Coherence as a criterion for the assessment of written reports

Abstract

The coherence of a piece of writing depends on there being a close relationship between what the writer intends to say and how this is said. In addition it depends on how clearly the context of the presented content is described by the writer to allow mutual inference of meaning between the reader and the writer. This paper considers the theoretical research into the concept of “coherence” and presents a coherence rating scale, which was developed for use in the assessment of first year physics laboratory reports.