Your introduction and conclusion serve not only as the beginning and end of your essay but also as a means of framing your discussion. Your introduction calls your readers’ attention to specific aspects of your subject — while turning their attention away from others — and your conclusion reinforces their understanding of the points you’ve made in the essay. If your introduction, conclusion, supporting points, and evidence are inconsistent with one another, your essay will be ineffective. To avoid inconsistencies, review your introduction and conclusion, keeping in mind your main point, supporting points, and use of evidence from sources. You can read more about framing your introduction and conclusion in Chapter 16.

Once you’ve revised your essay, ask yourself how you might polish and edit it so that your readers will find it easy to read — and ask a friend, relative, or classmate to proofread your final draft to make sure that it is free of distracting errors. For a discussion of editing and proofreading strategies, see Chapter 20.