perspectives: 1) Describe it, 2) Compare it, 3) Associate it, 4) Analyze it, 5) Apply it, 6) Argue for and against it.

• If your original thesis was very broad, you can also use this chance to narrow it down. For example, a thesis about “slavery and the Civil War” is way too big to manage, even for a doctoral dissertation. Focus on more specific terms, which will help you when you start you organize your outline. [16] X Trustworthy Source University of North Carolina Writing Center UNC's on-campus and online instructional service that provides assistance to students, faculty, and others during the writing process Go to source

Organizing the Essay

• Determine the order in which you will discuss the points. If you're planning to discuss 3 challenges of a particular management strategy, you might capture your reader's attention by discussing them in the order of most problematic to least. Or you might choose to build the intensity of your essay by starting with the smallest problem first.

• For example, a solid paragraph about Hamlet's insanity could draw from several different scenes in which he appears to act insane. Even though these scenes don't all cluster together in the original play, discussing them together will make a lot more sense than trying to discuss the whole play from start to finish.

• Ensure that your topic sentence is directly related to your main argument. Avoid statements that may be on the general topic, but not directly relevant to your thesis.
• Make sure that your topic sentence offers a “preview” of your paragraph's argument or discussion. Many beginning writers forget to use the first sentence this way, and end up with sentences that don't give a clear direction for the paragraph.
• For example, compare these two first sentences: “Thomas Jefferson was born in 1743” and “Thomas Jefferson, who was born in 1743, became one of the most important people in America by the end of the 18th century.”
• The first sentence doesn't give a good direction for the paragraph. It states a fact but leaves the reader clueless about the fact's relevance. The second sentence contextualizes the fact and lets the reader know what the rest of the paragraph will discuss.

• Transitions help underline your essay's overall organizational logic. For example, beginning a paragraph with something like “Despite the many points in its favor, Mystic Pizza also has several elements that keep it from being the best pizza in town” allows your reader to understand how this paragraph connects to what has come before.
• Transitions can also be used inside paragraphs. They can help connect the ideas within a paragraph smoothly so your reader can follow them.
• If you're having a lot of trouble connecting your paragraphs, your organization may be off. Try the revision strategies elsewhere in this article to determine whether your paragraphs are in the best order.
• The Writing Center at the University of Wisconsin - Madison has a handy list of transitional words and phrases, along with the type of transition they indicate. [22] X Research source

• You can try returning to your original idea or theme and adding another layer of sophistication to it. Your conclusion can show how necessary your essay is to understanding something about the topic that readers would not have been prepared to understand before.
• For some types of essays, a call to action or appeal to emotions can be quite helpful in a conclusion. Persuasive essays often use this technique.
• Avoid hackneyed phrases like “In sum” or “In conclusion.” They come across as stiff and cliched on paper.

Revising the Plan

• You can reverse-outline on the computer or on a printed draft, whichever you find easier.
• As you read through your essay, summarize the main idea (or ideas) of each paragraph in a few key words. You can write these on a separate sheet, on your printed draft, or as a comment in a word processing document.
• Look at your key words. Do the ideas progress in a logical fashion? Or does your argument jump around?
• If you're having trouble summarizing the main idea of each paragraph, it's a good sign that your paragraphs have too much going on. Try splitting your paragraphs up.

• You may also find with this technique that your topic sentences and transitions aren't as strong as they could be. Ideally, your paragraphs should have only one way they could be organized for maximum effectiveness. If you can put your paragraphs in any order and the essay still kind of makes sense, you may not be building your argument effectively.

• For example, you might find that placing your least important argument at the beginning drains your essay of vitality. Experiment with the order of the sentences and paragraphs for heightened effect.

