Advanced Essay Structure: Order and Transitions

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Advanced Essay StructureOrder and Transitions

• Moving from a list of related ideas to a cohesive
  and persuasive whole.

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Order

• Which is the proper order?
• The order you thought of your ideas in?
• Alternating between important and unimportant?
• Starting with the most important and ending with
  the least important?
• Starting with the least important and ending with
  the most important?

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Finding Order in the Disordered World of Writing

• Order of Importance
• Chronological or Sequential Ordersequence of
  time
• Spatial Orderphysical description
• Logical Orderpoints that build upon one another

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Connecting in Order

• Once you have the order of your ideas setthrough
  outlining or drafting and revisionyou can help
  the reader understand that order through the use
  of transitions

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Transitions . . .

• Connect ideas within paragraphs through words and
  phrases
• Sequence again, first, also, finally, etc.
• Comparison similarly, in the same way, etc.
• Cause because, since, due to, as a result, etc.
• Space above, below, adjacent, etc.
• Examples such as, for instance, in particular,
  etc.

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Content Transitions

• Transitions also connect body paragraphs by
  showing how ideas are related to one another and
  to your thesis.
• Transitions may be located in the clincher
  sentence of the paragraph or in the topic
  sentence of the following paragraph.

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Paragraph without Transitions

• Thesis Schools should not be allowed to test
  students due to the costs and inherent fairness
  issues involved in drug testing.
• Body Paragraph 1 Developing, implementing, and
  administering a testing program is very costly.
  Start-up costs include choosing a test provider,
  buying or developing tracking data bases, and
  setting up a procedure for selection of subjects,
  handling of test materials, and communicating
  results. Implementation costs include hiring
  professionals or training staff to administer the
  tests and setting up an appropriate test site.
  Administration costs include hiring an
  administrator to oversee all aspects of the
  testing, such as handling punishments and
  appeals.
• Body Paragraph 2 Drug testing can result in
  inaccurate test results and biased administration.

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Paragraph with Transitions

• Thesis While drug testing might have a
  beneficial effect for some students, schools
  should not be allowed to drug test students due
  to the costs and inherent fairness issues
  involved in testing.
• Body Paragraph 1 The costs involved in
  developing, implementing, and administering a
  testing program make it an unwise choice.
  Start-up costs include choosing a test provider,
  buying or developing tracking data bases, and
  setting up a procedure for selection of subjects,
  handling of test materials, and communicating
  results. In addition to these costs,
  implementation of the program would require
  hiring professionals or training staff to
  administer the tests and setting up an
  appropriate test site. Similarly, administration
  costs include hiring an administrator to oversee
  all aspects of the testing, including handling
  punishments and appeals. The level of
  expenditure necessary to run a testing program
  properly is high, but the risk of injustice if
  not enough money is spent on such a program is
  higher.
• Body Paragraph 2 It is possible to run a
  testing program more cheaply, but this would
  increase the already present danger of inaccurate
  results or biased administration.

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Summary

• By showing how ideas relate to one another,
  transitions provide clarity to your thinking,
  direction to your reader, and unity to your
  essayand lets not forget points to your grade.