Make Smooth Transitions: 300+ Strong Transition Words for Essays

Have you ever read a piece of literature and wondered how smoothly the author transitioned from one paragraph to the next?

Making smooth transitions while writing is not a piece of cake. Most students struggle to write in a cohesive manner that effectively communicates the message.

Original: SourceIf you want to improve paragraph transitions and are wondering which words or phrases to use, this article’s for you. Read on to learn more about using strong transition words for essays with confidence.

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What are Transition Words and Phrases

Having strong transition words for essays is pivotal as it leads the reader from one idea to another. In the absence of transition words, sentences would not have a structure, appear connected, or flow smoothly.

Using transition words prevents the reader from having to jump from one paragraph or sentence to another. This makes your essay easier to follow and gets your message across in a more coherent manner.

In short, transition words are majorly used to place smooth, easy to comprehend, and logical connections between sentences and paragraphs in your essay.

Here’s an interesting video by Write to Top that talks about the importance of coherence and cohesion in essay writing.

A Handy List of 300+ Strong Transition Words for Essays

Now that you know how important it is to use transition words and phrases to connect and structurally flow the ideas and arguments in your essay let’s take a look at 300+ strong transition words you can use.

The list is divided into 12 broad categories, making it easier for you to use them while writing essays.

1. Cause & Effect

Connects the instigator(s) to the consequences or the outcome of an action.

Therefore
Thus
Since
Hence
For that/this reason
As a result
Accordingly
In that case
Consequently
Under those circumstances
Thereupon
Due to
In other words
With the result that

2. Chronology or Time

Connects a situation or issue to when it occurred or conveys a series of events by limiting, restricting, and defining time.

From time to time
To begin with
Subsequently
In the meantime
At length
During
Following
Immediately
In a moment
In the first place
Without delay
At this instant
First, second, third
Now
So far
Formerly
Rarely
Usually
After
Afterward
Before
Then
All of a sudden
Meanwhile
Eventually
To begin with
In due time
As long as
As soon as
Later
Last
Until
Since
Concurrently
Previously
Whenever
Until now
This time
In the future
Previously
Following
Soon
Today
Immediately after
Back then
Subsequently
Simultaneously

3. Combinations, Comparisons, or Additions

Finds similarities, compares two preceding statements, ideas, or concepts, connects multiple events to make one whole story, and adds new words to complete the paragraph.

Likewise
Comparatively
Additionally
As a result
Besides
As a matter of fact
In the same way
In addition
Similarly
Also
Finally
Moreover
Like
Identically
Equally
In like fashion
In light of
Compared to
Furthermore
Not only
Although
As well as
Not to mention
Just like
Another
Therefore
In the first place
To say nothing of

4. Contrast or Differences

Connecting two instances or phrases, mainly focusing on their differences or suggesting alternative ideas to be considered. Alternatively, these can also be used to contrast two ideas, thoughts, or key pieces of information in your essay.

In contrast
Although this may be true
And yet
On the contrary
At the same time
In spite of
After all
Then again
(and) still
Even so
On the other hand
As much as
Besides
While
Otherwise
Nevertheless
Regardless
Rather
Whereas
Be that as it may
In reality
But
Unlike
That said
Notwithstanding
Albeit

5. Clarification

Connects to further clarify the arguments being made in simpler, more compact terms.

That is
I mean
Simply put
To clarify
To explain
To rephrase it
To put it another way
In lay terms
In other words
Simply stated
In explanation
In simple terms
To clearly define
To break it down
To simplify
To put it clearly

6. Concession

Connects to express an idea that acknowledges the opposing view of the main part of the argument or sentence.

Granted
Naturally
Of course
To be sure
It is true
At any rate
At least
Still
Even though
While it may be true
In spite of
Admittedly
Up to a point
However
And still
And yet
Nevertheless
Nonetheless
Regardless of this

7. Examples

Connects to add emphasis, or introduce evidence or example as support.

For example
For instance
To demonstrate
To emphasize
To clarify
To enumerate
Such as
Namely
To put it differently
As an illustration
In this case
For this reason
That is to say
Important to realize
Most compelling evidence
Must be remembered
To point out
With this in mind
On the positive/negative side
Specifically
Particularly
In detail
Notably
To illustrate
Proof of this
As an example of
In this situation
By all means
Truly
Hypothetically
In fact
Moreover
In addition
To explain
In particular
Another key point
More importantly
To list

8. Importance

Connecting an important aspect to an otherwise unimportant sentence or paragraph.

