Coherence Examples

Writing that has coherence is writing that has logical connections between ideas. The word coherence literally means "to stick together" in Latin.

Coherent writing is produced when the writer has a strong organizational structure. There are connections and transitions between ideas in sentences, paragraphs, and the entire text. Coherence is also more easily achieved when the writer uses strong sequencing of ideas and events in the writing. Coherence can refer to sentences and small portions of the text-such as a paragraph or chapter. It can also refer to the text as a whole-is the entire argument coherent.

Examples of Coherence from Literature and Essays

Notice the logical sequencing of the argument in this paragraph on the need for school uniforms. Coherence is produced through the use of transition words and phrases that lead from the topic sentence to specific examples and explanation.

School uniforms are necessary due to the divisions and cliques that are often created when uniforms are not present. In many urban areas, clothing is often used to signify membership in or allegiance to a specific street gang. Gang activity and violence distracts from a safe and effective school environment, and through the discipline process, students are excluded from the classroom. In addition, outside of street gang activity, clothing often creates cliques in schools. In a recent interview, students in one middle school discussed a specific clique of girls based on their attire, including "scrunchies" and "large sweatshirts that cover their shorts." Solely based on attire, students recognized members of this clique in their schools, and saw themselves as excluded from the group. School uniforms would create an environment where all students dress similarly and no student is singled out as a member of a specific clique.

In this speech from Julius Caesar, Shakespeare creates coherence through the use of examples and repetition as Marc Antony questions Brutus' character.

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it.
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest-
For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men-
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
He hath brought many captives home to Rome
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?
O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.