This study presents a quantitative analysis of cohesion of the academic writing of Chinese English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) graduate students by applying Halliday and Hansen's (1976) model. Six Chinese graduate students from a Midwestern university were selected for the study, representing two proficiency levels in written English--advanced and intermediate. Eighteen of their papers were analyzed, representing three academic genres: definition, analytic, and research. The analysis was conducted across both genre and proficiency level. The results of the analysis indicate that personal and demonstrative reference, additive and temporal conjunctions, and lexical repetition were strongly favored in all three genres by both proficiency groups. However, the advanced group employed significantly more cohesive ties in some of the categories than did the intermediate group. These variations do not support the argument that there is no relationship between linguistic ability and writing ability. (Contains 39 references.) (KFT)