Cohesive Devices for IELTS Task 1 (& More)

I’m sure you’ve already discovered that cohesive devices for IELTS Task 1 are essential to get a high score.

However, learning cohesive devices is not the complete solution to a high Coherence and Cohesion score as other important factors are also assessed.

In this lesson, I will give you the exact cohesive devices you need to use in Academic IELTS Task 1, and I will make sure that you fully understand all the requirements for a high Coherence and Cohesion score.

You will learn;

In this lesson, I'll give you the exact cohesive devices for IELTS Task 1 that you need.
  1. What Coherence and Cohesion is
  2. What cohesive devices for IELTS Task 1 you need
  3. How to organise your paragraphs
  4. How to adapt your progression
  5. Logical organization of information
  6. How to use referencing and substitution

What is Coherence and Cohesion?

Coherence and Cohesion is the band score that assesses how easy it is to understand and follow your answer.

You’ll see the official description of this and the other band scores here, and Cambridge offers a good explanation of these terms.

If the terminology in the official descriptions is too complicated, don’t worry, as you’ll see the exact cohesive devices for IELTS Task 1 Academic below, and the rest of the lessons explains everything else about getting a high Coherence and Cohesion score.

This is a screenshot of the official band descriptors.

If you’re interested in learning about the other band scores, check out the Task Achievement lesson, the Task 1 vocabulary lesson and the Task 1 grammar lesson.

Cohesive Devices for IELTS Task 1

According to the IELTS Writing Task 1 band descriptors, cohesive devices for IELTS essays are essential, and IDP confirms this.

There is some good news and some bad news here.

The Bad News

The bad news is that you have to be careful with them.

To get a high score, you must use cohesive devices for IELTS Task 1 essays, but if you use too many or use them incorrectly, that will reduce your score.

Your Coherence and Cohesion score will be reduced for using no cohesive devices or for using too man.

To make sure you’re using them correctly, you must first learn the appropriate range of cohesive devices (see list below) and also make sure that you can use them accurately.

Next, when you’re writing the essay, don’t force cohesive devices into your answer.

Instead, write your essay without focusing on cohesive devices. Then, when you’re writing, there will be natural places where a cohesive device is required, and you can use the appropriate one then.

The Good News

The good news is that there aren’t many cohesive devices for IELTS that you need to learn for Academic IELTS Task 1.

This is because the essay is short, and the things you need to describe are pretty similar in each question.

You don't need to learn a lot of cohesive devices to get a high writing score in Academic IELTS Task 1.

For this reason, I can provide you with the essential cohesive devices for IELTS Task 1.

Note that for each of the cohesive devices in the list below, you’ll need to learn the meanings by referencing the question, and you’ll also need to learn how to use them with grammatical accuracy.

Pay attention to the punctuation marks and whether a verb or a noun phrase follows each cohesive device.

This chart will help you understand the exact meaning of each of the cohesive devices for IELTS in the list below.

Cohesive Devices for IELTS Overviews

  • Overall, the average value of sales for rugby and tennis were lower by the end of the period.

To make sure you know exactly how to select the appropriate key features, check out my overview lesson.

Cohesive Devices for IELTS Key Features and Categories

  • The amount of money spent on tennis equipment increased steadily, whereas swimming equipment had the opposite trend.
  • The amount of money spent on tennis equipment increased steadily. In contrast, swimming equipment had an increase in its sales value.
The band descriptors clearly state the importance of cohesive devices for a high score.
  • The amount of money spent on tennis equipment increased steadily, while football saw an initial decrease but then had an overall increase by the end of the period.
  • Despite increasing during the first half of the period, the money spent on rugby equipment had an overall decrease by 2020.
  • Besides increasing during the first half of the period, the money spent on rugby equipment had an overall decrease by 2020.
  • The money being spent on rugby equipment increased during the first half of the period but decreased for the second half.
  • Although the average money spent on football equipment fell from $60 per person in 2000 to $40 in 2010, it jumped to $70 by the end of the period.
  • The average money spent on football equipment fell from $60 per person in 2000 to $40 in 2010; however, it jumped to $70 by the end of the period.
  • All of the categories finished the period below $40, except for football equipment.