Expert Q&A

You Might Also Like

• ↑ Jake Adams. Academic Tutor & Test Prep Specialist. Expert Interview. 20 May 2020.
• ↑ http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/planning-and-organizing/organizing
• ↑ http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/understanding-assignments/
• ↑ https://open.lib.umn.edu/writingforsuccess/chapter/6-1-purpose-audience-tone-and-content/
• ↑ https://www.student.unsw.edu.au/writing-your-essay
• ↑ https://www.hamilton.edu/writing/writing-resources/persuasive-essays
• ↑ http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/thesis-statements/
• ↑ http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/brainstorming/
• ↑ https://owl.english.purdue.edu/engagement/2/2/53/
• ↑ https://pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca/scholarlywriting/chapter/revising-a-thesis-statement/
• ↑ http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/reorganizing-drafts/
• ↑ https://www.grammarly.com/blog/essay-outline/
• ↑ https://wts.indiana.edu/writing-guides/paragraphs-and-topic-sentences.html
• ↑ http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/transitions/
• ↑ https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/Transitions.html
• ↑ http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/conclusions/
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/reading-aloud/

About This Article

To organize an essay, start by writing a thesis statement that makes a unique observation about your topic. Then, write down each of the points you want to make that support your thesis statement. Once you have all of your main points, expand them into paragraphs using the information you found during your research. Finally, close your essay with a conclusion that reiterates your thesis statement and offers additional insight into why it’s important. For tips from our English reviewer on how to use transitional sentences to help your essay flow better, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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IELTS Charlie

Your Guide to IELTS Band 7

IELTS coherence: how to write better essays

Coherence  is the way you structure your essay, report or letter. A piece of writing with good coherence is easy to understand and easy to follow . Together with cohesion , it makes up 25% of the mark on both IELTS Writing Task 1 and IELTS Writing Task 2 . In my experience, IELTS candidates often get their lowest score in coherence and cohesion. The good news is that it’s easy to make coherence better. In this article I explain everything you need to know about IELTS Coherence , and how to write essays, reports and letters that will get a high band score for coherence.

I’ve also included a drag and drop activity where you can test your skills creating a paragraph from jumbled text. Go to the bottom of the page for the activity.

IELTS Coherence: what do the IELTS examiners want?

The IELTS examiners want to read an essay in which:

• ideas and information are logically organised
• ideas and information are properly sequenced
• especially in Task 2 , paragraphs are appropriately used to organize ideas and information

This is what the assessment criteria , used by IELTS examiners, say about IELTS coherence:

IELTS Coherence: the key to getting a high score

The key to getting a high band score for coherence is  planning your IELTS essay . In fact, planning is also the key to getting a high band score for task response or task achievement.

Planning helps you get a high band score for coherence because it helps you to structure the report, letter or essay, and it also helps you to structure each paragraph effectively.

IELTS Writing Task 2: Essay structure

To get a high score for coherence, each paragraph in your essay should be organized around one main idea. For Task 2 essays, I always recommend following a 4 paragraph structure .

• Introduction : paraphrase the question and introduce what you are going to say
• Body Paragraph 1 : one side of the argument / advantages / problem
• Body Paragraph 2 : other side of the argument / disadvantages / solutions
• Conclusion : sum up the argument and give your opinion

When you plan your essay, you should also come up with some ideas (e.g. the 2 sides to an argument, advantages and disadvantages, problems and solutions). These ideas should then be put into the appropriate paragraph.

It is important not to mix up the ideas. Many students write both advantages and disadvantages in the same paragraph. This confuses the reader. Keep different ideas in different paragraphs.

Paragraph structure

It is also important to structure each paragraph. Here is a simple structure that you can use for the body paragraphs, known as the  3 sentence paragraph .

• Main idea : the opening sentence of a paragraph should summarise this main idea – this is called the topic sentence. The topic sentence should be short.
• Explanation : The second sentence should explain the main idea in more detail
• Example : The third sentence should provide one or two examples that support this idea (including personal experiences)

This is quite a simple structure, and you may have to adapt it a little, for example by writing 2 sentences for the explanation or for the example, but the basic structure is the same:

IDEA – EXPLAIN – EXAMPLE

So, a coherent essay would look something like this:

IELTS Writing Task 1: Report structure

To get a high band score for an IELTS Task 1 report, you should also think about the structure. The best way to do this is to break down the data into ‘chunks’. So, for example, if you have a graph showing a trends between 1990 and 2015, you could break the graph into two chunks of data: 1990-2000 and 2000-2015. Sometimes, it’s better to break the data into 3 chunks. Then you write a body paragraph on each chunk of data.

