TIPS FOR WRITING A STRONG CONCLUSION
Northeastern
Seminary
(
*Bring
out the significance of your research paper.
Show how you’ve brought closure to the research problem, and point out
remaining gaps in knowledge by suggesting issues for further research. Deal with issues at the level of the whole
paper rather than with issues at the level of a paragraph.
*Make
the significance brought out in the conclusion congruent with the argument of
your paper. Don’t oversell or undersell
the significance of your paper. The
conclusion can’t reach any farther than the paper’s main argument. The conclusion is the place to put the
final, proper perspective on the paper as a whole.
*Bring
closure to the entire paper, not only by summarizing the arguments, but also by
bringing out the significance of the paper.
Avoid using terms related to specific elements of the paper—look at the
paper as a whole and pull it all together in the conclusion. Take the thesis statement from your
introduction and demonstrate in your conclusion how the paper as a whole has
addressed the research problem.
*Make
the conclusion sell a worthwhile paper to interested readers. Exercise integrity in your conclusion—don’t
exaggerate the conclusion to bring strength to a weak paper. There should be a strong correlation between the
arguments in your paper and your stated significance(s) in the conclusion. In the case of a thesis or dissertation,
readers will likely turn first to the conclusion. Don’t let your readers get motivated by your
conclusion to read the rest of the document—only to experience disappointment.
*Use
key terms, concepts and phrases from the introduction and body of the paper—but
don’t just repeat them. Use them to
bring out the new insight gained from your research. The conclusion should provide more than a
flat-footed re-statement of the thesis statement articulated in the introduction—it
should take the entire paper a step ahead toward a new level of insight on the
research problem.
*Make
the tone of the conclusion match the tone of the rest of the paper. For most of your NES papers, keep the tone
serious—omit jokes and anecdotes from the conclusion. In the context of an academic argument, humor
is generally inappropriate and could seriously detract from your paper’s
credibility.
*Write
the conclusion at a level of specificity/generality that matches the
introduction. Don’t use the conclusion
to summarize the previous paragraph—rather, pull the entire paper together and
make its significance clear. For a
book, deal with the primary issues raised in the introduction and in each of
the chapters. A concluding chapter
should draw conclusions for each major issues raised in the document. For any type of paper, don’t overreach the
conclusion—make statements that can be fully supported by your evidence. The body of the paper should prime readers
for the conclusion—if the conclusion surprises them, readers may distrust the
reasoning of the entire paper.
*In
a thesis or dissertation, it’s usually customary to raise questions or suggest
areas for further research. If this is
done in a 20-page research paper, it’s normally only a sentence or two—not even a paragraph. At
this point, the writer must keep moving toward closure.
*Don’t
introduce any new information into the conclusion. The conclusion signals readers that the
writer will point out the significance of the paper at this point, and bring
the entire paper to a clear and definite end.
Just as the minister should never introduce a new point in the
concluding remarks of a sermon, the writer should not introduce another point
in the conclusion. Expecting the end,
readers will be disappointed—or annoyed—to find yet more new information.
*Put
your best writing skills into the conclusion, especially if you are writing a
thesis or dissertation. Never allow the
first draft to stand as the final product—revise the conclusion again and again
until its integrity is practically unassailable. Scholars frequently read the conclusion of a
thesis, dissertation or research article first!
*When writing a 20-page paper, limit the conclusion
to one full paragraph. You might take
two or three paragraphs to narrow down to the finish line, but you should pack
the final punch into only one paragraph.
One well-written paragraph can deliver far more rhetorical ‘punch’ than
a three-paragraph peroration.
*Here
are some helpful websites for writing conclusions:
http://www4.wju.edu/arc/handouts/intro_concl.pdf
http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/conclusions.html
http://english.ttu.edu/uwc/conclusions.html
Page
Last Modified
31
October 2005