Transitions For Argumentative Essays

Transitional tags run the gamut from the most simple — the little conjunctions: and, but, nor, for, yet, or, (and sometimes) so — to more complex signals that ideas are somehow connected — the conjunctive adverbs and transitional expressions such as however, moreover, nevertheless, on the other hand.

You must never assume that your readers know what you know.

In fact, it's a good idea to assume not only that your readers need all the information that you have and need to know how you arrived at the point you're at, but also that they are not quite as quick as you are.

Over-used, beginning a sentence with a conjunction can be distracting, but the device can add a refreshing dash to a sentence and speed the narrative flow of your text.

Restrictions against beginning a sentence with and or but are based on shaky grammatical foundations; some of the most influential writers in the language have been happily ignoring such restrictions for centuries.* Here is a chart of the transitional devices (also called conjunctive adverbs or adverbial conjunctions) accompanied with a simplified definition of function (note that some devices appear with more than one definition): although, and yet, at the same time, but at the same time, despite that, even so, even though, for all that, however, in contrast, in spite of, instead, nevertheless, notwithstanding, on the contrary, on the other hand, otherwise, regardless, still, though, yetafter all, as an illustration, even, for example, for instance, in conclusion, indeed, in fact, in other words, in short, it is true, of course, namely, specifically, that is, to illustrate, thus, trulyall in all, altogether, as has been said, finally, in brief, in conclusion, in other words, in particular, in short, in simpler terms, in summary, on the whole, that is, therefore, to put it differently, to summarizeafter a while, afterward, again, also, and then, as long as, at last, at length, at that time, before, besides, earlier, eventually, finally, formerly, further, furthermore, in addition, in the first place, in the past, last, lately, meanwhile, moreover, next, now, presently, second, shortly, simultaneously, since, so far, soon, still, subsequently, then, thereafter, too, until, until now, when Do not interlard your text with transitional expressions merely because you know these devices connect ideas.

Remember Lincoln's advice: In fact, you can't forget Lincoln's advice, because it has become part of the music of our language.

Remember to use this device to link paragraphs as well as sentences. ." without causing the reader to consider what "this" could mean.The ability to connect ideas by means of repetition of key words and phrases sometimes meets a natural resistance based on the fear of being repetitive. Now we must learn that catching a word or phrase that's important to a reader's comprehension of a piece and replaying that word or phrase creates a musical motif in that reader's head.Unless it is overworked and obtrusive, repetition lends itself to a sense of coherence (or at least to the illusion of coherence).Mummies several thousand years old have been discovered nearly intact.The skin, hair, teeth, fingernails and toenails, and facial features of the mummies were evident.Though weak, this paragraph is not a total washout.It starts with a topic sentence, and the sentences that follow are clearly related to the topic sentence.Pronouns quite naturally connect ideas because pronouns almost always refer the reader to something earlier in the text. Thus, the pronoun causes the reader to sum up, quickly and subconsciously, what was said before (what this is) before going on to the because part of my reasoning.We should hardly need to add, however, that it must always be perfectly clear what a pronoun refers to.They must appear, naturally, where they belong, or they'll stick like a fishbone in your reader's craw.(For that same reason, there is no point in trying to memorize this vast list.) On the other hand, if you can read your entire essay and discover none of these transitional devices, then you must wonder what, if anything, is holding your ideas together.