Phrasebank

Useful phrases for writing essays - Bachelor students 2006

This list is not exhaustive, but has been designed to give students the basic phrases that they can use to structure their essays coherently. Do not overuse these phrases, and make sure that your essays have plenty of interesting and relevant content.

Section 1: General Essay Phrases

A. Introductory remarks. It is generally agreed today that... In approaching this issue, one should... Nowadays, it is scarcely possible to... The business world offers us numerous examples of... B. Developing the argument The first aspect to point out is that... Let us start by considering the facts. C. The other side of the argument It would also be interesting to see... One should, nevertheless, consider the problem from another angle. Equally relevant to the issue are the questions of... D. Balancing views One should always remember that... One should, however, not forget that... We could perhaps go further and ask ourselves whether... E. Conclusion The arguments we have presented... suggest that.../ prove that.../ would indicate that... From these arguments one must.../ could.../ might... conclude that... All of this points to the conclusion that... F. Ordering elements Firstly,.../ Secondly,.../ Finally,... (note the comma after all these introductory words.) If on the one hand it can be said that... the same is not true for... The first argument suggests that... whilst the second suggests that... G. Adding elements Furthermore, one should not forget that... In addition to... Moreover... H. Accepting other points of view Nevertheless, one should accept that... However, we also agree that...

I. Personal opinion We personally believe that... Our own point of view is that... J. Others' opinions Experts... ... believe that ... say that ... suggest that ... are convinced that ... point out that ... emphasise that According to some experts... K. Introducing examples Take for example... To illustrate this point one need...