IELTS linking words and cohesive devices sit at the heart of one of the four equally weighted Writing criteria: Coherence and Cohesion, which is worth 25 percent of your Writing score. Many candidates believe the path to a higher band runs through a longer list of fancy connectors, so they memorise twenty ways to say "and" and sprinkle them across every sentence. The result is almost always the opposite of what they intended. The examiner does not reward quantity; the examiner rewards ideas that flow naturally and link together with purpose. This guide explains how cohesion is actually assessed, which connectors matter and when to use them, why stacking them lowers your band, and the parts of cohesion that have nothing to do with linking words at all.
What IELTS linking words and cohesive devices mean in the band descriptors
Coherence and Cohesion is one criterion with two halves that pull in the same direction. Coherence is about whether your ideas are logically ordered and easy to follow at the level of the whole essay and the paragraph. Cohesion is about the surface-level glue that ties sentences and clauses together: linking words, referencing, substitution, and the way you group ideas into paragraphs. The criterion measures both the big-picture flow and the small-scale connections, and a strong answer needs both. You can have perfect grammar and rich vocabulary and still cap your band here if your essay reads like a pile of disconnected statements.
The gap between Band 6 and Band 7 on this criterion is instructive. A Band 6 answer typically "uses cohesive devices effectively, but cohesion within and/or between sentences may be faulty or mechanical," and may overuse or underuse connectors. A Band 7 answer "logically organises information and ideas; there is clear progression throughout," and uses a range of cohesive devices "appropriately although there may be some under-/over-use." Read those two descriptions side by side and a pattern jumps out: the word that separates the bands is not "more." It is "appropriately" and "clear progression." The official wording in the IELTS.org Writing Task 2 band descriptors explicitly names "mechanical" use as a Band 6 trait. In other words, the examiner is told, on the page, to mark you down for the very habit that most candidates think will pull them up.
This matters because it reframes the whole task. You are not trying to demonstrate that you know a long list of connectors. You are trying to make your reasoning easy to follow. A reader who never once stumbles, never loses the thread, and always knows how one idea relates to the next is reading a cohesive essay, whether it contains five linking words or fifteen.
Linking words by function
The most useful way to learn connectors is not as a memorised list but by the logical job each one does. When you write a sentence, you are not searching for "a fancy word"; you are signalling a relationship to your reader. Are you adding a point, contrasting it, explaining a cause, stating a result, giving an example, or sequencing ideas? Once you know the relationship, the right connector is the one that names it precisely. The table below groups common devices by function so you can choose by meaning rather than by reflex.
| Function | What it signals | Cohesive devices |
|---|---|---|
| Addition | Another point in the same direction | in addition, moreover, furthermore, also, what is more |
| Contrast | A point that pulls the other way | however, on the other hand, nevertheless, whereas, by contrast |
| Cause | The reason something happens | because, since, as, owing to, due to |
| Result | The effect or consequence | therefore, as a result, consequently, thus, so |
| Sequence | Order or stages of an argument | first, then, subsequently, finally, to begin with |
| Example | A concrete illustration | for example, for instance, such as, namely, in particular |
Notice that several devices in each row are close but not identical. "Whereas" and "however" both signal contrast, but "whereas" balances two ideas inside one sentence, while "however" introduces a new sentence that turns against the previous one. Choosing the one that fits the exact relationship is what "appropriately" means in the descriptor. A learner who reaches for the precise connector reads as in control; one who substitutes any contrast word for any other reads as approximate. Build your range by function, practise placing each device where it genuinely belongs, and you will use a wider variety naturally because your ideas genuinely call for variety.
Why overusing connectors lowers your score
Here is the counterintuitive truth at the centre of this topic: a Band 8 essay often contains fewer obvious linking words than a Band 6 essay, not more. Weaker writers compensate for unclear thinking by bolting a connector onto the front of every sentence. They open one paragraph with "Firstly," the next with "Moreover," the next with "Furthermore," and the next with "In addition," until the connectors stop doing any work and start sounding like a checklist. Examiners are explicitly trained to recognise this as mechanical, and the band descriptors penalise it directly. A connector should earn its place by clarifying a relationship the reader could not infer on their own. If the relationship is already obvious, the connector is clutter.
The principle is exactly the same one that governs vocabulary, which we cover in detail in our IELTS vocabulary 30-day plan: precision beats decoration. A simple, correct linker placed where the logic demands it beats a forced, fancy one inserted to look impressive. "Notwithstanding the aforementioned considerations" is not a higher band than "even so"; it is usually a lower one, because it draws attention to the machinery instead of the idea. The same restraint that makes vocabulary read as natural makes cohesion read as natural. Reach for the connector that fits, then stop.
If you want to see how examiners themselves frame natural English usage, the free guidance on the Cambridge English learning resources is a useful reference for how connectors behave in real, idiomatic writing rather than in a memorised list. Reading widely is one of the most reliable ways to absorb how cohesion sounds when it is done well, because you stop thinking of connectors as decorations and start hearing them as the joints of an argument.
Cohesion beyond connectors
Linking words are only one of several cohesive devices, and an over-focus on them is exactly why so many candidates plateau. Three other tools do at least as much work, and they are invisible when done well, which is precisely why they signal a higher band.
