"Give them the gift of words"
"Give them the gift of words"
Jessica Freeman
Have you ever wondered what the purpose of essay writing was? Your professors keep assigning new projects, but sometimes you don’t see a point. There is a reason for you to keep trying. Academic writing is not useful only for getting higher grades at college. You’ll benefit from this skill on the long run, since it improves your capacity for professional communication. It makes you able to use authoritative sources of information, connect them with your own points of view, and come down to logical conclusions that convince the reader you’re right.
Did someone mention conclusions? How many times have you been stuck right at the end of the writing process? You’ve written a great introduction and some strong arguments, but you don’t know how to put all loose ends together. Don’t worry; that’s what we’re here for today. We’ll offer some tips that will help you write a convincing conclusion for your essay.
Once you provided all arguments you had, why do you have to write a concluding paragraph? Laura Roberts, an essay writing expert from Australian Writings, explains that students find conclusions difficult to write because they don’t see their point: “Why do you restate the thesis at the end? You already stated it, so why do you need to repeat it in a different way? Many students have those questions in mind. The point of a conclusion is to restate the thesis statement in relation with the arguments you exposed in the body of the paper. With the conclusion, you achieve the sense of completeness.”
Before you start writing the conclusion, you should understand what it’s supposed to do:
– Restate the thesis statement, stressing its importance;
– Achieve the sense of completeness, and
– Leave the reader with the final impressions you intended to achieve with this essay.
Now that we got that out of the way, let’s see how exactly you can write the perfect conclusion. Take these practical tips into consideration:
The content in the conclusion will depend on the type of essay you’re writing. For an argumentative essay, which is the favorite assignment of most professors, you need to let the reader know why your arguments were important and why your point of view deserved their attention.
A narrative essay, on the other hand, calls for a different type of conclusion. You’re not arguing or discussing any issue; you’re just telling a story and you need to bring it to an end. Here, you don’t have to restate the main points. Just tell the reader what you learned from the experience you shared.
The following tips are mainly effective for concluding an argumentative essay. We focus on that type, since it makes the conclusion really challenging.
Why was this topic worth exploring? Why are your arguments important? If, for example, you discussed a topic from World War 2, you can explain how the research and arguments gave you a new perspective on the events. Whatever issue you’re discussing, state why it’s important to increase the awareness for it.
This is usually done in research paper, but an essay can also end with suggestion for further research. However, you don’t want to introduce new information to the reader. Remember: the point of writing a conclusion is to achieve the sense of completeness.
If, for example, you’re writing an essay on the demographic changes, you can end with a statement like “We have a responsibility to keep exploring the demographic changes in our society and identify effective strategies that support sustainable diversity.” This triggers the reader’s interest to explore the issue further, but doesn’t leave the essay incomplete.
If you have a hard time connecting all dots in a logical conclusion, maybe a quote from one of your primary or secondary sources will help. Find a quote that connects your main points, and then discuss it with your own words to make it more specific.
For example, if you’re writing an essay about Dostoevsky, you can end with his own words about Saint Petersburg and explain that the vibe of the city is present throughout his entire work. Remember: if you use a quote, it has to be relevant. You will still need to restate the thesis statement in the conclusion, so use the quote in that context.
If you discussed a particular issue, such as global warming, you can explain the possible solutions in the conclusion, after you restate the thesis in relation to the arguments. If you were discussing the solutions in the arguments, you can briefly emphasize those points again.
The worst thing you could possibly do is write the same thesis statement in the conclusion. Don’t even paraphrase it! Use the conclusion to show how all elements of your paper fit together. You didn’t just list random arguments; you used them to prove the thesis statement. Show that!
Let’s show how that tip works in practice. This is our sample thesis statement: Buying books for presents is good because they last forever, they prove you care for that person, and they open new perspectives to them.
We already have a thesis statement with obvious arguments. In the conclusion, you should use different terms and logical explanations, which will still restate the thesis. Here is how that conclusion would look like:
You can never read the same book twice. Every time we read it, it has a different meaning for us. When we pick a valuable book for a present, we show our deep respect for that person. This book will give them a new perspective to important issues, so it’s the best present they could possibly get.
You see? We used slightly more vivid language to restate the same thesis, but it didn’t feel repetitive.
Okay, it’s time for our conclusion now.
When you get to this part of the paper, you already have everything you need to get to the finish line. In this part, it’s important to use vivid language. Although you’ll be restating the thesis statement and mentioning your main arguments, you shouldn’t bore the reader with repetition. Hopefully, the tips above will help you make a powerful conclusion that leaves your reader impressed.
Author’s Bio
Jessica Freeman is a freelance writer. She is interested in traveling and online learning. She enjoys writing on education, technology innovations, and blogging tendencies. Find out more about Jessica’s work by visiting her student blog. You can also follow her on Facebook and Google+.