Self-assessment: identifying cohesion in a text
time to complete: 5 minutes
Identifying cohesion in texts
Before we start, let’s see what you already know about cohesion. Can you identify a cohesive text from one that is not cohesive? To find out, do the following task:
Task: Read these two texts and decide which one is easier to understand/more cohesive?
Extract A
It might seem instinctive to hide any flaws – limitations with your research to protect himself from criticism.
A student needs to highlight any problems she encountered during the investigation phase, any restrictions with your approach.
Markers are expecting pupils to engage with obstacles. Draw attention to the kind of impact barriers may have had on their examination.
Be careful that you do not overemphasise the constraints. Overemphasising the constraints could undermine the reliability and validity of their consequences. Overemphasising the constraints could undermine the character as an experimenter.
Extract B
Ignoring limitations
It might seem instinctive to hide any flaws or limitations with your research to protect yourself from criticism. However, you need to highlight any problems you encountered during the research phase, or any limitations with your approach. Your markers are expecting you to engage with these limitations and highlight the kind of impact they may have had on your research. Just be careful that you do not overstress these limitations. Doing so could undermine the reliability and validity of your results, and your credibility as a researcher.
(University of Southampton, 2019)