Transitions

Transitions create bridges between sentences and paragraphs, helping an essay to flow smoothly and make sense.  Coherence in a paper requires transitions, and transitions can take the form of a word or a phrase.  Transitions carry your reader from one part of your paper to the next by showing the relationships between ideas. 

Sometimes specific transitional words, such as those listed below, can express these relationships. These words are placed at or near the beginning of a sentence to show how that sentence is related to the preceding sentence.  The coordinating conjunctions and, but, or, nor, so, and yet are also used this way. 

The following is a list of additional common transitional words and phrases.  To decide which group of words to choose from, ask yourself the question listed with each group.

Am I trying to show the next thing that happened? 

To indicate TIME or SEQUENCE relations:

as soon as	afterwards	as long as	after a short time
at that time	at last	at length	at the same time
earlier	meanwhile	subsequently	previously
next	before	lately	in the meantime
recently	presently	frequently	occasionally
soon	thereafter	until	when
later	often	while

Does the next thing I am going to say simply make an addition to something I've just said?

To indicate ADDITION:

again	also	then	besides
finally	in addition	furthermore	in fact
similarly	first	second	equally important
additionally	last	likewise	moreover

Does the next event I am writing about occur because of the event I just wrote about?

To indicate CAUSE and EFFECT:

accordingly	because	as a result	in other words
consequently	hence	in short	finally
otherwise	then	therefore	thus
since	truly	so	in order that

Am I showing how two things are alike?

To indicate COMPARISON:

also	like	too	neither__nor__
as well as	similarly	both__and__	in a like manner
likewise

Am I showing how two things are different?

To indicate CONTRAST:

although	though	and	in opposition to
but	yet	in spite of	on the other hand
for all that	however	nonetheless	in contrast (to)
nevertheless	still	conversely	notwithstanding
even though	whereas	nor	on the contrary
despite	or	even though	otherwise

Am I agreeing with a certain idea so I can more strongly prove a different point?

To indicate that you are CONCEDING a point to the opposition:

of course	no doubt	doubtless	to be sure
certainly	granted (that)	nonetheless

Am I showing a specific detail or example about a more general point I am making?

To indicate SPECIAL FEATURES or EXAMPLES:

for example	for instance	incidentally	in other words
in fact	indeed	in particular	specifically
that is	to illustrate	frequently	occasionally
especially	in general	usually	as an illustration

Am I bringing together the points of my argument or beginning the final idea of the essay?

To indicate SUMMARY (conclusion):

so	and so	finally	last
hence	thus	on the whole	all in all
therefore	in summary	in brief	in conclusion
in short	in other words	to conclude	to sum up
to summarize	consequently

(Note: Many of the words or phrases above should be followed by a comma when they are used at the beginning of a sentence. Please consult the rules for using commas.)

There are, of course, other ways to show transitions in your writing.  A few of these include:

Repeating key words, phrases or ideas

For example:

He walked until his feet hurt.  He walked until his arms felt like two bars of lead.  He walked until, finally, he could no longer put one foot in front of another.

Her dress was a bright, vibrant red. Amid the summer pastels worn by the other girls, it stood out like a lush red rose in a bed of pale pink flowers, and throughout that long afternoon, his weary eyes kept turning toward that red dress like a moth toward a glowing flame.

(Since word repetition tends to add emphasis, be careful that you do not overdo this technique.)

Using parallel structures

For example:

When you drive an old car, you may not be surprised if you have a bumpy ride. When you drive a new one, you expect everything to go smoother.