Guides / Scoring and band descriptors
Coherence and Cohesion: Why Adding More Linking Words Lowers Your Band
Most candidates are taught the same fix for Coherence and Cohesion: add more linking words. Start every paragraph with Firstly, Moreover, Furthermore, In addition. Finish with Last but not least.
This advice is wrong, and the public band descriptors say why. Overuse of cohesive devices is listed at band 5. Cohesion that is "faulty or mechanical" sits at band 6. Nothing in the descriptors rewards the number of connectors you use. This guide shows what is actually being measured and the four devices that carry a paragraph without a single Moreover.
What the criterion is really asking
Coherence and Cohesion is one of the four criteria in IELTS writing, alongside Task Response, Lexical Resource, and Grammatical Range and Accuracy. Each is marked separately and then averaged.
The two words in its name mean different things.
Coherence is whether the ideas are in a sensible order and the reader can follow the argument from start to finish. It is about organisation.
Cohesion is whether the sentences are grammatically connected to each other, so each one picks up something from the one before. It is about linkage at sentence level.
Linking words are one small part of cohesion. They are the part everyone teaches because they are easy to list. They are not the part that separates band 6 from band 7.
Here is what the descriptors ask for at each level, in plain form.
| Band | What is described |
|---|---|
| 5 | Some organisation but progression is unclear. Inadequate, inaccurate or over-use of cohesive devices. Repetitive because referencing and substitution are missing. |
| 6 | Ideas are arranged coherently with clear overall progression. Cohesive devices work, but cohesion within or between sentences may be faulty or mechanical. Referencing is not always clear. Paragraphing exists but is not always logical. |
| 7 | Logical organisation with clear progression throughout. A range of devices used appropriately, though some may be under-used or over-used. Each paragraph has a clear central topic. |
Read the band 5 line again. Over-use is named there directly. The advice to add more connectors is advice to write like a band 5 answer.
Why the connectors fail
A connector announces a relationship. It does not create one. If the two sentences are not actually related, the word sitting between them makes the gap more obvious, not less.
Look at this opening.
Firstly, technology is very useful in education. Moreover, students can learn online. Furthermore, information is easy to find. In addition, teachers can share materials quickly.
Four connectors, four sentences, and no argument. "Moreover" claims the second sentence adds to the first. It does not add to it; it simply follows it. A reader who deletes all four connectors loses nothing at all, and that is the test.
The four devices that do the real work
These are the tools the descriptors mention by name, and none of them is a linking word.
1. Referencing
Referencing is using a pronoun or a determiner to point back at something already mentioned: it, they, this, these, such, the former. It saves repetition and it ties sentences together.
| Repetitive | With referencing |
|---|---|
| The government introduced a new policy. The new policy was expensive. Many people criticised the new policy. | The government introduced a new policy. It was expensive, and many people criticised it. |
One warning. A pronoun must have exactly one possible referent. "This is a serious problem" is weak if three things came before it. Write "This shortage is a serious problem" instead. Adding a noun after "this" is the fastest single improvement most candidates can make.
2. Substitution
Substitution replaces a repeated word or phrase with a shorter stand-in: one, ones, do so, the same, such a step.
| Repetitive | With substitution |
|---|---|
| Some countries have banned the practice. Other countries have not banned the practice. | Some countries have banned the practice. Others have not. |
| If governments raise fuel taxes, they will reduce emissions. Raising fuel taxes will also anger drivers. | If governments raise fuel taxes, they will reduce emissions. Doing so will also anger drivers. |
3. Given before new
This is the ordering rule that makes paragraphs feel smooth. Begin each sentence with information the reader already has, and put the new information at the end. The end of one sentence then becomes the beginning of the next.
Here is a paragraph that ignores the rule.
Air quality in major cities is a serious problem. Cars produce most urban pollution. Respiratory illness rates rise in polluted areas. Public transport investment is one answer.
Every sentence introduces something new at the front. Now the same four facts, ordered given before new.
Air quality in major cities is a serious problem. Most of that pollution comes from cars, which sit in traffic for hours each day. Where traffic is heaviest, rates of respiratory illness rise with it. Reducing that traffic, rather than treating the illness, is what makes public transport investment worth its cost.
No connector was added. The paragraph reads as one thought because each sentence starts where the last one ended.
4. Paragraphing
At band 6 the descriptors say paragraphing exists but is "not always logical". At band 7 each paragraph "presents a clear central topic". That is a specific, checkable thing.
Test your own paragraphs like this: cover the paragraph and write its topic in one short phrase. If you need "and" in that phrase, the paragraph is doing two jobs and should be two paragraphs. If you cannot write the phrase at all, the paragraph has no central topic.
The connectors worth keeping
None of this means you should write with no connectors. It means you should use the ones that mark a genuine turn in the argument, and skip the ones that only mark a list.
| Keep, when the relationship is real | Drop or use rarely |
|---|---|
| However, Yet (a genuine contrast) | Moreover, Furthermore, What is more |
| Because of this, As a result (a real cause) | Firstly, Secondly, Thirdly at every paragraph |
| Although, While (concession inside a sentence) | Last but not least |
| For example, In particular (a real example follows) | In a nutshell, All in all |
Two or three connectors in a 260 word essay is normal for a strong answer. Ten is a warning sign.
A five minute exercise
- Take a body paragraph you have written.
- Delete every connector. Do not replace them yet.
- Read what is left. If it no longer makes sense, the connectors were hiding a gap in the argument. Fix the argument.
- Rejoin the sentences using referencing, substitution, and given before new ordering.
- Add back only the connectors that mark a real contrast, cause or example. Usually one or two.
Do this today
Print or copy your last essay. Circle every linking word. Count them. Then count your paragraphs and write the central topic of each one in a short phrase. Those two numbers will tell you more about your Coherence and Cohesion score than another practice essay will.
If you want a second view, paste the essay into Bandly for an estimated band on each of the four criteria with the sentences behind each estimate. The estimates are produced by software rather than a human examiner, so treat them as a diagnostic that points at the weak criterion rather than as your exam result.
Find out what this essay would score
Paste your own answer and Bandly returns an estimated band for each of the four criteria, with the sentences that pulled the score down. Under a cent an essay, about six seconds.
Check my essay