USINGTRANSITIONS

TRANSITIONS

PURPOSE

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TRANSITIONS*Coherence*

o In the end, you want your essay to be a unified whole a strong link chain, if you will. 

o The technical term for this chain effect is COHERENCE.

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TRANSITIONS*Coherence*

o Coherence points to not only the logical flow of ideas but also the inter-connectedness of ideas. 

o In other words, how the ideas relate to each other. 

o This is where TRANSITIONS come in:  they help build coherence.

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TRANSITIONS*No sentence is an island*

o Poor Writing = Poor Writing is characterized by –

• a lack of coherence• incoherence, disjointedness, rambling• short, choppy, unrelated sentences. 

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TRANSITIONS*No sentence is an island*

o Poor Writing = The writer has not demonstrated any

relationships between ideas:  • Each desert-island-sentence floats alone

– in the ocean-paragraph –with no bridge connecting them. 

• Consequently, just like someone stranded on an island, the idea soon shrivels and dies.

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TRANSITIONS*Transitions are bridges*

o Transitions are the BRIDGES between sentences they connect ideas they show how ideas are related to each other and they build a unified paragraph

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TRANSITIONS*Transitions are bridges*

o Some of the relationships they show include example/illustration cause or effect comparison or contrast emphasis sequence and summary.   

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TRANSITIONS*From Paragraph to Paragraph*

o Once each paragraph becomes a cohesive whole coherent connected logically

o Then we use transitions to connect coherent paragraphs to each other, too. 

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TRANSITIONS*From Paragraph to Paragraph*

o In order to build a larger point, we can employ transitions between paragraphs to reference contrast or continue

o a previous idea.

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TRANSITIONS*The Whole Essay*

o Thus, the final essay represents a series of associations of relationships of links of bridges

o between ideas. 

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TRANSITIONS*The Whole Essay*

o Because of this interconnectedness, the writer's thesis is logical sound and coherent...

Brooklyn, NY

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TRANSITIONS*The Whole Essay*

o …and the reader can easily follow the course of the argument, “crossing” from one point to another.

Portland, OR

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TRANSITIONSTo carry this metaphor to its conclusion 

o Transitions provide the valuable infrastructure necessary for a reader to travel uninterruptedly between each of the island-states,

o and the final unified essay created with them has become like a centralized form of government uniting a group of island-states under one flag (title).

TRANSITIONSo Hawaii

o British Virgin Islands

o Philippines

o Greece

TRANSITIONS

FORMS & FUNCTIONS

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TRANSITIONSo Transitions provide links between the following:  

SENTENCES:  • Also, the temperature of the oven must be set

on high to achieve this goal.

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TRANSITIONSo Transitions provide links between the following:  

PARAGRAPHS:  • Another reason I dislike Mondays involves

highway traffic.

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TRANSITIONSo Transitions provide links between the following:  

SECTIONS:  • As noted in the previous chapter, the theme

of equivocation dominates Shakespeare's Macbeth.

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TRANSITIONSo Transitions often come in the following forms: 

SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS:  • since, because, if, when, although

COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS:  • and, but, yet, or, nor, for, so

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TRANSITIONSo Transitions often come in the following forms: 

PREPOSITIONS:  • after, during, behind, beyond, during

ADVERBS:  • once, never, always, frequently

TRANSITIONS

LISTS

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TRANSITIONS: Listso ADDITION

additionally, in addition, and, again, and then, also, besides, equally important, finally, further, furthermore, moreover, nor, too, next, lastly, what’s more, moreover, then, first/second (-ly) 

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TRANSITIONS: Listso ALTERNATIVE

alternatively, similarly, correspondingly, in the same way 

o SIMILARITY similarly, also, in the same way, just as, so too, likewise, equally

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TRANSITIONS: Listso COMPARISON

by/in comparison, similarly, in the same way, in like manner, likewise, by the same token, in a similar fashion, in relation to, in respect of, with reference to, with regard to, a propos, vis-à-vis 

