What Is A Conclusion and How to Write One?

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A concluding paragraph is an integral part of any paper, whether it is a

custom essay, research project, or a dissertation. It plays an important role

and helps easily convey the main idea being covered in your essay. Aimed

at summarizing all your main points, content in a conclusion should be

thoroughly planned and sound straightforward. Otherwise, you risk ending

your essay ineffectively. So what is special about essay conclusion writing?

How to ensure that the last paragraph of your essay sounds clear and

persuasive?

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How to write a conclusionThere are different approaches to essay conclusion writing. No matter what strategy you choose, you are to make sure that the last paragraph of your essay performs the following functions:

Since it summarizes research data and essay contents, a conclusion should be the very last thing you write for your project. It is only possible to create an all-covering and comprehensive final chapter having a solid knowledge of a theme and having an essay intro and body 100% ready. Thus, the risk that you miss out an important piece of information is minimal and all parts of the essay are logically connected.

Summarizes essay contents;

Answers the topic question;

Highlights your main arguments being discussed in an essay body;

Re-states a thesis statement;

Expresses your ideas;

Reflects the above content.

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There are some basic strategies and approaches to essay conclusion writing that will make it an easier task for you. Stick to the below recommendations to handle the writing maximum effectively:

Follow the above rules and produce essay conclusions that never leave your reader indifferent and help you deliver the intended message to your audience!

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Develop an outline - it should cover all the main points and the strongest arguments that you have discussed in the body of the essay;

Ensure a logical connection between the last and other parts of your essay - use transition elements as a logical bridge, do not jump from one idea to another;

Pay attention to the size of a conclusion - although summarizing part is one of the most important pieces of your essay, it shouldn’t be too long. As a rule, this paragraph takes no more than 1/2 part of the entire text;

Re-state a thesis statement - the main purpose of a conclusion is to summarize essay contents and make a reader take your position. That’s why it’s so important to restate the main message of your essay one more time. Thus, you can be 100% sure that it is remembered.

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Conclusion paragraph outline

The easiest way to plan the structure of your conclusion is to draft it

out in an outline. The latter serves as the backbone of your finalizing

paragraph and allows you to group your ideas in such a way so that

your text sounds maximum effectively. So if you want to deliver a good

essay with a strong ending, you shouldn’t be lazy and prepare an

outline. An effectively developed outline helps you:

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Refine the strongest arguments;

Group the data;

Build a logical connection between all parts of your academic

essay.

Find the optimal order of arguments;

Cover all the important points;

Remind your reader how a thesis statement of your essay sounds;

As a rule, an essay conclusion outline writing doesn’t take too much time since it is not the final

text you deliver but a list of points you are to cover in the last paragraph of your essay. Follow

the below sequence of actions to save even more time on outline development:

In order to define the best order of statements in a concluding paragraph, take a break and have a

fresh look at the outline, or you can always ask your friends for advice.

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Start drafting an outline only after an introduction, body and a thesis statement are ready;

Pick only the strongest arguments from the body part of your essay;

Rephrase the arguments so that they do not sound in the same way as you write them down above in the text;

Group the arguments if they highlight the topic from the same angle;

Play around with the order of arguments to pick the best one;

Include an essay thesis statement in a finalizing paragraph, but rewrite a thesis.

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How to start a conclusion?

A generalization of the main thoughts is the most typical and logical ending of your

essay.

Thus, you raise an important problem and get it addressed immediately. Start your last

paragraph with a topic sentence followed by the strongest argument supporting your

point of view.

The interrogative sentence or a rhetorical question at the end of the essay is another

good approach to essay conclusion writing.

It returns the reader to the problem you cover in your writing and emphasizes its

relevance. What is more, by starting this paragraph with a question, you make your

reader search for an answer and look at the topic from a different angle.

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Starting the last paragraph with a call to action is another effective strategy.

In such a way, you turn the reader’s attention on and increase your self-assuredness in his

eyes. As a rule, endings with a CTA in them sound bold and can never be weak or boring.

Use quotes - it is a proven strategy as well.

However, not every quote is appropriate. Find a statement that fully expresses your

thoughts and ensure its smooth integration in the text. It is recommended to use a short

sentence that contains the keywords reflecting a theme or cite opinion leaders.

Unfortunately, far from every strategy works for all the essays. A topic and contents of your essay

define the type of ending to be used. Therefore, it is better to analyze the content strategy and the

tone of your essay in order to write a 100% effective finalizing paragraph.

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How to write a concluding sentenceJust like it comes to an opening sentence, there are different approaches to writing the last sentence of your work. Being the very last statement of your essay, a concluding sentence is best remembered. So if you do not want to fail with the very last sentence you write and use it as your win-win tactic, use any of the below strategies:

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ASK A QUESTION

motivate a reader to re-think a topic of your project by asking a direct question to him;

WRITE A CALL-TO-ACTION

make a bold claim or make your reader act; thus, you ensure that your message is taken accordingly;

CITE OPINION LEADERS

use strong citations as your concluding sentence; such statements will serve as strong anchor points between your key opinion and unbiased truth;

WRITE A THESIS STATEMENT

write down a thesis statement as the last sentence of your essay; thus, a reader doesn’t have any chance to forget it;

WRITE AN ANECDOTE

it has been proven that statements that cause emotions are remembered best. Use this feature of the human psychique to establish contact with your reader.

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If you are unsure what concluding sentence will

work better for you, write several variants and pick

the one that matches your writing tone and has a

logical connection to the body of your essay.

