Transitions

his Weeks Content will focus on TSIS chapter 8, which introduces a number of tools for writing which I group under the general idea of transitions, which is largely about the interconnecting and unifying your writing – it sentences, its sections, its ideas and concepts.

Task 1
• Define what the term ‘transition’ means to you in everyday usage, not in writing.
• Given your definition above, what characteristics of a transition would make it either a ‘good’ transition or ‘bad’ transition?
• Specifically in writing, what do you think the term ‘transition’ means. What is it? What is it transitioning between?
• Specifically in writing, given your definition above, how would you identify a transition in as either ‘good’ or ‘bad?’
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IN whatever context, a transition is the thing between two other things, something that bridges a gap. In writing, transitions are something other than just the explicit data or content being presented. Below, the tildas represent the transitions between presented information.

Data/Content ~~~ Data/Content ~~~ Data/Content ~~~ Data/Content

We can point to specific aspects or words as parts of writing that function as transitions, but underneath that, transitions indicate implications; they can be seen as the presence of the author, or the author’s voice. They reflect choices that the author has made about creating continuity and flow in their writing.

Though in various contexts different aspects of transitions could define them as ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ for our discussion I would say that the characteristic of a transition that defines it as having good quality or not is its smoothness. This applies to transitions in writing as well.

If then, in writing transitions are the connective tissue between data or content and the purpose of a transition is to create smooth continuity or flow, it then follows that a good transition in writing would not be noticed by the reader, and that a bad transition in writing would jar the reader out of their reading experience or otherwise confuse them.

My analogy of to help you better understand transitions is that of a driving a car on a freeway.
You’re driving on a freeway in a construction zone and you see a sign: Bump Ahead. You drive for a while and either encounter a gentle shift in the pavement that you hardly notice or hit an abrupt shift in the pavement that jars the whole car. Driving on, you see another sign: End Construction.

Obviously, the gentle shift is a good transition and the abrupt shift is a bad transition. But my question is: Why are the signs there? My answer is because of the driver and passengers – the signs are there to make the whole experience smoother for the occupants of the car. It’s easy to identify the point where the pavement changes as a transition, but in my analogy, the signs are also part of the transition – because they are there to make the experience smoother.

From this analogy, I want to point out that transitions, both in writing and elsewhere, are not just about a single point in space and time. They are not just about exactly where the shift happens, but also about the lead into the transition in the space before the actual point of transition, and the lead out of the transition that happens in the space that comes after the actual transition.

Task 2
• For each term listed below, 1) define them in your own words, and 2) briefly explain how they relate to one of the other terms listed Define each term/phrase below as explained in the chapter
• State how the term/phrase relates to another term/phrase in the list:
• Pointing words
•
•
• Key terms
•
•
• Repetition with a difference
•
•
• Transition terms
•
•

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Pointing words are just that, words which point (normally back) to things which have already been stated. Examples are such words as: this, these, that, it. We noticed these (and this pattern) in talking about evidence and interpretation.
Key terms are terms or phrases that are central to the point and topic of the writing and are used repeatedly but with variation.

Repetition with a difference is about making the same point or using the same concept more than once to make sure your reader understands and stays oriented. This is done using different phrasings and words and with other angles added to a given idea in order to avoid monotony.
Transition terms are shortcuts for full transitions – single words or short phrases like: therefore, consequently, secondly, in conclusion. These words have a lot of meaning packed into them that is unsaid.
Let’s pull back and talk about this on a bit more of an abstract level.
Here’s four ideas you have to write about:

A
B
C
D

How do you move between them?
Most people will just leave them the way they are (seemingly already in order) and maybe drop some transition terms between them (‘Secondly,’ Thirdly,’ ‘Lastly’). This works, but only at the most basic level.
I strongly recommend not using transition terms unless you absolutely have to. I say this because they are a short version of a transition which doesn’t take into account the idea of a transition being more than just a fixed point, more than just one or two words. Transition terms mostly imply connection and pass the work the author should be doing by making their point clear off the reader and just let them figure out what the author meant. Which they may not do.
A different, better way to think about transitions that takes into account the idea of transition as not just a fixed point or a single word or phrase is to think about them structurally – with sentences and paragraphs being the components of the structure. Breaks between sentences and paragraphs can line up with the breaks between the ideas you’re discussing (as in the A/B/C/D above), but they don’t have to. In the following, consider each line a section break and each letter an idea:

AB
B
BC
C
CD
D

Or in shorter version:

AB
BC
CD

Using this kind of pattern intermingles the ideas and uses them as bridges to cross the structural gaps – which creates that smoothness that good transitions should have. This is flow because the breaks of ideas and the breaks of structure don’t occur in the same place, thereby hiding the gaps, or at least not emphasizing them, not making them jarring.
Think back on our work on framing source material. This is the same thing, has the same goal – not jarring or confusing the reader.
Actually doing this overlapping of ideas in transitioning will require you spell out the transition, actually do the communication work instead of just implying connection and forcing the reader to struggle to understand what you are implying with transition terms. Going back to my freeway analogy, it requires you to come up with the right signs to make the passengers trip through a smooth one.
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Task 3:

Read the following example paragraph which is broken out into individual sentences. Look for how the author repeats words and phrases to make the ideas they are discussing not align with the structural gaps between sentences. Then answer the following questions.

