MAKING YOUR WRITING FLOW

Learning Support / Academic Support and Assessments / Planning, writing and submitting assessments / Linking Works and Phrases

How can we help you learn?

Using linking words within and between sentences and paragraphs helps to make your writing flow logically.

These words act as signposts, assisting your reader to move easily from one idea to the next, and to see relationships between sentences or paragraphs. Linking words are particularly useful for indicating that you are going to explain something, to give an example or to use a time sequence, or to offer a contrasting view.

Help me choose a linking word

To give an example	For example For instance To illustrate …such as
To emphasise something	Above all Certainly Clearly Indeed In fact Obviously
To show order of time or importance	Firstly, Secondly etc First of all Then Next Afterwards Finally Subsequently Recently At the same time In the meantime Sometimes Preceding this Until
To amplify	Again Also Apparently Equally important Furthermore In addition Moreover Finally
To offer a contrast	However In contrast Nevertheless On the contrary On the other hand Alternatively Despite this Although
To show similarity	Likewise Similarly
To express causality	Accordingly Consequently For this reason
To introduce detail	Especially In particular Specifically Namely
To interpret something	Fortunately (unfortunately) Interestingly Surprisingly (unsurprisingly) Significantly
To generalise	On the whole In general Generally speaking Broadly speaking
To conclude	To summarise In conclusion

Adapted from Silyn-Roberts, H. (1996). Writing for science. Auckland, NZ: Addison Wesley Longman.

The content on this page has been adapted from a resource created by Learning Support@Student Success, Otago Polytechnic

MAKING YOUR WRITING FLOW

How can we help you learn?

Using linking words within and between sentences and paragraphs helps to make your writing flow logically.

Help me choose a linking word

Still Stuck?

Get in touch for more support.