Concluding Paragraph
Estimated Time: 20 minutes
At the end of the lesson, you will understand how to end your essay with a strong conclusion.
How Do I End My Essay With a Strong Conclusion?
It is not unusual to want to rush when you approach your conclusion, and even experienced writers may fade. But what good writers remember is that it is vital to put just as much attention into the conclusion as in the rest of the essay. After all, a hurried ending can ruin an otherwise strong essay. A conclusion that does not correspond to the rest of your essay has loose ends, or is unorganized can unsettle your readers and raise doubts about the entire essay. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to end your essay with a strong conclusion.
Keep in mind that the ideas in your conclusion must conform to the rest of your essay. In order to tie these components together, restate your thesis at the beginning of your conclusion and connect it to the evidence presented in your essay. This helps you gather all the information you have explained in the body. Repeating your thesis reminds your readers of the major arguments you have been trying to prove and also indicates that your essay is drawing to a close. A strong conclusion also reviews your main points and emphasizes the importance of the topic. 
The structure of the conclusion is similar to the introduction, in which you make general introductory statements and then present your thesis. The difference is that in the conclusion you first paraphrase, or state in different words your thesis and then follow up with general concluding remarks.
Many writers like to end their essays with a final emphatic statement. This strong closing statement will cause your readers to continue thinking about the implications of your essay; it will make your conclusion, and thus your essay, more memorable. Another powerful technique is to challenge your readers to make a change in either their thoughts or their actions. Challenging your readers to see the subject through new eyes is a powerful way to ease yourself and your readers out of the essay.
Ending your essay with a question is also an effective strategy to use when you want your ending to be remembered. Experiment with different questions and see what works best. You wouldn’t want to end your paper with anything that didn’t make your work stand out, would you?
You can find presentation in the video here.
Here are some useful tips in writing a strong conclusion:
- Avoid introducing new material in your conclusion. It has an unsettling effect on your reader. When you raise new points, you make your reader want more information, which you could not possibly provide in the limited space of your final paragraph.
- Do not change or contradict your thesis. Contradicting or changing your thesis statement causes your readers to think that you do not actually have confidence about your topic. After all, you have spent several paragraphs sticking to a singular point of view. When you change sides or change your point of view in the conclusion, your reader might not believe your original argument.
- No apologies. By apologizing for your opinion or stating that you know it is tough to digest, you are in fact admitting that even you know what you have discussed is irrelevant or unconvincing. You do not want your readers to feel this way. Effective writers stand by their thesis statement.
Check Yourself
Complete the task below to check your understanding of today’s lesson.