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Effective Writing Center (EWC)

What are the different parts of an essay?

Conclusions

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The conclusion is a very important part of your essay. Although it is sometimes treated as a roundup of all of the bits that didn’t fit into the paper earlier, it deserves better treatment than that!It’s the last thing the reader will see, so it tends to stick in the reader’s memory. It’s also a great place to remind the reader exactly why your topic is important. A conclusion is more than just “the last paragraph—it's a working part of the paper. This is the place to push your reader to think about the consequences of your topic for the wider world or for the reader’s own life!

A good conclusion should do a few things:

  • restate your thesis;
  • synthesize or summarize your major points;
  • make the context of your argument clear.

Restating Your Thesis

You’ve already spent time and energy crafting a solid thesis statement for your introduction, and if you’ve done your job right, your whole paper focuses on that thesis statement. That’s why it’s so important to address the thesis in your conclusion! Many writers choose to begin the conclusion by restating the thesis, but you can put your thesis into the conclusion anywhere--the first sentence of the paragraph, the last sentence, or in between. Here are a few tips for rephrasing your thesis:

  • Remind the reader that you’ve proven this thesis over the course of your paper. For example, if you’re arguing that your readers should get their pets from animal shelters rather than pet stores, you might say, “If you were considering that puppy in the pet-shop window, remember that your purchase will support ‘puppy mills’ instead of rescuing a needy dog, and consider selecting your new friend at your local animal shelter.”  This example gives the reader not only the thesis of the paper, but a reminder of the most powerful point in the argument!
  • Revise the thesis statement so that it reflects the relationship you’ve developed with the reader during the paper. For example, if you’ve written a paper that targets parents of young children, you can find a way to phrase your thesis to capitalize on that--maybe by beginning your thesis statement with, “As a parent of a young child…”
  • Don’t repeat your thesis word for word--make sure that your new statement is an independent, fresh sentence!

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