Writing a Conclusion

The final paragraphs of an essay linger longest for readers, as in E. B. White’s “Once More to the Lake” from One Man’s Meat (Tilbury House, 1941). White describes his return with his young son to a vacation spot he had loved as a child. As the essay ends in an unforgettable image, he realizes the inevitable passing of generations.

When the others went swimming my son said he was going in, too. He pulled his dripping trunks from the line where they had hung all through the shower and wrung them out. Languidly, and with no thought of going in, I watched him, his hard little body, skinny and bare, saw him wince slightly as he pulled up around his vitals the small, soggy, icy garment. As he buckled the swollen belt, suddenly my groin felt the chill of death.

White’s classic ending opens with a sentence that points back to the previous paragraph as it also looks ahead. Then White leads us quickly to his final, chilling insight. And then he stops.

It’s easy to say what not to do at the end of an essay: don’t leave your readers half expecting you to go on. Don’t restate all you’ve just said. Don’t introduce a brand-new topic that leads away from your point. And don’t signal that the end is near with an obvious phrase like “As I have said.” For some answers to “How do you write an ending, then?” try this checklist.

DISCOVERY CHECKLIST

  • What restatement of your thesis would give readers satisfying closure?

  • What provocative implications of your thesis might answer “What now?” or “What’s the significance of what I’ve said?”

  • What snappy quotation or statement would wrap up your point?

  • What closing facts or statistics might confirm the merit of your point?

  • What final anecdote, incident, or example might round out your ideas?

  • What question has your essay answered?

  • What assertion or claim might you want to restate?

  • What summary might help a reader pull together what you’ve said?

  • What would make a reader sorry to finish such a satisfying essay?

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For more on punctuating quotations, see section C in the Quick Editing Guide.

End with a Quotation. An apt quotation can neatly round out an essay, as literary critic Malcolm Cowley shows in The View from Eighty (Viking, 1980), his discussion of the pitfalls and compensations of old age.

“Eighty years old!” the great Catholic poet Paul Claudel wrote in his journal.“No eyes left, no ears, no teeth, no legs, no wind! And when all is said and done, how astonishingly well one does without them!”

State or Restate Your Thesis. In a sharp criticism of American schools, humorist Russell Baker in “School vs. Education” ends by stating his main point, that schools do not educate.

Afterward, the former student’s destiny fulfilled, his life rich with Oriental carpets, rare porcelain, and full bank accounts, he may one day find himself with the leisure and the inclination to open a book with a curious mind, and start to become educated.

End with a Brief Emphatic Sentence. For an essay that traces causes or effects, evaluates, or argues, a pointed concluding thought can reinforce your main idea. Stick to academic language, but craft a concise, pointed sentence, maybe with a twist. Nathaniel Rich ends his review of Gary Rivlin’s Katrina: After the Flood (New York Times, 5 August 2015) with a short, solemn sentence that invokes the sentiment of the previous sentence for additional impact:

New Orleans has always been a place where utopian fantasies and dystopian realities mingle harmoniously. May New Orleans always remain so. Or at least may it always remain.

Stop When the Story Is Over. Even a quiet ending can be effective, as long as it signals clearly that the essay is finished. When Smithsonian (November 2013) featured articles on “101 Objects That Made America,” space-age historian Andrew Chaikin prepared the selection on “Neil Armstrong’s Spacesuit.” His engaging account of the suit’s model number, cost, construction, technical qualities, and wearability describes the essential features that protected Armstrong as he took his famous first step on the moon. Then Chaikin concludes his article with this succinct paragraph:

“Its true beauty, however,” said Armstrong, “was that it worked.”

Learning by Doing Trying Different Methods for Writing a Conclusion

Learning by Doingimage Trying Different Methods for Writing a Conclusion

Choose three methods of writing a conclusion, selecting from the following list:

  • End with a brief, emphatic sentence or mind-blowing quotation.

  • State or restate your thesis.

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    Briefly summarize your essay’s key points.

  • Answer the “So what?” or “Who cares?” questions about your topic. Why does this issue matter? Who should care about it? Who is harmed if no one pays attention to it?

