Transitions Are Not Decoration, They Are Load-Bearing

Students are given lists of transition words — furthermore, moreover, additionally, in conclusion — and told to sprinkle them between paragraphs.

This produces writing that is signposted and still incoherent, because the signposts are describing a structure that is not there.

What a transition actually does

It tells the reader the relationship between what they just read and what comes next. There are only a handful of relationships:

Addition — more of the same. also, and, too
Contrast — the opposite. but, however, although, yet
Cause — because of that. so, therefore, which is why
Example — here is one. for instance, say, consider
Sequence — and then. then, next, once
Concession — granting a point. admittedly, of course, granted

If you cannot name which relationship connects two paragraphs, no transition word will rescue them. The problem is the order, not the wording.

The best transitions are not words

Skilled writers connect paragraphs mostly without explicit markers, using three quieter techniques.

Repeat a key word. End one paragraph on a term and open the next with it. The link is made without announcing itself.

Given before new. Start each sentence with information the reader already has, and end with what is new. The end of one sentence then feeds the start of the next, and the paragraph pulls itself along.

Ask the implied question. A good paragraph raises a question the next one answers. That is the strongest connection available, and it needs no marker at all.

The ones to cut

Furthermore, moreover, additionally — almost always mean and here is another point, which is a list rather than an argument. If three paragraphs in a row open this way, the piece has no structure.
In conclusion — the reader can see it is the last paragraph.
It is important to note that — if it were not important you would not have written it.
As mentioned previously — either they remember, or you should not be repeating it.

The punctuation rule

However, therefore and the rest are conjunctive adverbs, not conjunctions, so they cannot join two clauses with a comma:

Wrong: It rained, however we went. This is a comma splice.
Right: It rained; however, we went.
Right: It rained. However, we went.
Right: It rained, but we went.

Note that the last version is the shortest and clearest. But usually beats however, and it is one of the few places where the plainer word is also the more precise one.

The diagnostic

Delete every transition word from a draft and read it again.

If it still flows, the transitions were decoration and the structure was doing the work. If it falls apart, the transitions were holding together an order that does not hold on its own — and the fix is to reorder, not to put the words back.