3.7  Transitions and Unifying Devices

Which directions are easier to follow?

Go on Route 30 until you come to Queensbury Ave, and then take a left. When you come to Fleet Street, take right. My house is the white house on Fleet street Go on Route 30 for two miles, until you come to Queensbury Ave, and then take a left. When you come to Fleet Street, the third street on Queensbury, take a right. My house is the second house on the left, the white house on Fleet Street.

The second directions are easier to follow because they have some guides for the driver to follow. The words in italics help the driver to know how far and which one. The extra words help to guide the driver.

When you write, you can use Transitional words that will help to guide the reader. These words help connect one idea to another and act as signs and can show relationships. They can be used in any place in the essay. Here is a chart of such words and the relationships they show.

Time or Order: first, second, next, last, finally, earlier, later, after, until, then, from now on, up until now, primary, number one Place: above, below, beyond, within, close, farther on, inside, outside, wherever, behind, in front of Addition: and, also, in addition, besides, moreover, too, as well, not only, but also Reversal: but, however, although, yet, still, on the other hand, even so, despite, nonetheless, regardless Cause-Effect: because, since, as a result, owing to, as an effect, if, in any case, where, under the condition that Comparing/Contrasting: similarly, like, as, more, less, just like, larger, smaller, more or less important (or significant or expensive or anything else), also, another, too, but, on the other hand, yet, in spite of, however Choice: or, either, either-or, alternatively

Think of these transitional words as pointers or signals of where your writing is going to go. A good writer makes it easy for the reader to follow. Here is a short paragraph based on one of the writing activities in this chapter. The signal words are in italics.

Smoking is a leading cause of health problems. Besides causing heart diseases of various kinds, smoking also is the number one cause of lung cancer and other types of cancers. Many smokers believe that they can quit at any time: however, quitting in not so easy. Even if a smoker does quit, the bad effects of years of smoking don't just disappear overnight.

Most of the time, we use these words without even thinking of them. When we write, we should think about important places such as beginnings, beginnings of paragraphs, and endings. Next, you will see how signal words can help you write transitional devices in such key places.

Writing a Preview, a Bridge, and a Review

Choosing a pattern and using structure words make a great start on organizing your writing, but there is still more that you can do to unify your paper and help the reader go smoothly from one idea to the next. You can use in your writing transitional devices such:

• a preview in your first paragraph or pattern part to give a snapshot or outline of what is to come.
• a bridge to link one paragraph or pattern part to another.
• a review or summary at the beginning of your last paragraph or pattern part.

The list above says paragraph or pattern part because, in longer writings, a reason, for example, may require two or three paragraphs to develop. In a shorter writing, a reason might be developed in a single paragraph. Remember that it is the pattern part that is the unit of thought. The reason still serves the purpose of a reason, whether it takes one or twenty paragraphs to develop it.

The essay in response to the time capsule prompt started as a topic-sentence outline in the opinion-reason pattern:

Opinion: I think we should bury a set of three pictures: one of our old building, one of our new building, and one of the plaque with our school mission statement on it. Reason 1: The set of photos would show that things do change. Reason 2: It would also show that some things don't change. Recommendation: I recommend that we include the photo set in the time capsule to show students of the future that they can be in a different building but still be in the same school.

In Content& Development, parts of the outline were developed in detail. Now, we'll put it all together and highlight the three transitional devices: the preview, the bridge, and the review.

The Preview

I think we should bury in the time capsule a set of three pictures: one of our old building, one of our new building, and one of the plaque tells of all with our school mission statement on it.

The picture of the old school 3 photos would be one taken from the street in front of the building. That picture would show cracked windows, chipped red brick, discolored plaster, peeling white paint, and sad bushes that look more like tumbleweed than landscaping. It would also show a cracked sidewalk, with grass growing in the cracks, leading up to doors so badly rusted that you can't read what it says on them. The picture of the new building would also be taken from out in front, but it would show a very different scene. This picture would show a perfect front of clean gray stone with tall shining windows as big as doors.     This picture would show the beautiful curve of the two-story entry hall topped by a dark green roof. It would show a trimmed green lawn landscaped with trees, bushes and flowers. It would show a glistening blacktop driveway leading to a traffic circle, and then a concrete walkway forty feet wide leading to the eight metal and glass entry doors.

This bridge links the two paragraphs

    

Unlike the two other photographs of school buildings old and new, the third picture, the picture of our mission statement, would show just words.

It would show in the school colors, black words on a gold background, that our school includes students, teachers, counselors, 2 paragraphs nurses, administrators, custodians, secretaries, cafeteria workers, parents, board members, and members of the community.      This picture would show no building.The set of photos would show that some things change. In the new school, the windows are shiny and unbroken. The outside of the building is clean and not chipped. No paint is peeling. The lawn is land-scaped with trees, bushes, and flowers. The approach to the school is a paved driveway leading up to a wide concrete sidewalk. The eight entry doors are made of glass and steel.      However, the photos would also show that some things change. The things that don't change are kept as they are not by buildings but by the people who work in them. We moved the plaque with our mission statement from the old building to the new one, but the plaque just states what we can all see about the spirit and quality of our school being caused by the spirit and quality of the people in it.

This review sums up the reasons

Because I believe that a school is defined not by its bricks but its people, I recommend that we include the photos in the time capsule to sums up the show students of the future that they can be in another building but still reasons be in the same school. I can picture the scene, one hundred years from now. Photographers and reporters are milling around as school officials dig up the time capsule. When they get it to the surface and open it, you can feel the air of expectation. Watchers wonder what great treasure or wisdom was left by the primitive pioneers of a century ago. At first there is disappointment at finding only three pictures and no explanation. They look at the pictures for awhile, hoping for some secret message or code.      Then, the principal reads aloud the school mission statement from the third photo. The onlookers fall silent as they realize that, even in their high-tech, futuristic building (that we can't even imagine now), the school mission statement has not changed. A moment later, after some thought, they realize why.

Writing Transitions

The preview and review are very easy to write because they are both summaries. The preview summarizes what will follow, and the review summarizes what came before. Both help the reader to grasp the connections among your ideas, to get the big picture of the main ideas. Both are lists of your ideas or points you will make.

Think of what an actual bridge does: It's a structure that connects two sides or banks of a gap caused by water or some other landform

In writing, a bridge connects two ideas in different paragraphs. The bridge is written by referring to both ideas in the same paragraph. Here is an easy example from an essay on the dangers of smoking.

The thesis states that smoking can cause a variety a health problems. Proof 1 is about heart disease. Proof 2 is about cancer. A bridge (shown in italics) might work like this:

Proof 1:	Smoking is a major cause or heart disease. (The proof would continue to give evidence about heart diseases.)
Proof 2:	Not only does smoking cause heart disease, but it is also a leading cause of many types of cancer. (Now this proof would continue to give evidence about cancers caused by smoking.)