Writing an essay conclusion doesn’t have to be difficult or confusing. It is actually a simple process once you understand what a conclusion is supposed to do and how to write it.
In this article, you’ll learn what a conclusion for an expository essay should really do. And you’ll learn a simple yet effective way to conclude your essay.
I will also give you some tips to maximize your grade on your writing assignment.
The Truth About Essay Conclusions
The first thing to understand about conclusions for essays or research papers is that they are primarily a repetition of what was already stated.
If your conclusion does not restate your points, then it must introduce new material. Because what else can it do, then?
And if new material is introduced, it belongs in one of two places:
- New material belongs in the body of the essay to support your main point
- New material that does not serve to support your main point does not belong in the essay at all
So, to be clear: your conclusion is always either repetitive or irrelevant.
However, here is another truth about conclusions.
Your Professor or Teacher Probably Expects You to Write One
Most teachers, professors, and test graders expect a conclusion. This means that you should always write one.
But if you understand that essay conclusions either repeat stuff or contain irrelevant material, this makes your life easier, for a simple reason:
You no longer have to wonder why you always struggle when writing a conclusion!
You’re struggling because this is the most confusing part of essay writing. But I wrote this article to shed some light on conclusions and give you practical ways to write them.
Advice About Essay Conclusions That Is Complete Nonsense
Here is some advice that you’ll get from some essay writing experts:
“Essay conclusions should captivate the reader.”
No, they should not. The opening paragraph does that. It’s a bit too late to captivate the reader at the end of the essay.
“Conclusions should enforce and deepen the supporting points.”
No, they should not. All the relevant evidence to support your main point should be presented in the body of the essay.
“A conclusion is a sales pitch.”
No, it’s not. You “sell” your essay and your main point in the opening paragraph. And if your first paragraph was not enticing enough, then trust me – the reader will not even get to your conclusion.
The Only Thing an Essay Conclusion Should Really Do
The real purpose of your conclusion is to make your grader happy enough to give you a good grade. That’s it.
So, you must fulfill your grader’s expectations for your conclusion. One of the best ways to do it is to talk to your professor and ask what she prefers to read in the conclusion.
If you are writing an essay as part of an exam or test, you don’t have that option.
But don’t worry. What I’ll teach you here will work for you in any situation. Here is how this tutorial works.
First, I’ll teach you the Main Technique. This is the technique that you can and will use over and over in your academic life.
And then, I’ll give you 3 tweaks to apply to your main technique that you can use to produce variations for different topics, professors, and situations.
Let’s get started.
To write a conclusion, we need an essay or at least its summary. Here is the thesis statement and structure of the body of the essay we will be concluding.
Our Thesis
“In spite of a couple of minor drawbacks, a vacation in the Dominican Republic can be totally awesome. There may not be much sight-seeing, and the weather may disappoint in the wrong time of the year. However, beautiful sandy beaches, excellent food, and 24-hour entertainment really make it a winner.”
Structure of the Body
Without further ado, let’s explore how you can write an essay conclusion.
Main Technique: Restate your main and supporting points
This technique is foundational. It is most commonly expected, and you should use it most often. In fact, you should always use it unless you know that your professor wants more than just restatement in your conclusion.
Restatement is easy to write, and it satisfies most graders, including those who grade tests.
I know that many “experts” out there will tell you that this is not what you should be doing. Just ignore them and make this technique your main tool.
I’ve taught essay writing since 2004, and I’ve never seen an essay or a paper downgraded for a well-executed restatement.
So, what do we have here? We have an essay that is divided into two parts – a small negative part and a larger positive part.
It’s a mostly positive review of a vacation spot. By the way, I’ve never been to the Dominican Republic and am just using it as an example.
Rewriting the Thesis Statement
All we really need to do here is rewrite the thesis statement (including its supporting points) using different words.
In case your thesis statement does not include your supporting points, you should read my guide to writing an effective thesis statement.
