Linking Words for Essay Writing: Useful Paragraph Phrases

Published by Josh Jasen at September 21, 2024

An essay is an important piece of writing when a student is seeking college admission. It needs to have a clear flow so that the readability is perfect. Rightly so, the sentences you construct need to flow and lead to each other seamlessly.

Linking or transition words come in handy to make your essay have comprehensible sentences. The words act as the ideal connectors and bridges that eliminate sentence isolation.

Factually, both writing and speaking need linking words that will help the audience form a clear relationship between ideas. Listeners and readers can comprehend responses when the right linking words are in place.

What are Linking Words in Essay Writing?

Linking words is the uniform basis of an essay. When these words are in an essay, they showcase a connection between sentences. As usual, a typical essay consists of different sections and paragraphs.

If there are no transition words, the sentences will appear incoherent and messy. The use of linking words clearly shows the relationship existing between all sections and paragraphs in an essay.

When writing your essay, make use of linking words as a bridge between the concepts you are writing and the ideas in your essay. The readers will enjoy a cohesive essay with texts that flow smoothly.

The assessment team has a lot of essays to read and you can make their work easy by using your linking words appropriately. If this is not the case, your professor will have to go through a lot of stress in trying to understand your essay.

If you want to impress your readers and consequently improve your scores, practice the best-linking words skills.

Reasons for Using Linking Words in Essay Writing

Only proper usage of linking words will help you come up with a compelling essay. After toiling to conduct research for your essay, the improper structure of sentences will make your efforts go to waste.

Good students endeavor and strive to create an appealing and expressive essay. A thorough use of the right linking words will make your presentation and persuasion of ideas flow perfectly.

Linking words is very crucial in any type of essay. If you do not want your texts to appear clucky, transition words ought to be in place.

Here are more reasons why you need linking words in your essay:

1. Flow of Order and Sequence

An essay needs the flow of texts, ideas, and thoughts otherwise it will lose its quality. Therefore, writers need to make huge efforts and use the right linking words that will bring a sequence of order to the essay.

Such words include next, then, firstly, secondly, afterward, finally, and afterward. Other transition words to use include concurrently, at the same time, earlier, first of all, following this, and for now.

A good sequence order in your essay is also enhanced when you use words such as lastly, in the end, in the beginning, or once upon a time.

2. Showcasing Comparison

Some essays will require the writer to show comparison. Linking words play an important role in contrast and argumentative essays.

If you need to bring out comparison, consider the use of words such as similarly, equally, comparable, in the same time, and likewise.

Apart from the same, other words or phrases to use include just like, just as, and comparably.

3. Contrasting

Transition words are the best when you want to bring out contrast in a sentence. In most cases, place them at the beginning or in the middle of your sentence to create the right contrast.

However, despite this, yet, whereas, and alternatively are some of the words you can use.

4. Illustration of Examples

There are places in your essay where you will have to give examples. Most essays will need an illustration of evidence with the use of linking words.

Giving examples without these words will make your text sound blunt.

Linking words such for instance, in the case of, and for instance will make it easy to introduce your examples.

5. Including Additions

You will also need to use linking words when making additions to your essays. These words will ensure that you have added a text with the correct meaning to your essay.

Furthermore, also, secondly, in addition, and are some of the linking words to use.

6. Introduction of Cause and Effects

Cause and effect in an essay can help the writer draw a sensible conclusion. In essence, it helps to bring about a good connection to the essay when a conclusion is added. Therefore, the relationship between cause and effect is better shown using the right linking words.

Owing to, thus, since, as a result of, and because are some of the transition words you can use. Other words to use include stems from, leads to, results from, for this reason, etc.

7. For Conclusion Purposes

Starting an impressive essay can only be better if the conclusion is attractive. It is good to bring about the conclusion using appropriate linking words that are not common.

You can conclude your essay using words such as finally, in conclusion, summarizing, in summary, and briefly.

As a writer, you need to bear in mind that adjusting and positioning these words is a must if you are to impress your readers.

Dos of Using Linking Words

Adjust and position your linking words properly otherwise, the reader will not be impressed.
Do mix up the linking words you use. Using one-word several times can be very annoying to the reader. Since the transition phrases are many, mix them up in your essay to avoid repetition.
Be accurate in using these words when connecting your ideas in an essay. Know the difference between these phrases to understand the meaning correctly.
You can use these words when you want to accentuate a point. In other words, use them to stress something important in your writing.

30 Examples of Linking Words for Essay Writing

On the flip side
On the contrary
By and large
As a consequence of
In conclusion
Above all
Following this
At this point in time
In the same way
As an example
In other words
To put it differently
Under the circumstances
That is to say
With this intention
Subsequently
All in all
In brief
In order to
Primarily
Of less importance
What’s more
Meanwhile
Furthermore
Alternatively
In spite of
To illustrate
To demonstrate
In the middle of
For the avoidance of doubt

Wrapping Up on Linking Words on Essay Writing

You can’t overlook the significance of linking words in essay writing. Transition words are important in bringing ideas together so that they appear as a whole in your essay.

All in all, an essay that flows well must incorporate the right transition words to link arguments and actions. The readers will be able to connect an event that took place because of a consequence of a different action.

Essays need to have a flow of ideas with each one building on the other. Yet still, organization of thoughts in essay writing is valuable and this is where linking words play a critical role.

To sum it up, the more your thoughts are in good organization, the smoother your essay will flow. When you use linking words appropriately, your piece will have a logical structure that is appealing to the reader.

Josh Jasen

When not handling complex essays and academic writing tasks, Josh is busy advising students on how to pass assignments. In spare time, he loves playing football or walking with his dog around the park.