Conclusions

Suggestions for writing a conclusion

•Answer the question "So What?"

Show your readers why this paper was important. Show them that your paper was meaningful and useful.

•Synthesize, don't summarize

–Don't simply repeat things that were in your paper. They have read it. Show them how the points you made and the support and examples you used were not random, but fit together.

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•Redirect your readers

–Give your reader something to think about, perhaps a way to use your paper in the "real" world. If your introduction went from general to specific, make your conclusion go from specific to general. Think globally.

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•Create a new meaning

–You don't have to give new information to create a new meaning. By demonstrating how your ideas work together, you can create a new picture. Often the sum of the paper is worth more than its parts.



Strategies

•Relating a brief concluding interesting story.

•Giving concluding statistics.

•Asking a question for further thought.

•Using a quotation to sum of the thesis statement.

•Analogies.

•Statement that looks ahead to the future.


Avoid

•Introducing new ideas or facts that belong in the body of the essay.

•Re-wording your introduction.

•Do not use, In conclusion, or in closing. They are too overused and only work in speeches.

•Do not state the thesis for the first time in the conclusion, it should be the last sentence of the introductory paragraph.

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