And second, don’t worry. Just look at your essay structure the way I represent this one in the diagram, and pull out your supporting points.
Let’s do the restatement:
“To sum up, Dominican Republic is mostly a winning vacation spot. The scarcity of interesting places to see and a few rainy days could dim the experience. But a vacation in this tropical country is very likely to be a success because of the pristine beaches, excellent dining, and the possibility to party non-stop.”
If you compare this conclusion with the thesis statement, you’ll notice several things:
- They have the same structure. Each has three sentences: the main point, the smaller negative, and the bigger positive.
- We are saying exactly what we stated in the essay, including the thesis and the body. We are not adding or contradicting anything.
- We are using different words and phrases to say the same thing.
This is a solid, safe, and time-proven way to write an essay conclusion.
You see, it’s hard for a grader to argue with it. It is true to the rest of the essay, yet is not an exact copy of anything in it.
When looking for non-repetitive words, you can use an online thesaurus. A thesaurus is simply a tool that gives you synonyms, antonyms, and other words that you can use in your writing.
3 Ways to Take Your Conclusion Beyond Restatement
Let me emphasize here that you should only use these tweaks if you know that simple restatement won’t do it for your grader.
Some graders, mostly college professors, want and expect conclusions that are more than just simple restatement.
And that’s okay. Like I advised before, you can simply ask your professor what he or she wants in a conclusion. And then just do what they tell you.
The 3 tweaks I’m about to give you will make your conclusion mostly non-repetitive. I say “mostly” because we’ll have to at least briefly restate the main point whatever technique or tweak we choose.
You can combine these tweaks. You can start out by restating the main and any of the supporting points briefly. And then you can follow up with one or more of the ideas I give you here.
That said, here are your essay conclusion tweaks.
Tweak 1. Zoom out
This tweak is about putting your main point in perspective by explaining why it is relevant. You do it by zooming out and looking at the subject from a bird’s eye view.
“Dominican Republic is mostly a great vacation spot. Though it may not offer spectacular sightseeing or perfect weather, its beaches, food, and entertainment are sure to satisfy vacationers. In today’s world, people have all kinds of choices. But in a search for a perfect spot, they can miss this Caribbean jewel. And this would be a pity.”
We zoomed out and looked at vacationing, or picking a vacation spot, as a whole. And we explained why DR can be easily missed in the world of choices.
You don’t have to zoom out only geographically. This tweak will work in any essay.
You can zoom out about a work of literature or a painting just by looking at other works of art and talk about why it is relevant in its time period, genre, or movement.
Tweak 2. Admit that your point of view is limited
In our essay, when we discuss the positives, we choose to talk about the beaches, the food, and the entertainment.
This leaves out many other positive aspects of the Dominican Republic as a vacation destination.
So, in your conclusion, you can simply admit that you chose to focus on some of the aspects but not the others. You simply omitted them because of the time or word count constraints.
Let’s write the tweaked conclusion:
“In conclusion, many things make Dominican Republic a really great vacation destination. The beaches, the food, and the entertainment are only a few of them. To discuss all of them would take up many pages. Suffice it to say that this country is definitely a winner when it comes to picking a spot to relax and renew.”
In this example, sentence 2 and 3 are where we use the tweak and admit that we had to leave things out.
And the rest of the conclusion is mostly restatement.
Tweak 3. Make suggestions for future research
This tweak is commonly accepted in research papers. A good, legitimate way to conclude a study is to suggest future areas of research for this subject.
Like in the second tweak, you can admit that you haven’t quite covered something enough or at all, and future researchers would do good to research those things.
Let’s pretend that we’re writing a big research paper that explores trends in DR vacationing. This would be our tweaked conclusion:
“To conclude, the literature has revealed that Dominican Republic has been increasing in popularity as a vacation spot in the past decade. Future studies can explore the role of different aspects of resorts that have contributed to this increase the most. It would be interesting to learn if people have been attracted more to the beaches, the food, the entertainment, or to other factors more than to others.”
