What Are Some Common Transitions? Essay Example

How do transitions help with the flow of an academic essay? Do certain transitions affect the main point of your essay? Why or why not?

Transitions introduce the readers to the new ideas expressed by the writer. They also help readers to understand the logic of the argument, by showing them how one paragraph is related to the other, and what kind of connection there is between them. A transition such as ‘thus’ shows the reader that the writer concludes an argument, ‘for example’ announces the reader that the writer will illustrate his point, while ‘however’ is used to introduce a counter-argument, or an opposite view. In lake of such signals, the reader will have a hard time following the line of argument, or the text will lose credibility because it will look fragmented.  The main point of the essay may be lost within the text if there is no transitional word to signal it. Also, the conclusion will not make an impact on the reader if there is no transition to prepare the reader for it. Therefore, transitions do affect the main point of the essay.

Transitions are used to give coherence to your writing.  There are different kinds of transitional words and phrases for example to show sequence or time like afterward, before long or meanwhile.  If you are showing position a transitional word or phrase may be at the bottom, beyond, or opposite.  You can use transitions like hence, in the final analysis or thus to show conclusion of a thought.  Transitions can be used to continue a line of thought or change a line of thought.  Transitions also help the sentences flow otherwise your writing might sound erratic, like you are bouncing from one idea to the next.  I believe a transition used incorrectly can change the entire paragraph from what you intended to write.  You have to be aware of what tense you are writing in to use the correct transitional word or phrase.   The real purpose of the transitional word or phrase is to give clarity to your audience.

While the response above contains some good points, the writer was not entirely specific because it used examples of transitions that are common for non-academic pieces of writing, whereas the requirement referred to transitions in the case of academic essays. This hindered the entire essay, as the writer did not have space to illustrate all the points required. Moreover, there are some statements that have no place in the answer, or merely repeat the question.

What types or sources of feedback do you find most effective as you work toward completing your final paper? Why?

Positive feedback reinforces the writer’s confidence, and therefore, it is effective in counterbalancing the effect of negative feedback. However, the most effective type of feedback is negative, because it helps the writer to see where he still needs to work and it gives him the opportunity to improve the essay.  Negative feedback should be directed at specific points, or paragraphs in the essay in order to be effective. It should not refer to the entire essay, and it should not be directed at the writer itself, because in these situations, the writer would be discouraged and may even abandon the project. The best source of feedback is of course, a knowledgeable person in the field, such as the professor, because of the valuable comments he is able to give. However, peer may also prove a valuable source of feedback because such a person, unlike the writer, can look at the paper with objectivity.

No matter the type of feedback, it is effective to a writer. Positive feedback reinforces your thoughts and your writing. Positive feedback give you confidence in what you have written. Negative feedback helps you to see what you did wrong and any errors you have made in your paper. Negative feedback may make the writer feel less confidence and the writer may end up changing the whole paper based on the feedback. The most effective source of feedback to me in completing my final paper is from my professor and sometimes my peers. I feel the professor’s feedback is the most important because the professor is the one who when be giving  the grade on the final paper. I think feedback from peers will be effective depending on the situation. Feedback from a peer will be most effective during the writing process. Peer feedback on an introduction or conclusion will be very helpful because the peer will be able to let you know if it gets their attention and if it is a strong beginining or ending.

The response above mentions both the good and the bad aspects of negative feedback, while mentioning only the positive aspects of positive feedback. Positive feedback however, has a downside also, because it may result in the writer becoming overconfident. A balance therefore needs to be maintained between the two. Also, the writer mentions that negative feedback helps the writer see his errors. This is true, but the scope of the feedback is not to correct errors (especially mechanical), but to set the writer in the right direction.

While finalizing my final paper I found myself going to our library for source reference’s. I used the library to recap on what I’ve already learned form our textbooks and the additional material from media and articles help me improve my writing skills. The resources like Riverpoint have guided me past my repetitive grammatical errors. I feel I’ve refined my writing styles and communication styles have more structure. With each week I gained a better awareness of commitment should go into writing. This makes your work more efficient and understandable. Some guidelines were optional to help understand the difference of nouns, pronouns, adjectives ect. The feedback from the school’s resources were the most effective in curving my writing talent in the right direction. I only regret not utilizing them in my first semester of school more. I believe using sources of feedback is a very effective way to achieve high academic goals.

I appreciate the personal tone used in this response and the amount of details from personal experience. However, I believe that the writer misunderstood the question because of the word ‘sources’. The question was not referring to learning materials, but to actual responses to the piece of writing offered by specific individuals. In addition, towards the end of the answer, ‘source of feedback’ is used inadequately by the writer to refer to learning materials and therefore, this part of the answer makes no sense.