How can I improve the transitions between my ideas?

TRANSITIONS

What is a transition?
· Transitions indicate the connections and relationships between your ideas and sentences.

Why are transitions important?
· Transitional words and phrases help you write clearly and coherently. Moreover, such transitions help the reader follow the text, stay focused, and understand how your main ideas are related to one another.

Why are transitions dangerous?
· Improper transitions can confuse readers. For instance, the use of the transition "Here, …" (see line 52 on page 2) in the sample is not correct because it indicates direction, but that is not the author's intention. This choice confuses the reader. Better to use a transition that indicates consequence, such as "Therefore,” or “Thus,”.

Which transitions should I use?
· The following list illustrates categories of "relationships" between ideas, followed by words and phrases that can make the connections:

1. Addition: also, again, as well as, besides, furthermore, in addition, likewise, moreover, similarly
2. Consequence: accordingly, as a result, consequently, for this reason, for this purpose, hence, otherwise, subsequently, therefore, thus
3. Contrast and Comparison: conversely, instead, likewise, on one hand/on the other hand, on the contrary, rather, similarly, yet, but, however, still, nevertheless, in contrast
4. Emphasis: above all, chiefly, especially, particularly, singularly
5. Exemplifying: chiefly, especially, for instance, in particular, markedly, namely, particularly, including, specifically, such as
6. Illustration: for example, for instance, as an example, in this case
7. Sequence: at first, first of all, to begin with, in the first place, at the same time, for now, for the time being, the next step, in time, in turn, later on, meanwhile, next, then, soon, the meantime, later, while, earlier, simultaneously, afterward, in conclusion, with this in mind
8. Similarity: comparatively, correspondingly, likewise, moreover
9. Summarizing: after all, all in all, all things considered, briefly, by and large, in any case, in any event, in brief, in conclusion, on the whole, in short, in summary, in the final analysis, in the long run, on balance, to sum up, to summarize, finally

Which transitions should I NOT use?
· Try to avoid “restatement” transitions in formal writing. Rather than writing phrases like “in other words,” “that is to say,” or “to put it differently,” try improving your writing so you can express yourself effectively in the first place.

Exception: you might want to use transitions like “in other words” in TOEFL writing, since you might get extra “points” for additional content (longer is better as long as quality is high). Since you are unlikely to have time to edit your TOEFL writing, restating your key ideas using phrases like “in other words” might help your reader / grader understand your main idea. By contrast, when submitting papers for publication (or to your professor), you have to time to proofread and edit. Therefore, take time to produce clear, concise writing when submitting papers for a grade and/or publication.


Exercise

· Find and circle the transitions in your paper.
· Ask yourself, "Do my transitions express the connections between my ideas?"
· Are my transitions misleading in any way?

Homework: Re-write your transitions so that they best express the connections between your ideas.

Make use of transitional words and phrases. They help you write clearly and coherently. Moreover, such transitions help the reader follow the text and stay focused.

Transitions enhance logical organization and understandability and improve the connections between thoughts. They indicate relations, whether within a sentence, paragraph, or paper.

This list illustrates categories of "relationships" between ideas, followed by words and phrases that can make the connections:

• Addition: also, again, as well as, besides, coupled with, furthermore, in addition, likewise, moreover, similarly
• Consequence: accordingly, as a result, consequently, for this reason, for this purpose, hence, otherwise, so then, subsequently, therefore, thus, thereupon, wherefore
• Contrast and Comparison: but, by the same token, conversely, however, in contrast, instead, likewise, nevertheless, on one hand, on the other hand, on the contrary, rather, similarly, still, yet
• Direction: beyond, nearly, opposite, under, above, to the left, to the right, in the distance, here, there, over there
• Diversion: by the way, incidentally
• Emphasis: above all, chiefly, with attention to, especially, particularly, singularly
• Exception: aside from, barring, beside, except, excepting, excluding, exclusive of, other than, outside of, save
• Exemplifying: chiefly, especially, for instance, in particular, markedly, namely, particularly, including, specifically, such as
• Generalizing: as a rule, as usual, for the most part, generally, generally speaking, ordinarily, usually
• Illustration: for example, for instance, for one thing, as an illustration, illustrated with, as an example, in this case
• Restatement: in essence, in other words, namely, that is, that is to say, in short, in brief, to put it differently
• Similarity: comparatively, coupled with, correspondingly, identically, likewise, similar, moreover, together with
• Sequence: at first, first of all, to begin with, in the first place, at the same time, for now, for the time being, the next step, in the meantime, in time, in turn, later on, meanwhile, next, then, soon, later, while, earlier, simultaneously, afterward, in conclusion, with this in mind,
• Summarizing: after all, all in all, all things considered, briefly, by and large, in any case, in any event, in brief, in conclusion, on the whole, in short, in summary, in the final analysis, in the long run, on balance, to sum up, to summarize, finally

How to write monetary abbreviations in resumes and CVs

HOW TO WRITE MONETARY ABBREVIATIONS IN RESUMES AND CVs

Thanks to my AIGAC colleague Laura Freedman, who shared some great advice regarding numerical abbreviations in resumes.