For Task 1 reports, I recommend the following  structure .

• Introduction : paraphrase the question and give an overview of the graph/chart/etc.
• Body Paragraph 1 : discuss one ‘chunk’ of data
• Body Paragraph 2 : discuss another ‘chunk’ of data.
• If you have a third ‘chunk’ of data, add another paragraph

In each body paragraph, you should start with a topic sentence, followed by one or two examples.

• Key detail : the opening sentence of the paragraph should summarise one key detail from the graph / diagram / etc, such as a trend or comparison.
• Examples : The following sentences should provide one or two examples of this key detaila – you must refer to data when you do this.

So, a coherent Task 1 report would look something like this:

If you are doing the General Training IELTS , you will have to write a letter. remember to use a clear structure for this as well. This is really easy in the General Training IELTS, because you are told what to include in your letter; the question will usually include 2 or 3 bullet points , and each bullet point tells you one thing to write about in your letter.  Your structure should simply follow these bullet points.

Remember, the key to getting a high band score for coherence is having a good structure and organizing your ideas in this structure.

Coherence Activity

Finally, here is an activity that will test your ability to create a paragraph that is coherent and cohesive. In the activity below, there are 2 columns. In the right column is some text from a paragraph about the importance of health care. Try to put the chunks of text into the correct order. This will test your ability to predict what’s coming next in the paragraph, and will test your ability to connect ideas using cohesive devices.

To help you, the paragraph starts with the words: “It is often said that the wealth” Good luck!

I hope you found this article useful. If you did, please share it by clicking on one of the share buttons on the page. Thanks!

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Creating Coherent Paragraphs: Topic Sentences, Echo Words, Transitions

Below is a video on how to write coherent, easy-to-read paragraphs.

The video covers the three most important concepts that make for coherence:

• Writing a strong topic sentence that establishes the subject of the paragraph
• Using "echo words" -- i.e., consistent terms for the concepts throughout
• Applying transitions to link sentences logically

Make sure you select 720p HD on the video (bottom right corner) for best resolution and so scientific illustrations and figures are clear.

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How to Organize Your Ideas Coherently in a College Essay

Creating a Thesis Statement

Developing an outline, organizing body paragraphs, using evidence, transitioning between ideas, concluding your essay, final thoughts.

Writing a college essay can be a daunting task, especially when it comes to organizing ideas in a coherent and compelling manner. Many students struggle with structuring their thoughts, often finding themselves either veering off-topic or presenting their ideas in a disjointed way. The key to a successful essay lies in its organization: a well-structured essay not only conveys your arguments more effectively but also makes it easier for your readers to follow and understand your points.

Before you start writing your essay, it is crucial to thoroughly understand the essay prompt or question. Misinterpreting the question can lead to a poorly organized essay that misses the mark. Begin by reading the prompt carefully and identifying the key themes and requirements it poses. Are you being asked to analyze, compare, argue, or describe? Understanding the nature of the question is the first step in organizing your thoughts effectively.

Photo by energepic.com on Pexels

The cornerstone of any well-organized essay is a strong thesis statement. This statement serves as a guide for both the writer and the reader, outlining the main argument or perspective that your college essay will support. A good thesis statement is clear, concise, and directly answers the essay question.

To craft your thesis statement, consolidate the ideas from your brainstorming session into a single, overarching argument or point of view. Some students find it helpful to discuss this idea with peers or even seek guidance from dissertation writers for hire . This statement should reflect the essence of what you intend to convey in your essay. Remember, the thesis statement sets the tone and direction for the entire essay, so it should be specific enough to give a clear sense of your argument but broad enough to allow for detailed discussion in the body paragraphs.

