Signpost Words and Phrases

Signposting means using phrases and words to guide the reader through the content of your essay/dissertation which will make your essay more readable.

Transition show the reader the "movement" between ideas/points. They show that the ideas follow a logical order and build on each other, creating "flow". If a paragraph flows well from point to point, it should be obvious to the reader when you move from one point to another.

They tell the reader:

• How the main ideas support the thesis statement.
• How each group of ideas follow from the ones before, and whether information is:
  • an additional point
  • in constrast to what has been said
  • an example

There are two main types of signposting:

• Major Signposts
  introduction, conclusion and outlining main arguments/the direction of the argument in paragraphs/opening phrases.
• Liking words and short phrases
  connecting words help guide the reader through the argument by linking ideas, sentences and paragraphs.

Linking words and short phrases

Showing the order of things

• First/Firstly, ... Second/Secondly, ... Third/Thridly (etc.)
• First and formost
  First and formost, I would say never run with headphones.
• To begin with ...
• Initially
• Afterwards, ...
• Next, ...
• Then, ...
• Following this ...
• Subsequently
• Later, ...
• Before, ...
• Previously
• Earlier
• Meanwhile
• While
• Finally, ...
• Lastly, ...
• To conclude, ...
• Given the above

Transitioning between points

• Turning now to ...
• Moving on to ...
• Having considered ... we will now consider ...
• It is now necessary to ...
• This section identifies ...
• Next ...

Refering forward content

• In the following section ...
• The following ...
• As follows ...
• As we shall see, ...
• As explored below, ...
• As will be explained later, ..
• This will be discussed in detail later.

Refering backward content

• In the previous section, ...
• As we have seen, ...
• As demonstrated above, ...
• As indicated earlier
• As discussed previously, ...
• As previously discussed, ...
• As has been mentioned/noted ...
• Prior to this, ...
• Initially, ...

Adding more ideas

• In addition ...
• Additionally, ...
• What is more ...
• Moreover
• Another ...
• Besides ...
• Also, ...
• Again, ...
• Futher, ...
• Furthermore
• To elaborate, ...

Adding a similar point

• As well as, ...
• Just as ..., so too ...
• Similarly, ...
• Likewise, ...
• In the same way, ...
• Correspondingly, ...
• Complementary to this ...

Rephrasing statements

• Rather, ...
  • She worked as a secretary, or rather, a personal assistant.
  • In the end he had to walk - or rather run - to the office.
• Better still, ...
  • Why don't you give her a call or, better still, go and see her?
  • We could meet for a cup of coffee or, better still, for lunch.
• In other words, ...
• Stated otherwise, ...
• That is ...
• That is to say, ...
• To look at this another way ...
• To put it differently/another way
• More simply
• Put simply ...
• Simply put
• Namely
• Such as

Highlighting or emphasising a point

• Importantly, ...
• Indeed, ...
  • I don't mind at all. Indeed, I would be delighted to help.
  • We have nothing against diversity; indeed, we want more of it.
• In fact, ...
• More importantly, ...
• Most importantly, ...
• It is also important to highlight ...
• It should be noted (that)
• Furthurmore, ...
• Moreover, ...
• Especially ...
• Chiefly, ...
  • He's travelled widely, chiefly in Africa and Asia.
• Mainly, ...
• Mostly, ...
• Definitely
• Obviously
• Inevitably
• Undeniably
• Unquestionabley
• Again
• To repeat
• Interestingly
• (un)fortunately

Being more specific

• In particular, ...
• In relation to ...
• More specifically, ...
• With respect to ...
• In terms of ...

