Reading & Writing

• Reading is a cognitive process of decoding symbols to derive meaning from a text, always an interaction between the text and the reader
• Reading is done to gain and share information and ideas, whether for academic, personal, or professional purposes
• Writing, in its literal sense, is the formation of visible letters or characters as you express your thoughts
• Writing is similar to weaving threads to create cloth; ideas are woven together by connecting one idea to another to create an organized text
• A text is generally considered as written material and is made up of sentences
• A text can be specific, referring to written or spoken language in a concrete form like an article, a book, a speech, or a conversation
• Discourse is a text with distinct features and purpose, a formal and often lengthy discussion of a topic where concepts and insights are arranged in an organized and logical manner
• Discourse focuses on the use of language in a social context, analyzing the communicative purpose and social implications of the language
• Discourse considers the back-and-forth exchange of information between participants and how they contribute to the meaning-making process
• Text is made up of sentences having the property of grammatical cohesion, while a discourse is made up of utterances having the property of coherence
• Cohesion joins sentences together grammatically and lexically to make ideas more meaningful and understandable, while coherence ensures all parts or ideas fit together well to form a united whole
• In summary, text is the "what" of communication, the concrete language itself, while discourse is the "how" and "why" of communication, focusing on the context and purpose of language use
• A text as a connected discourse means that all ideas in the text must be related to express only one idea or have unity by combining all ideas to emphasize a central idea
• There are four forms of Discourse:

  • Exposition: explains or informs, appealing to the intellect
  • Description: describes or states the qualities or characteristics of something/someone, appealing to the senses
  • Narration: narrates or tells a story, appealing to the emotions
  • Argumentation: argues or persuades to take action
• Coherence in writing refers to the unity of ideas, while cohesion is about the unity of structural and grammatical elements
• Cohesion and coherence are crucial in academic writing as they influence the readability and logical flow of the text
• To achieve cohesion and coherence, paragraphs and sentences need to be clearly linked to each other to form a logical and linguistic whole
• An example of coherence in writing: credit cards are convenient but dangerous, with the convenience coming at a high price due to interest rates
• In writing, coherence is achieved when everything in a paragraph is tied back to the topic sentence, with key terms repeated throughout to signal the main subject
• Cohesion focuses on the grammatical and lexical structure of sentences, while coherence deals with the semantics and organization of thoughts
• Transitional words play a crucial role in creating a connected discourse, with different types like additive, contrastive, sequential, and causal words