Writing Conclusions

This section is taken from Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell, The Holt Handbook (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1986), 100-101.

Most essays have a conclusion, a carefully constructed ending that reinforces major ideas and gives readers a sense of completion. Usually a full paragraph, in long essays the conclusion can run two paragraphs or more. By restating your thesis, the conclusion gives readers the chance to make sure that they have understood your essay. Your conclusion must therefore be clearly connected to your essay — containing the echo of a powerful image, for instance, or a reference to your introduction. By tying your conclusion to your introduction, you frame your essay and bring it full circle.

The following conclusion reviews the essay's main points. By pointing back to ideas stated earlier, the writer sums up his reasons for admiring his grandmother. As you can see signals the start of the conclusion, and sentences 2 and 3 lead to a final sentence calculated to stay with the audience after they have finished reading.

As you can see, my grandmother is an unusual person. She is a dedicated nurse and a loving parent and grandparent. She has fought for the rights of others all her life, and she has raised children — both male and female — who follow her example. I am glad that I have had the opportunity to know her and to use her as a model for my own life. (Student)

John Pheiffer ends an essay differently. After taking a look at primitive cultures, he concludes by predicting the future of the human race.

Looking ahead, prospects may not be quite as dismal as they seem.,As a matter of fact, we are not doing so badly. It is something of a miracle that creatures who evolved as nomads in an intimate, small-band, wide-open-spaces context manage to get along at all as villagers or surrounded by strangers in cubicle apartments. Considering that our genius as a species is adaptability, we may yet learn to live closer and closer to one another, if not in utter peace, then far more peacefully than we do today. (John Pheiffer, "Seeking Peace, Making War")

You can also conclude an essay by stating an opinion. Donald Murray concludes an essay on revision with this observation about the subject.

A piece of writing is never finished. It is delivered to a deadline, torn out of the typewriter on demand, sent off with a sense of accomplishment and shame and pride and ft-ustration. If only there were a couple more days, time for just another run at it, perhaps then ... (Donald Murray, "The Maker's Eye: Revising Your Own Manuscripts")

Or you may use a quotation. In this paragraph a student quotes Alice in Wonderland to express his feelings about the complexity of the tax system.

"Curiouser and curiouser," says Alice as she journeys through Wonderland. The same can be said by anyone who wanders through the maze of regulations contained in the tax code. Possibly someday our lawmakers will remedy this situation, but until then we are all victims of a tax system that is too complex for most people to understand and too unwieldy for the government to control. (Student)

Your conclusion should fulfill the promises you make in your introduction. It should not introduce new ideas or go off in new directions. Your conclusion is your last word, and readers base their impressions of your writing on it. A weak or uninteresting ending detracts from an otherwise strong essay. Therefore, do not apologize ("I may not be an expert" or "At least this is my opinion") or in any way undercut your concluding points.

Source:

Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell, The Holt Handbook (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1986) 100-101.