ORGANIZATIONAL METHODS:

TRANSITIONS

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Organizational Methods:  TRANSITIONS

  • EXTENDED EXAMPLE ANALYSIS:

    Now, focus on the introductory paragraph, and the transitional sentence which begins PARAGRAPH 2:

    1. This is my 14th year of formal education, and by now I calculate that I have sat before at least 70 different teachers. They have come in all sizes, shapes, ages and weights. Some were doddering senior citizens, while others were young and still wet behind the ears. Some were tall enough to play pro basketball; others barely peered over their desks. Some were talkative and flamboyant; others were surly and secretive. But despite these and many other differences in age, personality and appearance, when it comes to job performance, three basic types of teachers emerge --lazy, tyrannical, and concerned.
       
    2. While individual students may react differently to these three types, I personally have the least regard for lazy teachers.
      3.

    Note that the transitional sentence briefly refers back to the main idea (i.e. three types). It also anticipates the subject of paragraph 2 (i.e. the lazy teacher). Note, too, that the transitional sentence suggests that the three teachers are going to be considered in a logical, and not a random order. The paper begins by discussing the type of teacher for whom the student has the least regard and will presumably ascend, in logical sequence, to the type teacher the writer likes best. That logical scheme is also helpful in making this paper coherent.

    Next, examine Paragraph 2, and the transitional sentence which begins PARAGRAPH 3:

    1. While individual students may react differently to these three types, I personally have the least regard for lazy teachers. Since such instructors do not want to do any work themselves, they demand very little work from their students. Assignments are few, tests are strictly of the True-False variety for easy grading, and papers are returned without any helpful commentary .A grade is all the student is ever likely to see, without any indication of why something was marked wrong. Since lazy teachers don't provide any challenges, they create lazy students. Lazy students don't learn very much.
       
    2. Although the atmosphere is less pleasant than in the country club run by his lazy counterpart, the tyrannical teacher's classroom is a better place to learn.
      3.

    This sentence also refers back to the lazy teacher as the subject of Paragraph 2, and introduces the tyrannical teacher as the topic of Paragraph 3. The sentence also implies the continuation of the worst-best order by suggesting that the tyrant's classroom is a "somewhat" better place in which to learn. Note, too, the use of the transitional word "although" to express a contrast between the two types of classroom experience.

    Now look at Paragraph 3, and the transitional sentence beginning PARAGRAPH 4:

    1. Although the atmosphere is less pleasant than in the country club run by his lazy counterpart, the tyrannical teacher's classroom is a better place to learn. The tyrant, at least, demands performance from his or her students, and they are bound to benefit somewhat just from being forced to work. However, the classroom tyrant also frustrates young learners by insisting that they perform every task in only one way, with no experimentation allowed. Such a teacher is not open to inquiry and does not tolerate any honest disagreement with pronouncements from behind the imperial podium. For example, the tyrannical literature teacher insists on one, and only one interpretation of even a complex poem like "La Belle Dame sans Merci." God help the student who tries to disagree! By insisting on a slavish recitation of their own narrow views, tyrannical teachers discourage students' desire to find things out for themselves.
       
    2. Head and shoulders above either the lazy teacher or his tyrannical cousin stands the concerned teacher.
      3.

    This transition refers back to both the lazy and tyrannical teacher, introduces the concerned teacher, and completes the logical ordering of those types by saying the latter is best of the three. Thus, the transitions in this paper are effective. The reader can follow the writer's scheme and can understand not only the three types of teacher, but also what this writer thinks about each.

 

EXTENDED EXAMPLE (link):

 

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