Roane State Community College

Think about transitions that act as bridges between paragraphs, ideas, or sentences. Using transitions can help your essay read more smoothly and allow your reader to better make connections between the points that you're making. Transitions can lead readers forward in an essay or help them make assumptions or connections. There are many different types of transitions that act in varying capacities:

To add:
and, again, and then, besides, equally important, finally, further, furthermore, nor, too, next, lastly, what's more, moreover, in addition, first (second, etc.)

To compare:
whereas, but, yet, on the other hand, however, nevertheless, on the contrary, by comparison, where, compared to, up against, balanced against, vis a vis, but, although, conversely, meanwhile, after all, in contrast, although this may be true

To prove:
because, for, since, for the same reason, obviously, evidently, furthermore, moreover, besides, indeed, in fact, in addition, in any case, that is

To show exception:
yet, still, however, nevertheless, in spite of, despite, of course, once in a while, sometimes

To show time:
immediately, thereafter, soon, after a few hours, finally, then, later, previously, formerly, first (second, etc.), next, and then

To repeat:
in brief, as I have said, as I have noted, as has been noted

To emphasize:
definitely, extremely, obviously, in fact, indeed, in any case, absolutely, positively, naturally, surprisingly, always, forever, perennially, eternally, never, emphatically, unquestionably, without a doubt, certainly, undeniably, without reservation

To show sequence:
first, second, third, and so forth. A, B, C, and so forth. next, then, following this, at this time, now, at this point, after, afterward, subsequently, finally, consequently, previously, before this, simultaneously, concurrently, thus, therefore, hence, next, and then, soon

To give an example:
for example, for instance, in this case, in another case, on this occasion, in this situation, take the case of, to demonstrate, to illustrate, as an illustration, to illustrate

To summarize or conclude:
in brief, on the whole, summing up, to conclude, in conclusion, as I have shown, as I have said, hence, therefore, accordingly, thus, as a result, consequently

In addition to these transitional words and phrases, you can also use sentences to transition from one paragraph to another. For example, at the end of a body paragraph followed by another body paragraph, you could use a formula similar to this one:

Last sentence of a paragraph about therapy as a tool to fight drug abuse: As you can see, therapy is an effective tool in fighting drug abuse, but there are other tools that can lead to harm reduction for those who have difficulty with full recovery.

Next paragraph's topic sentences about those other tools mentioned in the transition: In addition to in-patient and out-patient therapy, many addiction specialist advocate for more widespread distribution of Narcan, a drug used to revive patients who have overdosed from opiods.