Writing a Conclusion
An effective concluding
paragraph should provide closure for a paper, leaving the reader feeling
satisfied that the thesis has been fully explained. Probably the shortest
paragraph of an essay, the conclusion should be brief and to the point. The
conclusion should provide a restatement of the thesis, a summary of the author's
conclusions, and perhaps a solution to the problem, if this is the writer's
intent. However, a good writer avoids a blatant repetition of the thesis
statement which can leave a reader feeling annoyed an disappointed after reading
an otherwise interesting paper. Repeating the thesis, word for word, in the
conclusion seems lazy and is not very interesting. It is best to restate the
ideas using different language, perhaps even to create a sort of dramatic effect
that comes from repetition. Good conclusions might have a dramatic quality --
rather like a grand finale. The conclusion should leave the reader with an
overall sense of how the writer feels about the subject. Concluding statements
which refer back to the introductory paragraph are appropriate here. Frequently,
the ideas in the body of an essay lead to some significant conclusion that can
be stated and explained in this final paragraph. Finally, this is not the place
to introduce ideas you forgot to mention in the body of the paper!
Some effective techniques for creating a conclusion are:
 | restate the seriousness of a problem |
| summarize your thesis or proposed solution |
| recap the most important points of the paper |
| bring a chronologically organized paper up to the present and suggest future directions |
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Call for awareness: If writing about new issues, an ending with a call for awareness seems fitting. |
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Unanswered questions/Implications for further study: What issues can be resolved in this essay, and what questions remain about the issue? |
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pose some questions to your reader, encouraging him to continue thinking about the thesis |
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Rationale: Why is this an important thing to study? (This is mainly for people doing comparison papers.) |
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Call for action/What you can do: Kind of like a call for awareness, but with specific directions for the audience on how they can get involved and combat this problem. |
What NOT to do in a concluding paragraph:
| DO NOT use cliches which sound good but mean nothing |
| DO NOT introduce new arguments, evidence, or details |
| DO NOT apologize for doing a poor job of presenting the material |
| DO NOT qualify or blunt the impact of points made earlier |
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