Transitions help readers understand the connections between ideas by explaining relationships between people, places, things, or events, rather than leaving the reader to infer those connections on their own. The document provides examples of paragraphs with and without transitions to demonstrate how transitions improve clarity and flow. It also includes a list of common transition words to help writers smoothly connect ideas from sentence to sentence and paragraph to paragraph.

1. Transitions
Getting smoothly
from A to B

2. Why are transitions
important?
Let’s say you go to a friend’s wedding. You see a bunch of
people you don’t know. At the reception, your friend begins to
point them out to you, even introduces you to a few. “This is my
Uncle Bob, and that’s his wife Linda over there. They don’t
get along too well with my dad; they are just here to make my
grandmother happy.”
Suddenly all the strange faces start to have meaning and
connections to you. There’s your friend’s sister, Lulu who use
to steal his toys. There’s your friend’s childhood neighbor, who
once had a crush on Lulu, and so on.

3. Why are transitions
important?
Ideas in your head, that will eventually come out on paper, are
like the relatives at the reception. To a reader, the ideas will
not have connections or relationships unless YOU, as the
writer, explain those relationships.
It is your responsibility as a writer to make the organization of
your ideas smooth and logical to your reader. You can do this
through use of transitions. Never make your reader put two
and two together – that is your job.

4. Why are transitions
important?
Let’s look at a few writing samples with and
without transitions.
Without transition:
Gerald didn’t care for golf; he played a full 18 holes
with his father on Saturday.
With transition:
Although Gerald didn’t care for golf, he played a full
18 holes with his father on Saturday.
*Please also note the punctuation differences.

5. Why are transitions
important?
Here’s another example.
Without transitions:
Our current consumer approach to the holiday season creates excessive waste through
production, packing and wrapping. It adds to materialistic greed in children, who come
to expect a myriad of toys each year to add to their already overflowing closets and toy chests of
unused items. Create a tradition of homemade gifts, which are more heartfelt than last minute
items off a shelf, or vintage items, that do not require taking more of the Earth’s resources to
produce.
With transitions:
Our current consumer approach to the holiday season creates excessive waste through production,
packing and wrapping. Moreover, it adds to materialistic greed in children, who come to expect a
myriad of toys each year to add to their already overflowing closets and toy chests of unused
items. Instead, create a tradition of homemade gifts, which are more heartfelt than last minute
items off a shelf, or consider vintage items, that do not require taking more of the Earth’s resources
to produce.

6. Why are transitions important?
Here’s an example of a transition between paragraphs. This comes out of
my master’s degree thesis; we had to use APA style of citation, so it looks a
little different than MLA.
Without transition:
Student’s fear of being different in any respect comes from an environment that sadly punishes, rather than
celebrates, differences. One way to help create the type of embracing environment all teaches would like to see
in schools is through fostering empathy (Toranzo, 1996). Students who show a greater acceptance of individual
differences, or tolerance, also have higher empathy scores (Bryant, 1982).
Researchers have found skills in empathy are related to social success (Cotton, 1995). Reading is interpreting
and interacting with the expressed thoughts of others. Writing is the reverse, attempting to interact with a future
reader, or audience, through careful coding of ideas into words. A fully competent and engaged reader or writer
needs to understand and consider the viewpoints, motivations, actions and intentions of others (Toranzo, 1996).
With transition:
Student’s fear of being different in any respect comes from an environment that sadly punishes, rather than
celebrates, differences. One way to help create the type of embracing environment all teaches would like to see
in schools is through fostering empathy (Toranzo, 1996). Students who show a greater acceptance of individual
differences, or tolerance, also have higher empathy scores (Bryant, 1982).
In addition to social skills, researchers have found skills in empathy are related to social success (Cotton,
1995). Reading is interpreting and interacting with the expressed thoughts of others. Writing is the reverse,
attempting to interact with a future reader, or audience, through careful coding of ideas into words. A fully
competent and engaged reader or writer needs to understand and consider the viewpoints, motivations, actions
and intentions of others (Toranzo, 1996).

7. Helpful transitions
Words that show contrast or a change in ideas:
However Rather
But Not withstanding
Nevertheless On the contrary
In spite of In contrast to
While this may be true Conversely
Still Instead
Despite Yet

8. Helpful transitions
Words that show an addition to ideas:
Also Besides Finally
Furthermore In addition Also
Moreover Again As well as
Too Likewise Similarly
In fact For instance Another
For example Equally important
Not only/but also As a result

9. Helpful transitions
Words that show a consequence:
Hence Consequently
Thus Accordingly
Therefore Due to
For this reason Since
Because As a result
Thereupon

10. Helpful transitions
Words that show sequence:
At first To begin with
The next step In time
In turn Meanwhile
Eventually Simultaneously
For the time being Next, then, soon
Later, while, earlier Afterward
Subsequently Previously

11. Helpful transitions
Words that show emphasis or restatement:
Above all Indeed In brief
Truly Of course In short
Certainly Surely In other words
In fact In truth Furthermore
Again That is to say
In essence Namely

12. Helpful transitions
Words that show concession:
Although At any rate
At least Still
Though Even though
Granted that In spite of
While it may be true True

13. Helpful transitions
Words that show details and examples:
Specifically For example
Especially To illustrate
To explain Thus
In particular In other words
To enumerate As an illustration
In detail To wit
Namely
Including

14. Helpful transitions
Words to summarize or generalize:
After all As a rule
Briefly As usual
Considering In general
In any case Ordinarily
On the whole Typically
By and large Usually
Accordingly For the most part
As a result To this end
Consequently In short

15. Now you try!
Fill in blank with a transition word, then click to see
if you picked the right one.
I wasn’t feeling well yesterday, __________ I called in sick.
a. to explain
b. however
c. therefore
d. in addition to
therefore

16. Now you try!
Fill in blank with a transition word, then click to see
if you picked the right one.
Projects must be handed in by the due date, __________ they
will not be scored.
a. obviously
b. otherwise
c. as a result
d. finally
otherwise

17. Now you try!
Fill in blank with a transition word, then click to see
if you picked the right one.
__________ it has been shown that lightening strikes are rare, it’s
still a good idea to stay away from tall or metallic structures during
a storm.
a. Even though
b. Consequently
c. Nevertheless
d. Because
Even though

18. Now you try!
Fill in blank with a transition word, then click to see
if you picked the right one.
Sales of CD’s have a small but steady fall over the last
twelve months. _________, vinyl records have seen an increase in
their share of the market, up to 1.7%.
a. Above all
b. Correspondingly
c. For example
d. In contrast
In contrast

19. Now you try!
Fill in blank with a transition word, then click to see
if you picked the right one.
“I plan to take a very long trip, and I don’t suspect I shall
return,” Biblo told the crowd. “_______, I mean not to.”
a. Still
b. Of course
c. In fact
d. Furthermore
In fact

20. Now you try!
Fill in blank with a transition word, then click to see
if you picked the right one.
My basketball coach told me I was doing better, ________
my shots seem to keep getting worse.
a. yet
b. therefore
c. in general
d. by and large
yet

21. Now you try!
Fill in blank with a transition word, then click to see
if you picked the right one.
_________ photographing the animals in Madagascar for her
National Geographic article, Evelyn hopes to take some shots of the
villages and people of the area, too.
a. Upon
b. Due to
c. Despite
d. In addition to
In addition to

22. Need a handout?
For a easy-to-use list of transition words similar to
those on this PowerPoint presentation, visit:
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/writing-
composition/vocabulary/1780.html
Your best bet is to copy and paste the list to another
page for easy, non-wasteful printing.