You’ve heard this tip many times before: “maintain the logical flow in your essay!” To make that happen, it’s important to use the right transition words that make the sentences flow.
Is it Hard to Think of Transition Words for Essays?
The transitional words for essays are important because they create a connection between two sentences, ideas, and paragraphs. When we’re talking about academic writing, the transitions between paragraphs are especially important. Since you’re discussing three different arguments in the essay’s body, the result can easily come across as disconnected if you fail to infuse proper transitions.
When you look at samples of great essays, you notice those transitions. Check out this example: Goodbye to All That by Joan Didion. It’s not your usual 5-paragraph essay you’re writing for college, but it’s still a great example for natural transitions.
- In fact
- That is what it was all about
- Some years passed
- Instead
Those are only a few of the phrases the author used to connect one paragraph with another.
Now, the only problem is: how do you do it? How do you make transitions in writing without making them seem forced? You can only think of few words that would make good transitions? No problem; Xpert Writers is always here to give you more ideas.
Here at XpertWriters.com, we have a goal to help every student write a better essay. This guide is part of that effort.
Examples of Good Transition Words for Essays
Let’s make a list of transition words for essays categorized according to the type of writing you do. We’ll focus on the most important types of essays you write for your courses, but we’ll also include general categories that fit into every type of writing.
1. Transition Words for Argumentative Essays
When you’re using several arguments in the essay, you need to make them flow. Argumentative essays are based not only on your opinions but on facts, too. Here are few transition words that will help you write a paper that flows:
- There are two reasons why…
- First of all,… Second… Third…
- Further/Furthermore
- For example/For instance
- Similarly
- In addition
- Moreover/What’s more
- Finally
Here are few examples, just to illustrate how some of these words would sound in sentences within an argumentative essay:
There are two reasons why water vapor contributes to the greenhouse effect: it is the most abundant greenhouse gas, and it acts as a feedback to our climate.
Moreover, global warming will lead to higher evaporation.
Finally, a stronger greenhouse effect will make the oceans warmer, and the glaciers will partially melt.
2. Transition Words for Persuasive Essays
In a persuasive essay, you’re trying to convince the reader that you’re making a strong point. Thus, you need strong transition words that sound authoritative. Here are few examples:
- To illustrate
- Specifically
- Namely
- For example/For instance
- Given that
- In the event that
- For the purpose of
- In view of
- Although this may be true
- Further and equally important
Here are few examples of these transition words:
- Professors assign essays because they believe the assignments help the students improve their critical thinking skills. Although this may be true, the students find these projects completely irrelevant to their career goals.
- A further and equally important observation is that global warming affects the region’s forests.
- Given that most bullies learn this behavior in their homes, it’s the cause, not the effect that we should be treating.
3. Transition Words for a Compare and Contrast Essay
Making transitions in compare and contrast essays is not easy since you have two completely different pieces of information to explore. However, there are words that can help you with the logical flow. As you’ll notice, some of these words work well for making comparisons, whereas the others are great for contrast:
- Likewise
- Similarly
- In the same way
- In contrast
- However
- On the other hand
- Still
- In spite of
Now you want the sentences, right? Of course!
- Similarly to Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator also helps the users create realistic images.
- However, Photoshop is a better choice when working with photos; whereas Illustrator wins the battle regarding vector graphics.
4. Transition Words for the Conclusion
In the conclusion of your essay, you’re supposed to connect all arguments and restate the thesis statement. What transition words do you use between the previous paragraph and the conclusion? Here are few of them:
- To sum up
- In conclusion
- In summary
- To conclude/ To summarize
- Finally
- Overall
Let’s put these words in sentences, so we’ll see how they sound:
- In conclusion, the freedom of thought is a great gift, but responsibility as well.
- To sum up, people’s right to free speech is not being protected even in democratic societies.
5. General Transition Words and Phrases for Essays
Some transition words work in every kind of paper you write. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a narrative, personal, argumentative, or any other kind of essay; you can make some words and phrases work.
- In my opinion
- It’s a common misconception that
- As an example
- There are different reasons why
- Not only… but also
- To put it in simpler words/In other words
- Namely
- Due to
- As a result of
- In general
- Surprisingly
- Even though
- Regardless
- After all
- In the hope that
- In order to
- All of a sudden
- Until then/Until now
- Whenever
Let’s go with the examples:
- Namely, as the late Dr. Groover S. Krantz said, many scientific breakthroughs are made by people who are only marginally involved in the relevant areas of research.
- Until now, people still haven’t stopped believing in the existence of Bigfoot.
- Whenever Dostoevsky wrote about Sankt-Peterburg he showed his love for this city.
Pick Your Transition Words for an Essay Easy
Whoa; those were quite a few transition words for college essays. If you know how to start the paper and you have a strong outline to stick to, the transitions should not be a problem. It’s not easy to connect different arguments, but the words we suggested above will help you do that.
Keep this in mind: the transition in a sentence mustn’t be a filler. Use only the words that support the logical flow and don’t write more than necessary. Every single sentence you write has to be related to the main thesis statement.
As always, the authors from XpertWriters are here to give you the tips you need to overcome the challenges of academic writing. Was this guide helpful? Do you have other suggestions to make? Questions, maybe? Feel free to join the discussion! We’re always glad to get your feedback.