Gluing Ideas Together: Transition and Topic Sentences
Transition and topic sentences are essential to a successful paper! By signaling to the reader what the topic of each paragraph will be, they make it easy for your reader to follow along with your ideas. But they are also crucial for guiding the reader in seeing how different ideas are related and relevant to both the thesis and to one another. If paragraphs are the “building blocks” of a paper, transition and topic sentences are the “glue” which brings everything together and transforms the paper into a cohesive whole. Without good transition sentences, your paper will read like a series of disjointed ideas - even if your ideas are not disjointed!
1. The basic function of a topic sentence is to inform the reader what the topic -- the Big Idea -- of the new paragraph is. Every topic sentence must do this.
Sometimes the first two sentences at the beginning of a paragraph serve the role of the topic sentence. This works especially well if the first is a transition sentence (see below), and the second is a topic sentence.
2. Ideally, every topic sentence should also indicate how this Big Idea relates to the rest of the paper. (This is what turns your topic sentences into "glue"!)
A topic sentence can do this is several ways, including: indicating how the Big Idea contributes to the thesis; how it relates to the Big Idea(s) that preceded it; or how it
contributes to the major task it is a part of.
3. Avoid starting your topic sentence with “Also”, “Additionally”, “Furthermore”, “Next”, and similar phrases.
These words indicate to the reader that while you know there is some connection between the ideas you are discussing, you don’t actually know WHAT this connection is. In other words, they do a poor job of gluing ideas together!
4. A transition sentence guides the reader from the topic of the previous paragraph to the topic of the new paragraph - they are what make your essay flow smoothly and pleasantly! Unlike topic sentences, transition sentences do not necessarily informing the reader what the topic of the paragraph is going to be.
Transition sentences pair nicely with topic sentences! In cases where they are used on their own, the reader has to read the entire paragraph before they learn what the Big Idea is.​
​
Transition sentences used by themselves which do not inform the reader of the Big Idea should be used sparingly. Although this technique can serve a purpose, in general it is best to always have a topic sentence.
5. When a paragraph is at the start of a new major task, your transition/topic sentence should not just introduce the topic of the paragraph; it should inform the reader that you are switching to an entirely new major task!
In general, transition and topic sentences should accomplish THREE things. First, they should (1) indicate to the reader when you are beginning to talk about a new Big Idea. Usually, they will accomplish this first thing by doing the second: (2) informing the reader what this new Big Idea is. Finally, they should (3) indicate how each Big Idea gets us closer to the thesis. In other words, what role is the Big Idea playing in the paper? What is it contributing or how is it helping?
By accomplishing all three of these things, transition and topic sentences make it super easy for your reader to follow along with your ideas and understand how everything connects together to help the thesis - the Main Point of the whole paper!