Reading and Writing Skills

Properties of a Well-written Text

Text without Coherence and Cohesion
 Unity is achieved when a composition contains one focused idea. In a
unified text, all supporting ideas are relevant to the main though. Without Amelia Earhart was a legendary woman who made her name in aviation
by setting various records. In 1928, she became famous as the first woman who
unity the text will be confusing.
flew across the Atlantic Ocean. She was only a passenger, with pilot Wilmer
Stultz and co-pilot/mechanic Louis Gordon manning the control. In 1932, she flew
Text without Unity
from Honolulu, Hawaii to Oakland, California. She became the first person to fly
over both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Between 1930 and 1935. Earhart set
Viral videos circulating online expose the danger in sensationalist
seven women’s speed and distance aviation through different aircrafts. She
culture: anyone’s life can change everything. For example, the viral video of the
disappeared in 1937 while attempting to fly around the world. On board her plane
student who verbally abused a guard in the LRT has changed the life of the
was her only crew member, Fred Noonan. Extensive search efforts were not able
student. Therefore, people must take note of their actions wherever they may be,
to find a trace of both aviators.
because these might be documented and posted online. In addition to that,
everyone must be wary of the things they post, because they never know who will
Text with Coherence and Cohesion
share it, too.
Amelia Earhart was a legendary woman who made her name in aviation
Text with Unity
by setting various records. In 1928, she became famous as the first woman who
flew across the Atlantic Ocean. However, during this trip she was only a
Viral videos circulating online expose the danger in sensationalist
passenger, with pilot Wilmer Stultz and co-pilot/mechanic Louis Gordon manning
culture: anyone’s life can change in one single post. For instance, the video of a
the controls. In 1932, she finally got to fly on her own over the Atlantic. She set
student who verbally abused a guard in the LRT has drastically altered the future
another record when she flew from Honolulu Hawaii to Oakland California in
of the student. She was bashed by netizens for her rude behavior, and the hashtag
1935, thus becoming the first person to fly over both the Atlantic and Pacific
#AMALAYER, taken after the way she pronounced “I’m a liar,” trended soon
Oceans. Between 1930 and 1935, Earhart set seven women’s speed and distance
afterwards. News reports following the incident soon revealed that the girl has
aviation through different aircrafts.
received considerable flak and has even become a victim of bullying.
 Organization is achieved when ideas are logically and accurately
 Coherence and Cohesion are achieved when ideas are logically, clearly, arranged. Knowledge of the parts of a composition is a great help in
and smoothly linked to one another; without it, the reader may not be able adhering to the correct organization of ideas. The sentences within a
to comprehend your composition. Although these two concepts are paragraph must also be organized logically.
interrelated, they are distinct. Coherence occurs when ideas are connected
at the conceptual or idea level. It can be seen through well-defended Text without Organization
arguments and organized points. Unlike coherence, cohesion is the
connection of ideas at the sentence level. It can be readily seen in a text Thomas Edison was simply the one who created the first commercially
through the smooth flow of the sentences and the connection of the ideas. viable light bulb. It is widely believed that he invented the light bulb. What made
Cohesion can be applied using three techniques. The first one is through Edison’s light bulb successful was his use of carbonized bamboo as the filament.
the use of pronouns to refrain from using a specific word repeatedly. The This made the bulb last longer and it was cheap enough to be available for the
second technique is through the of transition devices to connect sentences masses. He only improved on previous works of inventors who also worked on the
with linked ideas. The last technique employs a repetition of keywords to same project.
tie up the paragraphs subtly.
Text with Organization
 Although it is widely believed that Thomas Edison invented the light
bulb, in reality he was simply the one who created the first commercially viable
light bulb. Along with his team, Edison improved the previous works of inventors
who also worked on the same project. Compared to previous versions, what made
his light bulb successful was his use of carbonized bamboo as the filament. This  Mechanics
made the bulb last longer and it was cheap enough to be available for the masses.
The technical aspect of writing, also known as mechanics, should not be
 Language Use overlooked when writing. It is one of the properties of a well-written text and is
characterized as a set of conventions on how to spell, abbreviate, punctuate, and
The way language is used is one of the clearest indicators of a well-written capitalize a composition. In academic and more formal texts the following should
text. It enables the writer to effectively communicate ideas without be observed.
confusing the reader. Effective language use is achieved by observing the
following time-tested principles in writing. 1. Always use Standard English
2. Avoid contractions (e.g. shouldn’t)
3. Avoid exclamation marks unless they are part of a direct quotation.
1. Use clear and concise sentences. On average, a sentence is 18 words long. 4. Mention the full name of an institution or organization with the abbreviation
Note that this does not require every sentence to be composed of exactly 18 in parenthesis, in first mention. Thereafter, use the abbreviation.
words. 5. Number from zero to ten should be spelled out while number higher than ten
2. Avoid redundancies, wordiness, clichés, and highfalutin language. should be written in figures.
3. Avoid excessive use of “there” and “it” structures. These sentences can be 6. Generally, citations are in academic and formal texts. However, they are
revised by dropping the “there” and “it” phrase and transforming the sparingly used in business texts.
sentences appropriately.
4. Use precise vocabulary. Be accurate and condense lengthy phrases into fewer
words.
5. Be consistent with your pronoun’s point of view.
6. Avoid sexist language. This issue can be addressed by using articles (a, an,
and the), using plural pronouns, using his or her instead of his, writing
through a second person point of view, or using gender-neutral nouns (e.g.
chairperson instead of chairman). Make sure not to overuse the his or her
technique as it breaks up the flow of your composition.
7. Use appropriate level of formality. The more formal texts use an academic
tone while the less formal ones usually use a personal or colloquial tone.