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Linking Words in IELTS Writing: Enough, but Not Everywhere

IELTS Writing29 August 2026 · 7 min read · WiderAI Team

Linking words help your IELTS Writing score only up to a point, and that point arrives much earlier than most candidates think. The Coherence and Cohesion criterion rewards writing that flows logically with cohesive devices used appropriately — and it explicitly penalises overuse. An essay that begins every sentence with "Moreover", "Furthermore", or "In addition" reads as mechanical, and mechanical linking is a stated feature of band 6, not band 7.

The rule of thumb is simple: your ideas should do most of the connecting, and linking words should mark the joints that genuinely need marking. In a typical 270-word Task 2 essay, that means somewhere around eight to twelve visible connectors, most of them small and quiet — "but", "because", "so", "this", "such" — rather than heavy sentence-openers.

This article explains what examiners actually look for, which linking words candidates misuse most often, and how to build cohesion that does not depend on stacking connectors at the start of every sentence.

What do examiners actually reward in cohesion?

Coherence and Cohesion is one of the four writing criteria, worth a quarter of your Task score. Candidates read "cohesion" and hear "linking words", but the criterion covers three separate things: logical progression of ideas, appropriate use of cohesive devices, and clear paragraphing. Linking words are one tool inside one of those three — and they cannot rescue the other two.

Logical progression means each sentence follows from the one before it without the reader having to guess the connection. If your ideas are in the right order, many links become unnecessary because the logic is visible. If your ideas are in the wrong order, no quantity of "furthermores" will hide it — the examiner sees a list of disconnected points wearing connector costumes.

At band 7, the descriptor language is about using a range of cohesive devices appropriately, with only occasional over- or under-use. At band 6, cohesion is present but the linking can be faulty or mechanical. The word "mechanical" is the one to remember: it describes exactly the essay where every paragraph opens with "Firstly" and every second sentence begins with "Moreover".

Which linking words do candidates misuse most?

Some connectors cause errors far more often than they earn marks. These are the usual suspects:

• "On the other hand" used for any second point. It signals contrast. If your second idea supports the same argument, use "in addition" or simply start the sentence — do not announce a contrast that never arrives.
• "Moreover" and "Furthermore" stacked in the same paragraph. Each signals an escalation — the new point should be at least as strong as the last. Three escalations in four sentences reads as filler.
• "As a result" where nothing was caused. Candidates use it as decoration between loosely related sentences, and the examiner notices the missing cause.
• "Last but not least", "every coin has two sides", "it cannot be denied". These are memorised phrases, and memorised language earns nothing anywhere in IELTS — examiners are trained to discount it.
• "Besides" as a formal connector. In academic writing it sounds casual and slightly dismissive; "in addition" or "also" is safer.

There is also a punctuation trap. Words like "however", "therefore", and "nevertheless" are adverbs, not conjunctions: they cannot join two sentences with just a comma. "The policy is popular, however it is expensive" is a comma splice — a grammar error created by a linking word. Write "The policy is popular. However, it is expensive" or use "but".

How do high-scoring essays create flow without heavy connectors?

Band 8 and 9 essays are not full of linking words. They manage cohesion through quieter techniques that most candidates never practise:

1. Referencing. Use "this", "these", "such", and "it" to point back at previous ideas: "Cities are investing in cycle lanes. This investment changes commuter behaviour." The noun after "this" carries the link.
2. Repetition with variation. Repeat a key concept in a new form: "commuters" becomes "these travellers"; "the ban" becomes "such a restriction". The paragraph stays on topic without a single formal connector.
3. Given-to-new ordering. Start sentences with information the reader already has, and end them with the new point. Each sentence then hands the reader to the next one naturally.
4. Paragraph-level signposting. One clear topic sentence per paragraph does more for coherence than five connectors inside it, because it tells the reader what job the whole paragraph performs.

These techniques are what "a range of cohesive devices" actually means in the criteria — pronouns, substitution, and ellipsis all count. A candidate using only sentence-opening adverbs is demonstrating a narrow range, which is precisely what caps the score.

The same principle applies in the speaking test, where fluency markers like "well", "actually", and "the thing is" replace formal connectors — you can hear the difference in your own performance with an IELTS speaking mock test, which scores coherence in real time.

How many linking words should each paragraph have?

There is no official number, but a working target keeps you honest. In a four-paragraph Task 2 essay:

• Introduction: usually zero formal connectors. State the topic and your position; nothing needs linking yet.
• Body paragraphs: one signpost at or near the start if it genuinely helps ("However" when reversing direction), then two or three small internal links — "because", "for example", "which means".
• Conclusion: one clear signal such as "In conclusion" or "Overall", then none.

That totals roughly eight to twelve across the essay, and notice their size: most of the work is done by conjunctions and reference words inside sentences, not by adverbs in front of them. "For example" earns its place almost every time, because examples genuinely need announcing. "Furthermore" earns its place perhaps once per essay.

Cohesion in Task 1 follows the same logic with different vocabulary: comparisons ("while", "whereas", "in contrast") and sequencing ("over the period", "by 2010") do the linking work that "moreover" does badly. The full criteria are published on the official IELTS website if you want to read the source language yourself.