Essentially
Most importantly
Primarily
Critically
Chiefly
Principally
Fundamentally
Notably
Unquestionably
Unarguably

9. Generalization

Connects to give an idea about a general subject.

Generally speaking
Overall
For the most part
By and large
In general
Ordinarily
Usually
As a rule
As usual
Generally

10. Location

Connects elements according to where they are placed in a relationship to each other. These provide spatial order and references to locations and space.

In the middle
In front of
To the right or left
Here and there
On this side
In the distance
In the foreground
In the background
In the center of
Opposite to
Adjacent to
Neighboring on
Along the edge
Straight ahead
At the bottom
In proximity to
In vicinity of
On the horizon
Further
Beyond
Nearby
Wherever
Alongside
Between
Before
Among
Under
Over
Across
At the top
Centrally
Peripherally
Here/There
Surrounding
At the rear
At the front
Next to
Within sight
Out of sight

11. Purpose

Connects when you want to present specific intentions, causes, or conditions.

In the event that
As/So long as
For this purpose
In order that
To that end
To this end
So that
With the hope that
With this intention
With this in mind
In view of
On the condition that
In case
Provided that
Given that
Only if
Even if
So as to
Owing to
Due to
Because of
Lest
While
Since
If
Unless
With this purpose
Seeing that

12. Summary

Connects to summarize, conclude or restate certain arguments, points, and ideas that were previously mentioned in the essay. These transition words are used to indicate a final generalized statement about the approached argument and wrap it up.

To summarize
To conclude
In the final analysis
All things considered
As shown above
In the long run
As has been noted
Given these points
For the most part
After all
In short
In brief
To reiterate
In a word
By and large
To sum up
On the whole
In either case
All in all
Ultimately
As can be seen
Therefore
Finally
Consequently
Thus
As a result
As mentioned
In other words
In essence
In the end
To end
As demonstrated above
As indicated
As discussed
Hence
In the short run
At the end of the day
In a nutshell
To put it briefly

8 Dos and Don’ts of Using Strong Transition Words for Essays

Just as using the above transition words are necessary for essays and other academic papers, it is equally important to know the appropriate dos and don'ts of using transition words in essays.

DOs

1. Be sure to know what your transition word means and if it is used correctly and makes sense in a sentence.

2. Ensure that you don't accidentally create incomplete sentences. Check to see if you are using subordinating conjunctions, as they can lead to fragmented sentences.

3. Use when presenting a new idea or in the middle of two ideas to show a logical connection.

4. Use an essay outline to organize your writing and figure out exactly where you can use your transition words and how to avoid overusing them.

DON'TS

1. Just as you can have too few transition words in your essay, you can also have too many. Use your transition words sparingly and in key places.

Adding too many can be distracting to read, can make your content piece complicated to understand, and make your reader seem as if they aren’t capable enough to comprehend basic connections.

2. Never add a transition word at the end of a sentence. This confuses the readers and takes the emphasis off what you want to say.

3. Never start a sentence with a “but,” “and,” or “because” in an academic assignment. Instead, replace them with a more formal transition word.

4. Don't use transition words from a different category than the one it is needed for. For example, if it is a general statement, don’t use transition words for summarizing a paragraph. Stick to the words or phrases in each category.

The Takeaway

This list must have felt like a lot; so many words and phrases to remember. But you wouldn’t necessarily need to do that because you can come back to this blog post whenever you need a reminder.

Original: SourceOur list of strong transition words for essays can guide you to achieve high grades on your assignments as well as impress your professors. So, use these transition words to do away with choppy sentences and disconnected ideas!

Not confident about your writing skills? Writers Per Hour can help. Our team of professional writers can help you deliver high-quality essays written from scratch with transition words et al.

Last edit at Dec 25 2022

Written by

Adela Belin

Adela Belin leads content at Writers Per Hour. With a passion for storytelling, she brings a wealth of knowledge to the field of content marketing and is dedicated to creating content that drives results. Find her on Twitter and Facebook or check her website.

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