Photo by Armin Rimoldi on Pexels

Start your outline by listing the main sections of your essay: the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. Under each section, jot down the key points or arguments you plan to cover. For the body paragraphs, organize the points in a logical sequence. In an argumentative essay, for example, you might start with the most significant points and then proceed to less critical ones. In a compare and contrast essay, you might alternate between points about the two subjects being compared.

An effective outline not only helps in organizing your ideas but also in maintaining the balance of content throughout the essay. It ensures that each part of the essay contributes to the development of your thesis statement and no single point dominates the essay.

The body paragraphs form the core of your college essay , where you develop your arguments and present your evidence. Each paragraph should start with a topic sentence that directly relates to your thesis statement. This sentence sets the tone for the paragraph and provides a clear direction for the argument you will discuss.

When organizing the body paragraphs, consider the flow of your arguments. They should be arranged in a way that each point logically leads to the next. This progression creates a coherent narrative or line of reasoning throughout your essay. Make sure that each paragraph focuses on a single main idea; this prevents your essay from becoming muddled and helps maintain clarity and focus.

An essential part of organizing your essay is the effective use of evidence to support your arguments. Each claim or point you make in your body paragraphs should be backed up with relevant and credible evidence. This could be in the form of statistics, quotations from authoritative sources, case studies, or personal experiences. The key is to integrate this evidence seamlessly into your essay, making sure it directly supports your thesis.

Transitions are crucial in maintaining the flow of your essay. They are the bridges that connect your ideas, ensuring that your essay moves smoothly from one point to the next. Effective use of transition words and phrases like “furthermore,” “however,” “in contrast,” and “as a result” can guide your reader through your line of reasoning.

In each paragraph and between paragraphs, use transitions to link your ideas. This not only helps in maintaining the logical flow of the essay but also enhances its readability, making it easier for your reader to follow your argument.

Photo by Nick Morrison on Unsplash

The conclusion is your final opportunity to reinforce your thesis and leave a lasting impression on your reader. A well-crafted conclusion summarizes the main points of your essay, reiterates the thesis in light of the evidence presented, and may offer broader implications or future considerations.

Avoid introducing new information in your conclusion. Instead, focus on bringing closure to your essay by succinctly summarizing your main points and demonstrating how they collectively support your thesis.

The first draft of your essay is just the beginning. Revising and editing are critical steps in ensuring that your essay is coherent and clear. During revision, focus on the organization of your essay. Check that your thesis is clearly stated, your paragraphs follow a logical order, and each point is well-supported and relevant to your main argument.

Pay attention to clarity in your writing. Remove any ambiguous or complex phrases that could confuse the reader. Ensure that each sentence conveys its intended meaning. Additionally, proofreading for grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors is essential in polishing your essay and enhancing its overall readability.

Mastering the art of organizing ideas coherently in a college essay is a skill that will serve you well throughout your academic journey. By understanding the essay question, crafting a strong thesis, developing a structured outline, organizing your body paragraphs effectively, supporting your points with evidence, using transitions, and revising for clarity, you can create essays that are not only coherent but also compelling and persuasive.

Remember, good writing is a process of continuous learning and improvement. Don’t hesitate to seek feedback, utilize resources like the best paper writing service for guidance, and, most importantly, practice regularly. With these strategies in hand, you are well-equipped to tackle any college essay with confidence and skill.

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Creating Understandable and Coherent Paragraphs for Your Essay

Writing is a complex process wherein you’re supposed to discuss a certain subject, elaborate some topic and make sure your work is easy on the eyes as well. It’s not only important to essay writing, novel, or article that is grammatically correct without any essay mistakers or typos. High-quality works require proper structure. Ideally, you should always strive to write a paper that is easy to read. Your readers, clients or professors shouldn’t feel like they are trapped by the text. That’s why you need to pay extra attention to creating understandable and coherent paragraphs. Throughout this article, I’m going to show you how to organize paragraphs and make your work appealing. Although to most people attractiveness of the text seems a bit unnecessary it plays a big role in how other people perceive your work. Don’t worry; it’s not difficult, I promise!

What is a paragraph?

