Capstone-paragraph cohesion — Williams's repeated-term threads

Quick-share: read a paragraph from your capstone draft. Find one word you repeated 3+ times. Was that deliberate or accidental?

• Affirm: repetition is a tool when deliberate
• Connect: today we make repetition a cohesion craft

Today: COHESION as a craft element of formal style. Cohesion is what holds a paragraph together — repeated key terms, pronoun-antecedent chains, transitional signposts. Joseph Williams in 'Style' calls this the OLD-TO-NEW principle. Each sentence connects backward (to old information) and forward (to new). Without cohesion threads, paragraphs feel like sentences thrown together. The capstone's 1500-2000-word load makes cohesion harder — paragraphs are longer and more numerous. The COHESION DEVICES are: (1) REPEATED KEY TERMS — the same word or root recurring across sentences ('research / researcher / researched / synthesizer'). (2) PRONOUN-ANTECEDENT CHAINS — pronouns referring back to recent antecedents ('Adichie argues ___. She also notes ___. Her essay ___.'). (3) TRANSITIONAL SIGNPOSTS — 'first,' 'however,' 'consequently,' 'furthermore' (carryover from G8-fall signposting). (4) PARALLEL STRUCTURE — repeated grammatical patterns ('First, ___. Second, ___. Finally, ___.'). Today: study mentor paragraphs for cohesion threads; then apply to your own. The new Williams principle — COHERENCE across paragraphs — is tomorrow.

• Notice: Adichie's paragraph isn't a list of facts — it's a thread woven through her key terms. Pull a key term out and the paragraph dissolves.

  model Words like 'story / stories,' 'single,' 'African / Africans,' 'power' recur across sentences. Each recurrence is a cohesion thread tying the paragraph together. Pronouns ('they,' 'their,' 'them') refer back to clear antecedents.

  prompt Read this Adichie paragraph aloud. Identify repeated key terms.
• Old-to-new is the writer's invisible craft. It's why paragraphs flow.

  model REVISED: 'Research takes time, especially research on urgent issues like climate change. Yet the data confirms warming, and the urgency demands that research move forward despite the cost.' Old-to-new: 'research' carries forward; 'urgent' bridges to 'urgency'; 'data' to 'confirms.' Now each sentence connects backward.

  prompt Apply old-to-new to revise this incoherent passage: 'Research takes time. Climate change is urgent. The data confirms warming.'

• Pair-share: name the key term threading through your capstone paragraph 1.
• Cold Call: define 'cohesion' in your own words.

M-8-S-RH-09-A Chart

Anchor with 4 devices (repeated key terms / pronoun-antecedent chains / transitional signposts / parallel structure) and worked examples per device using Adichie passage. Print-ready 11x17.

• Audit your capstone draft paragraph 1 for cohesion. Underline repeated key terms; circle pronouns and trace antecedents; bracket signposts. Note any cohesion gaps (sentences that don't connect to neighbors).

  scaffold Cohesion-audit color-key card; mentor paragraph audited as model
• Revise the paragraph to strengthen one cohesion thread. Add 1-2 sentences if needed.

  scaffold Revision draft alongside original

• Submit your revised paragraph with cohesion thread marked.
• Name 1 cohesion device you'll prioritize across your capstone.

• Restate: cohesion via repeated terms, pronoun threads, signposts
• Preview lesson 10: cross-paragraph coherence + Tier-2 Set 18 continued

• Apply cohesion audit to 2 more capstone paragraphs. Continue draft toward 5-paragraph milestone by week 9.