Conclusion+Help

Conclusions **Common Myths About Conclusions** They’re supposed to summarize the points discussed in the body of the paper. They’re supposed to restate your thesis statement in different words. They’re only one paragraph long. **The Truth About Conclusions** A summary of the points discussed in the body of the paper and restatement of your thesis statement in different words ends a shorter paper on its **WEAKEST** note. If the body of the paper effectively explains your ideas, your readers won’t need a summary and will probably be bored by one. (In long papers, and in papers that present original research, a concluding summary may be genuinely necessary, since, by that point, your readers may need you to pull all your ideas together.) The word “conclusion” means “the logical consequence of a reasoning process” (Webster’s New Ideal Dictionary, Second Edition). In other words, a conclusion is something you “come to” on the basis of what you have thought your way through. Thus, an essay that arrives at a genuine conclusion ends by considering the implications of what it has discussed in the body, the “so what.” An essay that has a genuine conclusion ends up someplace different from where it began and the conclusion “grows out of” what’s discussed in the body of the paper. A genuine conclusion isn’t automatically only one paragraph long. Stronger essays often have concluding sections, several paragraphs that address the implications of what the body explains. In a paper under 10 pages long, a conclusion is rarely more than one or two pages. **Purpose** The conclusion of any paper has one purpose: to “round out” the paper and bring it to an end. Since it’s the last thing the reader will see, and since the reader is apt to remember it //because// it is the last part of the paper, you should try to make it memorable. **How?** Give the reader something to remember: a story that somehow sums up the points you’ve made in the paper a brief summary of the main points of the paper, ending with a quotation from a published source that is exactly what you wish you’d thought of saying and expresses your feelings about the subject you’ve discussed a humorous or sad or startling closing line some questions that arise from the things you’ve said but which you have not answered in your paper, questions that will make the reader keep thinking about what you said an explanation of the importance to the reader and others of the subject you’ve written about and your own analysis of it some of your “best lines” or choice phrases that you think are exceptionally powerful //__In other words, try to make the reader laugh or cry or start thinking on his or her own.__// It’s also a good idea to look back at the way you set up the introduction and see if you can use some idea or image that you used there—that’s what will give the paper a sense of “closure,” a feeling that you’ve really finished what you began. Or, if you have not yet written the introduction, which is sometimes best saved for last, try to connect your introduction with your conclusion in some way. **Questions to Ask Yourself When Trying to Write a Conclusion** What’s the overall significance of what I’ve told my readers in the body of the paper? (What’s the big “so what”?) What effect do I want to have on my readers? What’s the next step I want my readers to take after they finish my paper? Do I want my readers to think differently about something? (What? How? Why?) Do I want my readers to do something? (What? How? Why?) What are the implications of what I’ve explained in the paper—for myself, my readers, or society as a whole? **Common Problems to Avoid** A summary of the points discussed in the body. Information that contradicts the body of the paper. (This is often a sign that you may not yet have worked out your ideas on the subject and need to reconsider your main point.) Introducing a number of new, “big” ideas in one concluding paragraph. Using information that would actually be more effective as an introduction in your conclusion. (Because student writers often do not figure out and clearly articulate the point they want to make until the end, they often need to revise their essays so that the focus of the paper is on presenting the point introduced in the initial conclusion.)