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:
- 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.
- 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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