(Good transition)  

Good transitions from paragraph to paragraph in the body of your essay and from idea to idea within your paragraph give your writing coherence. 

A good transition will sum up one section of your argument and introduce the next by returning to the main idea of your essay, your thesis.

Here is a nice transition in a student essay on Macbeth.

     After killing Duncan, Macbeth no longer needs urging from his Lady in order to find the courage to plunge forward on his quest for absolute freedom; her initial criticisms of his manhood were enough to set him on a one-way journey towards his ultimate fate.
     Macbeth seals this fate when he confronts Banquo's ghost in the Banquet scene. At that moment Macbeth finds the manly courage to confront the most terrible of apparitions, yet in doing so, he reveals his the extremity of his terror and his guilt before the assembled thanes of Scotland.

Coherence: Transitions Between Ideas (Darling et al.)
Using Transitional Expressions (Sentence Sense)
Transitional Devices (Connecting Words) (Purdue)
Developing an Argument (Darling et al.)

Organizing Your Argument (Powerpoint) (Purdue OWL)

 Analyzing Coherence		 Jump to:
Usage
Punctuation & Capitalization
 Form
Content

 

 (Coherence is lacking. Provide a better transition here.)  
 

Good transitions from paragraph to paragraph in the body of your essay and from idea to idea within your paragraph give your writing coherence. 

A good transition will sum up one section of your argument and introduce the next by returning to the main idea of your essay, your thesis.

Here is a nice transition in a student essay on Macbeth:

     After killing Duncan, Macbeth no longer needs urging from his Lady in order to find the courage to plunge forward on his quest for absolute freedom; her initial criticisms of his manhood were enough to set him on a one-way journey towards his ultimate fate.
     Macbeth seals this fate when he confronts Banquo's ghost in the Banquet scene. At that moment Macbeth finds the manly courage to confront the most terrible of apparitions, yet in doing so, he reveals his the extremity of his terror and his guilt before the assembled thanes of Scotland.

Coherence: Transitions Between Ideas (Darling et al.)
Developing an Argument (Darling et al.)
Transitional Devices (Connecting Words) (Purdue)

Organizing Your Argument (Powerpoint) (Purdue OWL)

 Analyzing Coherence		 Jump to:
Usage
Punctuation & Capitalization
 Form
Content

 

 (Good concluding sentence!)    


A good concluding sentence should be an originally wordy statement that neatly sums up the paragraph's main idea.  It should also provide a good transition to the next paragraph

Example:

With its revolutionary composition and semblance to African art, this painting had an immense impact on the art world in the early 1900?s.  From the barbaric themes to the striking contrasts of color and shape, this work truly emulated the new, primal, truth-seeking style. 

Writing Conclusions for Paragraphs and Essays (Sentence Sense)

Coherence: Transitions Between Ideas (Darling et al.)
Developing an Argument (Darling et al.)

Organizing Your Argument (Powerpoint) (Purdue OWL)

 Analyzing Coherence		 Jump to:
Usage
Punctuation & Capitalization
 Form
Content

 

 (You need a better concluding sentence here.)  
 
A good concluding sentence needs to cleverly and concisely sum up the main idea of the paragraph.  It also needs to provide a platform for a good transition to the next paragraph.  

Here is an example of a good concluding sentence:
 

With its revolutionary composition and semblance to African art, this painting had an immense impact on the art world in the early 1900?s.  From the barbaric themes to the striking contrasts of color and shape, this work truly emulated the new, primal, truth-seeking style. 

Writing Conclusions for Paragraphs and Essays (Sentence Sense)

Coherence: Transitions Between Ideas (Darling et al.)
Developing an Argument (Darling et al.)

Organizing Your Argument (Powerpoint) (Purdue OWL)

Analyzing Coherence		 Jump to:
Usage
Punctuation & Capitalization
 Form
Content

 

 
   
Copyright ? 2001 Writewell, Inc. 
All rights reserved.