WRITINGCONCLUSIONS

CONCLUSIONThe PURPOSE of CONCLUDING PARAGRAPHS

BRING the ESSAY FULL CIRCLE

CONCLUSIONTHE 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 • moral, lessons• point, argument• Dominant Impression

– repeat your main ideas (support, proof)• examples, details, points, • arguments, traits

NOT WORD FOR WORD

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*

CONCLUSIONCLINCHER 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

CONCLUSIONCLINCHER 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

CONCLUSIONCLINCHER 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/handoutsconclusions.html

• http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/conclude.html

THE

END!