Languages
Back
Languages
Within-paragraph Transitions
> ... Writing > Transitions > Within-paragraph Transitions

Within-paragraph transitions tend to serve the purpose of alerting readers to upcoming shifts in perspective or voice. These shifts in perspective can occur in many places throughout the essay, but most often tend to appear during moments of quote integration.

Quote Integration

The Resource Center lesson on Quote Integration teaches that, when introducing the words or ideas of another author, it is important that you let your reader know that those words or ideas are not yours. Doing so will not only prevent you from committing plagiarism—it will also allow you to create an organized and understandable essay. An essay where your thoughts and the thoughts of others are clearly defined and working together to strengthen the overall thesis or argument of the essay.

To transition your reader from your own thoughts to the thoughts of another author within a paragraph, follow these three basic steps:

  • Introduce the source
  • Cite the source
  • Explain the source

Introduce is where most of the transitioning takes place. The best way to alert your reader of this kind of shift in perspective and voice is to introduce the source. You do this by answering the questions of who, where, and when:

  • Who said it (the author)?
  • Where it was said (in what source it was found)?
  • When it was said (the general time frame in which it was published)?

Consider the following familiar prompt question:

What is a family council and what are two of its benefits?

Imagine for a moment that you did some research and were able to identify two benefits in response to this question—two benefits that will be covered in two separate body paragraphs:

  • Spiritual protection
  • Unity

Ponder and Record

  • What might a transition from your own words to a quote or paraphrase from another person look like within a body paragraph given the two listed benefits?
  • How could quote integration employed effectively in this situation?

To illustrate how the introduce step of quote integration serves as a great within-paragraph transition for your reader, read over the example body paragraph topic sentence below:

One of the primary benefits of holding regular family councils is spiritual protection.

How might you transition from your own thoughts (as expressed in the topic sentence above), to another’s thoughts? This is where the power of quote integration (Introduce, Cite, Explain) really comes into play. See it at work in the example below:

Topic Sentence: One of the primary benefits of holding regular family councils is that of spiritual protection. Next, transition into the quote uses the quote integration steps called Introduce and Cite: In an April 2016 General Conference talk entitled 'Family Councils', Elder M. Russell Ballard teachers that... The quote will be introduced here. Finally, transition out of the quote uses the quote integration step called Explain: I have seen this promise prove true in my own life as my family has held regular family councils.

Ponder and Record

  • How could the quote integration method help you not just avoid plagiarism, but also implement effective transitions between your own thoughts and ideas and the thoughts of others?
  • In what other portions of your essay will you likely need to transition from your own thoughts to the thoughts or ideas of someone else?
The Purpose of Transitions
Transitions Between Paragraphs