Academic writing should be easy to follow. One way to do this to give your reader clear signposts about how your argument is developing. Here are some examples of effective signposting.

Signposts to introduce something new

One aspect which illustrates … can be identified as …
The current debate about … illustrates/identifies/highlights …
With regard to…/ with respect to…
Initially/secondly/finally, …

Continuing an argument with a related point

Furthermore …
To further understand the role of …
In addition …
Similarly …
Likewise …
What is more …
Moreover …
Another issue regarding … is …
Another line of thought on … is …

Going into more detail on a point/rephrasing

In particular …
Specifically …
Concentrating on …
By focusing on … in more detail, it is possible to …
To be more precise …
In other words …
To put simply …

Linking to a different point

Having established …, it is possible to consider …
… is one key issue; another of equal/
similar importance/significance is …
Also of importance is the issue of …

Reintroducing a topic

As discussed/explained earlier, …
The earlier discussion on … can be developed further here, …
As stated previously, …
As noted above, …

Introducing an opposing/alternative view

However, …
Conversely, …
In contrast, …
Alternatively, …
Nevertheless/Nonetheless, …
An alternative perspective is given by … who suggests/argues that …
Despite this, …
This conflicts with the view held by …

Reasoning/summarising the point

Consequently/As a consequence, …
Accordingly, …
Therefore, …
It could be concluded that …
The strength of such an approach is that …
For this reason …
Evidently*, …
Clearly/It is clear that, …*
Naturally*, …
It is clear that* …
In short …
From this, it can be concluded/inferred/suggested that …
The evidence highlights that …

*Only use such phrases if you really are sure that your arguments cannot be challenged.

These are just a selection of the phrases you can you to make your writing flow and to keep the reader with you and following your line of argument. Academics often complain about a lack of this in assignments they mark so make sure you use them in your writing.