WRITING
CONCLUSIONS
CONCLUSION
The PURPOSE of CONCLUDING PARAGRAPHS
BRING the ESSAY FULL CIRCLE
CONCLUSION
THE PURPOSE of CONLCUDING PARAGRAPHS
• To stress the importance or relevance of your thesis
(SO WHAT?!)
• To give the essay a sense of completeness or finality
• To leave the reader with a final impression:
*This is your last chance to convince or persuade the
reader, so make the most of it!
CONCLUSION
SUGGESTIONS
• REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT:
– repeat your purpose
– repeat your thesis
NOT WORD FOR WORD
• moral, lessons
• point, argument
• Dominant Impression
– repeat your main ideas (support, proof)
• examples, details, points,
• arguments, traits
CONCLUSION
SUGGESTIONS
•
•
•
•
Discuss in full the lessons learned
Suggest larger implications of your findings
Suggest future papers or research
Refer back to the purpose and/or scenario mentioned in
your Introduction
• Pose rhetorical questions
• Offer a 3rd side to the issue
• End with a CLINCHER SENTENCE*
CONCLUSION
CLINCHER SENTENCE
• Just as you ended each Body paragraph with a
concluding sentence that wrapped up that
point/paragraph AND that segued into the next point, so
too will you end the entire essay.
Thesis Statement : Topic Sentence ::
Clincher Sentence : Paragraph Clincher Sentence
CONCLUSION
CLINCHER SENTENCE
• Clincher Sentences:
– aphoristically summarize the main point
– they signal that the essay is finished
– they suggest future essay topics
– they refer to your opening scenario (purpose)
– they refer to your main point
CONCLUSION
CLINCHER SENTENCE
• Avoid the empty cliché.
• Wrap it all up.
• *Relate to your point*
– For example, if you wrote a process paper on making
a PB&J sandwich, end by saying that you are now
hungry for one.
– If you wrote about your favorite band, end by waiting
impatiently for their next disc or their next concert.
– If you wrote that your car is a Junker, end
optimistically by looking forward to the day when you
can afford a new car or the car of your dreams.
Clincher Sentence:
TAKE a BOW
GOODNIGHT, DETROIT! WE LOVE YOU!
CONCLUSION
•
•
•
•
Refer to opening GENERALIZATION or SCENARIO
Repeat THESIS
Repeat MAIN IDEAS
End with CLINCHER SENTENCE
CONCLUSION
Helpful Websites When Writing Conclusions
• http://www.gmu.edu/departments/
writingcenter/handouts/introcon.html
• http://depts.gallaudet.edu/englishworks/
writing/introconslu.html
• http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts
conclusions.html
• http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/
conclude.html
THE
END!