One of the most important aspects of the essay is its use of logical transitions from one moment to the next. Transitions are simply the logical movements from one section of the essay to the next. Transitions can occur at a number of different levels. The first is the general level, such as the movement from the introduction to the middle to the conclusion. They also occur at the level of the paragraph, where each paragraph should logically follow the preceding paragraph.
Transitions occur even at the level of the sentence.
That is to say, no sentence should follow a preceding sentence, unless there is some kind of logic or reasoning behind its placement. When professors mark papers, they are keenly aware of how well or how poorly a student has succeeded in making logical transitions. Furthermore, because papers with obvious transitions are easier to follow, a professor is much more likely to enjoy and favourably grade such papers. This is not a stupid question. A paragraph consists of a topic statement, and a body of subsequent sentences.