Moving cities. Starting college. Discovering Santa is your parent. These are among life’s transitions. They mark times of change. But imagine if transitions didn’t exist. Suddenly, you’re awake in a dorm room, with a strange person in the bed next to you, and have no idea how you got there. Who is this person? What is that music? Why am I wearing a hoodie? Transitions take you from Point A to Point B with clarity and confidence.
Paragraphs have transitions, too. In fact, they’re crucial to the flow of an essay. Without them, your ideas would feel disjointed, an assemblage of loosely related blocks of text rather than the seamless argument you set out to write. Here are a few examples of transition types, from least connective to most seamless:
1. (No transitions whatsoever)
This is the worst of the worst. First, you’re talking about Kermit the frog and his influence on interior design. End paragraph. Now, you’re discussing rainbows. Where did that second paragraph come from?! Why in that order? What is the relationship between Kermit and rainbows and interior decorating? Remember, your job as a writer is to think like the reader. With no transition leading from one paragraph to the next, these ideas might as well come from two separate papers.
Grade: F
2. “First,” “Second,” “Third,” etc.
When students first learn to write five-paragraph essays, they will often use markers like the ones above. In theory, you’ve indicated a certain order to things — a beginning, middle, and end. But these words do little on their own. They’re also redundant and cliche. What does “second” mean, except as something that comes between “first” and “third”? This numerical iteration indicates no relationship between one paragraph and the next, simply a separation of ideas. So, first, you were talking about apples, and now, second, you’re talking about pears. So what? I’d be willing to bet we could swap the order of those paragraphs without affecting the essay — a bad sign.
Grade: C
3. “Moreover,” “Furthermore,” “Additionally,” etc.
Not bad. These kinds of words, which build direct causal links between paragraphs, are a significant step up from the last example. Instead of simply listing the paragraph chunks in order, words such as "moreover" indicate a connection between thoughts. But it’s all too easy for a lazy writer to slap a “furthermore” onto the start of Paragraph 3 and believe that this word has fulfilled the transitions requirement. First off, be careful that “furthermore” actually means what you think it does: it indicates an addition from one paragraph to the next, as opposed to transitions like “nevertheless” (difference) or “consequently” (result). These words are not interchangeable. Not a bad start for a draft, but something is missing…
Grade: B
4. “Just as Kermit inspires a certain 1970s aesthetic, so too do rainbows…,” etc.
There’s no exact formula here, and that’s a good thing. Unlike the last three categories, my choice of examples is entirely dependent on the subject. These transitions take a little bit from your previous paragraph and indicate a specific relationship to the paragraph at hand. Put these words anywhere else in the essay and they lose all meaning (again, that’s a good thing). A well thought out, sentence-length transition indicates deep understanding of the topic and provides a logical flow from one sub-argument to the next. It’s the mark of a finalized, organized, and integrated essay.
Grade: A!
In conclusion (though conclusions are a whole different story!), those are the four major tiers of paragraph transitions. Be conscious of such moments when you rewrite. As with anything, the more you practice, the more natural it becomes. Happy paragraphing!
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