ESSAY WRITING
TRANSITIONS:
PREWRITING
TITLES
INTRODUCTIONS
CONCLUSIONS
THESIS
TOPIC SENTENCES
PROOFREADING
DOCUMENTATION
LITERARY CRITICISM
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POS
ERRORS
MECHANICS
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030
101
102
BARD
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Coherence: In the end, you want your essay
to be a unified whole--a strong link chain, if you will. The
technical term for this chain effect is coherence, which points to not
only the logical flow of ideas, but also the inter-connectedness of
ideas. In other words, how do the ideas relate to each other.
This is where transitions come in: they help build coherence.
No
sentence is an island.
Poor--or,
incoherent--writing is characterized by short, choppy, unrelated
sentences. The writer has not demonstrated any relationships
between ideas: each desert-island-sentence floats in the
ocean-paragraph with no bridge connecting them. Consequently, just
like someone stranded on an island, the idea soon shrivels and dies.
Transitions are the
bridges between sentences that connect ideas and build a unified
paragraph. Some of the relationships they show include cause or
effect, comparison or contrast, emphasis, sequence, and summary.
When each paragraph
becomes a cohesive whole, then we use transitions to connect each of
them, too. In order to build a larger point, we can employ
transitions between paragraphs to reference, contrast, or continue a
previous idea.
Thus, the final essay
represents a series of associations, of relationships, of links--of
bridges--between ideas. Because of this interconnectedness, the
writer's thesis is logical, sound, and coherent, and the reader can
easily follow the course of the argument, crossing from one point to
another.
To carry this
metaphor to its conclusion: transitions provide the valuable
infrastructure necessary for a reader to travel uninterruptedly between
each of the island-states, and the final unified essay created with them
has become like a centralized form of government uniting a group of
island-states under one flag.
Transitions
provide links between the following:
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SENTENCES:
Also, the temperature of the oven must be
set on high to achieve this goal.
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PARAGRAPHS:
Another reason I dislike Mondays involves
highway traffic.
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SECTIONS:
As noted in the previous chapter, the theme
of equivocation dominates Shakespeare's Macbeth.
Transitions
often come in the following forms:
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SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS:
since, because, if, when, although
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COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS:
and, but, yet, or, nor, for, so
-
PREPOSITIONS:
after, during, behind, beyond, during
-
ADVERBS:
once, never, always, frequently
LIST:
ADDITION |
additionally, in
addition, and, again, and then, also, besides, equally
important, finally, further, furthermore, moreover, nor, too,
next, lastly, what’s more, moreover, then, first/second (-ly)
|
GENERALIZATION |
generally
speaking, generally, in general, on the whole, as a rule, for
the most part, in most cases, usually, typically,
characteristically, naturally, normally, on average,
predictably, habitually, by and large, more often than not
|
ALTERNATIVE |
alternatively,
similarly, correspondingly, in the same way
|
NEW POINT
(to a) |
with regard to,
with reference to, as for, in terms of, now, as far as – is
concerned, it follows that, turning to
|
CAUSE |
because, since, on
account of, for that reason
|
OBVIOUSNESS |
obviously,
clearly, naturally, of course, surely, after all, as expected
|
EFFECT |
therefore,
consequently, accordingly, thus, hence, as a result
|
PLACE/POSITION |
above, across,
adjacent, after, behind, below, beyond, in front of, here,
there, next, next to, near, nearby
|
COMPARISON |
by/in comparison,
similarly, in the same way, in like manner, likewise, by the
same token, in a similar fashion, in relation to, in respect of,
with reference to, with regard to, a propos, vis-à-vis
|
PROOF |
because, for (that
means “because”), as, for that reason, since, therefore, thus,
hence, evidently, obviously, furthermore, moreover, besides,
indeed, in fact, in addition, in view of the fact, while, seeing
as |
CONTRAST |
in/by contrast,
conversely, on the other hand, on the contrast, but, however,
although, though, otherwise, at the same time, notwithstanding,
nevertheless, nonetheless, whereas, but, yet, besides, versus,
while, instead
|
PURPOSE |
to that end, to
this end, for this purpose, for that reason, so that, in order
that, intentionally |
CLARIFICATION |
that is, that is
to say, in other words, to explain, to clarify, to put it
another way, to rephrase it |
QUALIFICATION |
may, might,
almost, nearly, very, truly, indeed, probably, possibly,
conceivably, perchance, maybe, perhaps, always, never,
frequently, occasionally, although
|
CONCESSION |
to be sure,
granted, of course, still, yet, nevertheless, notwithstanding,
however, however much, even though,
|
REPETITION |
in other words, as
I have noted, as has been noted, as noted above, as I have said,
in summary, to summarize, in brief, rather, to put it more
simply
|
DEDUCTION |
then, in other
words, in that case, otherwise, this implies, if not, if so,
thus
|
SEQUENCE/ORDER |
first, second,
next, then, finally, after, afterwards, following, at this time,
at this point, this time, simultaneously, concurrently, soon,
subsequently, while, meanwhile, when, during, immediately,
later, earlier, sometimes, always, never, whenever, now, until
now, once
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EMPHASIS/
INTENSIFICATION |
even, indeed, in
fact, in truth, truly, definitely, emphatically, unquestionably,
undeniably, of course, obviously, without reservation, without a
doubt, undoubtedly, certainly, by all means, never, always,
perennially, eternally
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SIMILARITY |
similarly, also,
in the same way, just as, so too, likewise, equally,
|
EXAMPLE/
ILLUSTRATION |
for example, for
instance, to illustrate, to demonstrate, namely, specifically,
in this case, on this occasion, in this situation, take the case
of, as follows: the following:
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SUMMARY |
finally, lastly,
thus, hence, therefore, in conclusion, to summarize, in sum, in
summary, in brief, in short, in a word, in the final analysis,
on the whole, overall, that is to say, summing up, as
accordingly, I have said/proven/shown, as a result, consequently
|
EXCEPTION |
but, yet, still,
however, in spite of , despite, nonetheless, nevertheless,
sometimes
|
TIME |
first, second,
next, then, finally, after, afterwards, following, at this time,
at this point, this time, simultaneously, concurrently, soon,
subsequently, while, meanwhile, when, during, immediately,
later, thereafter, earlier, sometimes, always, never, whenever,
now, until now, once, previously
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