This post contains lists of common expressions to be used in academic writing or just in expository texts. Even though it is mostly list of conjuctions, there are usefull idioms for argumentation, expanding on your topic etc.

Personal opinion:

  • In my view
  • To my mind
  • To my way of thinking
  • Personally I believe that
  • It strikes me that
  • It seems to me that
  • As far as I am concerned

To list pros and cons

  • One (dis)advantage to/of
  • Another (dis)advantage of
  • A further (dis)advantage
  • Main (dis)advantage

To list points

  • Firstly, secondly, thirdly
  • First of all
  • To start with
  • At the beginning
  • Afterwards, next, then

To add more points to the same topic

  • What is more
  • Furthermore
  • Apart from that
  • In addition
  • Moreover
  • Besides

To refer to other sources

  • With reference to
  • According to

To express cause and result

  • Because
  • Owing to
  • Due to the fact that
  • On the grounds that
  • Since
  • As
  • Because of

To express effect

  • Thus
  • Therefore
  • So
  • Consequently
  • As a result
  • For this reason
  • As a consequence

To emphasize

  • Clearly
  • Obviously
  • Of course
  • Needless to say

To express reality

  • It is fact that
  • In effect
  • In fact
  • Actually
  • In practice
  • Indeed

To express distinction

  • Initially
  • At first sight

To give example

  • For instance
  • For example

To make a general statement

  • As a general rule
  • Generally
  • In general
  • On the whole
  • As a main tendency

To make partially correct statement

  • Up to a point
  • To a certain extend
  • In a sense
  • In a way

To express limit of knowledge

  • To the best of my knowledge
  • As far as I know

To state opinions of other people

  • It is popular to believed that
  • People often claim that
  • It is often alleged that
  • Some people argue that

To make a contrasting point

  • Yet
  • However
  • Nevertheless
  • But
  • Nonetheless
  • Still
  • Although
  • Even though
  • Regardless of the fact that
  • Despite the fact that

To express balance

  • However
  • But
  • On the other hand
  • Although
  • In contrast

To clarify or rephrase

  • In other words
  • That is to say
  • To put it in another way

To express similarity

  • Similarly
  • Likewise
  • In the same way

To express condition

  • On the condition that
  • Provided that
  • Only if
  • As long as
  • Otherwise

To conclude

  • Finally
  • Lastly
  • As a conclusion
  • In conclusion
  • Taking everything into account
  • On the whole
  • All things considered
  • To sum up

To summarize

  • In short
  • Briefly
  • To put it briefly
  • As a conclusion