What is the purpose of the concluding paragraph

In writing a concluding paragraph, one typically begins with a transition, which alerts the reader to a statement summarizing the main topic or subpoints of the essay. The goal now is to lead the reader to a satisfactory closing. This occurs in several ways.

Frequently, a writer will recall the subpoints of the essay for the reader and hint at points beyond the scope of the essay. The paragraph below illustrates this type of concluding paragraph.

As you can see, my photo albums, postcard collection, and box of mementos are irreplaceable. If there were a fire in my house, these would be the things I would grab first. When I settle down, I should put them in a safe deposit box in the bank. Without these valued possessions, I would feel that parts of my life were missing and I would be unable to share them, and the memories they inspire, with my great grandchildren.

Conclusions to narrative essays often point out for the reader the lesson learned or the understanding achieved by the event recounted. The following concluding paragraph exhibits features of this strategy.

Thus, the confusion I experienced related to the number of laps I was swimming led to my most embarrassing moment. After some teasing by my family and teammates, the coach talked with me about how I could be certain about the number of laps. After this, one of my teammates always wrote the number of laps I had left to swim on a clipboard and had it ready for me to see. While I lost other races, none were ever again due to the confusion in lap counting.

Finally, a concluding paragraph often has a sense of the future about it-the next logical step to consider or a new topic that has arisen. An essay about how technology is being slowly accepted concludes in this manner.

Therefore, computers have sneaked into my life. Both at play, at home, and at work, I now depend on computers. Not only that, I am becoming more dependent on technological things every day. I guess you really can't stop technology from becoming an important part of your life when you learn how much easier life is with technological advances. In fact, this holiday season I may be buying a pager and a DVD player!

To summarize, the basic strategies for concluding an essay include the following:

A. Recall/summarize the subpoints.
B. Tell the long-term outcome or lesson learned.
C. Give a sense of the future.

Openings and Closings

The introductory paragraph and concluding paragraph serve as buffers-a slow preparation of the readers for the meat of the essay and the gradual moving away from the topic. In truth, only the thesis statement and the concluding statement directly address the topic of the essay.

An additional consideration in writing introductions and conclusions is the relatedness of the two paragraphs. While an introductory paragraph might consider valuable possessions one had as a child, the concluding paragraph might consider valuable possessions one may have in the future. Thus, a writer may strive to think about how the introductory paragraph and concluding paragraph work together. In this way, the student can view the essay now not as composed of various parts but, rather, as a whole.

It is a good practice for students and teachers to read a number of essays and analyze the strategies a writer used when introducing and concluding the paper. There are quite a number of other strategies beyond those presented in this module. "Model essays" written by former students as well as published professional essays are good sources of basic essays for reading and analyzing.

In the chapter on introductions, you learned that the introductory and concluding paragraphs are like the top and bottom buns of a hamburger. They contain basically the same information and are critical for holding the entire piece together. Now we’ll focus on the concluding paragraph.

After completing the exercises in this chapter, you will be able to

• identify the components of a concluding paragraph
• learn how to conclude your paper with impact

Essay Structure

You learned previously that a body paragraph is structured like a hamburger. You can think of your essay as one big burger!

The top bun is the introduction.

The meat and vegetables in the middle are the supporting body paragraphs (several mini-burgers).

The bottom bun is the conclusion.

“Burger” by wildgica under license CC BY-NC-ND 3.0.

The top and bottom bun are both made of bread; they contain the same ingredients (or information) but look a little bit different. The “meat” of your argument is in the supporting body paragraphs.

Concluding Paragraphs

The most important thing to remember about the conclusion is that it shouldn’t state any new information. The purpose of the concluding paragraph is to summarize the main points of your argument.

The concluding paragraph has three main goals:

1. Restate your stance on the topic
2. Summarize the main topics (from the body paragraphs) that support your stance
3. Close the essay effectively with a powerful final statement

Your final statement might be a general thought about the topic, a prediction that is logically based on the evidence you presented in the supporting paragraphs, or a call to action in which you ask the reader to do something in light of the persuasive information you’ve presented.

Examples:

• general thought: Nuclear power is a far greater resource than many people realize.
• prediction: Nuclear power will be the energy of the future.
• call to action: Governments need to invest in nuclear power so it can reach its full potential.

Watch this video to learn some great tips for how to write  a great concluding paragraph[1]:

While Mister Messinger says your conclusion can be more than one paragraph, most teachers are expecting a one-paragraph conclusion, so it’s best to stick to just one paragraph!

One really effective strategy is to link your conclusion to your introduction by continuing an idea that was introduced in the introductory paragraph.

Examples:

• if you began with an anecdote in your introduction, you can finish it in the conclusion
• if you posed a question in the introduction, you can answer it in the conclusion
• if you highlighted a problem in the introduction, you can suggest a solution in the conclusion

Sample Concluding Paragraph

Let’s look at the concluding paragraph for the essay on raising chickens:

The writer starts by restating her thesis (in blue). She remind readers of her topic (raising chickens) and her point of view (that raising chickens is beneficial).

The writer then restates, or summarizes, the reasons she’s given for her point of view (in orange). All of the information in orange was thoroughly discussed in body paragraphs. Notice that the writer doesn’t need to include any citations here because she isn’t introducing any new or highly specific information.

The writer ends with a call to action (in purple). She tells the readers what she thinks the next step should be, based on the research she’s presented.

---

Which is the main purpose of the concluding paragraph?

What are 3 purposes of a conclusion paragraph?

What is the purpose of concluding?

What is the purpose of a conclusion paragraph quizlet?