Write a Closing Paragraph of an Essay

How to Write a Closing Paragraph of an Essay

The closing paragraph of an essay is often the hardest part for students to write. So much importance is placed on having a stellar introduction and solid body paragraphs that when it comes to the conclusion, it can feel like the energy has fizzled out by then.

Concluding paragraphs are very important, however. They’re your reader’s last impression of your essay and the place where you wrap up your theme. Without them, your ideas are left dangling with no real resolution to them.

A weak conclusion can leave a bad impression, even if you nailed the rest of the essay, so you want to make sure you get it right.

Here are some tips on writing a great concluding paragraph:

 Summarize

This is the classic technique for concluding a paragraph. After you’ve taken the reader through the nitty gritty of your examples to back up your thesis statement, you can remind them of some of your major points by summarizing them in the conclusion. Don’t repeat other parts of your essay word for word. Instead, rephrase key points and ideas. Don’t go into too much detail either, just stick to the general idea to refresh your reader’s memory about the major ideas you covered.

 Suggest Next Steps

This is an interesting way to end an essay, especially if you’re writing about a current event, political issue or scientific advancement. While your essay will have reported what’s occurred so far in these areas, you can use the concluding paragraph to springboard into the future by raising questions and possibilities on how this issue will look in a few years. For example, if you’re writing about the increasing presence of robots in our society, you can speculate on how the issue of ethics when it comes to the use of robots by humans will eventually need to be addressed.

Tie It Into Current Times

If you’re writing an essay about a historical event, a great technique to capture your reader’s attention until the end is to explain why this event is still relevant today. What aftereffects has it had that still influence our lives? For example, if you were writing about the Boston Tea Party in 1773, you could show how it was a factor in the Revolutionary War that led to independence from the British and was invoked as recently as 2009 when a movement called The Tea Party emerged to protest excessive government spending. This type of ending helps the reader understand why your subject is important.

Return to a Metaphor or Anecdote

If you started out your essay with an anecdote, you can return to it in your concluding paragraph. Don’t simply repeat it but remind the reader of it by restating its relevance to your thesis. Also, if you’ve woven a metaphor throughout your essay, then it would be logical to continue it through to the end. This can be an elegant way to bring your essay full circle.

Make Sure It’s a Full Paragraph

Students who don’t know how to write a conclusion tend to write a very short one. It’s usually one line that briefly summarizes the main idea, making for an abrupt and unsatisfying conclusion. Take the time to develop your conclusion. Both you and the reader deserve it.

Avoid Cramming in Research

Some students want to show how much research they did by stuffing all the information they couldn’t fit in the rest of the essay into the conclusion. It’s better to write a good conclusion using any of the techniques above than to confuse the reader with irrelevant information.

Don’t Introduce Your Thesis in the Conclusion

This is a common mistake that usually means the student doesn’t know how to write a proper introduction (where the thesis belongs). In these cases, they usually present all their supporting evidence and then in the end make their thesis statement as if saying “Ta-da!”. Restating your thesis in the conclusion is fine, but it should never be introduced there.

Conclusions don’t have to be difficult to write. Any of these tips can help you ace your conclusion and wow your readers.