Paragraphs: Transition from Idea to Idea

Here is a link to transitional devices you may use as part of a Revision Strategy in linking paragraphs together. 

Here are some rhetorical considerations in connecting paragraphs together:

1. "Pick up" key terms from previous paragraphs and restate them in next paragraph. 

- I like to use what I call "hinge" sentences 

(like a door hinge, which exists in two worlds), 

where I re-phrase the main idea of the paragraph I am finishing 

and the key phrase for the topic of the next paragraph in one sentence.

- I use put these "hinges" at the end of one paragraph, or the beginning of the next.

- These "hinges" rely on picking up terms and phrases, as stated above.

2. Use transitional phrases or transitional words to link (see above, and also see Purdue's OWL website)

However, using transitions is nothing IF

you don't properly organize your material.

SOME...Organizational Patterns for ordering information:

1. Chronologically (forwards or backwards) 

2. Sequencing (step by step information)

3. Compare and Contrast

4. Cause and Effect

5. Order of Importance: least to greatest; highest to lowest

- What do we need to know, and when is it necessary to know?*

- Will the reader be lost in story if I don't provide info earlier?*

*Considered a separate kind of organizational pattern, "defining" 

terms is important depending on clarity for audience . . . considering

these two questions just above.