It’s always to define something first and I’m going to do it in this section. Paragraph is defined as a group of sentences organized around a central topic. These sentences aren’t random; they are used to express one point, thought or idea. Organizing paragraphs doesn’t only make it easier for reader to go through your work, it also helps you stay on the right track.

Basic rule for paragraphing

Here’s the basic rule that will help you write and organize paragraphs: keep one idea to one paragraph. If you notice you already started discussing some other notion or idea it means it’s time for the next paragraph. However, in some cases it can be quite difficult to determine whether you’re on the same topic or not. For example, you can discuss one idea that is divided into smaller bits of supporting evidence. You can freely discuss multiple points within one paragraph only if they are related to the idea you’re discussing. But, if you notice that paragraph is becoming too long it would be a better idea to discuss each point in separate section or paragraph.

How does effective paragraph look like?

Here are the qualities that effective paragraph should contain:

• It should present a single idea
• It should start with a topic sentence which makes some idea evident
• All sentences should act like the supporting evidence that convey single idea
• It should be strategically organized to maintain flow
• It should maintain objective of essay, novel, article, or some other type of work you’re writing
• It should entertain and inform reader i.e. it should be short, precise and informative. Try to avoid the fluff.

Elements of paragraph

I like to compare paragraph to foundation and supporting walls of some building. Only when supporting walls and foundation are strong your building can be strong as well. Without them, the building would simply collapse. The same thing can be said about essays, novels etc. If their foundation and structure isn’t good, quality of entire work is going to be jeopardized as well.

To avoid this scenario you have to understand what it takes to write an effective paragraph. Here are the elements that paragraphs should contain:

• Unity – as I’ve already mentioned: one paragraph, one idea/focus. It should start and end with one idea without wandering within different ideas.
• Coherence – it should be easy to read. You can add coherence to paragraphs by creating logical or vertical bridges. Creating logical bridges means discussing one idea within said paragraph while vertical bridges are created by repeating certain keywords in multiple sentences, using synonyms, pronouns, and transition words.
• A topic sentence – it refers to a sentence which indicates the idea or thesis the paragraph is going to deal with. Although topic sentences can be included just about anywhere in a paragraph it’s recommended to keep it closes to the beginning for easier understanding.

Example: There are many reasons why lack of sleep can have significant impact on your health and increased stress level is just one of them.

• Adequate development – now that your paragraph has a topic it’s important to make sure it is adequately developed. As I already stated you should make it precise and informative. You can accomplish this by citing data, facts or statistics, using examples, telling anecdote or a story, evaluate causes or reasons etc.

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Length of paragraphs

When it comes to length of paragraphs there’s no one size fits all rule. It depends on the general topic you chose as well as the idea you’re going to discuss in that paragraph. However, you should make sure paragraph isn’t too short or too long either. General rule of a thumb is about five to seven sentences per paragraph. Be careful though, writing paragraphs that are too short (two to three sentences) isn’t a good idea. Paragraphs that short are rarely informative i.e. no adequate development.

How to start a new paragraph?

This is one of the most common questions that people have about paragraphs. Here’s when you should start a new one:

• When you start discussing a new idea
• To demonstrate contrast of ideas or arguments
• When you assume readers would need a pause (reading paragraphs that are too long can be quite exhausting)
• When ending introductions and starting to write conclusions .

Paragraphs add order and unity to your work, they make your paper easier to read, and help you stay on the right track. Ideally, paragraph should contain four elements listed above and discuss one particular idea. Use tips from this article to write better and more coherent paragraphs in order to improve the quality of your work.

Related posts:

• ESL Essay: Unboxing an ESL Essay with Topics and Examples
• How to Write a Book Review
• How to Create Expository Essay Outline
• Secret Weapon of Essay Writing: Stasis Theory

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Moodle Response Templates Improve Student Responses and Speed Up Grading

Consider this scenario: you add open-ended questions (called “Essay” questions) to Moodle quizzes to add variety in question types. When you read student responses, however, you find they are problematic. Students missed answering certain parts of a question or wrote their responses in a difficult-to-comprehend format, leading to point deductions and lost time grading the questions.

