711 Paragraph Transition Words for Nonfiction Authors

If your book is the building and your chapters are the floors, your paragraphs are the bricks.

For your nonfiction book to be read and enjoyed by your readers, your flow of ideas must be carefully developed one brick at a time, making sure that you craft each idea fully within its paragraph and then transition to the next idea in a clear way.

The literary device that you’ll use for this purpose is the transition word or transition phrase. Now, since the universe of transitions is extensive, I’ve divided it into groups based on the need and intent of the author. For example, if your upcoming idea clarifies or expands on the previous one, you would then use a “Clarification” transition, such as In other words, or To put it another way.

If your upcoming idea is connected to the previous one, you’d use a “Connection” transition, such as Additionally, or Moreover, and so on.

So without further ado, here are 711 paragraph transition words and phrases you can use, divided into the following 29 groups:

1-Addition, 2-Agreement, 3-Causation, 4-Chronology, 5-Clarification, 6-Comparison, 7-Concession, 8-Conclusion, 9-Connection, 10-Consequence, 11-Contrast, 12-Details, 13-Effect, 14-Emphasis, 15-Examples, 16-Exception, 17-Generalization, 18-Illustration, 19-Importance, 20-Intensification, 21-Location, 22-Opposition, 23-Proof, 24-Purpose, 25-Restatement, 26-Repetition, 27-Sequence, 28-Similarity, 29-Summary

1-Addition:

Additionally Again Also An additional And And then Another Apart from this As a result As well as Besides Both-and Consequently Coupled with Finally First For example For instance Further	Furthermore However In addition In addition to In fact In the same way In the second place Lastly Likewise Moreover Next Not only-but also Not only…but also Otherwise Second Similarly Therefore Thus What’s more

2-Agreement:

As a matter of fact As well as By the same token Comparatively Correspondingly Coupled with Equally Equally important First Furthermore Identically In addition In like manner In the first place In light of	In the same fashion In the same way Like Likewise Moreover Not only … but also Not to mention Of course Second Similarly Then Third To say nothing of Together with Uniquely

3-Causation:

Accordingly And so As As / so long as As a result Because Because of Consequently Due to For fear that For that reason For the purpose of Given that Granted (that) Hence If…then In case In order to In the event that In the hope that In view of Inasmuch as	Lest On account of On condition Only / even if Otherwise Owing to Provided that Seeing / being that Since So as to So that Therefore Thus To the end that Unless When Whenever Wherefore While With this in mind With this intention

4-Chronology:

About Above all After After a few hours Afterward Afterwards All of a sudden Always And then Another As long as As soon as At first At last At length At the present time At the same time At this instant At this time Before By the time Concurrently During During the morning Earlier Eventually Finally First First and foremost First or firstly Following For a minute Formerly Forthwith From time to time Further Generally Hence Henceforth Immediately In a moment In due time In order to In the first place

In the meantime In time Instantly Last Last but not least Later Meanwhile Most important Never Next Now Now that Occasionally Once Ordinarily Presently Previously Prior to Quickly Rarely Second or secondly Shortly Simultaneously Since So far Sometimes Soon Sooner or later Straightaway Subsequently Suddenly Then Thereafter Third or thirdly This time To begin with Until Until now Up to the present time Usually When Whenever While Without delay

5-Clarification:

In other words That is That is to say To clarify	To explain To put it another way To rephrase it

6-Comparison:

Although Although this may be true Analogous to Balanced against But By comparison Compared to Conversely Equally However In a similar fashion In a similar manner In comparison In contrast	In like fashion In like manner In the same way Likewise Meanwhile Nevertheless On the contrary On the other hand Similarly Up against Vis a vis Where Whereas

7-Concession:

Granted It is true Naturally	Of course To be sure

8-Conclusion:

After all All in all All things considered Altogether As can be seen As has been noted As shown above By and large Definitely For the most part Generally speaking Given these points In a word In any event In brief In conclusion	In either case In essence In fact In short In summary In the final analysis In the long run Obviously On balance On the whole Ordinarily Overall To sum up To summarize Ultimately Usually

9-Connection:

Additionally Again Also And As a result Besides Even more Finally First Firstly Further Furthermore	In addition In the first place In the second place Last Lastly Moreover Next Not Or Second Secondly

10-Consequence:

Accordingly As a result Because Consequently Due to For this reason Hence In other words	Since So So that Then Therefore Thus With the result that

11-Contrast:

After all Alternatively Although And yet At the same time But Contrarily Conversely Despite Differing from Even so However In contrast In spite of Nevertheless	Nonetheless Nor Notwithstanding On one hand On the contrary On the other hand Or Otherwise Rather Though Unlike Whereas While this may be true Yet

12-Details:

Especially In detail In particular Including Namely	Specifically To enumerate To explain To list

13-Effect:

Accordingly As a result Because the Consequently For For this reason Forthwith Hence	Henceforth In effect In that case Then Therefore Thereupon Thus Under those circumstances

