Struggling with Transitions between Sections of Your Paper? This is What You Must Do

Dear Student,

When most students send us their work, we have noticed that they often struggle with transitioning between sentences, paragraphs, and sections of their papers. Therefore, today’s advice relates to ensuring you transition smoothly in your writing.

What Are Transitions in Academic Writing?

A transition is a phrase or word connecting one idea to another. Here are a few examples of sentences that use transitions (in bold):

• I ran to the lecture theatre, and I got there before the lecture started.
• Students studying remotely reported higher levels of loneliness. Similarly, remote students have indicated that they struggle to understand concepts.
• We were 15 minutes late. Therefore, the professor could not allow us to write the test.

Staffordshire University has a useful article with some great examples of transitions.

Why Transitions Are Important In Writing?

Whether you are writing professionally or academically, the aim is to convey information clearly and get the reader to buy into your ideas. In that type of writing, transitions make it possible to show logical connections between sentences, paragraphs, and sections of a paper.

When used effectively, transitions guide the reader to understand your writing. They ensure that your writing does not come across as disjointed ideas. Thus, you may want to practice using transitions if your professor tells you your writing is abrupt or jumpy.

Learning to correctly use transitions is important because it makes your writing clearer. When markers have less difficulty understanding what you are saying, they are likely to have a better impression of your work and award you higher marks.

Tips on Effectively Using Transitions in Academic Writing

Here are a few tips you should follow when using transitions in your writing:

• Avoid having too many transition words because it may negatively affect the flow of your paper.
• Do not use the same words like however or therefore always; include others like thus, hence, but, nonetheless, or nevertheless.
• Never force a transition (or any other word); always ensure sentences read naturally.

At Virtual English Teacher, we help thousands of students struggling with transitioning between sentences, paragraphs, and sections by editing their work to perfection. If you want proof of our effectiveness and efficiency, ask for a free, no-obligation sample of your text.

Contact us today.