  • Propose a course of action, or offer a recommendation for future studies or future solutions.

  • Discuss the topic’s wider significance or implications.

  • Redefine a key term or concept discussed in your essay.

Write (or rewrite) the conclusion to a paper using the three methods you have chosen. Which method do you think is most effective and engaging, and why? Swap conclusions with a writing partner and ask your partner which conclusion he or she thinks is most effective and why.

Learning by Doing Evaluating Openings and Conclusions

Learning by Doingimage Evaluating Openings and Conclusions

Openings and conclusions frame an essay, contributing to the unity of the whole. The opening sets up the topic and main idea; the conclusion reaffirms thesis and rounds off the ideas. Discuss the following with your classmates.

  1. Here are two possible opening paragraphs from a student essay on the importance of teaching children how to swim.

    1. Humans inhabit a world made up of over 70 percent water. In addition to these great bodies of water, we have built millions of swimming pools for sports and leisure activities. At one time or another most people will be faced with either the danger of drowning or the challenge of aquatic recreation. For these reasons, it is essential that we learn to swim. Being a competitive swimmer and a swimming instructor, I fully realize the importance of knowing how to swim.

    2. Four-year-old Carl, curious like most children, last spring ventured out onto his pool patio. He fell into the pool and, not knowing how to swim, helplessly sank to the bottom. Minutes later his uncle found the child and brought him to the surface. Because Carl had no pulse, his uncle administered CPR until the paramedics arrived. Eventually the child was revived. During his stay in the hospital, his mother signed him up for beginning swimming classes. Carl was a lucky one. Unlike thousands of other children and adults, he got a second chance.

    • Which introduction is more effective? Why?

    • What would the body of this essay consist of? What kinds of evidence would be included?

    • Write a suitable conclusion for this essay.

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  2. If you were to read each of the following introductions from professional essays, would you want to read the entire essay? Why?

    1. During my ninth hour underground, as I scrambled up a slanting tunnel through the powdered gypsum, Rick Bridges turned to me and said, “You know, this whole area was just discovered Tuesday.” (David Roberts, “Caving Comes into Its Golden Age: A New Mexico Marvel,” Smithsonian, November 1988)

    2. From the batting average on the back of a George Brett baseball card to the interest rate fluctuations that determine whether the economy grows or stagnates, Americans are fascinated by statistics. (Stephen E. Nordlinger, “By the Numbers,” St. Petersburg Times, 6 November 1988)

    3. “What does it look like under there?”

      It was always this question back then, always the same pattern of hello and what’s your name, what happened to your eye and what’s under there. (Natalie Kusz, “Waiting for a Glass Eye,” Road Song [Farrar, 1990], rpt. in Harper’s, November 1990)

  3. How effective are these introductions and conclusions from student essays? Could they be improved? If so, how? If they are satisfactory, explain why. What would be a catchy yet informative title for each essay?

    1. Recently a friend down from New York astonished me with stories of several people infected—some with AIDS—by stepping on needles washed up on the New Jersey beaches. This is just one incident of pollution, a devastating problem in our society today. Pollution is increasing in our world because of greed, apathy, and Congress’s inability to control this problem. . . .

      Wouldn’t it be nice to have a pollution-free world without medical wastes floating in the water and washing up on our beaches? Without cars and power plants spewing greenhouse gases? With every corporation abiding by the laws set by Congress? In the future we can have a pollution-free world, but it is going to take the cooperation of everyone, including Congress, to ensure our survival on this Planet Earth.

    2. The divorce rate rose 700 percent in the last century and continues to rise. More than one out of every two couples who are married end up divorcing. Over one million children a year are affected by divorce in the family. From these statistics it is clear that one of the greatest problems concerning the family today is divorce and the adverse effects it has on our society. . . .

      Divorce causes problems that change people for life. The number of divorces will continue to exceed the 700 percent figure unless married couples learn to communicate, to accept their mates unconditionally, and to sacrificially give of themselves.

  4. Using a topic that you generated in Chapter 19, write at least three different introductions with conclusions. Ask classmates which is most effective.