6 Reasons Why Transition Words are Important in Body Paragraphs

In this article, you’ll learn why transition words are important in body paragraphs

Transition words and phrases provide the glue that holds your body paragraphs together by connecting one paragraph to the next.

Without them, your essay will lack cohesiveness and consistency, which will keep your readers from being able to follow what you’re saying easily.

In fact, without transition words, your essays may very well be marked off just because of these qualities alone.

That’s why it’s so important to learn how to use transition words effectively and with purpose.

1) Transition words make your body paragraphs cohesive

Transition words tie information together and create a smooth flow of text.

For example, you can use a word like furthermore to indicate that you’re expanding on something that was said earlier in the paragraph.

You can also use transition words to indicate how one idea connects to another.

A sentence may end with so or therefore which shows that there is a connection between the two ideas.

2) Persuade readers with transition words

Transition words for body paragraphs can make it easier for your reader to follow your argument, especially if you are writing a persuasive paper or argumentative essay.

When transitioning from one point to another, you want your reader to know what direction the point is headed.

When transitioning back from an explanation of why people might disagree with you (for example many people think…) a simple word like however tells them that this sentence is about why they shouldn’t disagree with you instead.

In addition, when ending a paragraph with a conclusion drawn from your arguments, it’s important to tell the reader what they should do next.

3) Transition words for body paragraphs make your ideas flow better

Flow in a body paragraph is important because if the sentences seem random or disconnected then it will be difficult for your reader to understand your point.

The same holds true if you have too many short sentences in a row.

It will be more difficult to convince the reader of your argument if they can’t follow along with your reasoning since most people only read halfway through an essay before deciding whether or not it’s worth their time to finish reading.

When you use transition words for body paragraphs well, your ideas will come across as coherent and cohesive, making it easier for the reader to keep track of everything.

They’ll also feel like they’ve made progress through your essay as opposed to feeling overwhelmed by a wall of text with no sense of organization.

4) With transition words, you can create a more sophisticated tone.

If you’ve ever tried to summarize a difficult concept, then you know that using transition words will help make it easier for your reader to follow along.

It’s much easier for someone to understand if something is still surprising them or not if they see therefore or however at the end of a sentence that makes use of an unfamiliar word.

Transition words also let your reader see how all of your ideas fit together to create a cohesive argument.

 

 

5) Signal pauses or changes of direction with transition words

You can use these transition words to signal shifts in the way you’re presenting your argument.

For instance, maybe you need to change topics quickly but don’t want the reader to forget about what came before, so you might use a transition word like nevertheless which means in spite of this and indicates that despite whatever came before, we’re going somewhere else now.

Similarly, other useful transition words include hence (which signals that you’re heading toward a new idea), yet (to show contrast), moreover (to emphasize an already mentioned point), finally, thusly and henceforth.

Transition words are important because they help break up large chunks of text into manageable sections.

Without transitions, the sentences would become increasingly harder to read as each new thought is introduced without any indication of where it fits into the larger discussion.

6) Transition words for body paragraphs help organize your thoughts

Transition words are important because they allow writers to plan out their thoughts before writing, which allows them to organize their thoughts and make sure nothing is missing.

When you introduce transitional phrases early on in your writing process, you get a sense of how they’ll work as bridges between the different points in your argument.

Using these transition phrases can even give writers ideas for what comes next while working out the overall structure of their piece of writing.

Final Remarks

Using transition words in body paragraphs is important because you want your argument to flow naturally from one point to another.

They allow writers to build a compelling case that makes use of cohesive examples and supports an overarching thesis. Transition words also make it easier for readers to understand what they’re reading since they help connect new ideas together.

One drawback, though, is that sometimes when you rely on transition words too heavily it can make your writing feel choppy or confusing.

A solution to this problem is periodically pausing mid-sentence and inserting a period.

That will indicate that the sentence has finished talking about one topic and should start talking about the next topic; when you do this regularly, you’ll find yourself using fewer transitions throughout your essay.