Linking/transition words: Things you need to know...

Below are some ideas to help you to develop your structure and flow.

 Linking / transition words and phrases join ideas, sentences and paragraphs together. They
should be used within sentences and to move from one idea to another (between sentences).

These words and phrases indicate the direction, order and flow of ideas. Significantly, they strengthen
the quality and structure of your work.

 Redundant Words - less is more. Particularly when trying to reduce the word count, it is
important to look for phrases which can be replaced with a single word.

1. Linking/Transition Words

Transitions link one main idea to another separated by a semi-colon or full-stop. When the transition
word is at the beginning of the sentence, it should be followed by a comma:

Among other functions, they can signal cause and effect or sequencing (see examples in the table
below).

additionally; also; moreover; furthermore; again; further; then;

Additional
comments or besides; too; similarly;
ideas
correspondingly; indeed; regarding.

whereas; conversely; in comparison; by contrast; another view is…;

Alternatives
alternatively; although; otherwise; instead.

therefore; accordingly; as a result of; the result is/results are; the consequence is;

resulting from;
Analyzing
consequently; it can be seen; evidence illustrates that; because of this; thus; hence; for this reason;
results
owing to x; this suggests that; it follows that; otherwise; in that case; that implies;

Author (year) suggests that;

Cause / as a result of; because (mid-sentence only)

Reason

Compare compared with; in the same way; likewise,

Contrast by contrast; although; compared with; conversely; despite; however, nevertheless; yet

Effect / Result As a result; therefore; thus

Emphasizing however; nonetheless; furthermore; in the final analysis; despite x; notwithstanding x;

earlier
in spite of x; while x may be true, nonetheless
statements
although; though; after all; at the same time; even if x is true; count

Introducing for example; for instance; namely; such as; as follows; as exemplified by; such as; including;
examples
especially; particularly; in particular; notably; mainly;

Re-phrasing in other terms; rather; or; better; in view of this; in contrast

first (ly); second (ly); third (ly); another; additionally; finally; moreover; also;
Sequencing
subsequently; eventually; next; then

Summary or in conclusion; therefore; to conclude; on the whole; hence; thus; to summarize; altogether;
Conclusion
overall; …following the research of…after analysis

2. Linking words: conjunctions

Linking words within a sentence are referred to as coordinating conjunctions. Do not worry about the
term: think about the function.

Conjunction Function

for connects a reason to a result

and connects equal and similar ideas

nor connects two negative ideas

but connects equal but different ideas

or connects two equal choices

yet connects equal and contrasting ideas

so connects a result to a reason

Conciseness / redundant

Examples: try to replace phrases with a single words which mean the same.

Instead of ... Use ...

employed the use of used

basic fundamentals fundamentals

alternative choices alternatives

in as few words as possible concisely

look into investigate

put on gained

turned down rejected

got better improved

hit and miss erratic

in spite of although
Linking words

Academic writing usually deals with complex ideas. To enable the reader to follow your thoughts, they
need to be clearly and smoothly linked. To join ideas and sentences, we use a number of connecting
words and phrases. For example:

ADDITION To add an idea

Additionally, and, also, apart from this, as well (as), in addition, moreover, further, furthermore.

CONDITION to provide a condition

If, in that case, provided that, unless.

FOR COMPARISON To show how things are similar

Correspondingly, equally, for the same reason, in a similar manner, in comparison, in the same way, on
the one hand, similarly.

FOR CONTRAST To show how things are different

Alternatively, although, but, conversely, despite, even so, even though, however, in contrast, in spite of,
instead, on the contrary, contrary to, nevertheless, nonetheless, notwithstanding, on the other hand,
rather, still, though, yet, whereas, while.

FOR EMPHASIS To put forward an idea more forcefully

Again, in fact, interestingly, indeed, it should be noted (that), more important(ly), most importantly, to
repeat, (un)fortunately, unquestionably.

FOR ILLUSTRATION To provide examples

A further instance of this is..., an example of this is…, for example, for instance, such as, thus, as follows.

FOR RESTATEMENT For rephrasing statements

In other words, more simply, namely, simply put, to put it differently / another way, such as, that is.

THE CAUSE OF THINGS To attribute the reasons for something occurring

A / the consequence of, because, due to, for, the effect of …, since, the result of …

THE EFFECT OF THINGS To show the effect of something

Accordingly, as a result/consequence, consequently, for this reason, hence, so, therefore, thus.

FOR CONCESSION / QUALIFICATION Conceding something

Admittedly, although, clearly though, even though, however, indeed, obviously.

GENERALISATION Making a general statement

As a rule, for the most part, generally, in general, in most cases, normally, on the whole, usually.

TIME ORDER To indicate a chronological sequence

First, second, third (etc), next, before, earlier, finally, following, given the above, later, meanwhile,
subsequently, then, to conclude, while.