Tips for Writing Conclusions

Remember the parts of a conclusion Thesis Recap – recaps the entire paper, reminding your audience of what the essay was about Blueprint Recap – restates the major areas the paper covered in order to prove the thesis Clincher – finishes up the essay with an interesting final statement

Have the clincher link back to the motivator If opening line discussed the definition of love, aim to come back to the definition of love or how love is defined in the last line for your essay.

Do not let a clincher address new ideas never mentioned in the essay If your essay is all about how Romeo and Juliet are star-crossed lovers, do not let the last sentence mention how there are many other star-crossed lovers found in literature – that’s not what the essay is about.

Feel free to combine the thesis and blueprint recaps It is more than okay to have the thesis and blueprint recaps in one sentence. In fact, sometimes combining them is the best way to make a conclusion flow.

Do not repeat the thesis exactly You need to restate NOT repeat the thesis.

Do not repeat the blueprint exactly You need to restate NOT repeat the blueprint items.

The order of blueprint restatement must match the rest of the paper or essay. The order you list things in your blueprint, must be the order you addressed them in your essay.