Lead Your Readers With Flow: A Thursday Thoughts Reflection

Thursday, July 28, 2016 Expert Advice , Flow , Reading & Writing , Revising , thesis , Using Evidence , Writing Process No comments

Last week, we concluded our five-part blog series on flow on the Walden Writing Center Blog. The aim of this series was to provide writers with the means and resources not only to understand the importance of flow in writing, but also to provide the tools to effectively create flow. We were thrilled with reader engagement with the series, and now, we reflect on the contributions to this series that inspired such engagement.

mountain range with bright, bold lettering that reads "Lead Your Readers With Flow"

In part one of the series, Lydia focused on creating logical connections to build flow. This means supporting your thesis statement with strong evidence, using transitional phrases, and avoiding logical fallacies.

In part two of the series, Basil presented the idea of using strong topic sentences. A strong topic sentence will scaffold the structure and develop flow throughout an entire paragraph. This means that writing strong topic sentences should be of high priority.

In part three of the series, Max introduced building in transitional phrases as a means to create flow. Max compared a transition to a bridge, which brings your readers from one point to the next, creating ease of passage with words, sentences, or full paragraphs.

In part four of the series, Tara presented the importance of practicing concision to build flow. Like the topic of this part in the series, Tara's message was clear and direct. The efficacy of concision in academic writing rests on your ability to omit needless words and develop an effective revision process.

In part five of the series, Tim helped us reach our conclusion, noting that writers should focus on varying their sentence structure to build flow. In this way, writers can engage their readers with sentence structure that intrigues and engages.

In short, you can create flow in your writing by:

1. Creating logical connections

2. Using strong topic sentences

3. Building in transitional phrases

4. Practicing concision

5. Varying sentence structure

We at Walden University's Writing Center wish you the best of luck in your writing endeavors, and hope that - at the very least - your writing will begin to flow! If you have more questions about flow and are a Walden student, consider setting up a 1:1 appointment with one of our fabulous writing consultants.

The Walden Writing Center offers to Walden students 1:1 writing support and offers to students and non-students alike all the writing expertise, tips, and information a writer could want.