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TRANSITIONS

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Organizational Methods:  TRANSITIONS

  • Like individual paragraphs, multi-paragraph papers should be both unified (focused) and coherent.
  • UNITY is achieved when all supporting paragraphs contribute in some way to the paper's main idea, which is imbedded in the thesis statement.
    • Unity is, therefore, an objective:
    • Your goal is that all supporting details contribute to the development of that main idea.
  • COHERENCE is a term which describes the various means a writer uses to accomplish that objective.
    • Coherence means logical connection.
    • It is achieved by using a variety of devices which enable the reader to see how your ideas are linked both to one another and to the paper's main idea, or thesis.
    • The device used to link entire paragraphs with one another, is called the transitional sentence.

 

TRANSITIONAL EXPRESSIONS:

  • Generally, a transitional sentence is used to introduce a supporting paragraph, and accomplishes two goals:
    1. It looks back at the preceding paragraph:
      • It frequently summarizing at least some of its contents.
      • In effect, this technique pulls the previous material forward into the new paragraph.
    2. It looks forward to the forthcoming paragraph:
      • also provides an indication of what information will be contained in the new paragraph.
  • By pulling all of this information together, the writer helps the reader see how the information in the previous paragraph is connected to the new information presented in the paragraph under development.
  • Frequently, the transitional sentence is complex (one dependent clause and one or more independent clauses), with the previous material included in the dependent clause and the new material in an independent clause.\

 

  • EXAMPLE:
    • Although Mary's carelessness was one reason she was fired, the major factor was her arrogance.
    • This sentence could form a bridge between two paragraphs, the first discussing Mary's carelessness, and the second explaining her arrogance. It would be placed at the beginning of the second paragraph.

 

  • NOTE:
    • A transitional sentence, however, does not necessarily follow this pattern rigidly.
    • Sometimes the previous material may be summarized in a phrase or it may even be written as an independent clause.

 

 


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