• Explain in your own words how and what you see making the transition from the second sentence to the third sentences.
• Explain in your own words how and what you see transitioning across the entire paragraph.
Paragraph:
Of the many types of writing that exist, fiction embodies the written word’s best qualities.
/
A study of the great written works of the world reveals that the greatest variety of composition length exists within the category of fiction.
/
This unique flexibility of length allows the fiction form a freedom of internal structure unknown in other styles of writing, bringing with it a limitless potential for the expression of a writer’s individual style.
/
It is these nuances of style that are made possible by fiction’s variable form which set it apart as superior from other types of writing.

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Read the following paragraph again and notice the words I’ve highlighted in color and how they interrelate and repeat: fiction, best/great/superior, length, freedom/potential, style,

Paragraph:
Of the many types of writing that exist, fiction embodies the written word’s best qualities.
/
A study of the great written works of the world reveals that the greatest variety of composition length exists within the category of fiction.
/
This unique flexibility of length allows the fiction form a freedom of internal structure unknown in other styles writing, bringing with it a limitless potential for the expression of a writer’s individual style.
/
It is these nuances of style that are made possible by fiction’s variable form which set it apart as superior from other types of writing.

All these words can be thought of as what TSIS chapter 8 calls key terms, or repetition with a difference, albeit on a small scale. And notice also there are pointing words in a number of these sentences: this, it.

If you take this abstract view of transition I’ve presented a little further, you’ll find you can transition in more complex ways as well, which is appropriate when working with more complicated ideas.
You can:
Add a single connecting idea as a through line:
AE
EBE
ECE
EDE
Add multiple, new ideas as bridges across the gaps
AX
XBY
YCZ
ZD

This practice can be beneficial not only because it helps you clarify for yourself how your ideas interrelate, but also because it helps extend your discussion, and also because it will inherently make your argument not only sound but be more educated and intelligent and complex.

Because of their length and complexity, it’s hard to model and work with these more complex ways of transition in class, but I want to show you an example paragraph that will hopefully demonstrate the larger unifying quality that using transitions in this way can produce.

Task 4:
Read the following paragraph twice, looking for the words and phrases and patterns the author uses to transition. Then answer the questions below the paragraph

Paragraph:

“Beginning at the moment of conception, the influence of a mother on a child overrules that of the father, creating a bond that usually endures in the harshest of circumstances. No childhood developmental experience can compare to being carried in a mother’s womb for nine months. Joined with the mother for such a long time, a baby learns the rhythms of the mother’s body, which are the background of its life, of all it has ever known. It hears the constant beat of her heart, experiences the stillness of her sleep, feels pressure rush in and then ease as she breathes. The baby knows nothing else, no experience other than oneness with its mother. Such experiences are further emphasized for a child by the subsequent close and nurturing experiences that the mother provides outside of the womb, such as nursing, or being rocked to sleep. A father can certainly participate in such post-womb developmental experiences, but a baby will lack a foundational connection with the father that the intimacy of pregnancy so readily establishes between a mother and child.

• What are pointing words you see being used in this paragraph?
• What are examples of repetition with a difference you see being used in this paragraph?
• What are some key terms you see being used in this paragraph?
• What are some transition terms you see being used in this paragraph?
• Other than what you answered above, explain how and what you see as another different pattern of transition working across sections or the whole of this paragraph.
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Read the following paragraph again and notice the words I’ve highlighted in color and how they interrelate and repeat. Notice how some concepts carry throughout (child/baby/it), other occur only at the beginning and end (father) and some only appear in the middle ( rhythms, beat, stillness, pressure, ease, breathes, Such experiences)

Beginning at the moment of conception, the influence of a mother on a child overrules that of the father, creating a bond that usually endures in the harshest of circumstances. No childhood developmental experience can compare to being carried in a mother’s womb for nine months. Joined with the mother for such a long time, a baby learns the rhythms of its mother’s body, which are the background of its life, of all it has ever known. It hears the constant beat of her heart, experiences the stillness of her sleep, feels pressure rush in and then ease as she breathes. The baby knows nothing else, no experience other than oneness with its mother. Such experiences are further emphasized for a child by the subsequent close and nurturing experiences that the mother provides outside of the womb, such as nursing, or being rocked to sleep. A father can certainly participate in such post-womb developmental experiences, but a baby will lack a foundational connection with the father that the intimacy of pregnancy so readily establishes between a mother and child.

What I see in this paragraph is the repetition of key terms and the overlapping of concepts throughout – making a unified paragraph where it’s hard to point to a specific transition.
Once you see patterns like we’re seeing with transitions, they can seem simple, too simple to bother focusing on – because its just reusing words, right? But this is a very tangible and useful way to approach writing. Have you ever actually plotted out how you intend to get from one point to the next in what you write and made sure that it made sense and was smooth? Even if you don’t plot it out, but just take a little time to make such transitions as you’re writing, or use this lens to help your revise what you’ve written, you’ll create a much better, more unified piece of work that a reader won’t get jarred out of.

Transitions are powerful tool, a lens to get at how to make your writing better. Use them.