We’re done with the tweaks. And now you have your main technique and a bunch of tweaks you can make to write a conclusion to suit any essay.
Conclusion Writing Tips
Here are a few tips that will help you further.
- Your conclusion can be as short as one sentence or as long as a big paragraph. It all depends on the length of your essay.
- You can begin your conclusion by stating, “To conclude,” “In conclusion,” or “To sum up,” but you don’t have to. You can just start your conclusion with your subject.
- Use a thesaurus. The easiest way to do it is to enter your term into google search and type “synonym.” The first result will usually take you to that entry in a thesaurus.
- Use simple restatement unless you know that your professor wants more from your conclusion.
- Ask your professor about her conclusion preferences and simply deliver. Your professor’s wishes override any other advice because he or she is in charge of your grade.
Hope this was helpful.
Go write that conclusion!
Tutor Phil
I had many problems whenever I wanted to write good conclusions; thus, it is great to read your great tips.
By the way, I totally agree with you when you wrote that conclusions in essays are unnecessary. However, I think the main purposes of a conclusion are to wrap things up, re-emphasize the main points, and announce the ending of our essay to readers; therefore, in my opinion, it is better if a essay has its own conclusion. Moreover, I have an intention of taking the TOEFL test soon. The TOEFL essay always require a conclusion.
Again, your post is really interesting and useful to me. Thank you.
I’m glad you liked it, Thuan. Thanks for the warm words.
The best strategy in any writing class or test preparation is to know what exactly is required of you first. Yes – the TOEFL test requires a conclusion, and you should write it.
I recently wrote my graduate term paper and did not include either an intro or a conclusion. I got full credit. But I knew my professor only cared about the clarity of my arguments.
You have many tools here on my blog. Use them according to your needs. I’m glad you know what you’re doing.
I want be a good speaker and amazing writer. I want everyone impressed with me. But, when I’m writing …. blank, lost ideas. When I’m writing a story, I want it turn out as a nice story that makes anyone who reads my story impressed. I don’t want to make a clichéd one . But, as noted, I’m lacking ideas. My teacher tells me that you need to read, to enrich your idea, vocab, grammar and so on. I admit that I’m not a bookworm . I’ve been through all the tips on how to improve essays and I’ve found your article. It is amazing and extremely helpful for me.
As for me, the most important thing is not be focused on that fact you need to write 1,000 words a day.
Indeed, you can note your thoughts, just go with a notebook , and by the end of the day you will form an imposing list of clever and not clever words that can be used in article or even a book which called “The book of thoughts “. By the way , it will be useful to read…
Thank you, Sam!
Hi ! Phil !
Cheers !
I have noticed that many good students write great essays but when it comes to conclude, they falter and potter out meekly. Why is it so ? Do they fall short of words or they feel tired by the end of it as they find the essays to be painful? I some time feel as if they are shot dead soon enough as they seem to end their essays abruptly. Now I have some observations. Pl. tell me if I am right. Marks are mostly awarded soon after the teacher reads the last line. So it’s of great importance. Do you agree? Is it all right if the writer asks the opinion of the reader, in this case the examiner if he has the same opinion with a sentence, “Are there any takers?”
Sanjay,
With regards to conclusions, when I taught writing at the City University of New York, one of my requirements was NOT to write conclusions at all.
It is no wonder that students often falter when writing a conclusion. They simply don’t fully understand what’s required of them once they’ve spend several paragraphs explaining and supporting their points.
You see, a conclusion and a thesis are really one and the same thing. The writer has made several observations and came to a conclusion. And now his job is to present his conclusion as a thesis and support it.
Now, if that’s the case, then what is the purpose of the conclusion, anyway?
It seems that the purpose is to simply remind the forgetful reader in a couple of sentences what he’s just been reading about.
The notion that the conclusion must present the “writer’s opinion” just plain doesn’t make sense. The writer’s opinion must be supported with evidence. Otherwise, it’s just a statement not worth considering. And if it’s presented in the last paragraph, then it can have no evidence to support it.
