Transitions between paragraphs usually link the first sentence of a new paragraph with the first sentence of the previous paragraph. In other words, the topic sentences signal global connections.

Look for opportunities to allude to the subject of a previous paragraph (as summed up in its topic sentence) in the topic sentence of the next paragraph. In his essay “Little Green Lies,” Jonathan H. Adler uses this strategy in linking two topic sentences.

In long essays, you may need to alert readers to connections between large blocks of text. You can do this by inserting transitional paragraphs at key points in the essay. The following transitional paragraph from a student research paper announces that the first part of the paper has come to a close and the second part is about to begin.

Although the great apes have demonstrated significant language skills, one central question remains: Can they be taught to use that uniquely human language tool we call grammar, to learn the difference, for instance, between “ape bite human” and “human bite ape”? In other words, can an ape create a sentence?