Giving an example

• For instance, ...
• For example, ...
• To illustrate, ...
• this can be illustrated by ...
• ..., namely, ...
• ..., such as ...
• Notabley, ...
• In particular, ...
• One way ...
• One such ...
• ... like ...
• ... including ...
• ... as can be seen in ...
• ... as demonstrated by ...
• ... exemplifies ...
• In this case
• Notably
• A further instance of this is ...
• An example of this is ...
• Thus
• As follows

Creating a comparison

• However, ...
• Rather, ...
• In contrast, ...
• In comparison, ...
• Compared to ...
• Contrastingly
• Conversely, ...
• On one hand, ...
• On another hand, ...
• Another point to consider is ...
• Alternatively
• Whereas

Acknowledging something and moving to a different point

• Although ...
• Even though ...
• Clearly though
• Despite ...
• Notwithstanding ...
• Nevertheless
• Yet
• In spite of
• Admittedly
• However
• Indeed

Cause

• A/the consequence of
• Because
• Due to
• For
• The effect of ...
• since
• the result of ...
• To this end, ...

Effect

• Accordingly, ...
• As a result/consequence, ...
• Consequently, ...
• Subsequently, ...
• For this reason ...
• Hence ...
• So ...
• Therefore, ...
• Thus, ...
• Because of this ...
• This means that ...
• This suggest that ...
• This causes ...
• In view of this, ...
• With this in mind ...
• It can be seen that ...
• Resutling from this ...
• Evidently
• Inevitably

Making a general statement

• As a rule
• For the most part
• In most cases
• Generally
• In general
• Normally
• Usually
• On the whole

Summarising

• Finally, ...
• Lastly, ...
• In conclusion, ...
• To summarise, ...
• In summary, ...
• Overall, ...
• The three main points are ...
• To sum up ...
• Altogether, ...
• In brief, ...
• In short, ...
• In all, ...
• On the whole, ...
• To review, ...

Major Signposts

In introductions

• This essay will [first] outline/examine/address/argue/demonstrate/focus on ... and will [then] ascertain/establish/clarify/show/judge/prove ... Next, it closely examines ... in relation to ... Finally, it focuses on ... and how this affects ...
• To understand the role of ..., this essay provides a discussion of ...
• Thie essay seeks to investigate/evaludate/illustrate/discuss the impact of ... in relation to ...
• The aim of this study is to .../The purpose of this essay is to ... / This essay argue that ...
• The major issue that needs to be addreessed is ... / The main questions addressed in this paper are ..
• This essay critically examines ...
• This essay is organised in the following way: ...
• The essay is divided into ... main parts: part one will ... part two ...

It is often helpful to quantify what the essay will do. For example, 'this essay will address three aspect ...'. Then use connecting words like 'firstly','secondly,' 'thirdly/finally', through the essay in order to signpost the different points.

You may also signpost how the essay will do these things. For example: 'By describing/reviewing/evaluating [a source or sources such as a literary text, current literature on your topic, historical evidence, statistical data, etc.] this essay will argue/attempt to demonstrate that ...'

In the main body of an essay

Introducing a new idea

• One aspect which illustrates ... can be identified as ...
• The current debate about ... identifies an interesting viewpoint on ...
• First(ly), .../second(ly), ... /finally, ...
• THe first/next/final section provides a general discussion of ...

Linking or developing a new idea

• Having established ..., this essay will now/next consider ...
• Building on from the idea that ..., this section illustrates that ...
• To further understand the role of ... this section explores the idea that ...
• Another line of thought on ... demonstrates that ...
• In addition to/As well as x, y must be/should be/needs to be established ...
• x is one/an important/the key issue that has to be considered. Another/A Second/ of equal importance is ...
• This idea/theory had been extended/developed by ...

Introducting a contrasting view

• However, another angle on this debate suggests that ...
• In contrast to evidence which presents the view that ... an alternative perspective illustrates that ...
• However, not all research shows that ... Some evidence agrees that ...
• This conflicts / contrasts with / is contrary to the view held by ..., who argues that ...

Summing up a paragrpah/section

• The evidence highlights that ...
• It is clear that ...
• THe strength of such an approach is that ...

In conclusions

• In conclusion, .../To summarise, .../As has been showed ...
• Clearly, this essay has shown that the main factors which impact upon ... are ...
• From the above, it's clear that ...
• Several conclusions emerge from this analysis ...
• The evidence presented has shown that ...
• This essay has focussed on the three factors affecting ...
• Is has been established that ...