• Unit 3: Coherence

    This unit covers the third key to good writing, coherence, which has two parts. Coherence breaks down into how ideas are organized – the order they are in and how they are connected. When those two parts are done well, your writing will be a logical, easy-to-follow journey for your reader.

    Completing this unit should take you approximately 3 hours.

    • Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

      • apply a logical approach to organizing ideas;
      • explain the importance of showing the relationships between ideas;
      • apply the use of transitional words and phrases to indicate relationships between ideas; and
      • apply the use of content transitions as another way to connect ideas.

    • 3.1: Organizing Ideas

    • 3.2: Relationships between Ideas

      • Connection of Ideas Page

        Once you have determined a pattern of organization for ideas, it is vital to connect them to create a sense of flow in your writing and make it easy for readers to follow what you are saying. Read this brief overview to learn about this important feature of good writing.

      • Developing Relationships between Ideas Book

        Read this article about connecting sentences within a paragraph in a meaningful way. Complete the practice activities, in which you will identify the relationships between ideas in a paragraph and practice developing a paragraph that connects ideas. You will continue to develop these skills throughout the course.

    • 3.3: Transitions

      • Types of Transitions Page

        A primary way writers connect ideas is by using transitions. Read about different kinds of relationships and some transition words/phrases that can be used to demonstrate them in the following text.

      • Activity: Relationship and Transition Fill-in-the-Blank Book

        Do this activity to practice thinking about relationships between ideas and using transitions to connect ideas and create stronger coherence in the two- and three-sentence passages.

      • Transition Words Page

        Refer to this chart for more transitional words and expressions. Practice writing a paragraph explaining why transitions are important for effective communication. Try to use transitions from at least three categories listed on the chart when writing your paragraph.

      • Transitional Words and Phrases Page

        Watch this video for an overview of the types of transitional words and phrases, including examples of when you might want to use each.

      • Content Transitions Page

        While transition words and phrases are a great way to connect and show relationships between ideas, they can get repetitive. Read this section to learn about another way to create stronger coherence in your writing. To better familiarize yourself with how authors show relationships between ideas, take a look at any published piece of writing (perhaps a book, a magazine, or even one of the segments from this course!) and see if you can identify content transitions and transition words that are used to connect the ideas.

    • Unit 3 Assessment

      • Unit 3 Assessment Quiz
        Receive a grade

        Take this assessment to see how well you understood this unit.

        • This assessment does not count towards your grade. It is just for practice!
        • You will see the correct answers when you submit your answers. Use this to help you study for the final exam!
        • You can take this assessment as many times as you want, whenever you want.