Appropriate use of linking adverbials (LAs) is a key feature of successful academic writing because these devices (e.g., furthermore, however) enhance meaning and establish textual cohesion explicitly (e.g., Shaw, 2009). In fact, studies have shown that academic writing includes more LAs than other registers (Liu, 2008). Despite their importance in academic writing, second language (L2) learners of English have been reported to struggle with LAs, frequently overusing, underusing, and misusing these devices (e.g., Appel & Szeib, 2018). Despite the growing interest in L2 students’ use of LAs, little attention has been given to whether L2 students’ use of these cohesive devices in their writing changes over time. Using corpus-based methods, this study presents an analysis of the developmental trajectory of L2 university students’ use of LAs. Specifically, adapting Appel and Szeib’s (2018) semantic framework, the study examined the extent to which L2 university students’ use of LAs changes over time. Data consist of a specialized corpus of 80 argumentative essays written by 40 L2 undergraduate students at two different points in time. The first subcorpus (ESL-1) includes 40 argument essays (~40,000 words) written by these students in the first of two first-year writing courses, while the second subcorpus (ESL-2) consists of 40 essays (~58,000 words) written by the same student writers in the second writing course. Preliminary analysis reveals changes in overall frequency of LAs, with ESL-2 consisting of fewer LAs than ESL-1. Furthermore, the results show that some semantic categories decreased in ESL-2, yet little to no change was observed for other semantic categories. Upon closer analysis, specific types of LAs decreased while others increased in ESL-2, thus demonstrating students’ changing use of LAs as they gain more experience over time. The presentation begins by reporting and discussing the results, followed by implications for L2 writing research and pedagogy.