Furthermore Synonyms for Academic Writing: Alternatives to "Moreover," "In Conclusion," and "However"

Furthermore, moreover, and in addition are safe, formal ways to add a point, which is why they get reused. Under deadline pressure, the same one comes back across the whole paper. A word that was fine the first time reads like a tic by the fifth.

Some writing centers sort transition words by what they do: adding, contrasting, concluding, giving an example. That makes it easier to pick a connector that fits the sentence instead of the usual default. Purdue University's categorized list of transitional devices is one widely used reference of this kind. The tables below sort the connectors in this guide the same way, each with a register note and an example sentence.

The register note says how formal a connector sounds. How formal to be depends on the genre and the reader, as Lund University's guide to register and style explains. UTS's guide to formal and informal language lists colloquialisms and contractions among the things formal language leaves out.

Use these when the next sentence adds a new point. If it restates the last one or argues against it, a different group fits better.

Concluding connectors tell the reader that a paragraph, a section, or the whole paper is wrapping up its point. If you use in conclusion or to conclude at all, use it once, at the very end. For the smaller summaries along the way, the lighter options in the table work better.

The Oxford Advanced American Dictionary labels in sum as formal and at the end of the day as informal. The other register notes are editorial guidance for academic prose.

Thus, therefore, and hence do a different job from "in conclusion." Oxford defines therefore as "used to introduce the logical result of something that has just been mentioned." UNC's transitions handout files all three under cause and effect. Purdue's list also puts all three under summarizing, and UNC's handout lists thus there as well. That fits when one of them closes a paragraph with its consequence: "The sample excluded rural schools; therefore, the results may not apply there." Even then, it states a result. None of the three signals that the paper is ending.

How to conclude without saying "in conclusion"

The UNC Writing Center goes further. Among its strategies to avoid, it lists "beginning with an unnecessary, overused phrase such as 'in conclusion,' 'in summary,' or 'in closing.'" Such phrases "can work in speeches," it says, but "come across as wooden and trite in writing."

Open the final paragraph with the restated claim itself. Instead of "In conclusion, the evidence shows that rising rents explain the shift better than wages do," write "Rising rents explain the shift better than wages do." The claim does the signposting on its own. Word it only as strongly as your evidence allows (see hedging in academic writing). The guide to sentence starters for conclusions covers the sentences that follow, from the synthesis to the last line.

Save these for sentences that push back against, qualify, or limit the one before. Dropped in as a generic transition, a contrastive connector promises a turn the argument never takes.

In a 2022 post on the OUP blog, David H. Foster compared Scopus abstracts containing "however" with those containing "but." The "however" abstracts ran at 54% of the "but" count in arts subjects and matched it in engineering, at 1.4 million documents each. His advice to heavy users is to try alternatives such as still, even so, by contrast, and despite this.

How to use "however" in a sentence

As a contrast word, however is a conjunctive adverb, not a conjunction like but. Its punctuation depends on where it sits. These patterns follow Purdue OWL's rules for commas and sentence punctuation patterns:

• At the start of a sentence: a comma after it. "However, the effect disappeared after six weeks."
• In the middle of a sentence: commas on both sides. "The effect, however, disappeared after six weeks."
• Between two independent clauses: a semicolon before it and a comma after it. "The sample was large; however, it was not random." A comma alone before however makes a comma splice.
• Meaning "to whatever degree": no comma after it. Oxford gives this sense of however before an adjective or adverb: "However hard the team tried, it could not reproduce the effect."

Some alternatives change the grammar as well as the word. By contrast and conversely take the same commas as however; use conversely only when the second point reverses the first. Whereas and while are subordinating conjunctions: "Rural schools gained, whereas urban schools did not." Although opens a dependent clause: "Although the sample was large, it was not random." But and yet are coordinating conjunctions: "The sample was large, but it was not random."

A new word fixes only part of the problem. When a connector keeps coming back, the sentences and paragraphs around it are often following the same pattern: short claim, connector, short claim, connector. Changing the word leaves that rhythm in place. Changing the sentence structure breaks it. For the vocabulary side, the EAP Foundation's guide to cohesion covers repeating an idea through synonyms rather than the same word each time.

If the repetition sits at the start of your sentences and paragraphs, our guide to sentence starters for essays covers openers beyond connectors. Stock signposts repeat the same way; see the guide to alternatives to "it is important to note". If you keep reaching for a connector because you are restating the same source sentence again and again, the real issue is paraphrasing; see what paraphrasing actually means.

In a full draft, hunting down every repeated connector by hand is slow work. The Certentis Humanizer reworks wording and sentence structure in up to 3,000 words at a time. It starts from a draft you wrote and is built to keep your claims and citations intact. Check the result against your draft before you keep it.