Transitions or connectors are another key part of writing academic paragraphs and essays, but they come in many forms. There are specific transitions for examples, additions, contrasts, comparisons, causes, effects and conclusions. Misplaced transitions can make an essay incoherent.

To complicate matters, on essays or longer paragraphs you have to use different types of transitions. If you're writing a long comparison (similarities) paragraph, for instance, you will need similarity, addition and example connectors.

EssayMaps provides dropdown boxes with the transition words in front of the appropriate sentences. After a while, you will recognize which transition goes where. The mission is to teach you to recognize how the transitions are used at various points in the paragraph or essay.