Published by the BSU Writing Center Achieving coherence in writing A basic principle of style in academic and workplace writing is that the writer should make the text as easy to read as possible.
Readers expect quick access to what the writer has to say.
An essential aspect of readability is coherence. The problem with the term coherence is that it sounds static, as if coherent writing just sits there sticking together. The two aspects of coherence we will consider here are the topic chain and the known-new contract. Between them they encompass a good deal of the writing strategies that make up coherence. Topic chain In its simplest form, the topic chain is just repetition of the same topic through the paragraph.