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Transition words hold your writing together, like glue. They show the relationships between ideas and information, and can work at the sentence, paragraph or section level.
When you use transition words you are showing your reader that you can see the connections between ideas. You are also making these connections clear for your reader.
Transition words include words and phrases such as:
For an extensive list of transition words, go
to:
http://www.lc.unsw.edu.au/onlib/trans1.html
Example 1
Due to the importance of ground
water as a resource its protection from contamination is essential… In the
past, …ground water has been contaminated
due to poor planning, deliberate actions and accidents. As
a result there is presently a need for reliable and efficient remediation
technologies (Dasey, 1996, p.1).
Example 2
Antibiotic resistance poses a serious problem worldwide and leads to
difficulties in implementing effective treatment of bacterial infections. Furthermore,
infections caused by resistant pathogens are associated with higher rates
of morbidity and mortality (Jones, 2004, p.10).
Example 3
Although Ohtsuka et al. were able to achieve high
efficiency for photolithographic DSBC structures that have back surface field
(BSF) made from BN solid sources, the p+ region was only a small area of
the whole solar cell structure. Therefore the
bulk minority carrier lifetime degradation was greatly reduced by limiting
the diffusion to a small area (Chen, 2003, p.2-15).
Exercise
The following exercise gives a (non-scientific) look at the difference that transition words can make to a piece of writing.
Compare the two versions of the text. See how the use of transition words in Example 2 shows the connections between ideas.
Example 1: no transition words
The cat sat on the mat. The
mat’s fibres were flattened. The mat was less comfortable. The
mat's appearance was spoiled. The owner gave the mat to the dog
to lie on. The dog was greatly pleased by the new mat. The
cat was very resentful. There was tension between the cat and the
dog. They had been good companions for years. They fought over
the mat. The
cat had tactical superiority. The dog had greater physical strength.
The dog killed the cat. The owner wrapped the cat's body in the
mat. The owner buried it in the yard. The dog died of grief.