In
print texts, relationships between ideas, whether within long sentences, between
sentences in a paragraph, between paragraphs, or between major parts of long
texts, must be supplied through the use of transitional wording. At its
simplest, transition is provided through inclusion of words and phrases commonly
used to show relationship, and lists of such words are a feature of any handbook
or rhetoric textbook. In texts longer than a few pages, whole paragraphs may be
needed to preview the organization of the text as a whole or to summarize the
preceding section and link it with the following section.
Transitional
wording is highly regarded in academic arguments, where verbal cues to the logic
of the writer's thinking are expected.