What devices? Linking devices! These are things that your teachers go on and on about all the time! These are the expressions like furthermore, however, on top of that and all those other words that your teacher gets you to underline in class all the time. Why is your teacher obsessed about these things? Because they really add to the fluency of your writing. They turn separate sentences you write into a whole text and if you use them correctly your marks will improve. When teachers mark your essays they have a whole set of criteria that they are checking your writing against – and using these linking devices correctly is way up on this list so you need a good grasp of how to use them.
I’m going to suggest two links for you to look at in this post. Firstly, there’s a nice overview and extensive list of linking words here put together by Viv Quarry. Secondly, take a look at the Headway site which has a couple of exercises on linking devices.
Last but not least, there’s a brand new forum on the new overseas students message board called extensive writing. Remember the message board is for you to build confidence in using English so you feel more comfortable using it in front of native speaker students. See you there.