Enhancing Transitions

One of the most common questions in writing your essay is the lack of transition. Development of translation software and large language models enables students to have “incredible” wording nowadays, which further emphasizes the problem of transition.

In students’ essays, I often see two sentences that are simply describing different things. Idea, example, and conclusion sentences are put together with no actual connection between them. Try to use connection words between sentences to connect your sentences, or write additional sentences between your sentences to show how one sentence connects to the next one. Using transition phrases like “for example,” “in contrast,” “therefore,” and “as a result” will help you to connect your idea, example, and conclusion sentences. This will help you build a more fluent paragraph.

• For example,
• In contrast,
• Therefore,
• As a result,

On a higher perspective, paragraphs or ideas stuck in parallel with no actual logic or proper transition between them also occur in essays frequently. While some students think using one or two transition words is enough, it still does not create fluent logic. For example, putting two paragraphs or ideas with “In addition, B describes blah blah blah” in the opening sentence of the second paragraph does not actually make a strong logic. You need to compose a sentence showing actual logic, for example, “Apart from using A, B is also commonly used in sth. to further emphasize blah blah blah.” This shows clearer logic and starts your paragraph, clearly showing this paragraph is built upon what you have written about A.

Another problem among students is that they tend to follow teachers’ example paragraphs too strictly, further worsening the problem of no proper transition between paragraphs. This happens because example paragraphs do not offer ideas on how to smoothly transition to the next one, or the transition will look exactly the same in every paragraph. This simply does not show the inner logic and connection between your paragraphs. Sample paragraphs also do not consider the real situations you will encounter when writing your essay, so it is important to have a clear and fluent mind on what you are writing, how your ideas connect, and how you can use transition sentences to show your logic.

Transition shows your logic between sentences and paragraphs, and it is built upon your clear logic when you are initially planning how to write your essay. When you are writing your essay, try to think about how your ideas connect with each other when planning, and how to use paragraphs to connect and strengthen your main argument. When you decide to add new paragraphs, sentences, and examples, you should mainly consider how it connects to your current essay. Even when an excellent idea pops up, it doesn’t make your passage much better if you don’t link it to what you have written. With clear logic, I believe you can write essays with good transitions, giving readers a better idea about what you are writing.