Common Transitions
One way to enhance the fluency of your writing is to incorporate effective transitions between sentences or between paragraphs. The following list may help you increase your fluency and clarify the relationship among ideas in your paper (Hacker 34-5).
To show addition:
and, also, besides, further, furthermore, in addition, moreover, next, too, first, second
To give examples:
for example, for instance, to illustrate, in fact, specifically
To compare:
also, in the same manner, similarly, likewise
To contrast:
but, however, on the other hand, in contrast, nevertheless, still, even though, on the contrary, yet, although
To summarize or conclude:
in other words, in short, in summary, in conclusion, to sum up, that is, therefore
To show time:
after, as, before, next, during, later, finally, meanwhile, then, when, while, immediately
To show place or direction:
above, below, beyond, farther on, nearby, opposite, close, to the left
To indicate logical relationship:
if, so, therefore, consequently, thus, as a result, for this reason, since
Need help with the flow of your paper? Try the sentence fluency page.
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