14-Emphasis:

Above all Indeed Truly Of course Certainly Surely In fact Really In truth Again Besides Also Furthermore In addition Definitely Obviously Absolutely Positively Naturally Surprisingly Always	Forever Unquestionably Without a doubt Undeniably Extremely In any case Perennially Eternally Never Emphatically Without reservation Undoubtedly Clearly It should be noted Importantly Particularly Especially In particular Chiefly Singularly With attention to

15-Examples:

Another key point As an example As an illustration By all means Certainly Chiefly E.g. Especially Explicitly Expressly First thing to remember For example For instance For one thing For this reason Frequently Important to realize In another case In detail In fact In general In other words In particular In this case In this situation Including Indeed Like Markedly Namely	Notably On the negative side On the positive side On this occasion Particularly Point often overlooked Significantly Specifically Such as Surely Surprisingly Take the case of That is That is to say Thus To be sure To clarify To demonstrate To emphasize To enumerate To explain To illustrate To point out To put it another way To put it differently To repeat Truly With attention to With this in mind

16-Exception:

Despite However In spite of Nevertheless Of course	Once in a while Sometimes Still Yet

17-Generalization:

As a rule As usual For the most part For this purpose Generally Generally speaking	Ordinarily Therefore To this end Usually With this in mind With this purpose in mind

18-Illustration:

For example For instance In other words In particular Namely	Specifically Such as Thus To illustrate

19-Importance:

Chiefly Critically Foundationally	Most importantly Of less importance Primarily

20-Intensification:

In fact Indeed No Of course	Surely To repeat Undoubtedly Without doubt

21-Location:

Above Across Adjacent Adjacent to Along the edge Alongside Amid Among Around At the bottom At the front At the left At the rear At the right At the top Before Behind Below Beneath Beside Between Beyond Centrally Down From Further Here Here and there In front of In the background	In the center In the center of In the distance In the forefront In the foreground In the middle Near Nearby Nearer Neighboring on Next Next to On the side On this side On top Opposite Opposite to Out of sight Over Peripherally Straight ahead Surrounding There To the left/right Under Up Where Wherever Within sight

22-Opposition:

Above all After all Albeit Although Although this may be true As much as At the same time Be that as it may Besides But Conversely Despite Different from Even so / though Even though However In contrast In reality	In spite of Instead Nevertheless Nonetheless Notwithstanding Of course … but On the contrary On the other hand Or Otherwise Rather Regardless Still Then again Unlike Whereas While Yet

23-Proof:

Although At any rate At least Because Besides Even though Evidently For the same reason Furthermore Granted that In addition	In any case In fact In spite of Indeed Moreover Obviously Of course Since That is Though While it may be true

24-Purpose:

For this purpose In order that So that	To that end To this end

25-Restatement:

In brief In essence In other words In short	Namely That is That is to say To put it differently

26-Repetition:

As I have noted As I have said	In brief

27-Sequence:

After Afterward And so forth And then At first At the same time At this point At this time Before this Concurrently Consequently Earlier Finally First First of all Following this For now For the time being	Hence In conclusion In time Later Meanwhile Next Now Previously Second Simultaneously Soon Subsequently Then Therefore Third Thus While

28-Similarity:

By the same token Here In like manner In similar fashion	In the same way Likewise Wherever

29-Summary:

Accordingly After all All things considered As a result As I have said As I have shown As previously stated Briefly Consequently Finally Given these points Hence In brief In conclusion	In short In sum In summary In the end Lastly On the whole Overall Summing up Therefore Thus To conclude To sum up To summarize

If you enjoyed this article and are in the process of writing a nonfiction book, be sure to check out my free nonfiction success guide, drawn from years of experience editing books for bestselling authors (including a New York Times bestseller) and ghostwriting for CEOs and politicians. Simply click here to get instant access.

Ben

Leave me a comment below if you have any questions or a specific need that I can help you address – I operate an author services firm that specializes in helping entrepreneurs, professionals and business owners who want to publish books as a calling card for prospects, to establish their status as an expert or to just to generate additional leads for their businesses.

Here are some related posts I highly recommend:

How to Write a Compelling Book in 12 Steps: A Must-Read Guide for Nonfiction Authors

Write Your Own Book and Become an Expert: 11 Reasons Why You Should

How to Grow Your Business Writing a Nonfiction Book

How Long Does it Take to Write a Book to Help Grow Your Business?

Bennett R. Coles is an award-winning author of six books published through Harper Collins (New York) and Titan Publishing Group (London). He is also the publisher at Promontory Press, editor for multiple bestselling authors (including a NY Times bestseller), ghostwriter for CEOs and politicians and the founder of Cascadia Author Services, a boutique full-service firm that specializes in premium author services specifically designed for busy professionals. Our end-to-end services include writer coaching, ghostwriting, editing, proofing, cover design, book layout, eBook production, marketing, printing and distribution.