"As I said earlier", in a more formal way please
When writing an essay -B 2 level-and I want to refer to something I said before , how should I phrase it? Or does it sound inappropiate?

As i explained
As I stated
As I said before/ above) earlier

Thanks

Question

"As I said earlier",  in a more formal way please
When writing an essay  -B 2 level-and I want to refer to something I said before , how should I phrase it? Or does it sound inappropiate?

As i explained
As I stated 
As I said before/ above) earlier

Thanks

Answer

If you have this construction, as I + past simple e.g. said, explained, 
you must also add the place or time where you explained e.g. in the previous paragraph, earlier etc.

These are some options:

As already discussed
As indicated earlier / above
As mentioned in the previous paragraph

Be careful when you use these phrases that you don't go on to repeat a previous point.  Even native speakers use these kinds of expressions unnecessarily in writing.

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