INTRODUCTIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
The basics of introductions and conclusions are easy: an introduction should “introduce” your ideas, your
argument, what you’re talking about; a conclusion wraps up your essay so it feels “finished.” But the
complexities of what those things actually mean for revised, analytic, argumentative, academic essays are
much tougher. A few things to keep in mind:
In most academic writing, to meet your audience’s expectations, an INTRODUCTION should:
 Convey the major content of your essay: name authors and texts, define any significant words or
phrases (in terms of your essay and how you use them), set up key issues and concepts, announce
questions or problems your essay answers or addresses—and include your answer/address, since
that’s your thesis.
 Suggest how these major content elements are connected in your essay; the transitions between
sentences and ideas are a good place to do this, as is your thesis (which will, in theory, tie all
these elements together somehow).
 Communicate a rough sense of the logical progression of your essay—your reader should be able
to roughly outline your essay based on your intro; you can do this by organizing your introduction
concepts in the same basic order as your essay, or in your thesis—but be wary of the formulaic,
list-y thesis.
In most academic writing, to meet your audience’s expectations, a CONCLUSION should:
 Recapitulate your argument—not repeat; your reader should NOT be able to outline your essay
by reading your conclusion. Recapitulating means summarizing the main points and how they
connect to each other—this part of the conclusion should not be more than a sentence or two, and
should acknowledge coming from the previous paragraphs—you and your reader should be on
the same page.
 Explain where the conversation is now that your essay is part of it: what does your reader now
know, how have those questions or problems from the intro been refined or redirected?
Strategies for meeting your audience’s expectations:
 After finishing the draft of your paper, do a post-draft outline to capture what you actually said
and how it unfolded—the writing process, if it’s working, will usually lead you somewhere a
little different (and hopefully more interesting) than you initially planned. Use the pdo to make
sure your intro sets up all the elements that actually were relevant in your essay, and nothing that
you ultimately didn’t explore.
 Transition into your conclusion from the last body paragraph so it doesn’t feel tacked on.
 Murder your darlings: this often applies to “throat-clearing” at the beginning of an intro—
sweeping generalities that got you started on the draft, but aren’t really needed for your reader—
and “purple prose” in the conclusion—beautiful but superfluous philosophizing on your way out
of the essay.
 Watch for choppiness—reading aloud can help catch this. Lack of transitions in the intro usually
signals ideas whose relationships are not clearly stated on the page, and in the conclusion, usually
signals too much summary of the essay.
 Watch for repetitiveness—reading aloud can help catch this. In the intro this usually signals
connected ideas whose specific connection is unclear or distinct ideas whose difference is not
clearly stated; in the conclusion, this usually signals that the significance of the essay is not
clearly stated.
Kathryn Tucker, Ph.D.
CONCLUSIONS: BEYOND RESTATING THE THESIS
The closing paragraph is the last thing your readers will see, the last chance you have to
influence their perspective. What do you want them to do with the information you’ve provided?
How does your work fit into a larger conversation readers might care about? What question or
problem has your work answered or solved for your readers? What is the new state of the
conversation your thesis participates in, now that your work factors into that conversation?
One of my students found thinking about her essays as fitting different plots in movies a useful
way of deciding what to do in her closing paragraphs. In no particular order:
Bourne Identity (Mystery/Solution): Does your introduction pose a question? Do your body
paragraphs slowly answer parts of a larger question? Then consider using your conclusion to
clearly tie all the small answers together in a coherent, articulated answer to your initial question
(which should probably take more than one sentence to answer, since it was complex enough to
need however many pages you took to explore it). Include the significance of your answer, as
well—how does this information affect us?
Wall-E (Commentary/Call to Action): Does your introduction point out a problem for a
particular group, society at large, scholars of a certain issue, scholars of a certain text? Do your
body paragraphs slowly explore facets of the problem, possible effects of the problem, and
possible solutions for specific subproblems? Then consider using your conclusion to clearly
propose your solution, your call to action, what you want your readers to do to address the
problem.
Sixth Sense (Plot Twist/New Perspective): Does your introduction present a situation, story,
conflict, or apparent paradox? Do your body paragraphs present context and additional details
that change the way readers can perceive the situation, story, conflict, or paradox? Then consider
using your conclusion to reframe the situation, story, conflict, or paradox with the new insight
your analysis has revealed.
Crash (Multiple Threads/Common Weave): Does your introduction set up analysis of a specific
topic (or many specific topics) that is (or are) part of a larger category? Do your body paragraphs
develop specific details, explore how your specific topic unfolds, and explain what message your
topic has at a local level? Then consider using your conclusion to situate the specifics of your
analysis as examples of a larger phenomenon, generalizing the local messages as a bigger picture
“moral of the story.”
The Matrix (Exploration/Future Possibilities): Does your introduction set up a situation that your
body paragraphs thoroughly explore and define? Then consider using your conclusion to predict
where the conversation will go next, what further research is needed, what problems your
exploration has brought to light and how they might be addressed.
Kathryn Tucker, Ph.D.
With thanks to Camille Larkin-Facer.