What is Signposting?

Signposting means the usage of certain phrases and words that guide the reader through the content and help them articulate the structure in a way ensuring that the readers don’t get lost.

 Why is it Important?

Your essay showcases a journey through your argument or discussion. The paragraphs act as a ladder to this journey. Signposts help to guide the reader through this and helps them read from the writer’s perspective. They suggest what will happen, constantly remind them of where they are at key points along the way, and indicate the direction your essay is going to head next.

Signposting can happen in your introduction and throughout your whole essay. One should include some element of signposting in each paragraph. Signposting can be useful for linking your paragraphs together. It also makes the reader feel as if you are in control of the structure and that your ideas are well organized.

Types Of Signposting

Major Signposts

Introduction:

• This essay critically examines …
• This essay is organised 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 … Next, it closely examines … in relation to … Finally, it focuses on … and how this affects …
• To understand the role of …, this essay provides a discussion of …

Body Paragraphs:

1.Introducing New Ideas:

• One aspect which illustrates …
•  can be identified as …
•  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 from 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 had been extended/developed by….

3.Contrast View/ 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 …
• It is evident that..
• The source information confirms that..

Final Conclusion:

• In conclusion, … / To summarise, … / 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 focussed on three factors affecting …
•  It has been established that …
• To conclude I would say..
• To sum up…

See also :

• IELTS Listening
• IELTS Listening Answer Sheet
• IELTS listening recent actual test
• IELTS Listening preparation tips
• IELTS Listening Practice Test
• IELTS Listening Vocabulary
• How to Improve IELTS Listening Section 3 and 4?