Referencing is the use of pronouns and pointer words to refer back to something already mentioned: this, these, such, it, they, the former, the latter. When you write "Governments should tax sugary drinks. This policy would reduce consumption," the word "this" stitches the two sentences together far more elegantly than any connector could. Referencing also lets you avoid clumsy repetition, which itself improves cohesion. The skill is making sure every reference is unambiguous; if a reader has to pause and ask "this what?", the device has failed.
Substitution replaces a word or phrase with a shorter stand-in to avoid repeating it. Instead of "Some people prefer city life and other people prefer country life," you write "Some people prefer city life and others prefer the country." The word "others" substitutes for "other people," and the sentence is tighter. Substitution is a quiet marker of fluency because it shows you are managing the flow of given and new information rather than restating everything in full.
Paragraphing is the largest cohesive device of all and the one candidates most often neglect. A logical paragraph has one central idea, announced early and developed throughout, and it sits in a sensible order relative to the paragraphs around it. Clear paragraphing is what the descriptor means by "clear progression throughout." If your essay structure is sound, half the cohesion battle is already won before you write a single connector. For how paragraphing fits the standard essay shape, see our guide to IELTS Writing Task 2 structure.
A before-and-after paragraph
Theory is easier to trust when you can see it on the page. Below is a paragraph answering a typical Task 2 prompt about whether governments should fund public transport. First, the over-linked version that many Band 6 candidates produce:
"Firstly, public transport is important. Moreover, it reduces traffic. Furthermore, it cuts pollution. In addition, it is cheaper for citizens. Therefore, for these reasons, governments should fund it. However, on the other hand, some people disagree with this. Nevertheless, in my opinion, the advantages are more than the disadvantages."
Every sentence carries a connector, yet the paragraph feels robotic and the ideas barely develop. The connectors are doing the talking while the reasoning stays thin. "Moreover," "Furthermore," and "In addition" stack up to signal addition three times in a row, which is exactly the mechanical pattern the descriptors penalise. Now the rewritten version:
"Public transport delivers benefits that private cars cannot match. By moving many people in a single vehicle, it eases the congestion that clogs growing cities, and it does so while emitting far less pollution per passenger. These environmental and practical gains come at a lower cost to ordinary commuters, who would otherwise spend heavily on fuel and parking. Such advantages, in my view, clearly outweigh the inconvenience of building new networks."
The second version uses only two explicit connectors ("and," "while"), yet it is far more cohesive. The work is done by referencing ("These environmental and practical gains," "Such advantages"), by substitution and concise restatement, and by a logical progression from benefit to benefit. The ideas link because they genuinely relate, not because a connector has been bolted to the front. This is what Band 7 and above looks like in practice: the glue is there, but you barely notice it.
Natural versus mechanical linking, and how to check
So how do you know whether your own cohesion reads as natural or mechanical? The honest answer is that it is hard to judge your own writing, because you already know how your ideas connect. The connectors feel necessary to you because you can see the logic they point to. A reader who comes to your essay cold does not have that advantage, and the examiner is exactly such a reader. This is why feedback matters more on cohesion than on almost any other criterion.
A practical self-check is to read each paragraph and ask, of every connector, "If I deleted this, would the relationship still be clear?" If the answer is yes, the connector is probably redundant and you can cut it. Then ask the reverse: "Is there a jump here where the reader might lose the thread?" If so, that is where a connector, or better still a referencing word, actually earns its place. This deletion-and-repair pass alone will lift most over-linked essays.
For a faster, more consistent read, the IELTSbiz AI writing checker gives you an estimated band and specifically flags repetitive or mechanical linking, then suggests more natural alternatives. It is built to catch exactly the pattern in the before paragraph above: the same connector reused, devices stacked where one would do, and connectors filling space rather than signalling meaning. Treating it as a mirror for your cohesion habits, draft after draft, is how you turn an abstract band descriptor into something you can measure and improve. If you want a broader plan for raising the whole criterion, our guide on how to improve IELTS Writing sets cohesion in the context of the other three criteria, and you can pair it with Task 2 structure so your paragraphing supports your linking rather than fighting it.
It is worth stressing what the checker does and does not do. It will not write your essay for you, and it does not replace the judgement you build by reading and practising. What it does is give you a fast, repeatable signal on a criterion that is notoriously hard to self-assess, so that the work you put in is aimed at the right target. Used alongside deliberate practice and wide reading, that measurement loop is what moves cohesion from a vague worry into a deliberate skill.
Conclusion
Linking words and cohesive devices are essential, but they are a means, not an end. The examiner is not counting your connectors; they are following your argument, and they reward writing that is easy to follow and penalise writing that is mechanical. Learn connectors by function so you choose the precise one, then use referencing, substitution, and clear paragraphing to carry most of the cohesive load. Above all, remember that precision beats decoration: a simple connector in the right place outscores a fancy one in the wrong one. Write to be understood, prune the connectors that earn nothing, and measure your progress with honest feedback. Do that, and the Band 7 phrase "clear progression throughout" stops being an aspiration and starts describing your essays.