50 linking words to use in academic writing
It’s very common for students to use long words they don’t understand very well in their essays and theses because they have a certain idea of what academic writing should be.
Many students believe that academic writing is wordy and convoluted, and uses a lot of jargon. This leads many students to fall into a trap of imagining that the longer the word, the more impressive and intelligent their writing will seem.
We often see long sentences and multisyllabic words where shorter sentences and simpler words would do. Some students even use Microsoft Word’s thesaurus function to replace a common word with a more complicated word. This is a risky move, because unless you’re very careful, the new word may not carry quite the same meaning as the original, even if it’s similar.
The result can range from funny to confusing, which defeats the purpose of academic writing: to be as clear and concise as possible, using just the right words to convey your argument. Using uncommon words, instead of making your paper seem smarter, generally detracts from your ideas.
To avoid this, using linking or transition words that signpost your arguments can help to clarify your views and show the reader what to expect from certain paragraphs or sentences. These words give structure to the whole, helping you to organise your ideas and assist the reader in understanding them.
Below is a handy list of words that are both useful and appropriate to academic language.
Describing similarities
Likewise
Correspondingly
Equally
Not only… but also
In the same way
Similarly
Showing cause and effect
Consequently
As a result
Thus
Hence (never ‘hence why’)
Since (try to avoid ‘as’ when showing cause and effect)
Because
Therefore
Accordingly
This suggests that
It follows that
For this reason
Comparing and contrasting
Alternatively
However
Conversely
On the other hand
Instead
Yet
On the contrary
Showing limitation or contradiction
Despite/in spite of
While (not whilst!)
Even so
On the contrary
Nevertheless
Nonetheless
Although
Admittedly
Emphasis, addition or examples
To illustrate
To clarify
Further (not ‘furthermore’)
First, second and third (not firstly, secondly and thirdly)
For instance
Moreover
Typically
Especially
In fact
Namely
In addition
Concluding
To summarise
It can be concluded that
As can be seen
Ultimately
Given the above
As described
Finally
So choose some from this list and if you need more help, look no further than a Verbling tutor with experience in writing academic essays.
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