Leaving a lasting impression that lingers in the mind of your readers should be one of your goals while writing your essay. In other to achieve this, it is important that you pay attention to every part of your essay structure: Introduction, Body, and Conclusion. With this in mind, we put together this article to help you;
- Know what an essay conclusion is.
- Know the purpose of a conclusion in an essay.
- Learn how to write the conclusion of your next essay project.
- Understand what your essay conclusion should contain.
- Become acquainted with words you should avoid while writing your conclusion.
What are Academic Essay Conclusions?
An essay conclusion is the last phase of your academic essay that summarizes your entire essay. You can view it as the last piece of your formal write-up that makes all the elements of your essay fit together perfectly. Your conclusion paragraph should make a good final impression on your essay by restating your essay’s thesis statement and main points.
The purpose of your conclusion is to round up your essay and reiterate the main argument of your essay. And so, your conclusion paragraph shouldn’t be used to introduce a new idea; instead, it is where you can introduce a fresh perspective or insight to your argument. It should also contain the moral of your essay, reveal a new insight regarding your essay, or inform your audience about the next action you expect from them using a call to action. If you are writing an academic essay, your conclusion is the final opportunity to demonstrate your understanding of the topic to your teacher.
In other to write an effective conclusion, we will now introduce you to the elements of an effective paragraph.
Use this strategy to write an Effective Conclusion Paragraph
You need three elements to help you outline and frame your essay conclusion, giving it a logical flow. These elements are:
Reiteration of the Thesis Statement.
Your thesis statement is a brief statement that encapsulates the entire purpose of your academic paper. You should write it in the introduction paragraph of your essay, after which you’d provide concrete evidence supporting your claim. The reiteration of the thesis statement is essentially the topic sentence of your concluding paragraph.
It is a brilliant idea to reiterate your thesis in the concluding paragraph because this would channel your teacher’s mind once again to the reason behind your essay. However, note that this is not a repetition of the thesis, in the exact way it was written in the introduction. An example will be super helpful right now. Here’s one:
Let’s say we have this as our thesis statement: “Home-schooled high school students perform better than traditional schooled high school students in standardized assessments when they are taught with organized lesson plans because it ensures that the students study in a structured way to complete their set curriculum in time for the assessments”.
A suitable topic sentence for our conclusion should be: “The use of organized lesson plans remains an effective way to prepare home-schooled high students to excel in standardized assessments…”
Apart from reminding your teacher about the main argument of your essay, starting your conclusion with a rehash of your thesis statement is an amazing positive strategy. People often find the conclusion difficult to write. However, when you start with a reiteration of your thesis, it can stir up a flow of thoughts in connection to the essay, which would help you successfully conclude your essay!
The next element summarizes the guidelines used when explaining the main points of your essay.
Summary of the Guidelines in the Main Points of your Essay.
A great conclusion should contain a recap of the main points which were analyzed in the essay.
One exceptional way to do this is to explain each point you wrote about in the essay in the exact order as it was written in the paper. To put this in a better perspective, I’d like for you to picture this: you write your conclusion with a reiteration of your thesis statement. Next, you write a recap of the key arguments and you write them in the exact order. This feels like a rundown of your entire essay. It gives your conclusion a logical flow and helps readers have a firm grasp of your essay.
While writing, don’t simply summarize your major arguments; instead, write about what you learned about each of the points that support your argument.
Strong Concluding Statement.
You give an overall impression of your main point at this phase. Your concluding statement is where you write about any relevant perspective you found while researching the topic.
Did you stumble upon any discoveries? This is where you write about it.
Did you come across additional solutions or suggestions to problems faced during the research? You should write about them here.
Are there questions that emanated from the research and you found answers to them? Please state the answers here.
Do you think that there are any broader issues or possible implications of your argument? Write about them.
In addition, highlight any proof or disproof you’ve got to further compel your reader to accept your point of view. This introduces your reader to a new view on the topic.
As a writer, your final sentence should be brief, emotionally interesting, and should end on a positive note. This will make your audience feel glad they read your paper.
Now, you’ve got the elements you need for your conclusion. Next, we’ll describe pitfalls you should avoid, then you should be ready to write your conclusion.
Avoid these words while writing a conclusion
Of course, you are writing a conclusion paragraph and your reader understands this as well. Therefore, avoid the pitfall of using these words: “In conclusion”, “In summary”, “To round up” or “To sum it up” as your reader can view it as an unnecessary repetition. Using the elements prescribed in the earlier sections will give your essay a dramatic closing.
Final Thoughts
Keep these helpful tips in mind while writing your conclusion.