Cohesive Devices for IELTS Time Referencing

  • The average money spent on football equipment fell from $60 per person in 2000 to $40 in 2010 before jumping to $70 by the end of the period.
  • The average money spent on football equipment fell from $60 per person in 2000 to $40 in 2010 and then jumped to $70 by the end of the period.
These are the exact cohesive devices you need to learn to get a good Coherence and Cohesion score.
  • After the average money spent on football equipment fell from $60 per person in 2000 to $40 in 2010, it jumped to $70 by the end of the period.
  • The amount of money spent on tennis equipment increased steadily. Meanwhile, football saw an initial decrease but then had an overall increase by the end of the period.

You might be wondering why I haven’t included basic cohesive devices like firstly, secondly and finally, but IELTS.org actually recommends that you don’t use these.

Paragraphs

Now that you know the exact cohesive devices for IELTS Task 1 that you need to learn, I have some more good news for you!

The paragraphs you need to use to satisfy the requirements of the IELTS Writing Task 1 Band Descriptors are very straightforward.

In the test, you might need to describe a graph, a map or a process, but the paragraphs you need will always be the same;

The organization of your paragraphs is one of the easiest aspects of getting a high IELTS Writing score in Academic Task 1.
  • Paragraph 1 = Paraphrase and Overview
  • Paragraph 2 = 1st Details Paragraph
  • Paragraph 3 = 2nd Details Paragraph

Let me quickly describe what these components are and give you an example.

  • Paraphrase = the question in our own words
  • Overview = a general description of the key features
  • Details Paragraph = a detailed description of the key features

And here is an IELTS Writing Task 1 question and a sample essay using these paragraphs.

As well as knowing the appropriate cohesive devices for IELTS Writing Task 1, you need to organize your answer into paragraphs.

The graph illustrates the ten nations that grew and ate the most rice in the year 2020. Overall, Bangladesh is the only country where rice consumption was higher than the amount of rice produced and the figures for Hungary and the Philippines far exceed the other eight countries in both rice grown and eaten.

Of the ten countries on the graph, Bangladesh was unique in that it was the only nation to produce less rice than it consumed with 53 and 58 tonnes, respectively. Hungary produced and consumed the most rice in 2020, with 540 tonnes grown and 532 tonnes eaten. The Philippines was the only country close to Hungary’s figures with 410 tonnes produced and 387 tonnes consumed. 

For the other eight nations, the production of rice was between 106 and 49 tonnes and the consumption of rice was between 104 and 45 tonnes. For both of the categories, India was the highest of these eight countries, and South Korea was the lowest. 

And that’s it!

The above three paragraphs are exactly how you should structure any Academic Task 1 essay to get a high Coherence and Cohesion score.

Progression

So now that you know how to use paragraphs and cohesive devices for IELTS Task 1, we will look at the next aspect of the IELTS Writing Task 1 band descriptors, which is progression.

So what is progression?

The progression of your answer is how quickly you move from one category to the next.

For your essay to have good progression, on the one hand, you must not describe every detail from the question, but on the other hand, you must include all the most important information.

Progression in your essay is also indicated as an important aspect of your Coherence and Cohesion score in the band descriptors.

It’s really a balancing act of those two things.

To make things more complicated, how much you should write about each category depends on the number of categories in the question.

When there are many categories, it’s important to have short descriptions.

When there are fewer categories, you’ll need to give more attention to each one so that your essay isn’t too short.

So let’s say the question we looked at earlier had four categories instead of ten, like in the image below.

To meet the requirements of Coherence and Cohesion, you need to adapt the progression to the number of categories in the question.

This time, the progression needs to be slower as there are fewer categories, so we will describe each one in more detail.

Here’s an example of what the details paragraphs should look like this time.

Hungary produced and consumed the most rice in 2020, with 540 tonnes grown and 532 tonnes eaten. The Philippines was the second-largest producer and consumer of rice on the chart, with 410 tonnes produced and 387 tonnes consumed.

India was second from the bottom for both the amount of rice it grew and the amount of rice it ate with 106 and 104 tonnes, respectively. Of the four countries, India’s and Qatar’s figures were the closest to one another as Qatar grew 94 tonnes and ate 86 tonnes in 2020.

As you can see, this time, the progression is slower, and the descriptions of each category are more detailed. This will get a good score for Coherence and Cohesion.

So how can you write essays with appropriate progression?

