Order of Importance and
Transitional Devices
Lesson 9
Order of Importance:
Order of importance deals with the
presentation of reasons in a persuasive
piece.
 There are two general methods of
ordering the reasoning in a persuasive
piece of writing:
 The author presents reasons in ascending order of
importance (least important reason to most
important reason).
 The author presents reasons in descending order
of importance (most important reason to least
important reason).
Transitional Devices
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Transitional devices are words or phrases
that facilitate movement from one portion
of a writing piece to another; in this case
from introduction, to first reason, to
second reason, to third reason, to
conclusion.
Persuasive Essay Critique
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Now that you understand the basics of
persuasive writing, you should be able to
give your opinion about the quality and
structure of a sample essay.
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What
What
What
What
is good about the piece?
is bad?
are its strengths?
are its weaknesses?
Let’s create a list of strengths and
weaknesses.
Strengths
Weaknesses
Strengths and Weaknesses
Second Persuasive Sample
This handout presents the same piece
again, but with a few simple additions and
alterations.
 What is different about this version?
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A transitional device is a word or phrase
that helps to place ideas in sequence or
order or that helps the reader move
smoothly from one portion of the writing
to the next.
Transitional Devices
Common Transitional Devices
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First, second, third, etc.
To start,
Primarily,
Initially,
To begin,
To begin with,
Next,
Also,
In addition,
In addition to this,
Finally,
Last,
Lastly,
More importantly,
Most importantly,
To conclude,
In conclusion,
Important facts about transitional
devices:
Always use a comma after a transitional device that
introduces a sentence.
 Transitional devices must be placed correctly for
meaning within the piece (for example: First would
never be used to introduce the final body paragraph
and Finally would never be used to introduce the
initial body paragraph).
 Variety in transitional devices is usually desirable (for
example, using first, second, third, and finally, as a
transitional “block” may not necessarily be as
effective as using a first, next, in addition, and to
conclude block).
 Choosing the transitional device that makes the most
sense under the circumstances is essential.
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Order of Importance:
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There are two ways of ordering reasons with
regard to their importance in a persuasive
piece:
 ascending order of importance (least important
reason to most important reason)
 descending order of importance (most important
reason to least important reason)
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Both orders are perfectly acceptable,
although the ascending order is more
frequently seen.
However, it is the author’s choice when
determining which order is the correct one
for a particular piece of writing.
Working with the list of basic transitional
devices, see how many totally different
blocks you can create that possibly could
be used in a persuasive piece.
 Each block starts with the word “opinion,”
because no transitional device is ever
used in the first sentence of the
paragraph.
 The first block is completed for you as an
example.
 Remember each block must contain at
least one change.
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Practice with transitional “blocks.”