Good Transition Words for Essays

Think of transition words and phrases as the glue ideas and essays together. In academic essay writing and professional writing, conveying information concisely, coherently, clearly, and consistently to the reader matters more. Transition words help create logical connections between sentences, paragraphs, and sections of any paper you are writing.

If you've had feedback about using transition more or would like to get pieces of information together, you need a transition. They are effective when paraphrasing, summarizing and quoting ideas in your essay. 

If you want to achieve the pro-level writing status where your reading transitions from one paragraph to the next, read what we have researched, tested, and written in this article.

This article is the guide you are looking for. We introduce you not only to solid transition words for essays but also to give you concrete examples.

What are transition words and phrases?

Let's begin by understanding the transition word definition before giving you over 100 transition words categorized based on their use.

Transition words and phrases are signals to your readers on how to consume the information you present in your paper. Transitions can be single words, phrases, or full sentences, which tell the readers how to react, organize, and decode ideas as they read through your essay or paper. In addition, they link ideas together and offer direction to the readers on how to link these ideas into a coherent and logical argument.

Transition words are pivotal in preventing your readers from roaming about ideas in your essay. It structures their information processing by helping them move from a sentence to the other and paragraph to the other. In long essays, transitions enable navigation from one section to the next.

Without proper transition, your essays will sound like a disaster.

There are different types of transitions. The transitions between sections, which come in handy in long essays, help transition from one section to another. The transition between paragraphs or paragraphs can come at the end of the first paragraph or the beginning of the second paragraph, ensuring a smooth transition from one paragraph to the next. Finally, the transition within paragraphs helps the readers to anticipate what to expect within the paragraph.

How to choose good transitions in an Essay

In academic and professional writing, the use of transition words and phrases denotes higher-level thinking.

Transitions are a powerful tool that you can either use to your advantage and get the grades or misplace and abuse to ruin your essay.

With that in mind, here are some effective tips to use when selecting and using transitions.

1. Always consider the context of the sentence, paragraph, or section before choosing a transition word, signal, or phrase to ensure that you are not misplacing it.
2. Ensure that the transition you choose to use in an essay is not overused or abused.
3. Find and replace the repeated transition words for proper flow and sound arguments.
4. Ensure that every transition is correctly used to enable the flow of ideas
5. Only use transition words where you must use them
6. Do not force transition words into a paragraph. There has to be some natural flow of ideas.
7. Create an outline for your essay or research paper to know what transition word fits where and in what context
8. Use different transition words within your essay
9. Never overuse transition words
10. Do not primarily rely on transitions to establish or signal relationships between paragraphs or concepts. Use other means that we have discussed in this guide
11. Only incorporate a transition word or phrase in your writing after understanding its usage and meaning

A Quick List of Strong Transition words to spice up an Essay

Your essay is a basis through which your professor assesses your intelligence and skills. Using transition words correctly in an essay automatically makes you sound intelligent. Besides, it improves the flow of ideas in your essay, so much so that your markers won't have trouble locating the important elements.

A word of caution, however: although transitions add clarity and value to writing, they should be used sparingly and carefully because they can become overwhelming. It does not matter whether you are after high school or college-level transition words. These examples of transition words are what you need to make your writing sound, flexible, and appealing.

We have categorized these transition words and phrases to make them easier for you to access when writing essays.

Sequence, Chronology, or Time

These transition words are also known as first paragraph transition words because they can be used to link ideas in the following paragraphs. For example, they can be used to introduce a list or point to a sequence of events.

1. At length
2. Immediately
3. In the first place
4. In a moment
5. Without delay
6. At this moment
7. In this case
8. First, second, third…
9. Now
10. Meanwhile
11. To begin with
12. Next
13. In due time
14. Initially
15. First of all
16. At first
17. Subsequently
18. Previously
19. Eventually
20. Afterward
21. Hitherto
22. To resume
23. At any rate
24. As previously stated,
25. In summary
26. As noted before
27. As hereby outlined
28. As a result of this
29. Altogether
30. Rarely
31. All of a sudden
32. In due time
33. Concurrently
34. This time
35. After a while
36. As long as
37. Lately
38. Simultaneously
39. So far
40. Presently
41. Time to time
42. Prior to
43. Before
44. Henceforth
45. In due time
46. Soon
47. Back then
48. Simultaneously
49. Subsequently
50. Whenever
51. Since
52. Until now
53. As soon as
54. Latter
55. Former
56. Formerly
57. During

Transition words for Adding Ideas

These are also known as transition words for additional support or evidence. They are mainly used when presenting pieces of evidence to support claims in an argument.