These problems can be minimized by specifying a Response Template for essay questions in Moodle quizzes. I use a table format with cells for different parts of the response. Cells ensure that students provide clear and complete responses. A set format for responses streamlines grading.

Essay Questions in Moodle Quizzes

It is important to understand the nature of Essay questions in Moodle quizzes before discussing response templates. Importantly, essay questions are not just for essays. They are simply open-ended questions without a specific length or format for responses (unlike Short Answer questions, which have a strict format). Essay questions can be used to elicit responses of widely varying lengths. Responses can be anywhere from one word to multiple paragraphs depending on the nature of the question.

Although essay questions offer considerable flexibility, I have encountered difficulties when using them for questions with multiple parts requiring a longer answer. Students may fail to provide all of the requested information, mix up different parts of the question, or write one long, undifferentiated paragraph that is difficult to comprehend.

Enter the response template!

Using Moodle Response Templates 

How to add a response template in an essay question.

Response templates are easy to add into Moodle essay questions. As you create an essay question in a Moodle quiz, click on Response Template in the menu of options for the question and provide the template you have created that you want students to use for their responses.

I suggest using tables with cells that students fill in with their responses. Create the tables in Word or Google Docs and copy them into the Response Template cell when drafting the essay question. When students view the essay question in the quiz, the response template will appear in the response cell for them to fill in.

Pro Tip! Students need to see the entire response template when they view the essay question in the quiz. Under Response Options, select an Input Box size (5 lines to 40 lines) that will show the entire response template.

If you need help with response templates in Moodle Quizzes, reach out to e-LIS with a help request or schedule a one-on-one appointment with an e-LIS Instructional Designer.

Creating Effective Response Templates

Response templates for essay questions should: 1. enable students to provide clear, complete, and coherent answers to open-ended questions and 2. specify a unified format for student answers that is efficient for the instructor to read. Follow these tips for creating effective response templates:

• Basic set-up – I use response templates for essay questions that have two or more parts. After drafting this type of essay question, I review how many parts the question has and in what order. For clarity, I create a response template that mirrors this information exactly, using the same key phrases in the response template as in the question and placing them in the same order as in the question.
• Examples – Let’s say an essay question has the following three parts, state the definition of codeswitching , describe an example of codeswitching provided by the author , and describe your own example of codeswitching . In the response template, I might say definition , author’s example , and your example , in that order. I also include a descriptive header in the response template, such as Understanding Codeswitching . Within each sub-question, I specify how long each part of the response should be so that students provide the level of detail I am looking for.

Response templates can also be used for solving a problem in a series of steps that need to be shown and that should be in a particular order. For example, in a phonology contrastive distribution problem, I might ask students to identify the sounds being compared , list the minimal pairs in the data (if any) , state the distribution of the sounds , etc. Each step of the problem represents one item in the response template.

• An efficient format – In my experience, the best format for response templates is a two-column table with a row of cells for each sub-question. (A header is also needed to link the response table with the question.) Numbered prompts go in the cells of the left-hand column (e.g. definition , author’s example , your example or sounds , minimal pairs (if any) , distribution ). Student answers are written in the corresponding cells in the right-hand column. This format clearly shows whether the student answered all parts of the question and organizes student responses into chunks that are easy for the instructor to read and understand.

Conclusion 

Response templates are an invaluable tool for both students and instructors. They are helpful for encouraging students to organize their thinking for open-ended (Essay) questions in Moodle quizzes, eliciting complete and coherent student responses, and speeding up grading. Use them whenever an open-ended question requires multiple parts that need to be structured in a particular way .

Related Teaching Tips

Essays Your Students Want to Write proposes strategies for structuring assignments with questions that engage students in critical thinking and reflection. Stepping in as a Student talks about establishing your teaching presence by taking the role of a student and posting some of the same written work students are doing. “Two Buckets” Assessment Activities discusses the use of a bonus question to ascertain additional information a student might have known on an exam. If the exam is administered in Moodle, a response template could be used for the student’s response, facilitating efficient review by the instructor.

Save and adapt a Google Doc version of this teaching tip.

