The paper addresses the issue of coherence within cognitive and pragmatic paradigms in linguistics. Coherence is seen as a concept and various tendencies of its interpretation are traced. We place the analysis of the phenomenon of coherence within a broader framework for textual analysis, particularly in relation to text organization. It is shown that coherence interacts with cohesion and texture. The study is based on the assumption that the process of constructing textual coherence is of cognitive character and is based on logical operations (e.g. inference, deduction). Inferring or decoding coherence relations between segments of the text from the recipient’s perspective are context based operations aimed at retrieving the author’s communicative intention. The study explores complex mechanisms of constructing coherence projecting it on written English civil engineering text. The emphasis is placed on core types of coherence relations and their signaling mechanisms. Additionally, the paper highlights implicit relations, i.e. the relations that do not contain clear indicators. Lines of thought are illustrated by a selection of examples from civil engineering text corpus. Cohesive devices can be used as a tool to analyse different aspects of textual organization. Inferring coherence relations between segments of the text is a precondition for its comprehension. In educational context, the study outcomes can be used in delivering a course of lectures on text linguistics and academic writing at tertiary institutions.