{"id":4300,"date":"2013-06-29T03:43:24","date_gmt":"2013-06-29T03:43:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/?page_id=4300"},"modified":"2026-03-25T15:16:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T20:16:59","slug":"transitions-in-writing","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/transitions-in-writing\/","title":{"rendered":"Transitions in Writing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t<div id=\"mmDeferVideoEncompass_pUZ9fJvmBqY\" style=\"position: relative;\">\n\t\t\t<picture>\n\t\t\t\t<source srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/circle-play-duotone.webp\" type=\"image\/webp\">\n\t\t\t\t<source srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/circle-play-duotone.png\" type=\"image\/jpeg\"> \n\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"eager\" id=\"videoThumbnailImage_pUZ9fJvmBqY\" data-source-videoID=\"pUZ9fJvmBqY\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/circle-play-duotone.png\" alt=\"Transitions in Writing Video\" height=\"464\" width=\"825\" class=\"size-full\" data-matomo-title = \"Transitions in Writing\">\n\t\t\t<\/picture>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<style>img#videoThumbnailImage_pUZ9fJvmBqY:hover {cursor:pointer;} img#videoThumbnailImage_pUZ9fJvmBqY {background-size:contain;background-image:url(\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/540-transitions-in-writing-1.webp\");}<\/style>\n\t\t\t<script defer>\n\t\t\t  jQuery(\"img#videoThumbnailImage_pUZ9fJvmBqY\").click(function() {\n\t\t\t\tlet videoId = jQuery(this).attr(\"data-source-videoID\");\n\t\t\t\tlet helpTag = '<div id=\"mmDeferVideoYTMessage_pUZ9fJvmBqY\" style=\"display: none;position: absolute;top: -24px;width: 100%;text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-style: italic;font-size: small;border-top: 1px solid #fc0;\">Having trouble? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v='+videoId+'\" target=\"_blank\">Click here to watch on YouTube.<\/a><\/span><\/div>';\n\t\t\t\tlet tag = document.createElement(\"iframe\");\n\t\t\t\ttag.id = \"yt\" + videoId;\n\t\t\t\ttag.src = \"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/\" + videoId + \"?autoplay=1&controls=1&wmode=opaque&rel=0&egm=0&iv_load_policy=3&hd=0&enablejsapi=1\";\n\t\t\t\ttag.frameborder = 0;\n\t\t\t\ttag.allow = \"autoplay; fullscreen\";\n\t\t\t\ttag.width = this.width;\n\t\t\t\ttag.height = this.height;\n\t\t\t\ttag.setAttribute(\"data-matomo-title\",\"Transitions in Writing\");\n\t\t\t\tjQuery(\"div#mmDeferVideoEncompass_pUZ9fJvmBqY\").html(tag);\n\t\t\t\tjQuery(\"div#mmDeferVideoEncompass_pUZ9fJvmBqY\").prepend(helpTag);\n\t\t\t\tsetTimeout(function(){jQuery(\"div#mmDeferVideoYTMessage_pUZ9fJvmBqY\").css(\"display\", \"block\");}, 2000);\n\t\t\t  });\n\t\t\t  \n\t\t\t<\/script>\n\t\t\n<p><script>\nfunction xRK_Function() {\n  var x = document.getElementById(\"xRK\");\n  if (x.style.display === \"none\") {\n    x.style.display = \"block\";\n  } else {\n    x.style.display = \"none\";\n  }\n}\n<\/script><\/p>\n<div class=\"moc-toc hide-on-desktop hide-on-tablet\">\n<div><button onclick=\"xRK_Function()\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/toc2.svg\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" alt=\"show or hide table of contents\"><\/button><\/p>\n<p>On this page<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<nav id=\"xRK\" style=\"display:none;\">\n<ul>\n<li class=\"toc-h2\"><a href=\"#Using_Transitions\" class=\"smooth-scroll\">Using Transitions<\/a>\n<ul><\/li>\n<li class=\"toc-h3\"><a href=\"#Clarity\" class=\"smooth-scroll\">Clarity<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"toc-h3\"><a href=\"#Persuasion\" class=\"smooth-scroll\">Persuasion<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"toc-h2\"><a href=\"#Ways_to_Transition_Well\" class=\"smooth-scroll\">Ways to Transition Well<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"accordion\"><input id=\"transcript\" type=\"checkbox\" class=\"spoiler_button\" \/><label for=\"transcript\">Transcript<\/label>\n<div class=\"spoiler\" id=\"transcript-spoiler\">\n<p>In this video, I\u2019m going to help you connect your thoughts in an essay.