About the Author

Helena Riha, Ph.D. teaches Linguistics and International Studies. She has taught over 3,500 students in 17 different courses. Helena won the OU Online Teaching Excellence Award and the Excellence in Teaching Award. This is her eighteenth teaching tip. Outside of class, Helena maintains her streak in Wordle .

Helena Riha is the current guest editor for the Grizz Tips for Teaching Effectiveness series on the CETL Teaching Blog at Oakland University. Contribute to the Teaching Blog as a guest editor (OU community only) .

Others may share and adapt under Creative Commons License CC BY-NC .

View all CETL Weekly Teaching Tips . 

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Mirroring Change: Literature and Social Transformation

International Seminar

3rd & 4th October 2024

Organized by

Research and Cultural Forum (RCF)

Department of English

Pondicherry University

Puducherry-605014

Host Department : The Department of English at Pondicherry University has been an important educational destination for research scholars and students, ever since it commenced functioning in 1986. Over the years, the department has produced innumerable PhD and M. Phil scholars, in addition to a large number of postgraduate students. The faculty of the department with their different specializations and academic interests are at the forefront of innovative teaching and advanced research varying from contemporary literary, cultural and language studies to theoretical explorations. The department also runs a Post Graduate Diploma in Professional Communication in English, an add-on program, in much demand among students and employees.

Furthermore, the department has also sought to enhance the language and communication skills of students from across the University through Functional

English and other communication-oriented courses. Another hallmark of the department is the Research and Cultural Forum (RCF) which acts as an avenue for scholars and students to showcase their research work and creative abilities. The department has also been at the forefront of organizing seminars, workshops and faculty development programs.

About Research and Cultural Forum (RCF):

Conceived thirty-five years ago as Research and Journal Alert Forum (RJAF) at the Department of English, Pondicherry University, RCF is a platform for research scholars and students of the department to discuss their research findings in various areas related to literature and culture and also present their creative talents. Run exclusively by the research scholars of the department, under the guidance of the faculty members and the support of MA students the forum hosts invited talks, workshops and interactive sessions by experts of national and international repute in the emerging areas of English Studies. The forum was recently renamed Research and Cultural Forum to integrate the department's research and cultural outputs. Now, it proudly undertakes the mission of bringing together and highlighting the role of literature in social transformation through this two-day International Seminar.

About the Seminar:

A Two-Day International Seminar has been planned by the Department of English on the 3rd & 4th of October 2024, with the focus area “Mirroring Change: Literature and Social Transformation”.

Literature has been able to predict, analyze, and critique social, economic and political change for a long time. This, in turn, has contributed to understanding social and political transformation through a medium that has been conventionally seen to be largely imaginative and fictional. While Orwell’s cautionary tale, 1984 predicted the effects of totalitarian regimes and surveillance, Harriet Beecher’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin “helped lay the groundwork for the American Civil War” (Kaufman, 2006: 18). If Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath brought into full view the travails of America during the Great Depression, Munshi Premchand’s Godaan brutally exposed poverty and the evils of the zamindari system in India. Literature has thus been constantly in sync with the changing silhouettes of society.

The conference aims to explore how literature has closely interacted with and mirrored the intricate matrix of the social and political milieu. This interaction has resulted in innumerable texts that have reflected these significant changes and helped us understand an ever-changing world. The wide gamut of social, political, economic, cultural, sociological and anthropological change has prompted the writer to ask questions, show up the mirror and sometimes even offer prescriptions for ills, thus making literature a vehicle for social transformation.  The conference aims to investigate and explore the significant role that literature has played in reflecting these changes, therefore acting as truth-seeker, sentinel, chronicler, and critic, all rolled into one.   

The conference aims to explore the interchange between literature and social transformation across varied arenas and can include, but is not restricted, to the following areas:

•           Political upheaval and social movements

•           Caste, class and hierarchy

•           Reigns, regimes and democracy

•           Marxism and literature

•           Changing dimensions of gender

•           Queer narratives

•           Geographies, borders and migration

•           Indigenous literatures

•           Anthropocene, Ecocriticism and Ecofeminism 

•           Dalit literature and social justice

•           Technology and literature

•           Popular culture and subcultures

•           Medical imperialism and illness narratives

Registration Fee:

Faculty Members:      Rs. 2000

Research Scholars:     Rs. 1000

PG Students:               Rs. 500

Co-authors are required to pay individually.