How to use abbreviated numbers in resumes for international MBA programs and companies

PREFERRED BY INSEAD (and understood / acceptable at any top MBA program)
(from the CV self-review style guide INSEAD gives to incoming students)

Suggested numerical abbreviations:

• k for 1,000 (thousands)
• mn for 1,000,000 (millions)
• bn for 1,000,000,000 (billions)
• tn for 1,000,000,000,000 (trillions)

For Indians – avoid lakh and crore. For Japanese – avoid man. These terms suggest you're going to have difficulty adapting to an international corporate environment.

For currencies - we use currency code, but for major dollar denominations, we prefer US$ and SG$, CN$, AU$, and NZ$. The $ next to the number makes it easier to distinguish the currency from the number and is a symbol most people recognize, e.g., US$30k vs. USD30k, or CN$60mn vs. CAD60mn. Note that a common error is USD$ - either D or $ is fine but using both is not.

For other currencies, I prefer £ and € to EUR and GBP for readability. € is unique to Euro, and £ is dominant enough that nobody is going to mistake the currency for e.g. Cypriot pounds (unless you are from or worked in Cyprus, in which case it's best to use GBP for clarity).

As a general rule, convert currency amounts to US$, since it's a universally understood international currency. It's also OK to use the currency for the market you are targeting, recognizing that that signals you want to be in that market. Best to avoid other currencies. Most prospective employers (or B-schools) are not going to understand PEN40mn (Peruvian Nuevo Sol), or DZD246mn (Algerian Dinar), for example.

More tips on how to write numerals here

Use active verbs to convey power in your writing

Power verbs convey action.

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Please avoid static verbs like

• get / got
• is / was / were (try to only use any form of "to be" 5 times in entire essay)

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NY TIMES OPINIONATOR | DRAFT

Make-or-Break Verbs

By CONSTANCE HALE

Published: April 16, 2012

This is the third in a series of writing lessons by the author.

A sentence can offer a moment of quiet, it can crackle with energy or it can just lie there, listless and uninteresting.

What makes the difference? The verb.

Verbs kick-start sentences: Without them, words would simply cluster together in suspended animation. We often call them action words, but verbs also can carry sentiments (love, fear, lust, disgust), hint at cognition (realize, know, recognize), bend ideas together (falsify, prove, hypothesize), assert possession (own, have) and conjure existence itself (is, are).

Fundamentally, verbs fall into two classes: static (to be, to seem, to become) and dynamic (to whistle, to waffle, to wonder). (These two classes are sometimes called "passive" and "active," and the former are also known as "linking" or "copulative" verbs.) Static verbs stand back, politely allowing nouns and adjectives to take center stage. Dynamic verbs thunder in from the wings, announcing an event, producing a spark, adding drama to an assembled group.

Static Verbs

Static verbs themselves fall into several subgroups, starting with what I call existential verbs: all the forms of to be, whether the present (am, are, is), the past (was, were) or the other more vexing tenses (is being, had been, might have been). In Shakespeare's "Hamlet," the Prince of Demark asks, "To be, or not to be?" when pondering life-and-death questions. An aging King Lear uses both is and am when he wonders about his very identity:

"Who is it that can tell me who I am?"

Jumping ahead a few hundred years, Henry Miller echoes Lear when, in his autobiographical novel "Tropic of Cancer," he wanders in Dijon, France, reflecting upon his fate:

"Yet I am up and about, a walking ghost, a white man terrorized by the cold sanity of this slaughter-house geometry. Who am I? What am I doing here?"

Drawing inspiration from Miller, we might think of these verbs as ghostly verbs, almost invisible. They exist to call attention not to themselves, but to other words in the sentence.

Another subgroup is what I call wimp verbs (appear, seem, become). Most often, they allow a writer to hedge (on an observation, description or opinion) rather than commit to an idea: Lear appears confused. Miller seems lost.

Finally, there are the sensing verbs (feel, look, taste, smell and sound), which have dual identities: They are dynamic in some sentences and static in others. If Miller said I feel the wind through my coat, that's dynamic. But if he said I feel blue, that's static.

Static verbs establish a relationship of equals between the subject of a sentence and its complement. Think of those verbs as quiet equals signs, holding the subject and the predicate in delicate equilibrium. For example, I, in the subject, equals feel blue in the predicate.

Power Verbs

Dynamic verbs are the classic action words. They turn the subject of a sentence into a doer in some sort of drama. But there are dynamic verbs - and then there are dynamos. Verbs like has, does, goes, gets and puts are all dynamic, but they don't let us envision the action. The dynamos, by contrast, give us an instant picture of a specific movement. Why have a character go when he could gambol, shamble, lumber, lurch, sway, swagger or sashay?

