Here'what I do. When writing the first draft of a document I include lots of these linking words to make sure I get the logic of what I'm saying over to the reader as clearly as possible. Then in later drafts I see how many of these linking words I can knock out to make the text less cumbersome while still retaining clarity and oherence.
Since you are interested in revision enough to develop and employ your own systems, I thought you might enjoy a resource I created for my students and fellow elementary writing teachers. Let me explain that I offer this without a desire to self promote—I don’t make any money, and I don’t want this resource to become anything more than it is (that would be too much scrutiny to endure!) Titled “The Second Draft: the secret to improving students’ syntactic maturity” focuses on improving clarity, precision, and maturity of students’ sentences during the revision process by giving them a clear reason to intentionally structure sentences. It covers topics such as concision, combining sentences, and micro cohesion, offering 30+ “revision indicators” and various repair strategies. It’s still technically in draft form, far from perfect, and absolutely not for sale. If you enjoy the work of the late Joseph Williams (University of Chicago), then you might recognize the overall approach to revision.
Here'what I do. When writing the first draft of a document I include lots of these linking words to make sure I get the logic of what I'm saying over to the reader as clearly as possible. Then in later drafts I see how many of these linking words I can knock out to make the text less cumbersome while still retaining clarity and oherence.
That’s an excellent strategy and a gift to the reader.
It may take a more time on the writer’s part, but that is the essence of the quote:
“If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.”
Good strategy!
Since you are interested in revision enough to develop and employ your own systems, I thought you might enjoy a resource I created for my students and fellow elementary writing teachers. Let me explain that I offer this without a desire to self promote—I don’t make any money, and I don’t want this resource to become anything more than it is (that would be too much scrutiny to endure!) Titled “The Second Draft: the secret to improving students’ syntactic maturity” focuses on improving clarity, precision, and maturity of students’ sentences during the revision process by giving them a clear reason to intentionally structure sentences. It covers topics such as concision, combining sentences, and micro cohesion, offering 30+ “revision indicators” and various repair strategies. It’s still technically in draft form, far from perfect, and absolutely not for sale. If you enjoy the work of the late Joseph Williams (University of Chicago), then you might recognize the overall approach to revision.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oZN-zRd8R-Op9AG3lrqmjK0wr2VRvkWRgBrBWn8v1HQ/edit