The Art of Written Clarity: Dr. Eman Alian on Achieving Coherence and Cohesion in Writing
Dr. Eman Alian offered an insightful examination of coherence and cohesion in writing during a webinar hosted by the Faculty of Languages and Translation at King Khalid University on April 5, 2023. Her discourse aimed to equip authors and researchers with the necessary tools to enhance the clarity and logical flow of their work.
Dr. Alian stressed the importance of creating easily comprehensible content, emphasizing the role of logical transitions in facilitating effective communication of ideas. She proposed that such measures ensure the author's intent is readily understood by readers.
Throughout her presentation, Dr. Alian demystified coherence and cohesion, defining, explaining, and contrasting these two fundamental elements of effective writing. Coherence, she noted, is vital in discourse, enabling the expression of meaningful communication. She recommended that writers employ coherent devices to ensure readers can accurately interpret their intended message. Contrarily, she defined cohesion as a property of a text, while coherence is associated with discourse. Cohesive devices guide readers through the text, fostering coherence. To further illuminate the concept, Dr. Alian likened coherence to the structure of a building, with cohesion representing the bricks used in its construction.
In her discourse on achieving coherence and cohesion, Dr. Alian shared various techniques, including repeated words, reference words, transition signals, substitution, and ellipsis. These strategies can significantly improve the cohesiveness and coherence of a written piece.
Closing her presentation, Dr. Alian underlined that both coherence and cohesion are vital aspects analyzed in discourse analysis and text linguistics to assess the quality of written text. She proposed that cohesion is a subset of coherence, indicating that attaining coherence inherently ensures cohesion.
The webinar was heralded as a resounding success, providing a highly engaging and enlightening exploration of coherence and cohesion in writing.