And if you say that the evidence was given in the body of the essay, then wasn’t that the evidence to support the thesis?
If not, then why is the thesis there in the first place?
Bottom line is, if the thesis statement and the conclusion are not one and the same, then one of them will be left without the evidence to support it.
Therefore, present your main point in the opening paragraph; support it in the body; and write a concluding paragraph, if required, which will simply summarize the main points.
See what I’m getting at?
Phil
People attend college or university for many different reasons (for example, new experiences, career preparation, increased knowledge). Why do you think people attend college or university? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.
this is one of the type of ques we get in toefl, does they require conclusion ?
I’ve done some research, and it looks like you are expected to write a conclusion at the end of your Toefl essay. This means that, if you don’t, your score will go down. So, just write a conclusion to every Toefl essay you write.
Can you give an example (a full one!) of a conclusion about yourself and your family.
Jordan,
The conclusion depends on your thesis, which is your main point.
Basically, whatever you’ve said in your essay about your family – just summarize that without adding anything else in the conclusion.
That’s it…
Hope this helps.
UNIVERSITY SHOULD GIVE SAME AMOUNT OF MONEY TO SPORTS AS THEY GIVE FOR LIBRARY..
“World of bookworms is gone, now people appreciate those who are all rounder”and yes i so believe that university should give same amount of money to sports as they give for library. The reason behind this is first, sports being an extra curricular activity which is equally important for a student as books. Second, sports is the best physical exercise. And finally third, it improves our personality. Now lets discuss it in detail.
First and foremost reason why sports should be encouraged in schools and university is because of the increasing demand and importance of extra-curricular activities. There was a time when all importance was been given to grades no grades meant no opportunity, no job, no success whereas these days the student should not only be academically active but he should be active in all other extra-curricular activities as well, sports being the most important one. Giving importance only to credits wont enhance other skills in child, hence university should emphasize on sports as well for all round nourishment of students.
Sports is also considered to be a very good physical exercise and when we are physically fit the probability of mental fitness also increase manifold. Studies every time no doubt will improve the grades but it will make life monotonous and dull. It mite make you mentally strong but physically u cannot stay fit until and unless you do some exercise, sports being the best among all. It relaxes your mind and muscles, improves the blood circulation, strengthens and improves the muscle tone, and makes your body flexible and fit. It also improves the stamina remarkably, hence should be encouraged in schools and colleges.
Finally, sports also grooms your personality, student come across other team members and learns how to play in a team, sportsmanship and leadership skills also comes naturally that way. Student learn other important things like how to take victory and defeat, commitment towards work etc. Hence these things are further helpful in classroom and outside as well, wherever the child goes he carries these qualities for lifelong.
In conclusion, i would say that universities should give same money for sports as they give for library because that is the only way they can attract and encourage students to join sports as extra-curricular activity, and further which can improve physical fitness and personality of an individual.Hence it should be made indispensable.
Bravo, Nehak!
You are making tremendous progress! I’m proud of you.
Do you see how there is rhyme and reason behind your essay now? I am very glad that you are so persistent in your efforts to become a better writer. I also know that it takes a great deal of mental work to do the homework that I’m giving you. So, again, great work.
As you can probably tell right now, even you as the author understand your own writing better. Do you agree with that? You know why this happens? Because you are thinking more clearly, dear Nehak.
Okay. Let’s keep working on this particular essay, because there is still work to do.
So, what has improved about your essay up to this point?
1. Your thesis statement. Now it does 2 of the most important things:
a. It states your main point. b. It tells the reader exactly why the author believes the main point is true (which is also the essay’s outline).
2. The body of the essay. Now it has 3 distinct sections, each giving a reason that the thesis is correct.
Now, what still needs work here?