Picking pointed verbs also allows us to forgo adverbs. Many of these modifiers merely prop up a limp verb anyway. Strike speaks softly and insert whispers. Erase eats hungrily in favor of devours. And whatever you do, avoid adverbs that mindlessly repeat the sense of the verb, as in circle around, merge together or mentally recall.

This sentence from "Tinkers," by Paul Harding, shows how taking time to find the right verb pays off:

"The forest had nearly wicked from me that tiny germ of heat allotted to each person ."

Wick is an evocative word that nicely gets across the essence of a more commonplace verb like sucked or drained.

Sportswriters and announcers must be masters of dynamic verbs, because they endlessly describe the same thing while trying to keep their readers and listeners riveted. We're not just talking about a player who singles, doubles or homers. We're talking about, as announcers described during the 2010 World Series, a batter who "spoils the pitch" (hits a foul ball), a first baseman who "digs it out of the dirt" (catches a bad throw) and a pitcher who "scatters three singles through six innings" (keeps the hits to a minimum).

Imagine the challenge of writers who cover races. How can you write about, say, all those horses hustling around a track in a way that makes a single one of them come alive? Here's how Laura Hillenbrand, in "Seabiscuit," described that horse's winning sprint:

"Carrying 130 pounds, 22 more than Wedding Call and 16 more than Whichcee, Seabiscuit delivered a tremendous surge. He slashed into the hole, disappeared between his two larger opponents, then burst into the lead Seabiscuit shook free and hurtled into the homestretch alone as the field fell away behind him."

Even scenes that at first blush seem quiet can bristle with life. The best descriptive writers find a way to balance nouns and verbs, inertia and action, tranquillity and turbulence. Take Jo Ann Beard, who opens the short story "Cousins" with static verbs as quiet as a lake at dawn:

"Here is a scene. Two sisters are fishing together in a flat-bottomed boat on an olive green lake ."

When the world of the lake starts to awaken, the verbs signal not just the stirring of life but crisp tension:

"A duck stands up, shakes out its feathers and peers above the still grass at the edge of the water. The skin of the lake twitches suddenly and a fish springs loose into the air, drops back down with a flat splash. Ripples move across the surface like radio waves. The sun hoists itself up and gets busy, laying a sparkling rug across the water, burning the beads of dew off the reeds, baking the tops of our mothers' heads."

Want to practice finding dynamic verbs? Go to a horse race, a baseball game or even walk-a-thon. Find someone to watch intently. Describe what you see. Or, if you're in a quiet mood, sit on a park bench, in a pew or in a boat on a lake, and then open your senses. Write what you see, hear and feel. Consider whether to let your verbs jump into the scene or stand by patiently.

Verbs can make or break your writing, so consider them carefully in every sentence you write. Do you want to sit your subject down and hold a mirror to it? Go ahead, use is. Do you want to plunge your subject into a little drama? Go dynamic. Whichever you select, give your readers language that makes them eager for the next sentence.

Next from me: Pitfalls of passive construction.

Constance Hale, a journalist based in San Francisco, is the author of "Sin and Syntax" and the forthcoming "Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch." She covers writing and the writing life at sinandsyntax.com. 

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MIT: Action Verbs
http://web.mit.edu/career/www/guide/actionverbs.html

Management Skills Administered Analyzed Assigned Chaired Consolidated Contracted Coordinated Delegated Developed Directed Evaluated Executed Organized Oversaw Planned Prioritized Produced Recommended Reorganized Reviewed Scheduled Supervised Communication Skills Addressed Arbitrated Arranged Authored Co-authored Collaborated Corresponded Developed Directed Drafted Enlisted Formulated Influenced Interpreted Lectured Mediated Moderated Negotiated Persuaded Promoted Proposed Publicized Reconciled Recruited Spoke Translated Wrote Research Skills Clarified Collected Critiqued Diagnosed Evaluated Examined Extracted Identified Inspected Interpreted Interviewed Investigated Organized Reviewed Summarized Surveyed Systematized Technical Skills Assembled Built Calculated Computed Designed Devised Engineered Fabricated Maintained Operated Pinpointed Programmed Remodeled Repaired Solved Operated Pinpointed Programmed Remodeled Repaired Solved Teaching Skills Adapted Advised Clarified Coached Communicated Conducted Coordinated Developed Enabled Encouraged Evaluated Explained Facilitated Guided Informed Instructed Lectured Persuaded Set goals Stimulated Taught Trained