If you can adjust the progression in your details paragraphs appropriately, you'll be much closer to the high IELTS score you need for Writing Task 1 Academic.

The only way to improve is by writing Task 1 answers.

After you’ve finished each answer, count how many words you’ve written.

If you have less than 180 words, your progression was too fast, and if you have more than that, your progression was too slow.

Of course, you don’t need to have exactly 180 words in every essay; this is just a good way to fine-tune your progression.

Logical organization

You’re making good progress and now understand progression, paragraphs and cohesive devices for IELTS Task 1.

The next topic, logical organization, is a big one and is a skill that doesn’t come naturally to all IELTS students.

IELTS expects you to organize the ideas and information in your answer logically.

This is because it’s much easier for the reader to process the information when it’s logically organised.

After learning the list of cohesive devices for IELTS Task 1, logical organization is the next most important to focus on.

For example, we could logically organise numbers by writing ‘1234’ or ‘4321’, but an illogical organisation would be something like ‘3142’.

This is what you need to consider when writing your essay.

You must organise categories from; biggest to smallest, smallest to biggest, highest to lowest, lowest to highest or whatever is relevant to the categories.

Depending on the question, that might not be possible, so you can also organise your answer according to similar trends. For instance, one group of categories that increased and another group that decreased.

Once you’ve decided how to organise your categories, you must be consistent.

For example, don’t organise some categories from highest to lowest and other categories differently.

To make sure all of this is clear, it’s best if we look at some examples.

Logical organization is explicitly mentioned in the band descriptors.

Overviews

First, let’s look at some overviews for this question to ensure you understand.

The Coherence and Cohesion band score requires you to be consistent in your organisation of categories.

Overview 1

Overall, the money spent on football and swimming equipment increased, whereas it decreased for rugby and tennis.

Comment:

This overview is logically organised as all the categories have been organised in the same way, according to which ones increased and which ones decreased.

Overview 2

Overall, the money spent on football equipment was the highest and on rugby was the second-highest in both years. However, tennis replaced swimming as the equipment with the lowest sales value.

Comment:

This time, the candidate organised the categories from highest to lowest, and this organisation is also logical.

Even though the categories have been organised differently in overview 1 and overview 2, they are both consistent in their organisation which means they’re both acceptable.

The way you organise categories is not as important as consistently organising categories when it comes to meeting the requirements for a high IELTS Writing score.

Overview 3

Overall, the money spent on football equipment was the highest in both years. Meanwhile, the sales value of rugby and tennis equipment decreased, whereas swimming increased.

Comment:

This overview has a problem as the organisation isn’t consistent. The first category is organised from highest to lowest, and the others are organised according to which ones increased and which ones decreased.

Because there isn’t consistency in how the categories are organised, this will reduce the Coherence and Cohesion score.

Overview 4

Overall, football equipment had the highest sales value in both years and increased between 2000 and 2020, as did the figure for swimming equipment. Rugby and tennis equipment, on the other hand, showed decreases in their values.

Comment:

This overview is logically organised as well and is, in fact, the best of the four overviews.

All of the categories have been organised according to which ones increased and which ones decreased. Then, another key feature is included to say that football was the highest in both years.

If you can logically organize the categories in this way and use appropriate cohesive devices for IELTS Task 1, your IELTS Writing score will get a big boost.

This sample overview teaches us an important lesson as we see that it’s possible to have consistent organisation and also include other relevant key features.

Details Paragraphs

You also need to make sure that you’re logically organising the information in your details paragraphs.

I have three easy tips to keep your Coherence and Cohesion score high.

Tip 1

Organise your details paragraphs in the same way that you organised your overview.

So if this is your overview;

Overall, the money spent on football equipment was the highest and on rugby was the second-highest in both years. However, tennis replaced swimming as the equipment with the lowest sales value.

You’ve mentioned football first, rugby second, tennis third and swimming fourth.

That means you should keep the same order in the details paragraphs by describing football and rugby in your first details paragraph. Then describe tennis and swimming in your second details paragraph.

Following the same order as the overview will help with the logical organization that is mentioned in the band descriptors.

Tip 2

In the details paragraphs, it’s most logical to discuss one category completely before discussing the next one.

