One of your important jobs as an academic writer is to make it easy for your reader to follow your arguments. Key tools for this are signposting words – words that let your reader know which direction your argument is taking. Some assignment marking schemes may refer to them as “discourse markers” and you may specifically get marks for using enough of them (and using them correctly).

Below are examples of different signposting words for different situations.

Signposts to introduce something new

One aspect which illustrates … can be identified as …
The current debate about … illustrates/identifies/highlights …
With regard to…/ with respect to…
Initially/secondly/finally, …

Continuing an argument with a related point

Furthermore …
To further understand the role of …
In addition …
Similarly …
Likewise …
What is more …
Moreover …
Another issue regarding … is …
Another line of thought on … is …

Going into more detail on a point/rephrasing

In particular …
Specifically …
Concentrating on …
By focusing on … in more detail, it is possible
to …
To be more precise …
In other words …
To put simply …

Linking to a different point

Having established …, it is possible to
consider …
… is one key issue; another of equal/
similar importance/significance is …
Also of importance is the issue of …

Reintroducing a topic

As discussed/explained earlier, …
The earlier discussion on … can be developed further here, …
As stated previously, …
As noted above, …

Introducing an opposing/alternative view

However, …
Conversely, …
In contrast, …
Alternatively, …
Nevertheless/Nonetheless, …
An alternative perspective is given by … who suggests/argues that …
Despite this, …
This conflicts with the view held by …

Reasoning/summarising the point
Consequently/As a consequence, …
Accordingly, …
Therefore, …
It could be concluded that …
The strength of such an approach is that …
For this reason …
Evidently*, …
Clearly/It is clear that, …*
Naturally*, …
In short …
From this, it can be concluded/inferred/suggested that …
The evidence highlights that …

*Only use such phrases if you really are clear that your point has been proved.

These are just a selection of the phrases you can you to make your writing flow and to keep the reader with you and following your line of argument. Be careful not to overuse them though – we recommend no more than 1 or 2 per paragraph. Academic tutors often complain about a lack signposts in assignments they mark so make sure you use them in your writing.

Adapted from a post first published 4th December 2015