Conclusions

Conclusions are often the most difficult part of an essay to write, and many writers feel that they have nothing left to say after having written the paper. A writer needs to keep in mind that the conclusion is often what a reader remembers best. Your conclusion should be the best part of your paper.

Strategies for Concluding Paragraphs

1)      Summarize Main Points

Review the main points briefly; a detailed summary will seem repetitive.

2)      Restate the Thesis

Put the thesis into different words to drive home the essay’s main point.

3)      Recommend Actions or Solutions

Repeat, for emphasis, the specific solutions, policies, recommendations, or actions proposed in the text, perhaps summarizing them in a list.

4)      Predict Future Events or Speculate

Look at relatively clear consequences, not those requiring explanation; keep speculations interesting but not so provocative that they require extensive discussion.

5)      Use a Quotation

Provide a quotation that makes key ideas memorable or supports your conclusions.

6)      Offer a Striking Example, Anecdote, or Image

Supply a mental picture or brief narrative to reinforce an essay’s message.

7)      Echo the Introduction

Use this echo to create a sense of completion.

8)      Restate Implications

Review the implications of any actions or policies discussed in the text.

Writing Conclusions

A good conclusion should tell the reader that your essay is coming to a close and give the reader a feeling that you have accomplished what you set out to do. A good conclusion applies the topic of the essay to a broader issue.  In a conclusion you can illustrate that the subject you have written about has importance beyond the ideas developed in your body paragraphs. You show that you have used what you have written to help you think about other ideas. This is not an easy chore. You run the risk of sounding too “important,” too philosophical, too much like a show-off. As a result, the concluding paragraph needs especially careful thought and must often progress through several rewritings, but the finished product is well worth it: it helps the reader see that the narrow topic you developed has relevance in other critical areas.  It gives you an opportunity to develop an idea that has an important relationship to your topic, but is new in the frame of the essay itself.

For dramatic conclusions, follow these steps:

1)      Remind the reader that you have achieved what you set out to do and that your essay is drawing to an end.

2)      Strive to establish a new, larger, more general application for your topic.

3)      Summarize briefly the main point of your essay.

4)      Make the conclusion an important part of the essay, not an afterthought you glued on to add more words.

5)      Do not

a.       start a whole new topic.

b.       contradict your entire point.

c.       make obvious or overused statements.

d.       apologize for your lack of knowledge.

e.       end suddenly with a one-sentence conclusion such as “That’s all I have to say.”

f.        draw conclusions that are absolute or too general (make sure that you allow for possibilities or exceptions)

A conclusion should

• stress the importance of the thesis statement,
• give the essay a sense of completeness, and
• leave a final impression on the reader.
  
   

Suggestions

Answer the question "So What?" Show your readers why this paper was important. Show them that your paper was meaningful and useful.

Synthesize, don't summarize. Don't simply repeat things that were in your paper. They have read it. Show them how the points your made and the support and examples you used were not random, but fit together.

Redirect your readers. Give your reader something to think about, perhaps a way to use your paper in the "real" world. If your introduction went from general to specific, make your conclusion go from specific to general. Think globally.

Create a new meaning. You don't have to give new information to create a new meaning. By demonstrating how your ideas work together, you can create a new picture. Often the sum of the paper is worth more than its parts.

Anson, Chris M., and Robert A. Schwegler.  The Longman Handbook for Writers and Readers.  2^nd ed.  New York: Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc., 2000. 

http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/conclude.html

Wiener, Harvey S.  Creating Compositions.  New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1984.