Here’s an example;

Football equipment had the highest figures in both years and went from an average of $60 per customer in 2000 to $70 in 2020. Although the average sales for rugby equipment went from $40 down to $30, it remained the second-highest in 2020.

Tennis, which has a sales value of $30 per customer in 2000, fell to $10 in 2020, meaning that it had replaced swimming as the lowest figure. Meanwhile, swimming increased from $10 to $20 on average.

Comments:

As you can see, football is described completely and never mentioned again. Then the same is done for rugby. This is a good approach.

In the description of tennis, swimming is mentioned. However, there is a logical reason for doing this; swimming is mentioned to describe tennis further, so this is okay.

In the details paragraphs, describing one category at a time is a good approach for your Coherence and Cohesion score.

Finally, swimming is described completely.

Tip 3

If the question shows information across a period of time, start your description at the oldest point in time and move forward.

Let’s look at two descriptions of this line graph to understand why this is important.

To get a high IELTS Writing Score for Academic Task 1, moving logically through time from oldest to newest is the best approach.
Description 1

The average value of football equipment sold was the lowest in 2010 at $40 per customer. The highest figure was in 2020 with $70, and in 2000, the beginning of the period, the value was $60.

Comment:

Jumping from 2010 to 2020 and then back to 2000 isn’t logical.

I find it very difficult to process this description, and I really need to work hard to imagine what the graph looks like.

Description 2

The average sales of football equipment started at $60 in 2000 before falling to $40 in 2010. From this point until the end of the period, it increased to finish at $70.

Comment:

This description moves from 2000 to 2010 and then finishes with 2020.

This is far more logical, it’s easy for me to process the information, and I can clearly imagine what the graph looks like.

Remember, the purpose of your essay is to paint a picture in the reader’s mind.

When you logically organise all the information, the reader will be able to imagine the chart.

With accurate use of the cohesive devices for IELTS Task 1 and logical organization of the information, the reader will easily follow your answer.

Referencing and Substitution

So far, you’ve learned about logical organisation, progression, paragraphs and cohesive devices for IELTS Task 1.

This last point, referencing and substitution, sounds complicated, but honestly, it’s not.

These terms appear in the IELTS band descriptors, so I’m guessing that you want to know what they are.

If you’d like to do some research on these terms, you can read useful articles by Grammarly and Cambridge here and here.

However, a simple description is that they are ways to avoid the repetition of vocabulary.

To do this, we use words like; they, them, the same and ones.

Here are some examples from sentences in this lesson;

Although referencing and substitution are mentioned in the band descriptors, you probably know them already as pronouns.
  1. Of the ten countries on the graph, Bangladesh was unique in that it (Bangladesh) was the only nation to produce less rice than it (the country) consumed.
  2. The amount of money spent on tennis equipment increased steadily. In contrast, swimming equipment had an increase in its sales value (the sales value of swimming equipment).
  3. India was second from the bottom for both the amount of rice it (India) grew and the amount of rice it (India) ate with 106 and 104 tonnes, respectively.
  4. When there are fewer categories, you’ll need to give more attention to each one (category) so that your essay isn’t too short.
  5. As you can see, football is discussed completely and never mentioned again. Then the same is done for rugby. (Then rugby is also discussed completely and never mentioned again.)

If you don’t need the information in brackets to help you understand those sentences, then you already know what referencing and substitution are.

The most common mistake that IELTS candidates make is using the incorrect pronoun.

If that’s a mistake you make, you’ll need to address it before your IELTS test and you’ll benefit from my common pronoun mistakes and improvement advice.

What now?

Well, you’ve learned about every aspect of Coherence and Cohesion for IELTS Academic Task 1.

Next, you should learn to accurately use the list of cohesive devices for IELTS Task 1.

Then write a Task 1 essay using the paragraph structure you learned in this lesson. Here are some reliable resources for questions you can use;

Once you’ve finished writing an essay, count the number of words to check if your progression was okay and try to find any illogical organisation that you could have avoided.

You should also complete the Task Achievement lesson, the Task 1 vocabulary lesson and the Task 1 grammar lesson to make sure that you fully understand what’s required from you.

After that, it’s time to make sure you can write effective overviews and learn the 5 steps for writing your Task 1 answer.

If you ever need to review this lesson, the video below will be useful for you.

Finally, you’ll have to make sure you know how to answer Task 1 map questions and process questions.