Each sentence should participate in the main idea and be arranged to create the sense of a developing logic rather than a random list. Coherence refers to the relationships among the sentences in the paragraph. Unity refers to the paragraph’s single main idea, which should be readily identifiable, introduced up front, developed convincingly, and concluded. Two principles govern effective paragraphing: unity and coherence. To think about what makes a paragraph coherent, let’s look at the elements of a paragraph in academic prose: What is a Paragraph?Ī paragraph is a single unit of thought made up of a group of related sentences. This is an indication you need to break up the paragraph and possibly add evidence to better support individual points. A paragraph that lacks a point, probably because it is presenting unnecessary summary.Looking at paragraphs this way allows you to identify two of the main obstacles to paragraph coherence: In cases where you struggled to identify the point of the paragraph, think about why it was difficult.

As you did so, you may have noticed that some paragraphs were easier to summarize than others. For each paragraph, you summarized the point (or claim) made in the paragraph. But it can also help you to make sure the individual paragraphs in your essay hold together and follow a coherent internal logic.

Reverse outlining can help you revise for high-level coherence. Identify strategies to revise for coherence at the paragraph level

Unity and coherence examples