Paragraphs & Transitions

Paragraphs and Transitions
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Paragraph transitions:

Each paragraph must relate logically to the previous paragraph(s)

Readers expect paragraphs to relate to each other as well as to the overall purpose of
an essay. Establishing transitional sentences for paragraphs can be one of the most difficult challenges you face as a writer because you need to guide the reader with a light hand. When you are too blatant about your transitions, your readers may feel patronized. To highlight the connections between your ideas, you can provide transitional sentences at
the end of each paragraph which look forward to the substance of the next paragraph.
Or, you can place the transition at the beginning of the next paragraph.

When evaluating your transitions from idea to idea, question whether the transitions
appear too obvious, thereby undercutting your credibility. At best, when unnecessary,
readers perceive explicit transitional sentences to be wordy; at worst, they perceive such
sentences as insulting (they imply that readers are too inept to follow the discussion).

Transitions

In an academic essay, transitions highlight the link between two distinct but interrelated ideas
(e.g., two supporting ideas/topic sentences) and ease the reader from one to the other.

A transition can be made via a topic sentence; however, in many cases using a topic sentence for a transition
can be awkward. One solution to this problem is to create a separate transitional sentence that (1) either
precedes the topic sentence at the beginning of a paragraph or (2) concludes the previous paragraph.

In general, such transitional sentences should point back to the point made in a previous paragraph while at the
same time leaning toward the point that will be developed in an ensuing paragraph.

For example:

Mary Cassatt, one of the few female Impressionist painters, lived in France although she was of American descent. Unlike her fellow painters, who chose landscapes as their primary medium, Cassatt's main subjects were her immediate family. In fact, her nieces and nephews were captured in many of her most famous works of art.

For instance, the painting, Mother with Child, shows Cassatt's sister bathing her child. This painting not only illustrates Cassatt's use of her family as subjects, but also highlights the theme of mother and child. The closeness of the mother with her child remains a constant theme of Cassatt's painting and sketching throughout the Impressionist period.

Note: The first sentence of the second paragraph draws the reader's attention to a new idea, a specific example in this case. The following sentence repeats a familiar theme (family members) from the first paragraph and then introduces a new idea (mother and child).

3) Transitions between sections

Transitions may be needed between major sections of a paper, especially when the paper is lengthy. In this case, an entire paragraph may serve as a transition between two or more major sections of your paper.

For example:

If you were writing a twenty-page research paper on plant regeneration, the first ten pages might deal with general information about plant regeneration and the last ten pages might focus on an in-depth study of a particular experiment. In this case, you should include a paragraph that transitions the reader out of the general information in the first section into the specific experiment in the second section.

Some useful links: Writing Resources

Adult Literacy Articles	Letters Library Logic	Reading List Resource
Bias Computers	Poetry Powell's Books	Sentences Syntax
Dictionary ESL	Prepositions Private Tutor	Transitions WebLinks
English Literature	Pronouns Quotations	Verbs

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