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Conclusion paragraph examplesCHAPTER 1

Ok, EssayToolBox give me examples!

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EXAMPLE #1:

Speaking of the article, I should say that the most complicated dilemma the author

recalled is the lack of time versus storing resources. Both Steven and his daughter’s

teacher are right. While the tutor believes that conserving resources by rinsing out essay

cup instead of discarding it may save natural resources, the girl’s dad knows about the

importance of time as an intangible resource.

EXAMPLE #2:

While the WWII was on its highest peak, the humanity was slowly sledging to an end.

The main reason why we are still here is that human nature is more about struggling for

life than destroying it. It is well displayed in the book. Its main characters are shown from

both sides. You are damaging your future you are building something absolutely new.

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EXAMPLE #3:

All in all physical punishment can be a useful method of discipline. However, it should be

the last choice for parents. If we want to build a world with less violence we must begin at

home, and we must teach our children to be responsible.

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Strategies for Writing a ConclusionEssay conclusion writing can be really tough, especially if you write it for the first time and do not know all the pitfalls of the process. The last paragraph of your essay should be short but capacious enough to draw all the necessary final concepts. To deliver an effective conclusion, you need to accurately select concise phrases and statements that will logically flow from the text of the main part of the essay and be in the same style as the rest of the essay.

When writing an ending for your essay, there are some things for you to focus on:

If you adhere to all the rules above, you play safe and can count n a high grade for the assignment.

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CHAPTER 3

The absence of any new ideas in a summarizing paragraph;

The inclusion of a thesis statement in the very last paragraph of your piece.

its integration into the entire essay and its context;

A logical connection between your finalizing paragraph and other parts of the essay;

A summarizing feature;

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Strategies for an effective conclusionThe essay ending should correspond to the introduction/ topic/ body of the essay. Before writing the last paragraph of your essay, you need to re-read the intro, note down all the problems posed in it. Make sure that the conclusion resonates with all the points from the intro. The lack of connection between the first and the last paragraphs of your essay is one of the most common errors.

Use the last paragraph of your essay to:

Only a conclusion that serves as a summarising point sounds effectively and helps you deliver your message to the reader.

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Summarize all the above reasonings;

Use an appropriate quote highlighting the essence of the main idea of your essay;

Give a concise and accurate answer to the question topic.

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Concluding strategies that do not workAs a rule, students tend to make the same problems when writing a concluding paragraph. These are some of the common mistakes to avoid when creating a conclusion for your essay:

Too long - conclusions that take half of your essay never work well. You should remember that the main part of your essay is a body, while introduction and conclusion are the additional elements. A concluding part should be no longer than 1/3 of your essay;

New arguments - do not include any new information in a summarizing paragraph of your essay. You have an essay body for that. In conclusion, you are supposed to summarize the above information without adding any new details;

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Although it may seem to be a challenging thing, essay conclusion writing can become an easy task if you get your hand trained. Check essay samples and pay attention to how other students write conclusions in order to find inspiration and adopt experience.

The absence or too short - you will not fly high without a finalizing paragraph, and a 1-2-sentence conclusion will not reflect your essay in full. You should find a balance and write a text that contains only important information and sums up your intended message;

New terms and keywords - make sure that terminology and keywords are decoded in the body of your essay. Do not include any new ones in a concluding paragraph, without them being explained above in the text.

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Ineffective conclusionsEven if you thoroughly research a topic and write a brilliant essay with meaningful content but a poor conclusion, you will hardly get a high grade for the assignment. The thing is that tutors pay special attention to the concluding paragraph and check how well a student can use this area to voice his thoughts.

How do ineffective conclusions look like?

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Too long - the ones that are longer than 1/3 of the entire essay are considered too long;

Not summarizing - when a last paragraph of your work doesn’t summarize the above information, it is considered ineffective;Too short - you are to cover all the

important facts as well as a thesis statement in the last paragraph of your essay; otherwise, it will not work;

No reference to the essay contents - your final part should logically refer to essay contents and support the main idea being revealed in the text. It is important that the conclusions are not far-fetched and do not arise “out of nowhere.”

With new information - you share new thoughts and ideas with the reader; this is a wrong approach;

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Invest your time in essay conclusion writing; otherwise, you risk spoiling the general impression from reading the piece.

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Frequently asked questions about avoiding plagiarism

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- HOW LONG SHOULD A CONCLUSION BE

Conclusions should take no more than 1/3 of the entire essay. In case they are longer,

your teacher will definitely flag it to you, whereas shorter ones may lack some important

information and be not so much summarizing as they should be.

- WHAT ARE THE WORDS TO START A CONCLUSION PARAGRAPH ESSAY

It is best to start a conclusion with some transition words and phrases. These serve

a role of logical bridges that smoothly connect a final paragraph of your essay to its

other parts. Some of the widely used transitions are all in all, all things considered,

altogether, finally, in essence, in short, to sum up, ultimately, etc.

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- HOW TO WRITE A STRONG CONCLUSION FOR YOUR ESSAY

In order to write a strong conclusion, start working on it only after the introduction and

body parts are ready. Create an outline first and list all the main points, statements, and

terms there. Stick to the list when drafting the last paragraph of your essay and ensure

that all the supporting ideas are in place.

- HOW TO WRITE A CONCLUSION FOR A RESEARCH PAPER

The main idea of a conclusion in a research paper is to summarize research results and

support your hypothesis. That’s why you are to find the strongest research data and

smoothly integrate them in the last paragraph of your project. Restate the hypothesis by

making the same point with other words.

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