This document provides a list of transitional words and phrases organized by category to help writers smoothly guide readers through their writing. It includes transitions for time, sequence or addition, cause and effect, comparison and contrast, examples, emphasis, summary and conclusion, and works cited. Using transitional words and phrases gives writing a more polished and concise effect by linking different parts together.

1. Tidewater CommunityCollege
Portsmouth Campus
Phone: 757-822-2931
June 3, 2016
Writing Center 1
Transition Words and Phrases
Transition words and phrases can easily guide a reader through your writing. Incorporate
transitions into your writing to give your essay a more polished and concise effect.
Time
Afterward As soon as At first At the same time
Before Earlier Eventually Finally
Immediately In the meantime Later Meanwhile
Next Now Simultaneously Since
Soon Subsequently Then Until
Sequence or Addition
Again Also And Besides
Finally In addition Additionally Last
Moreover First Second Third
Next Furthermore Still Even more
First of all Second of all Another Secondly
Thirdly Further What is more
Cause and Effect
As a result Consequently In consequence As a consequence
Therefore Then Hence Thus
Accordingly Because of Due to For that reason
Comparison and Contrast
In the same way Likewise By the same token Similarly
In like manner In similar fashion Also In comparison
Comparatively Yet Nonetheless Nevertheless

2. Tidewater CommunityCollege
Portsmouth Campus
Phone: 757-822-2931
June 3, 2016
Writing Center 2
However On the contrary On the other hand In contrast
In converse Conversely Notwithstanding Despite
Whereas In opposition
Examples
For example For instance Specifically Namely
To illustrate As an illustration To demonstrate To show
One instance Another instance To be precise To be exact
Emphasis
Indeed Of course To repeat To reiterate
By all means Without a doubt Undoubtedly Certainly
In fact Surely Absolutely Even more
Above all More importantly Undeniably Definitely
To be clear Clearly Obviously Evidently
Summary and Conclusion
In summary In conclusion In short To recap
In recapitulation To recapitulate To conclude Finally
As a final point At last Lastly In the end
Overall Altogether To put it briefly As has been noted
To summarize All in all In sum
Works Cited and Suggested Reading
Kirszner, Laurie G., and Stephen R. Mandell. Patterns for College Writing: A Rhetorical Reader and Guide. New
York: Bedford St. Martin’s, 2015.Print.
“Transitional Words and Phrases.” The Writer’s Handbook. Writing Center at the U of Wisconsin, 2014.Web. 3
June 2016.