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TRANSITIONS: Listso CONTRAST

in contrast, by contrast, conversely, on the other hand, on the contrary, but, however, although, though, otherwise, at the same time, notwithstanding,

nevertheless, nonetheless, whereas, but, yet, besides, versus, while, instead 

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TRANSITIONS: Listso CAUSE

because, since, on account of, for that reason 

o EFFECT therefore, consequently, accordingly, thus, hence, as a result 

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TRANSITIONS: Listso CLARIFICATION

that is, that is to say, in other words, to explain, to clarify, to put it another way, to rephrase it

o CONCESSION to be sure, granted, of course, still, yet, nevertheless, notwithstanding, however, however much, even though  

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TRANSITIONS: Listso DEDUCTION

then, in other words, in that case, otherwise, this implies, if not, if so, thus 

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TRANSITIONS: Listso EMPHASIS-INTENSIFICATION

even, indeed, in fact, in truth, truly, definitely, emphatically, unquestionably, undeniably, of course, obviously, without reservation, without a doubt, undoubtedly, certainly, by all means, never, always, perennially, eternally 

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TRANSITIONS: ListsEXAMPLE/ILLUSTRATION

for example, for instance, to illustrate, to demonstrate, namely, specifically, take the case of, in this case, on this occasion, in this situation, as follows: the following:  

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TRANSITIONS: Listso EXCEPTION

but, yet, still, however, in spite of, despite, nonetheless, nevertheless, sometimes  

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TRANSITIONS: Listso PURPOSE

to that end, to this end, for this purpose, for that reason, so that, in order that, intentionally

o QUALIFICATION may, might, almost, nearly, very, truly, indeed, probably, possibly, conceivably, perchance, maybe, perhaps, always, never, frequently, occasionally, although  

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TRANSITIONS: Listso GENERALIZATION

generally speaking, generally, in general, on the whole, as a rule, for the most part, in most cases, usually, typically, characteristically, naturally, normally, on average, predictably, habitually, by and large, more often than not 

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TRANSITIONS: Listso NEW POINT (to a)

with regard to, with reference to, as for, in terms of, now, as far as – is concerned, it follows that, turning to 

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TRANSITIONS: Listso PROOF

because, for (that means “because”), as, for that reason, since, therefore, thus, hence, evidently, obviously, furthermore, moreover, besides, indeed, in fact, in addition, in view of the fact, while, seeing as

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TRANSITIONS: Listso OBVIOUSNESS

obviously, clearly, naturally, of course, surely, after all, as expected

o PLACE/POSITION above, across, adjacent, after, behind, below, beyond, in front of, here, there, next, next to, near, nearby  

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TRANSITIONS: Listso SEQUENCE/ORDER

first, second, next, then, finally, after, afterwards, following, at this time, at this point, this time, simultaneously, concurrently, soon,  subsequently, while, meanwhile, when, during, immediately, later, earlier, sometimes, always, never, whenever, now, until now, once 

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TRANSITIONS: Listso TIME

first, second, next, then, finally, after, afterwards, following, at this time, at this point, this time, simultaneously, concurrently, soon,  subsequently, while, meanwhile, when, during, immediately, later, thereafter, earlier, sometimes, always, never, whenever, now, until now, once, previously 

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TRANSITIONS: Listso REPETITION

in other words, as I have noted, as has been noted, as noted above, as I have said, in summary, to summarize, in brief, rather, to put it more simply 

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TRANSITIONS: Listso SUMMARY

finally, lastly, thus, hence, therefore, in conclusion, to summarize, in sum, in summary, in brief, in short, in a word, in the final analysis, on the whole, overall, that is to say, summing up, as accordingly, as I have said/proven/shown, as a result, consequently

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SUMMATION*TRANSITIONS*

o Build coherence

o Link ideas

o Show relationship between ideas

o “bridges”

o “links in a chain”