Towards the development of an analytical tool for Referential Cohesion Analysis, some problems were encountered that first appeared as side-tracks, but have led to a more reliable method for Referential Cohesion Analysis. First, the list of reference items was compiled for the analysis, then the lexical aspect was added to clarify the reference of items with determiners and the definite article. This picture was broadened with an account of non-cohesive items to avoid as much of the ambiguity inherent in the analysis as possible. And now it is time for the final detour to be able to analyze reference in student writing: the exploration of errors in student papers.