<\/p>\n<p>A good essay will contain several different points, and you\u2019ll need to transition between those in a way that leads your reader logically through your arguments.<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"Using_Transitions\" class=\"m-toc-anchor\"><\/span>Using Transitions<\/h2>\n<p>\nLet\u2019s talk about why you should use <a class=\"ylist\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/transitional-words-and-phrases\/\">transition words<\/a>, phrases, or even sentences and paragraphs.<\/p>\n<h3><span id=\"Clarity\" class=\"m-toc-anchor\"><\/span>Clarity<\/h3>\n<p>\nFirst, it\u2019s a mark of good writing. Transitions make written communication more understandable. We\u2019ve all read (or written!) a jumbled mess of an article. There\u2019s no \u201cflow\u201d of information. Paragraphs are disjointed (that is, not coherently connected). They don\u2019t build on each other or follow a logical progression of ideas.<\/p>\n<p>This makes it difficult to understand what the <a class=\"ylist\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/authors-position\/\">author is trying to communicate<\/a>. In turn, that makes it less worthwhile to read. I\u2019m assuming that you either want someone to read what you are writing, or you have a professor who\u2019s required to read your writing, so you should write well!<\/p>\n<h3><span id=\"Persuasion\" class=\"m-toc-anchor\"><\/span>Persuasion<\/h3>\n<p>\nSecond, it\u2019ll make your writing more persuasive. If you can show how your reasoning makes a coherent argument, and how one thought leads into another, you\u2019re more likely to convince someone that what you\u2019re arguing is true. And if you can\u2019t do that, you may need to revise your argument.<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"Ways_to_Transition_Well\" class=\"m-toc-anchor\"><\/span>Ways to Transition Well<\/h2>\n<p>\nOne way to transition well is to think about how your ideas are connected. A few of the main types of transitions are additive, adversarial, causal, and sequential. If you have ideas that relate in a number of these ways, there\u2019s probably a way to organize your paper that makes more sense. Perhaps two ideas happen in a certain order, and the third one adds on to the second one. Your transitions will probably come more easily if you organize your paper well. <\/p>\n<p>Carefully constructing topic sentences will help you transition between paragraphs. A topic sentence introduces and describes what a paragraph will be about\u2014they\u2019re like miniature thesis statements. You can use the topic sentence to acknowledge the concluding sentence of the prior paragraph and lead into how the current paragraph expands upon, or perhaps refutes, earlier ideas. <\/p>\n<p>You will want to use transitions between all thoughts, no matter how large or small. The amount of transition language needed will be commensurate (that is, proportional) to the size of the ideas. You may only need a single word to shift between two sentences, or you may need an entire page to move from one major idea to another.  You may have already seen our video on transition words. If you haven\u2019t, it may be helpful to check it out after you\u2019ve finished this video. <\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s all for now! See you next time!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"home-buttons\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/writing\/\">Return to Writing Videos<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Return to Writing Videos<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":95407,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":{"0":"post-4300","1":"page","2":"type-page","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"page_category-video-pages-for-study-course-sidebar-ad","7":"page_category-writing-videos","8":"page_type-video","9":"subject_matter-english"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4300"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":279472,"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4300\/revisions\/279472"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}