Signposting involves using specific phrases and words to guide the reader through your content. It helps structure your writing in a way that ensures readers don’t feel lost as they follow your argument or discussion.
Why is Signposting Important?
Your essay is like a journey, with paragraphs acting as the steps along the way. Signposting guides readers, keeping them aware of where they are in the discussion, what’s coming next, and the overall direction of the essay. It helps them view the content from the writer’s perspective, making your arguments clearer and more organized.
Signposting should be used in the introduction, throughout the body, and in the conclusion of your essay. Including signposting in each paragraph helps link ideas together and assures the reader that you are in control of the structure.
Types of Signposting
Signposting can appear in various parts of your essay. Below are examples of how it can be used:
Major Signposts
Introduction
- This essay critically examines …
- This essay is organized in the following way: …
- The essay is divided into … main parts: part one will … part two …
- This essay seeks to investigate/evaluate/illustrate/discuss the impact of … in relation to …
- The aim of this study is to … / The purpose of this essay is to …
- This essay argues that …
- The major issue that needs to be addressed is …
- The main questions addressed in this paper are …
- This essay will [first] outline/examine/address/argue/demonstrate/focus on … and will [then] ascertain/establish/clarify/show/judge/prove …
- To understand the role of …, this essay provides a discussion of …
Body Paragraphs
1. Introducing New Ideas
- One aspect which illustrates …
- The current debate about … identifies an interesting viewpoint on …
- First(ly), … / Second(ly), … / Finally, …
- The first/next/final section provides a general discussion of …
2. Developing Ideas
- Having established …, this essay will now/next focus on …
- Building on the idea that …, this section illustrates that …
- To further understand the role of …, this section explores the idea that …
- Another line of thought on …
- Another/A second/Of equal importance is …
- This idea/theory has been extended/developed by …
3. Contrasting Views/Disagreement/Personal Opinions
- However, another angle on this debate suggests that …
- In contrast to evidence which presents the view that …
- An alternative method illustrates that …
- However, not all research shows that …
- Some evidence confirms that …
- This conflicts/contrasts with/is contrary to the view held by …
Concluding Paragraphs
- The evidence highlights that …
- It is clear that …
- The strength of such an approach is that …
- The source information confirms that …
Final Conclusion
- In conclusion, … / To summarize, … / As has been shown, …
- Clearly, this essay has shown that the main factors which impact upon … are …
- From the above, it is clear that …
- Several conclusions emerge from this analysis …
- The evidence presented has shown that …
- This essay has focused on three factors affecting …
- To sum up, …
Signposting helps readers follow your writing effortlessly, ensuring your ideas are clear and well-structured.
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