1. Again
2. Also
3. And
4. Further
5. Furthermore
6. In addition
7. In the first place
8. Likewise
9. Equally
10. Moreover
11. Next
12. Nor
13. Similarly
14. To add
15. Too
16. For one thing
17. Equally important
18. Finally

Transition Phrases and Words for Emphasizing Ideas

1. Above all
2. Indeed
3. In particular
4. Specifically
5. Such as
6. That is
7. Thus
8. To illustrate
9. Certainly
10. For this reason
11. Notably
12. Namely
13. Truly
14. That is to say
15. In other words
16. As an illustration
17. For instance
18. For example
19. In this case

Contrasting Ideas/Exception/ Compare and contrast

1. And yet
2. Although
3. But at the same time
4. Despite
5. Even so
6. Be that as it may
7. By way of contrast
8. Conversely
9. Either way
10. In fact
11. Primarily
12. Even though
13. Conversely
14. Differently
15. For all that
16. However
17. In contrast
18. In spite of
19. Nevertheless
20. Notwithstanding
21. On the contrary
22. On the other hand
23. Whereas
24. While
25. Yet
26. Still though
27. Regardless
28. Otherwise
29. Unfortunately
30. Rather
31. Albeit
32. Instead
33. On the one hand

Transition words for argumentative essays

1. To begin with
2. One alternative is
3. Chiefly
4. Primarily
5. Fundamentally
6. On the contrary
7. All things considered
8. Another way of viewing this
9. Even if "x" is true
10. That is to say
11. By contrast
12. To put it more simply
13. As a result
14. Consequently
15. Yet another
16. To clarify
17. Generally speaking
18. At the same time
19. With this in mind

Transition words to begin or start a paragraph

1. In the meantime
2. Primarily
3. Furthermore
4. Basically
5. Generally
6. First, second, third…
7. First off
8. Assuredly
9. Earlier
10. First of all
11. The next step
12. To be sure
13. Once and for all
14. In addition
15. As you can see
16. To put it differently
17. Besides

Summary/Ending/Conclusion

The list of transitions below bridges or connects to conclude, summarize, or restate specific claims, arguments, ideas, and points of view previously covered in your essay. These are potentially the best transition words for conclusion. You can as well call them ending transition words. You can use them in your closing sentences as well as closing paragraphs. They indicate the final generalized statement or account about the discussion in your essay or your main argument in the essay.

1. All in all
2. Altogether
3. In brief
4. In particular
5. In essence
6. Overall
7. On the whole
8. That is
9. In simpler terms
10. In summary
11. Summing it all up
12. In conclusion
13. Everything considered
14. Taking everything into account
15. To summarize
16. By and large
17. Ultimately
18. Therefore
19. Consequently
20. As can be seen
21. For the most part
22. To conclude
23. In short
24. To reiterate
25. In a word
26. Finally
27. Given these points
28. As revealed above
29. All things considered
30. In the final analysis
31. In the end
32. In the long run
33. To end
34. In a nutshell
35. In the short run
36. To put it differently
37. Hence
38. As indicated

Transition words for purpose

These transition words and phrases bridge sentences or paragraphs when you want to present specific conditions, causes, and intentions. These transitions are primarily used to introduce clauses and conditions

1. As long as
2. On the condition that
3. In order to
4. Whenever

5. As so long as
6. To that end
7. To this end
8. So that
9. While
10. Seeing that
11. With this purpose
12. Unless
13. If
14. Since
15. While
16. Due to
17. Only if
18. Should
19. So as to
20. Even if
21. Given that
22. On grounds that
23. In view of
24. On the conditions that
25. Provided that
26. With this in mind
27. With the intention
28. Because of

Transitions for Location, Place, or Position

These transition expressions, phrases, and words connect elements of your essay depending on where they are placed relative to one another. They are used to establish spatial order and give reference to space and location.

1. Amidst
2. In front of
3. To the right or left
4. In the foreground
5. At the bottom
6. In proximity to
7. Neighboring
8. Adjacent to
9. Opposite to
10. In the center of
11. In the distance
12. Here and there
13. On this side
14. In a distance
15. Further
16. Beyond
17. Among
18. Under
19. Over
20. Surrounding
21. Within sight
22. Out of sight
23. Next to
24. Across
25. Relative to
26. Alternate to
27. On the horizon
28. Straight ahead
29. Atop
30. Upon
31. There
32. Here
33. Centrally
34. Peripherally
35. Between
36. Alongside
37. On the edge

Transitions for Cause and effect

This list of transitions can be used to connect to the consequences and causes of a given action. For example, the causal transitions let the readers know that there is a cause-and-effect relationship between ideas or paragraphs.

1. Accordingly
2. Following
3. Consequently
4. Hence
5. So
6. Thus
7. Therefore
8. Since
9. Under the circumstances
10. Due to
11. In other words
12. As a result
13. For that reason
14. In that case
15. With the result that

Transitions for Concession

These are transition words that connect ideas to other ideas that acknowledge the main argument's contrasting or opposing viewpoints of the main argument or a claim in a sentence.

1. Given that
2. Granted
3. Of course
4. Naturally
5. It goes without saying
6. To be sure
7. It is true
8. At any rate
9. Still
10. To say the least
11. Of course
12. Admittedly
13. Fundamentally
14. Nevertheless
15. Regardless of the fact that
16. And yet
17. Up to a point
18. In spite of
19. Even though
20. Although
21. While it is true
22. While it might not be true
23. Nonetheless

Signal words or transition words for introduction

When quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing, you can use signal phrases or transition words for introduction. Below are some signal words you can use to introduce a source:

1. Comments
2. Describes
3. Explains
4. Contends
5. Opines
6. Writes
7. Reports
8. Predicts
9. Suggests
10. Supposes
11. Warns
12. Concludes
13. Claims
14. Defends
15. Maintains
16. Laments
17. Disagrees
18. Deplores
19. Complains
20. Admits
21. Concedes
22. Concurs
23. Grants
24. Proposes
25. Mentions
26. Believes
27. Insists
28. Demonstrates
29. Says

Signal phrases include the name of the author (s) and the verb that indicates the attitude or approach of the author (s).

Other ways to improve the flow of ideas in an essay

Now that we have exhausted transitions, it is also prudent to understand different ways to maintain the flow of ideas in your essay. The other three include repetition of words and phrases, using pronoun reference, and parallelism.

Parallelism

Parallelism refers to the intentional repetition of large structures of phrases, whole sentences, and clauses. You can achieve this by listing the ideas so that you write them in the same grammatical format or using the same syntax. Using parallelism enhances the clarity of your writing, making it easy to spot your arguments.

Using pronoun reference

Pronouns are natural bridges to ideas. They refer to what the reader had read earlier in the text or essay.

Repetition

You can also connect ideas in your essay by repeating words, phrases, or sentences. This is especially important if you want to create a rhythm in the minds of your readers. However, use this approach sparingly lest it interrupts and trashes your arguments. Nevertheless, repetition enhances coherence, clarity, and emphasis in an essay when used well.

Final Remarks

To this end, you now understand the definition, meaning, and use of transition words. As a result, you can use them in professional and academic writing tasks. Transition words, no doubt, increase the clarity of your content, providing a logical link between sentences and clauses. In most cases, transition words are separated from the sentence by a comma.

When used to combine sentences consisting of independent clauses, transitional words have to be preceded by a semicolon. Introductory words and phrases introduce quotations and paraphrases.

You now have advanced transition words for essays, which you can equally use in your research paper. If you have an important essay, report, or research paper and could use some help, know that you can rely on our expert writers at EssayManiacs.com. They understand how to plan, research, and write papers that incorporate transition words, depending on your paper's purpose, intention, and audience. Please place your order by filling out the order form on our home page.