Strategic Paragraphing 2.0: Techniques for Enhancing Inter-Paragraph Coherence

Abstract

Most of us pay attention to intra-paragraph coherence: the idea that the sentences within a paragraph should logically develop a single idea. But we forget, or we struggle to master inter-paragraph coherence: the idea that paragraphs should be arranged so that our argument develops logically. Proximity isn’t always enough to signal to readers how paragraphs are building on one another to create a compelling argument. Readers may still end up having to infer how one paragraph is linked to the next, and when they can’t make those inferences (or they make them incorrectly) coherence suffers. This Writer’s Craft offers techniques to enhance inter-paragraph coherence more consciously so that readers don’t fall through the cracks between our paragraphs.