Cohesion Without Connector Spam
Cohesion is part of the heaviest criterion, and it is not the same thing as linking words. Here is what actually holds 180 words together.
Cohesion is not a word list
Coherence sits inside Content and Coherence, the 30 per cent criterion, and the criterion describes it as clear paragraphs and smooth connections. Candidates read that and reach for a list of connectors, which is understandable and mostly counterproductive.
A response can carry Firstly, Moreover, Furthermore, In addition and In conclusion and still be incoherent, because the ideas underneath are not building on each other. A response can carry almost no connectors and read perfectly, because each paragraph picks up where the last one left off.
So the question to ask is not which linking word goes here. It is why is this paragraph next. If you can answer that, the connection usually writes itself, and often it needs no connector at all.
The three things that actually create cohesion
Reference. Pointing back at something already named, using pronouns, this plus a noun, or a synonym. The crew leader advised me to contact your office. That advice has not proved useful, as two calls have gone unanswered. The second sentence is welded to the first by that advice, with no connector in sight.
Given before new. Start a sentence with information the reader already has, and put the new information at the end. I paid $1,340 for the full-service package. That package included insurance against breakage, which is why I am writing now. Each sentence hands the next one a starting point.
Parallel structure inside a paragraph. When you list effects or reasons, give them the same grammatical shape. I have stopped using the stove, I have moved the table away from the wall, and I have been emptying buckets twice a day. The repetition of form is what tells the reader these three belong together.
None of these three costs words, and all three read as natural writing rather than as scaffolding.
Connectors that earn their place
Connectors are not banned. They are useful when the relationship between two ideas would otherwise be ambiguous, and useless when it would not.
Contrast is the case where a connector almost always helps, because contrast is invisible without a signal. Even so, However, Although, That said. Reading The arena would serve the hockey programme. It would stand empty most of the week without a signal makes the reader do work you should have done.
Cause and result are worth signalling when the causal chain is not obvious: so, which means, as a result, since. Which means in particular is the phrase that turns an assertion into development, which is why it earns marks twice.
Concession is worth signalling because it is structural: Admittedly, It is true that, While X is a real advantage.
What rarely earns its place is additive signalling. Moreover and Furthermore tell the reader only that another sentence is coming, which they could already see. Adding an idea to an idea is the default relationship in prose and needs no announcement.
The connector spam pattern, and what it costs
The pattern looks like this: Firstly, the library is cheaper. Moreover, it is already built. In addition, more people can use it. Furthermore, it is open in the evening. In conclusion, I choose the library.
Every sentence is grammatical. The response still scores poorly on the heaviest criterion, and for two reasons. First, the connectors are doing the organising that the ideas should be doing: strip them out and you have five unrelated assertions in a row, none of them developed. Second, the effect is a visible frame, and a frame that could sit on any prompt about anything signals that the thinking was done before the question was read.
There is a vocabulary cost too. Moreover, Furthermore and In addition in a single 180-word response is repetition of function, and Vocabulary is scored partly on not repeating.
The same content, connected properly: The library is the cheaper option because the building already exists, so the money pays for staff rather than construction. That also means the hours can be adjusted as demand changes, which a new arena's fixed costs would not allow. Two sentences, one connector, and the ideas are now attached to each other rather than stacked.
Read only the opening sentence of each paragraph in order. If those sentences read as a summary of your argument, the response is coherent; if they read as unrelated statements, no connector will rescue it.
Cohesion across paragraphs
Within a paragraph, cohesion is sentence to sentence. Across paragraphs it is the first line of each new paragraph that does the work, and the job of that line is to tell the reader where they now are.
In a Task 1 email, the paragraph openers usually follow the bullets, so the transition can be as plain as naming the new subject. The missing box is the more serious problem. The reader knows a new topic has started and that it relates to the last one.
In a Task 2 response, the opener of the second reason should signal that it is a different kind of reason, not just another one. Cost is only part of the argument. The library also reaches more of the town at once. That is a transition made of content, and it is stronger than Secondly.
One caution. Do not open three consecutive paragraphs with the same structure, such as three sentences beginning My first reason, My second reason, My third reason. One or two signposts of that kind are fine and help the reader; three in a row becomes the frame again.
A checking pass for cohesion
Read only the first sentence of each paragraph, in order, and nothing else. If those three or four sentences read as a summary of your argument, the response is coherent. If they read as three unrelated statements, the problem is in your plan, not your connectors.
Then find every connector and ask what would be lost by deleting it. If nothing would be lost, delete it. This usually removes two or three words from a Task 2 response and always makes it read as more controlled.
Finally, look for the sentence that could be moved anywhere in the response without anything breaking. That sentence is not attached to the argument, which usually means it is not developing anything, and it is the best candidate for deletion if you are over 200 words.
One habit is worth building before the test. When you write a practice answer, mark the connector in each paragraph and then rewrite that sentence without it, using reference or a consequence instead. Doing this a dozen times teaches your ear the difference between a response that is signposted and one that is genuinely connected, and the second is what the criterion is paying for.
Delete any connector whose removal changes nothing. Contrast and cause usually earn their place; "Moreover" and "Furthermore" almost never do, because adding an idea to an idea is the default and needs no announcement.
Practise it
Five judgements on which version reads as connected, and which only looks connected.