Useful connectors and expressions for the writing excercise.

The proper use of connectors is highly rated by examiners. But watch out, it can be a double-edged sword because if they are well placed and in harmony with the record of your text, they certainly improve the cohesion of your writing; however, they can affect the consistency erroneously if there is an overload of linkers.
Thus, remember that it's better a text with ideas that are meaningful and presented in a logical order that a text meaningless but full of linking words.

Now, let's take a look to the most common connectors that we can use in different contexts:

1.         CONSTRUCTING THE WRITING

a) Introduction

b) First Paragraph

At first sight                                      A primera vista
First of all                                          Antes que nada
In the first place                                En primer lugar
To start with                                      Para empezar

c) Second Paragraph

In the second place,                          En segundo lugar,
Second,                                              Segundo,
Secondly,                                           En segundo lugar,
Third,                                                 Tercero,
Thirdly,                                              En tercer lugar,

d) Conclusion

Finally,                                               Por último,
In conclusion,                                    Para concluir,
Lastly,                                                Por último,

2.        TO ADD INFORMATION

and eventually,                                  y finalmente,
apart from + noun                              aparte de + sustantivo
besides ,                                            además, "encima".
in addition to + noun                          además de + sustantivo
in addition,                                         además,
moreover,                                          además,
furthermore                                       asimismo
also                                                    también
on top of that,                                    además,
what's more,                                      además; lo que es más,
another point is that                          habría que añadir que


3.         TO EXPRESS SIMILARITY

Similarly,                                            Igualmente, de forma similar,
Likewise,                                           Asimismo, del mismo modo,
In the same way,                                Del mismo modo,
In the same manner,                          De la misma manera,

In a similar way,                                 De forma similar,

4.         TO MAKE A CONTRAST

however,                                            sin embargo
instead of                                           en vez de
neverthelesss,                                   no obstante
on the contrary,                                 por el contrario
whereas / while                                  mientras
though / although                              aunque
On the one hand,       On the other hand,     Por una parte,     Por otra parte,
Conversely                                         A la inversa, por el contrario
                          

5.         TO EXPLAIN CAUSES

because of + noun                              A causa de + sustantivo
due to + noun                                     Debido a + sustantivo
due to the fact that + sentence           Debido a que + oración
for this/that reason                            Por esta/esa razón
on account of + noun                         A causa de + sustantivo

6.         TO EXPLAIN RESULTS

as a result                                          Como resultado, en consecuencia
consequently                                     En consecuencia
therefore                                           Por lo tanto

7.         TO EXPRESS SOMETHING IN OTHER WORDS

in other words,                                  en otras palabras,
in short,                                             en pocas palabras,
that is (to say),                                   es decir,

8.         TO EXPRESS SOMETHING IN A DIFFERENT WAY

actually                                              En realidad
as a matter of fact                             De hecho
in fact                                                De hecho
really                                                 En realidad

9.         TO EXPRESS A PERSONAL OPINION
          
as far as I’m concerned                   por lo que a mí respecta
from my point of view                      desde mi punto de vista
I agree / disagree                            estoy de acuerdo / no estoy de acuerdo
in my opinion                                   en mi opinión
in my view                                        en mi opinión
I think (that)                                    Creo que
it is true that                                    es verdad que
personally                                        personalmente
to be honest,                                    para ser honesto
to tell the truth,                               a decir verdad

10.         TO MODIFY WHAT IT IS BEING SAID

above all                                          sobre todo
at least                                             al menos
basically                                           básicamente, fundamentalmente
especially                                         especialmente
essentially                                        esencialmente, básicamente
in general                                         en general
By and large,                                    Por lo general,
Generally speaking,                         En general,
in particular                                      en particular
more or less                                     más o menos
on the whole                                     en general
to a certain extent                            hasta cierto punto

11.       TO SHOW SOME EXAMPLES

,and so on.                                       etcétera
and so on and so forth                     etcétera, y así sucesivamente
for example,                                     por ejemplo,
for instance,                                     por ejemplo,
such as                                             tal(es) como

12.       TO SUMMARIZE

All in all,                                          En conjunto, resumiendo
In brief,                                            En resumen
In conclusion,                                  Para concluir
In short,                                           En resumen
On the whole,                                  En general
To sum up,                                      Para resumir

13.       TO MAKE SEQUENCIES DURING THE WRITING

after that                                           después de eso
all of a sudden                                  de repente,
finally                                                finalmente
first of all                                          en primer lugar
in the end                                         al final
in the meantime,                              mientras tanto
meanwhile                                        mientras tanto
next                                                  luego
suddenly                                           de repente,
then                                                  entonces, después
while                                                 mientras

 EXERCISE: