Paragraphing & Transitioning

When to Paragraph

How do you know when “enough is enough”—when you have enough information in one paragraph and have to start a new one? A very rough guide is that you need more than one or two paragraphs per page of type. Paragraphing conventions online require even shorter paragraphs, with multiple short paragraphs on one screen.

Transition Words
Time	Place	Idea	Summarizing
Before long	On the patio	Another reason	Finally
Later that day	In the kitchen	Also	In conclusion
Late last night	At the cottage	In addition	To conclude
The next day	In the backyard	For example	To summarize
After a while	When we went to the store	To illustrate	In summary
Meanwhile	Nearby	For instance	To sum up
Sometimes	Adjacent to	Likewise	In short
Following	Wherever	However	As you can see
Subsequently	Opposite to	In contrast	For all of those reasons

It’s best to deal with paragraphs as part of the revision step in the writing process. Find places where the information shifts in focus, and put paragraph breaks in those places. You can do your best to paragraph as you draft but know you’ll address paragraphing more during the revision process.

Linking Paragraphs: Transitions

Transitions are words or phrases that indicate linkages in ideas. When writing, you need to lead your readers from one idea to the next, showing how those ideas are logically linked. Transition words and phrases help you keep your paragraphs and groups of paragraphs logically connected for a reader. Writers often check their transitions during the revising stage of the writing process.

Here are some example transition words to help as you transition both within paragraphs and from one paragraph to the next.