Transitions

Hello everyone welcome back to our unit on organizing your ideas.

Today’s topic is transition’s.

So we move from titles thesis statements to introductions we’ve worked through paragraphs with brief

discussions about transitions from one paragraph to the next.

And today we’re going to talk more broadly about transitions in general throughout your paper.

We’ll begin by discussing the purpose of transitions.

The purpose of transitions is first to move your reader clearly through your argument.

It keeps your readers from guessing or making their own conclusions.

It also connects or shows a relationship between your ideas it enhances clarity and it creates a flow

from one sentence the next and from one paragraph to the next.

So we use transitions throughout our paper continuously or at least we should and we use them specifically

in various areas of our paper and for various purposes in each area.

So the first area we use transitions is in sections to divide or to link major topics and ideas.

The second is in paragraphs like we like we discussed last time to divide or to link minor ideas.

The third is in sentences where we use transition terms or phrases in order to show the relationship

between the various sentences within a paragraph.

And finally on a very minor level with in a sentence or parts of sentences where we connect phrases

or terms and my main purpose today we’re not going to talk about this in too much detail actually because

it just takes practice and it’s usually just knowing the words and how to use the correct terms in order

to transition effectively.

So my main purpose today is to give you this list of transition types.

OK.

So let’s discuss just really briefly what the different types are and then you can use this as a resource

as you write to look back and find the the best words of transition for you depending on what you’re

trying to accomplish with that transition.

So you have transition terms for addition or we’re adding information or ideas right so adding something

new.

We have terms for chronology which is what we’re trying to lead our reader from one idea to the next.

For example after before earlier finally right are leading our reader through a chronology of ideas

or events.

The next type of transition is to show similarity.

Words like accordingly and also which show that we’re linking ideas or topics together because of their

similarity.

The fourth is location the fifth is a result.

So use terms key terms such as.

Accordingly.

Consequently for this reason in order to show that we’re in order to signal to our reader that we’re

discussing now discussing the results the sixth example so on are giving providing an example to our

reader.

We have for example in fact specifically right these are all terms that signal to our reader that we’re

transitioning into an example.

Next we have summary we need to signal we need to show our reader that we’re about to provide a summary

of ideas.

We use such terms as Finally in conclusion.

In other words.

And finally notice my transition word.

I just used.

Finally we come to terms that show a transition according to difference although however nevertheless

these are all terms that show the reader that you are now transitioning from one idea to a different

idea.

OK and that’s actually it for today.

It’s very short and brief.

My goal is just to illustrate to highlight how important transitions are to the overall clarity of your

writing and also to provide this final slide here as a resource you can come back to repeatedly as you

write so that you know which words to use and you can use a variety of words to transition according

to what type of transition you’re trying to accomplish whether the addition example or difference.

So if you have any questions shoot me an email I’ll be happy to have to field any questions or comments

you might have.

And thank you again for listening today.

I look forward to our next lecture.