Regardless of what you’re studying, writing essays is probably a significant part of your work as a student. Taking the time to understand how to write each section of an essay (i.e., introduction, body, and conclusion) can make the entire process easier and ensure that you’ll be successful.
Once you’ve put in the hard work of writing a coherent and compelling essay, it can be tempting to quickly throw together a conclusion without the same attention to detail. However, you won’t leave an impactful final impression on your readers without a strong conclusion.
We’ve compiled a few easy steps to help you write a great conclusion for your next essay. Watch our video, or check out our guide below to learn more!
1. Return to Your Thesis
Similar to how an introduction should capture your reader’s interest and present your argument, a conclusion should show why your argument matters and leave the reader with further curiosity about the topic.
To do this, you should begin by reminding the reader of your thesis statement. While you can use similar language and keywords when referring to your thesis, avoid copying it from the introduction and pasting it into your conclusion.
Try varying your vocabulary and sentence structure and presenting your thesis in a way that demonstrates how your argument has evolved throughout your essay.
2. Review Your Main Points
In addition to revisiting your thesis statement, you should review the main points you presented in your essay to support your argument.
However, a conclusion isn’t simply a summary of your essay. Rather, you should further examine your main points and demonstrate how each is connected.
Try to discuss these points concisely, in just a few sentences, in preparation for demonstrating how they fit in to the bigger picture of the topic.
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3. Show the Significance of Your Essay
Next, it’s time to think about the topic of your essay beyond the scope of your argument. It’s helpful to keep the question “so what?” in mind when you’re doing this. The goal is to demonstrate why your argument matters.
If you need some ideas about what to discuss to show the significance of your essay, consider the following:
- What do your findings contribute to the current understanding of the topic?
- Did your findings raise new questions that would benefit from future research?
- Can you offer practical suggestions for future research or make predictions about the future of the field/topic?
- Are there other contexts, topics, or a broader debate that your ideas can be applied to?
While writing your essay, it can be helpful to keep a list of ideas or insights that you develop about the implications of your work so that you can refer back to it when you write the conclusion.
Making these kinds of connections will leave a memorable impression on the reader and inspire their interest in the topic you’ve written about.
4. Avoid Some Common Mistakes
To ensure you’ve written a strong conclusion that doesn’t leave your reader confused or lacking confidence in your work, avoid:
- Presenting new evidence: Don’t introduce new information or a new argument, as it can distract from your main topic, confuse your reader, and suggest that your essay isn’t organized.
- Undermining your argument: Don’t use statements such as “I’m not an expert,” “I feel,” or “I think,” as lacking confidence in your work will weaken your argument.
- Using generic statements: Don’t use generic concluding statements such as “In summary,” “To sum up,” or “In conclusion,” which are redundant since the reader will be able to see that they’ve reached the end of your essay.
Finally, don’t make the mistake of forgetting to proofread your essay! Mistakes can be difficult to catch in your own writing, but they can detract from your writing.
Our expert editors can ensure that your essay is clear, concise, and free of spelling and grammar errors. Find out more by submitting a free trial document today!