Linking paragraphs

In a good essay, each paragraph should have some logical connection to the one before it. When your reader moves from one paragraph to the next, he knows that he has reached a new step in the argument. But that's all he knows. Is this new step another in the same direction, or is it a change? You have to guide your reader with appropriate signposts. One powerful type of signpost that many students think they can't use in essays is a direct question. When you want to move from one part of the argument to the next, it can be useful to start by asking a question that refers to what you just said but gives you room to move on: What does this mean? or Why does Plato think the noble lie is necessary? or What evidence is there for this interpretation? Good sharp questions can guide your reader through your argument.

　　Another way to link paragraphs is simply to write in such a way as to force the reader to recognize the link. Here's how one writer started a paragraph. Notice that it only makes sense in context, and that the writer was confident enough not to repeat material from the previous paragraph or make the link too explicit:

　　The strange outcome was that the oil and energy crisis abated.

　　A less confident writer would have inserted a reference along these lines:

　　The strange outcome of the several years of economic crisis afflicting Western and Arab states was that the oil and energy crisis abated.

　　When a writer lacks confidence in her essay's coherence, she'll be tempted to say things like this:

　　Earlier it was mentioned that . . . as commented on earlier . . . as stated earlier . . . as stated before . . as I wrote before

　　These are awfully weak constructions. In the same camp is the word also, which is vastly overused as a connector at the beginnings of sentences, where it rarely sounds very good:

　　Also, Touchstone tries to get out of marrying Audrey.

　　Also, the data show that the reaction slows down as the temperature falls.

　　These nervous pointers （their subtext is Have I lost your attention yet? Have I confused you yet?） are poor substitutes for good organization. Planning your argument and crafting coherent paragraphs that proceed step by step should make you feel able to dispense with such things. If on occasion you feel you have to use such a pointer, use a more conventional phrase like as noted above.