Several things. Your grammar and punctuation will keep your score and your grades down even if the intellectual content is good. So, here’s what I’ll do. I’ll be putting up a blog post about writing sentences shortly – tomorrow or the day after. I’ll address the issues many students have, and you’ll benefit a lot from it, I think. It will help you with your punctuation, too. In the mean time, for the rest of your homework, try to write in short sentences. Just keep them short, at least for now. Let’s see if that will help.
So, have a little patience, and pat yourself on the back for all the good work you’ve done so far.
Here’s your homework for now:
You have three well-defined sections in the body of the essay:
1. Extracurricular activities are as important as books
2. Sports are good for physical development, which creates a healthy balance
3. Sports help shape personality
Now, notice something.
Numbers 2 and 3 are excellent supportive points for the thesis. Why? Because they are about sports, which is what your thesis is about.
What about number 1? Can you improve it?
You see, it is a little too general. It kind of sounds like the thesis itself, do you agree?
Now, you came up with wonderful sections 2 and 3 – they are very clear and distinct. They actually kind of support section 1, if you think about it.
Don’t forget that your essay is not about extracurricular activities in general, but about sports specifically. So, can you come up with section 1 that would be just about sports, and not about extracurricular activities in general? I know you can do it. You’ve done it twice already – in sections 2 and 3. Just do it one more time. And then we’ll continue.
You are one smart cookie, Nehak. Keep working.
Sir please check this out, have tried writing. Thank you sir.
Two more little things:
1. Don’t forget that if your section 1 will change, then your thesis statement must change as well to reflect it. It only has to be that part of the thesis statement, not the whole thing. You know what I mean.
2. Please post your next reply here:
https://www.tutorphil.com/blog/why-writing-an-essay-is-still-a-challenge/
I think it’s a good idea to keep our sessions under a relevant blog post. Let’s try that, okay? Since we’re working with the overall structure here, let’s keep it under that blog post.
Thanks,
Tutor Phil
Hi, Nehak.
First, as an aside, I’m trying to keep all posts, comments, and questions nicely organized. You can help me do this by posting your questions and comments under the relevant blog posts. Is that a deal?
Now, to your progress:
You’ve done very well with your essay. Now it is much better structured and much clearer intellectually. I’m wondering: did you notice the difference between writing the thesis statement the old way and the new way that you learned on this blog? Is it easier this way? Is it more difficult, but produces a better result? Any other thoughts and feelings? What do you think? Please post the answer to this question right here:
How to Write a Great Thesis Statement
Now, I have a surprise for you:
I took one sentence from your essay and analyzed it in detail for punctuation. It is now a new blog post right here:
The Easiest Way to Learn How to Use a Comma
Please read it, do the exercises, and here’s your new homework:
Take one or two sentences from your essay that you think need a comma or two, and improve them by placing the necessary punctuation marks (commas). Post your homework under that blog post, and we’ll continue from there. Deal?
P.S. You’ve progressed immensely, Nehak. Keep up the good work – I really enjoy working with someone who is making a real effort to learn.
Dear Tutor Phil,
Your blog is really interesting. I have found many useful tips and advice here.
By the way, could you please teach me how to write a great conclusion?
Thank you!
No problem, Thuan.
A post on how to write an even better conclusion is a bit overdue. I’ll write one – keep an eye on the blog. I might even send you an email to let you know it was posted.
Sounds good?
In the mean time, don’t hesitate to ask if you have any other questions.
I miss being able to write conclusions this easy…In university they expect much more from a conclusion, not just a restating of your points. They ask for the “conclusions you draw” based on what you have written, aka “what does this all mean?” or “why does this matter?”
Lindsay,
Of course, this is what many professors say – they want a conclusion that “states your conclusions and opinions, etc.”
But I’ll tell you this. I’m living proof that a conclusion is not necessary at all. I wrote a bunch of papers as a grad student without adding ANY conclusions at all. Very often, however, they will want one. And a simple restatement works in most cases, especially as an undergrad.
True, I’ve written some elaborate conclusions that had only a tangential relationship with the rest of the paper. And every time I did that, I felt I was BS-ing someone. And I was.
Think about it. If the conclusion states your opinion, then what in the world does the rest of the essay state? I mean, what could it be other than your opinion or your conclusion based on gathered evidence?
I say – sanity and clarity above all. If the professor still wants a strange conclusion – just make something up – his intellect will swallow it.
Cheers…
No, an essay is not supposed to be your opinion. You are entirely wrong on this point. An essay is supposed to be the opinions of others essentially reworded and condensed into a well-structured format. The purpose of the essay is to provide proof of your knowledge in the given area, not to provided your own hypothesises on the subject.
After all, the people who have dedicated their lives into studying a topic, probably know better than you.
To reiterate, if you are giving your own opinions in an essay, YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG.
Dan,
Thank you for an excellent comment – I don’t get critical comments very often. And that is unfortunate, because such comments give me a chance to rebut and dig deeper into my points. And here is my reply:
No – I am not doing it wrong. The purpose of an expository essay is to present your opinion and to support it using evidence. This is true for three reasons.
First, if you are simply summarizing the ideas of others – there is a word for that: summary. A summary can be a part of an expository essay, but it is not the entire essay. If the entire essay contains only the thoughts of others, it is only a summary and nothing else.
Second, if you are simply rewording the ideas of others, then the value of your own writing is near zero. Why should I read what you have to say when I can read the original author and get the opinion of someone who actually knows what he is talking about – after all, this person has dedicated his life to studying the subject? Perhaps you are better off simply pointing the audience in the right direction by naming the book or essay in question as recommended reading.
Third, if your essay contains a number of thoughts of other people synthesized into a coherent paper, then the whole message of the paper is uniquely yours. It becomes new information, and its succinct statement should be put forth in the opening paragraph as the thesis. And what you have as a result is an essay that, whether you like it or not, puts forth your unique opinion.
For example, let’s suppose that Nietzsche’s argument is that “God is dead.” If you simply reword his argument, then that is summary, and I’d rather read Nietzsche in the original that your summary. If, on the other hand, you add your own thoughts and say something like, “Nietzsche’s argument that God is dead is hardly significant,” then that is your opinion, and the essay finally has a chance to be worthy of my attention. In this case, this point must be presented as the thesis in the opening paragraph and supported with evidence.
Hope this makes sense, and thank you again for the comment.
Phil
P.S. No reiteration at the end of your comment is necessary – I understood you the first time. This is why I don’t advocate writing conclusions 😉
I’m going to let Google make my argument for me. Simply type “expository essay” into Google’s search. Look at the first 4 result descriptions. You don’t even have to visit the sites in the results list, just read the descriptions! The very first sentence of the very first result reads, “Expository essays are simply essays that explain something with facts, as opposed to opinion.” And for wikipedia: “Expository essays should not reveal the opinion of the author or writer.”
The point of an expository essay is to provide proof that you know the subject via informing your reader. The ultimate value is in achieving a qualification that shows you’re versed in the particular subject of study. How can you honestly not know this? I find it somewhat shocking that you have failed to understand the purpose of an essay. You do not have to present new theories to learn a subject!
If you are writing a thesis or dissertation you still should not be presenting your own opinions! You should instead present theories backed by facts and evidence. For example, “Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe” is a fact known by educated people. “The fall of communism is the best thing that ever happened in Europe” is an opinion.
An opinion is an unsubstantiated theory. To quote the World English Dictionary, “Opinion: 1.judgment or belief not founded on certainty or proof”.
To re-reiterate, if you are giving your own opinions in an essay, YOU ARE DEFINITELY DOING IT WRONG.
Okay – I see the source of our disagreement, and I’d like to make a concession.
The word ‘opinion’ is not the perfect word to describe what I am talking about. And I agree that I should be more precise when choosing my wording, apparently :).
The word I should choose instead is the word ‘argument.’ And of course, I realize that ‘argument’ and ‘opinion’ are not always one and the same. So, instead of saying that ‘the purpose of an expository essay is to present an opinion and to support it using evidence,’ I should say ‘the purpose of an expository essay is to present an argument and to support it using evidence.’ Because that is exactly what I mean and always meant, as numerous examples (i.e. samples of essays and thesis statements) on my website show.
That said, the word ‘opinion,’ while imprecise for my purpose here, is not wrong. Here is why, and I am quoting from my American Heritage Dictionary of 1976: “Opinion is applicable to any conclusion to which one adheres without ruling out the possibility of debate.” And this is one accurate description of an argument presented in an expository essay.
In other words, you give something some thought, you arrive at a conclusion, and you present that conclusion as an argument, and support it using evidence. I think this is pretty simple.
So, if I use the word ‘argument,’ then my definition of an expository essay becomes absolutely precise, and all my advice on this website should now make sense to you.
Now, in view of what’s been said, “The fall of communism is the best thing that ever happened in Europe” can be an opinion or an argument. If it is presented as a bare statement without support, then it is merely an opinion, according to the definitions that you quote and that can be found easily in any dictionary.
This statement can also be presented as the argument (i.e. a thesis) of an expository essay and supported using evidence. That is to say, it is a perfectly good
opinionargument to back up by evidence in an expository essay, and if you disagree with that, then you should research the meaning of ‘expository essay’ further.Here is the first definition I got when I googled it:
“The expository essay is a genre of essay that requires the student to investigate an idea, evaluate evidence, expound on the idea, and set forth an argument concerning that idea in a clear and concise manner. This can be accomplished through comparison and contrast, definition, example, the analysis of cause and effect, etc.”
This is from Purdue University.
As for wikipedia – I love these guys, but their articles are not always precise, and that is why they are not accepted by the academia as sources of reliable evidence.
Just look up the word ‘exposition,’ and you will get (by different dictionaries, in the order given by google):
“A comprehensive description and explanation of an idea or theory.” (‘idea OR theory,’ not fact)
” A setting forth of meaning or intent.” (‘meaning or intent,’ not fact)
“the act of expounding, setting forth, or explaining: the exposition of a point of view.” (‘a point of view,’ not fact)
In addition, let me quote you: ‘The very first sentence of the very first result reads, “Expository essays are simply essays that explain something with facts, as opposed to opinion.“‘ Now, according to the new standard of precision set forth by you, Dan, this definition does not contradict mine.
It says that ‘something’ is explained with facts, not opinion. It does not say that this ‘something’ IS facts or a fact. In other words, this definition does NOT say that the main argument presented should be a fact, but that it should be explained with facts, and there is a big difference.
Finally, Dan – I appreciate your fervor in this matter. I wish more people were as eager to dig at the truth as you are. Expository writing is epidemically taught the wrong way at schools all over the world. Why? I don’t know for sure, but my guess is that’s because it requires clear thinking – something we as species must work on, because this skill doesn’t develop itself. It needs hard work.
Thank you for making me dig deeper into my own topic. And please don’t yell by using all caps – it’s impolite 🙂
Cheers…
i am trying to conclude my essay on broken bones and this is what i got so far but i think it needs one more sentence. any ideas? btw the thing about conclusions was helpful so thanks!
Now that broken bones are becoming more common it is helpful to know about causes, symptoms, and treatments to help in first aid situations. To reduce chances of breaking a bone, eat healthier and be careful. Knowing the symptoms of a broken bone, a person can determine if its broken or not. It is also helpful to know treatments and to be prepared.
Nice, does your conclusion match your intro, somewhat..?
It matches the thesis statement, Leslie 🙂
TP
The recent power crisis in Goli,is the most serious one i never experience.This has effected every aspect of life in Goli.Firstly,it is unpredictable to know when you will have light out.Secondly, the duration of the light out is too huge. And thirdly,it has effected industries which depend on power.
pls, is this a good introduction paragraph?
Yes, Robert, this is a pretty good thesis statement.
Now, just a couple of things.
First, take yourself out of the paper. When you write “The recent power crisis in Goli is the most serious one I have ever experienced,” since the essay is not about you but about the crisis, the word “I” does not belong here.
Instead, you can put it this way:
“The recent power crisis in Goli has affected every aspect of its life.”
Second, while it seems that the essay has three parts, it really has only two:
1. How the power crisis affected people
2. How the power crisis affected industries
The first section, thus, will have two subsections – unpredictability and duration of power outages. And you can subdivide your second section easily, too, by presenting 2-3 industries affected by the power crisis.
In view of these clarifications, you may want to rewrite the intro paragraph like this:
“The recent power crisis in Goli has affected its people and industries. The outages come without warning and may last for long periods of time. And companies that dependent on power have suffered greatly.”
This would be more precise.
Hope this helps…
TP
I like the post. Thanks a lot. Recently I’ve found a very interesting article on how to write a good conclusion for a research paper. I believe most of the article suits every type of academic papers.
I have read your post and appreciate your effort.
Law Essays
this is awsome
Really i got nice information from this blog.
It is very positive for us.
I think importantly for teacher to see the opinion of student. In writing an essay or another student’s work, you have to not only describe a topic which is dedicated to student’s work but also your opinion on this topic. If the work is done correctly,theme is interesting- Lecturer will not put you highly appreciated if you fail to make their views on this subject.Now there are a lot of useful information that will help you in writing a perfect essay, like here http://thoughtcatalog.com/ryan-holiday/2013/05/how-to-write-a-great-essay-about-anything/. But you should not imitate anyone, you should have your own opinion, even if erroneous, your unique handwriting of work.
And then teacher will see you can think with your mind and not just memorize and transmit information. Especially it concerns of large final student work, such as thesis writing. Do not believe it is so important. Higher education opens doors for happy future, which will be a prestigious job and status. Who does not want that?
Yolanda,
I couldn’t agree more 🙂
TP
The best students enjoy writing essays because it is a chance to shine. Essays have many purposes, but the basic structure is always the same. One has to be able to discuss, evaluate, and analyze points in the set word limit. Tips on writing an outstanding essay:
1. Make sure that you understand the question.
2. Quickly outline your major points.
3. Write your introduction and conclusion last.
4. Save time to edit your essay
5. Read more…
Thanks for the comment!
The conclusion of an essay is the last chance a writer has to leave an impression on a reader. As such, it is important to communicate clearly and speak to all of the points you have made in your paper when writing a concluding paragraph. The purpose of the conclusion, however, is not only to address the main points of the essay, but also to show how the main points all fit together. This can be effectively achieved with a thoughtful combination of summary and commentary.
Tips to consider while concluding:
• Introduce the conclusion with a transition signal such as “in conclusion,” “in summary,” “in brief,” “in short” or “indeed.”
• Summarize the main points of the essay.
• Synthesize the summarized ideas of your essay
• Make your final comment on the subject
Thank you, Lisa!
Learning to write essays well requires learning a number of preliminary writing skills, followed by learning the different types of essays and how to plan them. Teaching essay writing requires knowing how to break down those skills and build up to enabling students to write effective essays. Tips to consider:
• Strengthen your own knowledge of the structure and process of writing
• Teach how to write complete sentences
• Teach how to organize sentences into paragraphs
• Teach how to organize and transition between paragraphs
• Teach how to observe and record observations
• Teach how to express opinions in writing
• Teach how to research an essay
Thank you, Winnie!
hi this is my essay but i dont know how to end it with a conclusion
Hi. Make sure you watch the video. It will make sense.
This is all opinionated.
Exactly.
how do you write a so what statment
Thank you so much for this example and steps on how to write a good conclusion. It had helped me so much when I got really stuck to what to write. Even though your example has not got anything about which two reasons were more important, I still found it helpful as my conclusion structure.
I can not find my recent comment but now I read the example again, it does give two reasons in a way.