Essay Transition

One can’t write a good essay without correct usage of transition words and phrases. Essay transitions connect your ideas and thoughts, making a text with a set of words. As you surely know, to write a good essay you first need to brainstorm your ideas. If you have a fertile imagination, you will haven no serious problems with this step of writing an essay. However, a rich imagination is not a guaranty of a good essay Statistics show that even a student who is able to produce really great and original ideas may loose the marks, if he / she can’t express his / her own opinion clearly. Imagine that your stream of thoughts is a raging river. To convey your ideas to your potential readers you have to build a bridge. As you can guess, this bridge is your essay transitions.

Several Easy Recommendations concerned with Building a Bridge across the Raging River, or How to Convey Your Own Thoughts and Ideas to Your Potential Readers

1. Make your bridge maximally comfortable (for easy and pleasant reading of your essay).
It means that your transition words and phrases have to be in the all necessary places.

2. Make your bridge maximally short (in order not to bore your potential reader).
It means that your essay transitions shouldn’t be in the all unnecessary places.

3. Make your bridge maximally durable (in the case if you don’t want your readers to fall into the raging river of your ideas and sink there).
It means that your transition words and phrases have to be logical, adequate and to the point.

Don’t try to make your bridge maximally original, given that in this case it won’t be a maximally comfortable, short and durable. Remember that a bridge with a strange and ornate design may irritate your potential readers, as it is difficult to move!

Some Examples of Transition Words and Phrases

1. If you want to give an example of something, you may use the following essay transitions:
for example (e.g.), for instance, provided, like, as, specifically, etc.

2. In the case if you write a compare and contrast essay, the possible variants of
transition words and phrases are:
2.1. Compare transitions – in the same manner, have in common, as well as, not only… but also, too, also and so on.
2.2. Contrast transitions – however, in spite of, in contrast, opposite, unlike, though, for all that, whereas and so on.

3. If you write an argumentative (or a persuasive) essay, you may choose some essay transitions from
the following examples:
on the one hand, on the other hand, moreover, furthermore, etc.

4. In the case if you write a cause and effect essay, you may use transition words and phrases like these:
because, under these circumstances, for the reason that, in this case, as a result, for as much as, for the reason that and so on.

5. If you have to make an introduction, you may write some of the following transition phrases:
let’s speak about, I’d like to describe, the purpose of my essay is and so on.

6. If you have to make a conclusion, add some of these essay transitions: 

thus, hence, therefore, in brief, in short, consequently, finally, in conclusion, at last, I want to make a conclusion that, etc.