What are “transitions”?

A transition is a word or phrase that connectes the ideas from one unit of writing to the ideas of the next unit of writing. A transition provides clear, logical, steps from one point to another. Before trying to create proper transitions in an essay you should make sure the essay is well organized. Making sure each topic of a paragraph falls into a logical order. This will help the essay seem coherent and concise. The transitions will aid in the clarity of the essay but only if the paper is well organized. Transitions can be used in sentences, paragraphs or large blocks of text. Between paragraphs the topic sentence of one paragraph should allude to the final sentence of the previous paragraph:

Presenting all sides of an event or topic will help keep the article close to the truth.

The only truth that exists in a society with government controlled media is that of the government.

Also, the topic sentence could allude to the topic sentence of the previous paragraph:

Consider aseptic packaging, the synthetic packaging for the “juice boxes” so many children bring to school with their lunch. (The rest of the paragraph is omitted)

What is true for juice boxes is also true for other forms of synthetic packaging. (Hacker 34)

Another method is for the final sentence of a paragraph to summarize the paragraph and suggesting ideas in the next paragraph. Within sentences, certain words are used to transition from one part of the sentence to another. Some examples of these common words are:

and, also, besides, for example, but, however, in short, after, as, above, below, if, and so

These words are not only used to transition they are also used to show addition, give examples, compare, contrast, summarize, to show time, to show place or direction, and to indicate logical relationships. If blocks of text are too long then a transitional paragraph maybe needed. A transitional paragraph summarizes the previous information as well as establish its relevence to the next section of information. A transitional paragraph provides a logical step from one part of a block of text to the next part:

Although the great apes have demonstrated significant language skills, one central question remains: Can they be

taught to use that uniquely human language tool we call grammar, to learn the difference, for instance, between

"ape bite human” and “human bite ape”? In other words, can an ape create a sentence? (Hacker 35)

Transitions help keep the reader reading at a steady pace. They prevent the reader from having to make unnecessary pauses after every five sentences.

Works Cited

Faigley, Lester. "Signal relationships with Transitional Terms." The Brief Penguin Handbook. New York:

Longman-Pearson Education, Inc. 2003: p. 48-49.

---. "Link Across Paragrpahs." The Brief Panguin Handbook. New York: Long-Pearson Education, Inc. 2003: p. 50-51

Hacker, Diana. "Providing Transitions." A Writer's Reference. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's 2003: p. 33-35.

"Writing Effective Transitions." The Writing Center. 1998. UNC-CH Writing Center. 21 Oct. 2004.

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