Financial Skills Administered Allocated Analyzed Appraised Audited Balanced Budgeted Calculated Computed Developed Managed Planned Projected Researched Creative Skills Acted Conceptualized Created Customized Designed Developed Directed Established Fashioned Illustrated Instituted Integrated Performed Planned Proved Revised Revitalized Set up Shaped Streamlined Structured Helping Skills Assessed Assisted Clarified Coached Counseled Demonstrated Diagnosed Educated Facilitated Familiarized Guided Inspired Motivated Participated Provided Referred Rehabilitated Represented Reinforced Supported Taught Trained Verified Clerical or Detail Skills Approved Arranged Cataloged Classified Collected Compiled Dispatched Executed Filed Generated Implemented Inspected Monitored Operated Ordered Organized Prepared Processed Purchased Recorded Retrieved Screened Specified Systematized Tabulated Validated Stronger Verbs for Accomplishments Accelerated Achieved Attained Completed Conceived Convinced Discovered Doubled Affected Eliminated Expanded Expedited Founded Improved Increased Initiated Innovated Introduced Invented Launched Mastered Originated Overcame Overhauled Pioneered Reduced Resolved Revitalized Spearheaded Strengthened Transformed Upgraded

From "To Boldly Go: Practical Career Advice for Scientists", by Peter S. Fiske


CV Store: Power Verbs
http://www.thecvstore.net/Power-Verbs.htm

The use of action words/power verbs are essential in the promotion of your skills and experience. Using these words at the start of each bullet point under the details of your employment will assist the reader in noticing your key achievements.

The words you use will obviously depend upon your experience/industry so try not to just stuff your CV full of power words in the hope that this will look good. For example, a candidate applying for a managerial position will want to make use of words such as "oversaw, developed, improved and reduced", whereas someone looking for a more creative role will want to use words such as "designed, compiled and created".

Power verbs to accentuate organisational skills:

Arranged Categorized Collected Compiled Corrected Distributed Filed Incorporated Logged Maintained Monitored Observed

Ordered Organized Prepared Recorded Registered Reserved Responded Reviewed Scheduled Screened Supplied Updated

Power verbs used to highlight achievements:

Achieved Built Created Developed Established Expanded Founded Identified Implemented

Increased Initiated Instigated Launched Lead Managed Reduced Solved Streamlined

Other power verbs:

Administered Advised Analyzed Approved Completed Conducted Controlled Coordinated Defined Delivered Demonstrated

Designed Instructed Introduced Maintained Negotiated Oversaw Performed Planned Presented Supervised Supported

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How to write strong topic sentences

TOPIC SENTENCES

What is a topic sentence?
· The topic sentence is the first sentence in a paragraph.

What does it do?
· It introduces the main idea of the paragraph.

Why are topic sentences important?

1. They give your paragraph focus.
a. If your topic sentences are not clear, then the rest of the paragraph most likely won’t have a specific focus or will be incoherent.

2. They help your readers.
a. Your readers are busy and impatient.
b. They want to know your main idea first.
c. They read the first sentence of every paragraph, looking for your main ideas.
d. Then, they quickly review the other sentences.
e. If someone only read your topic sentences, would he or she be able to understand your contribution and supporting ideas?
Q: HOW DO I IMPROVE MY TOPIC SENTENCES SO THAT READERS WILL UNDERSTAND, BELIEVE AND CARE ABOUT MY STORY EVEN IF THEY ARE SPEED READING? Topic Sentences: You can tell what the topic of the first body paragraph is by reading the topic sentence, which is the first sentence in the paragraph. The topic sentence tells your reader the main idea of the paragraph. As a writer, you need to know the main idea in order to develop your paragraph with facts to support that idea. As an exercise, strip your essay down to only the topic sentences. Ask yourself:

• Does your story make sense? 
• Will a non-expert be able to understand what happened?
• Do you appear in your own topic sentences?
• Are you the star/hero of your own story?
• Do your verbs convey power?

My clients often get lost in the details when writing their first drafts of leadership (and other) essays. They feel the need to explain the situation first before showing their specific task and action steps taken to achieve the desired result. In your next draft, work to put yourself at the center of the action. More hints Each body paragraph of your paper builds towards proving one particular aspect of your thesis, and each of these aspects should be crystallized into a strong topic sentence. If your paper is quite short, these sentences might represent the main points you mentioned in the blueprint part of your thesis, but they might each be more specific aspects of one of those points, particularly if your paper is longer. Defining your topics - First and foremost, a topic sentence is a piece of analysis, NOT summary. Think of it as an original interpretation based upon the facts of your story (not just a flat summary of your topic). The first of the following examples illustrates a statement of fact, rather than an argumentative topic sentence. Weak Topic Sentence: "Book Five of Paradise Lost concentrates on the conversation between Adam and the archangel Raphael." Strong Topic Sentence: "Throughout Book Five, Milton utilizes images of gardening and nourishment to convey man's maturing relationship to the divine." http://www.essayedge.com/academics/writingadvice/course/lessonthree.html

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