To discover what variables are involved in the production of text coherence, and how cohesion and coherence are different, a study collected 30 papers randomly selected from over 200 papers written by incoming freshmen college students at a local community college. The papers were rated by 21 state conference participants. Raters were in-service language arts or reading teachers, with teaching experience ranging from 5 to 20 years. All raters had participated in a Colorado Writing Assessment Project, and had prior training and experience with holistic rating of essays. Each rater received a packet including a copy of one of seven scales, 30 papers for rating, and training notes. Each of the 30 papers was read three times for each of the seven scales. Bamberg's scale for coherency was the dependent variable. Six scales, the independent variables of coherence, consisted of: cohesion; context; focus; grammar; intent; and structure. Results indicated interdependency between intent, focus, structure, and context. Intent was a significantly stronger predictor of text coherency than was cohesion or grammar. Results also indicated that if the variables of intent, structure, focus, and cohesion were highly present in a text, then a lack of grammar and context did not greatly affect the text's coherency level. It was further demonstrated that an author's apparent intent in writing a text was a strong predictor for the coherency of the text. (Three tables of data are included.) (MM)