<p>So one of my teachers this year said that if you do not put a transition in the beginning of your body paragraphs, you will automatically go down points for the essay.</p>
<p>Now, does he mean transition words?</p>
<p>Like I used first and next last time on my essay and I thought that seemed way to formal. I got a 9 still which is not too bad, but still I would like to improve that, and i'm sure transitions isn't the only thing I need to improve.</p>
<p>But what exactly do they mean by transitions, and how do you guys usually put transitions that flow nicely into your essays?</p>
<p>In the first sentence, kind of refer to the previous example, or explain the relationship between the examples. For example, "Similar to [previous example], ....." that's how I do it..</p>
<ol>
<li>The closing of one paragraph should introduce the topic of the next paragraph.</li>
<li>The opening of a paragraph should refer to the topic of the previous paragraph.</li>
</ol>
<p>Not at all. This isn't some formulaic middle school essay. In fact, those sorts of essays are crap and I recommend that you avoid writing them whenever possible.</p>