Conclusion
Your conclusion must include the following:
- a restatement of your thesis (not in the same words!)
- a synthesis of your main ideas (don't simply list them as a summary, explain how all the points your made in the essay come together to support your thesis)
- a "clincher sentence," or thought-provoking sentence with which to end the essay
Your conclusion should NOT include the following:
- the statement, "In conclusion...."
- new ideas about your topic not discussed elsewhere in the essay
A good conclusion paragraph should be roughly five to six sentences.
- a restatement of your thesis (not in the same words!)
- a synthesis of your main ideas (don't simply list them as a summary, explain how all the points your made in the essay come together to support your thesis)
- a "clincher sentence," or thought-provoking sentence with which to end the essay
Your conclusion should NOT include the following:
- the statement, "In conclusion...."
- new ideas about your topic not discussed elsewhere in the essay
A good conclusion paragraph should be roughly five to six sentences.
Ideas for "clincher sentences" to end your conclusion (and thus, your essay!):
These examples are not full conclusions.
1. Answer the questions, "So what?" Emphasize to your readers why your ideas are meaningful:
If it had not been for citizens like Ann Putnam, driven to irrational thoughts and behavior from grief, hardship, and suspicion, the witch hunt in Salem would never have led to the deaths of innocent victims.
2. Give readers something to think about, linking your topic to the "real world:"
Ann Putnam lived more than three hundred years ago, yet the emotions and turmoil that influenced her to participate in the Salem Witch Hunt still exist in the world. When grief and hardship goes unchecked, tragedy can occur today, just as it did in 1692.
3. "Loop" back to your introduction:
When Graham Greene stated that grief and disappointment, like hate, makes men ugly with self-pity and bitterness, he could very well have been speaking directly of Ann Putnam, whose self-pity and bitterness indirectly led to the death and destruction of dozens of innocent victims.
1. Answer the questions, "So what?" Emphasize to your readers why your ideas are meaningful:
If it had not been for citizens like Ann Putnam, driven to irrational thoughts and behavior from grief, hardship, and suspicion, the witch hunt in Salem would never have led to the deaths of innocent victims.
2. Give readers something to think about, linking your topic to the "real world:"
Ann Putnam lived more than three hundred years ago, yet the emotions and turmoil that influenced her to participate in the Salem Witch Hunt still exist in the world. When grief and hardship goes unchecked, tragedy can occur today, just as it did in 1692.
3. "Loop" back to your introduction:
When Graham Greene stated that grief and disappointment, like hate, makes men ugly with self-pity and bitterness, he could very well have been speaking directly of Ann Putnam, whose self-pity and bitterness indirectly led to the death and destruction of dozens of innocent victims.