The Ultimate Ninja List of Transition Words for College Essays

Essay writing entails several significant elements when it comes to vocabulary and one of the most important are transition words and phrases for essays, that connect the content together into a cohesive unit.

The first thing you might ask yourself when reading this headline is, "What are transitional words for essays and what are their purpose?" You might not be aware of it, but transitional words and phrases are a crucial part of every essay, that give your writing a better flow.

Transition words for college essays are used to connect two or more ideas together, to introduce a shift in your writing, a contrast or the purpose of a paragraph or an idea. They can also be used to emphasize certain points and introduce a conclusion of those points.

The Golden List of Transitional Words for Essays

Let's cut to the chase and get started with the ultimate list of transition words for essays that you are going to need. When it comes to using transitioning words for essays, it's important to know that there is a large variety of different categories, and each related to the purpose of your transition words. There are, for example, transition words for compare and contrast essays and many other types that are going to make your writing a thousand times better. Before you start using them to make your essays more rich and easier to read and understand, let's find out which words and phrases belong to a certain group and why.

Condition / Purpose

You might even be using these transition words already, but you aren't aware of it. The more aware you are of the purpose and meaning behind each of these words, the better you'll be able to utilize them in your texts. Condition and purpose transition phrases and words are used to describe or introduce a specific intention or a condition.

in the event that	when	in case
granted (that)	whenever	provided that
as / so long as	while	given that
on (the) condition (that)	if	only / even if
for the purpose of	because of	so that
with this intention	as	so as to
with this in mind	since	owing to
in the hope that	while	inasmuch as

For example: Use transition words and phrases if you're introducing a new idea that hasn't already been mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Similarity / Agreement

These transition words are used to connect to similar ideas that complement each other and are in sync, or if you want to add to an idea previously explained.

as a matter of fact	again	moreover
in like manner	to	as well as
in addition	and	together with
coupled with	also	of course
in the same fashion / way	then	likewise
first, second, third	equally	comparatively
in the light of	identically	correspondingly
not to mention	uniquely	similarly

For example: An essay will be more understandable if it has transition words and phrases included in a natural order, not to mention how significantly professional the entire piece of writing will sound.

Emphasis / Examples

These transition words and phrases should be used, if you want to add an example to the paragraph or illustrate an importance of a certain idea you're going to talk about in the following sentence. Here's a list of good transition words for an essay that contains a lot of examples:

to put it differently	namely	in particular
for one thing	chiefly	in detail
as an illustration	truly	for example
in this case	indeed	for instance
for this reason	certainly	to demonstrate
to put it another way	surely	to emphasize
that is to say	markedly	to repeat
with attention to	such as	to clarify

For example: Transition words and phrases indeed play a significant role in tying each unit of your essay together.

Contradiction / Limitation

Transition words for argumentative essays are necessary, but you might not know which ones they are yet. These connecting words are used when you want to introduce an idea that's completely opposite to what you were previously writing about. You're also going to use these when you want to highlight or emphasize something that's contrary to an idea, and to mark the transition in opinion.

conversely	on the contrary	unlike
otherwise	at the same time	or
however	in spite of	(and) yet
rather	even so / though	while
nevertheless	be that as it may	albeit
nonetheless	then again	besides
regardless	above all	as much as
notwithstanding	in reality	even though

For example: Using transition words is an essential part of any essay as it enables you to shape and mold your ideas into a cohesive unit, however, using too many transition words can actually confuse the reader and are considered unnecessary if they don't carry or introduce some kind of meaning.

Consequence / Result

When you're presenting an idea and want to be very specific about introducing a consequence or an effect, it's best to use time transition words. They are going to demonstrate that after a certain time there was a consequence or a result of a certain action. Here's a list of good transition words for persuasive essays that are going to help you prove your point better by illustrating consequences and results more naturally.

as a result	for	consequently
under those circumstances	thus	therefore
in that case	because the	thereupon
for this reason	then	forthwith
in effect	hence	accordingly

For example: One of our students aced their essay by implementing transition and phrase words, thus enabling us to understand and read the essay better.

Space / Location

If you're looking for transition words for an essay that are going to help you better describe, restrict or name a certain place or location, you can use transition phrases for space and location. Here's a list of the most commonly used ones. Stay tuned for the list of transition words for a compare and contrast essay, as well as any other type of essay that requires detailed describing.

in the middle	here	around
to the left / right	there	between
in front of	next	before
on this side	where	alongside
in the distance	from	amid
here and there	over	among
in the foreground	near	beneath
in the background	above	beside

For example: To the left of the column, there were explanations of all transition words for essay and how it may be practically used within it.

Summary / Conclusion

A conclusion is the part of an essay where we summarizes the entire idea presented in the essay and conclude what the main point was of the entire essay. Therefore, to introduce this naturally, without abruptly interrupting the flow of the essay, you should use conclusion transition words for essays that help you restate ideas or deliver a general statement.

as can be seen	in brief	by and large
generally speaking	in essence	to sum up
in the final analysis	to summarize	on the whole
all things considered	on balance	in any event
as shown above	altogether	in either case
in the long run	overall	all in all
given these points	ordinarily	by and large
as has been noted	usually	obviously

For example: Obviously, these weren't the only transition words and phrases that can be used to summarize an essay or deliver an overall statement. There are plenty of other's you can use to summarize all of the given points of the writing.

Sequence / Time

Other transition words and phrases can be used to define time. Whether you want to describe a restriction of time, or a particular order of events in time, these words help you avoid boring and confusing descriptions.

at the same time	since	whenever
up to the present time	then	eventually
to begin with	before	meanwhile
in due time	hence	further
as soon as	since	during
as long as	when	in time
in the meantime	once	prior to
in a moment	about	forthwith

For example: While the professor was correcting the errors with a sharp and painfully bright red pencil, I was holding my breath. As soon as he was finished, I let my breath go.

The Final Say

Now that our Ninjas have helped you dissect some of the good transition words for essays, you can start including them in your essays. If you're still not sure how to use them, or simply don't have enough time to study the entire table through, and truly understand how to use each category, go to our website and contact a ninja writer that will help you today! Our Ninja Essay Writers are ready to take on your challenge!