UG students (participation only): Rs 200

Abstracts can be uploaded through the Google form link

below on or before 30th August 2024.

Registration Link: https://forms.gle/CA78DHY86yfQtzhW9

Your queries may be addressed to rcfseminar202 4 @gmail.com

Important Dates:

Last date for sending abstracts: 30th August 2024

Confirmation of acceptance will be communicated by: 2nd September 2024

Complete papers are to be sent by: 27th September 2024 

Travel and Accommodation:

We hope that you will be able to take care of your travel and accommodation. However, accommodation will be arranged for outstation paper presenters if intimated in advance.

Working lunch and local hospitality will be provided.

Chief Patron :

Prof. K.Tharanikkarasu, Honourable Vice-Chancellor (i/c), Pondicherry University

Prof. Clement S Lourdes, Director, Culture  & Cultural Relations

Prof. Rajneesh Bhutani, Registrar (i/c)

Prof. D. Lazar, Finance Officer (i/c)

Chairperson : Prof. Clement S Lourdes, Dean, School of Humanities

Convener : Dr. T Marx, Prof & Head, Department of English

Faculty Coordinator: Dr. Harpreet Kaur Vohra, Associate Professor

Coordinators: Drishya K, Steward C.

Members:     

                        Prof. Binu Zachariah

                        Prof. K. Reshmi

                        Prof. Lakhimai Mili

Dr. Aiswarya S. Babu

                        Dr. Vidya Sarveswaran

Dr. S. Visaka Devi

Address for Communication:

Steward  C.        

Research Scholars                                                     

Department of English                                              

Pondicherry University                                             

Puducherry-605014                                                   

8589825788, 8270410154                                                                 

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Opinion Guest Essay

The Senator Warning Democrats of a Crisis Unfolding Beneath Their Noses

Credit... Allison Minto for The New York Times

Supported by

By James Pogue

Mr. Pogue, a writer, started talking to Senator Chris Murphy two years ago.

• Aug. 19, 2024

In December 2022, early into what he now describes as his political journey, Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut gave a speech warning his fellow Democrats that they were ignoring a crisis staring them in the face.

For over a year, President Biden and his allies had been promoting data showing an economic miracle, as friendly pundits described it — a record-setting stock market, low unemployment and G.D.P. growth outpacing that of almost every other Western nation. But very few voters believed the story those metrics were telling. In poll after poll, they expressed a bleak view of the economy — to the frustration of both Democrats and many economists.

Mr. Murphy thought he knew why. “The challenges America faces aren’t really logistical,” he told the crowd. “They are metaphysical. And the sooner we understand the unspooling of identity and meaning that is happening in America today, the sooner we can come up with practical policies to address this crisis.”

The subject of the speech was what Mr. Murphy called the imminent “fall of American neoliberalism.” This may sound like strange talk from a middle-of-the-road Democratic senator, who up until that point had never seemed to believe that the system that orders our world was on the verge of falling. He campaigned for Hillary Clinton against Bernie Sanders during the 2016 primaries, and his most visible political stance up until then was his work on gun control after the Sandy Hook shooting.

Thoughtful but prone to speaking in talking points, he still comes off more like a polished Connecticut dad than a champion of the disaffected. But Mr. Murphy was then in the full flush of discovering a new way of understanding the state of the nation, and it had set him on a journey that even he has struggled sometimes to describe: to understand how the version of liberalism we’d adopted — defined by its emphasis on free markets, globalization and consumer choice — had begun to feel to many like a dead end and to come up with a new vision for the Democratic Party.

As the Democrats gather for their national convention this week, with Kamala Harris as their candidate for president, the party has a long way to go toward confronting the crisis Mr. Murphy sees.

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