How to Use Transitional Words to Create Paragraph Cohesion in Academic Writing

Sentences which are linked together with the appropriate transitions allow the reader to see the progression of thought from sentence to sentence and from paragraph to paragraph. Within academic writing, and many other kinds of writing, the most common types of transitional words show addition, indicate examples, allow for contrast, signal conclusions, elucidate or expand, and relay reason or cause and effect. What follows are six types of transitions and examples illustrating their use:

1. To show addition: further, moreover, in addition

Example:
The most common measure of central tendency is the mean, also commonly referred to as the average. In addition, the median and mode are common statistical calculations widely used to capture features of the "center" of the data.

2. To give examples: for example, for instance

Example:
The mode indicates the most frequently occurring number. For example, given the set of numbers1,2,4,7,7,7,9, the mode is 7.

3. To show contrast, exceptions, and qualification: however, nevertheless, on the other hand

Example:
Only a single figure represents the mean. The same data set, however, may have more than one mode.

4. To signal a conclusion: In summary, to review, to reiterate

Example:
To review, the mean, median, and mode are all measures of central tendency and indicate typical characteristics of a set of data.

5. To show reason, and cause and effect: For this reason, consequently, therefore, as a result

Example:

The arithmetic mean not only indicates important information about a sample or population, but it also plays a crucial role in many other statistical tests. Consequently, it is often the most important measure of central tendency.

6. To explain or elaborate: that is, in other words, specifically

Example:

The mean is calculated using addition and division. Specifically, add the results first and then divide by the number of cases.

In summary, transitional words and phrases connect sentences together, and show the particular relationships they have with each other. If a paragraph is a wall and a sentence is a brick, then transitional words and phrases function as a type of mortar. Without mortar, the reader may end up doing too much work-- balancing one brick on top of another in their mind--or worse, letting the bricks fall into an incomprehensible pile at their feet. Now granted, transitional words are not the only type of mortar that is available to the writer, but they certainly help in the paragraph-building process.