As you write the body of an analytical paper, use good transitions to help the reader move from one idea to another. You can review transitions for comparison and contrast and for analysis. Think of your reader as a hiker traveling through new terrain. A good path with signs marking the way provides for easy progress. In the same way, transitions help the reader understand your position. You want your reader to reach the same conclusion that you state in your thesis; connecting your ideas will help your reader follow the path you have built with the form. You will want to make sure that critical links hook the evidence to your thesis.

Here's a simple, short illustration of analytical connectors. Example 1 provides an assertion and some evidence. Example 2 begins to suggest a mechanism that might connect evidence and assertion, and example 3 actually explains that mechanism.

1. People who eat a lot of greasy foods will probably get fat. They eat such greasy foods as potato chips, popcorn with a lot of butter, fatty sausage, and fried doughnuts.
2. People who eat a lot of greasy foods will probably get fat. Such greasy foods as potato chips, popcorn with a lot of butter, fatty sausage, and fried doughnuts contain a lot of calories.
3. People who eat a lot of greasy foods will probably get fat. Foods like potato chips, popcorn with a lot of butter, fatty sausage, and fried doughnuts, if eaten in large amounts, contain more fat calories than most people can burn. The extra calories turn into body fat.

GRAPHIC: A LITTLE TRAIN FULL OF GREASY FOODS CONNECTED TO FAT; SHOW LINKS BETWEEN GREASY FOOD AND FAT

Notice that the same evidence about which greasy foods are eaten is supplied in each example. The three examples differ in the explicitness of the reasoning that connects evidence to assertion. By spelling out the mechanism for weight gain, example 3 also suggests possible means of prevention: more exercise to burn off calories, or eating fewer greasy foods. Also, note that this example is still descriptive, i.e., the information provides is factual; we know that eating excess amounts of fatty foods results in fat bodies. But the first time someone said "Vitamin C deficiency causes scurvy" it was an analytical statement. Why? Because real analytical thinking draws causal connections that are NOT already accepted as facts.

Read your essay carefully to ascertain that you have provided the critical links between the supporting evidence and your thesis. Did you tell WHY the evidence supports your thesis?