Most essay types, except for summaries, require a conclusion as the ending part of their structure. Ranging from one to three paragraphs, the conclusion may fit the following roles:
- Summarizing the main idea of the essay in order for the audience to get a complete and comprehensive view on the topic. In case the paragraph is concluding a persuasive or argumentative essay, it must include the best and most powerful of the utilized arguments in a short form, because it is the last chance for the author to persuade the readers he is right.
- Brief retelling of the author’s impression of the story depicted in the main body. This is the right place to state the lesson learned, emotions lived through or any thoughts and ideas that the author got during the experience. Mind, it’s not a repetition just because your readers are so dense, but rather a strong statement that adds to what you’ve already told in the main body.
What should a conclusion include?
Knowing the role that the conclusion should fit, we can understand how to end an essay. Actually, it pretty much depends on the essay type. The following is a short list of guidelines for each one.
- Expository. Start a conclusion paragraph for this essay by turning the main idea inside out. This is done to make the ending an independent text that is quite understandable even for a reader who hasn’t gone through the entire essay. For example, if your story is about the efficiency of learning to ski “the hard way”, you should write a conclusion for an essay that would start with how long it takes to learn the traditional way. It will give a slight contrast to your main lines and make them stronger. By the way, if you can’t see how to end an essay, it’s the best sign that your text is an “info-dump” that just can’t be concluded.
- Persuasive. This is where you need to know how to write a strong conclusion, because as small a part it may be in terms of size, the ending makes up to 40% of your persuasion. With all the evidence you’ve already presented, the main body is typically just too large to keep the reader thrilled with your point of view. That’s exactly why it is imperative to write a few short and simple sentences that will embody the whole idea. As an example, let’s take one where you are writing a text that should persuade people to use LED lights in their houses. It is quite an understandable ideas, so the conclusion must start like this – “LED lights have no disadvantages – they’re durable, efficient and save you much money on electricity”.
- Analytical. It’s easy to write a conclusion for an essay of this type, because it follows the rules of scientific papers. An analytical text has a peculiar structure that gives you a hint on how to start a conclusion paragraph. All you have to do is list the results and write a summary on them and state what they mean. For example, if you’re analyzing the changes in climate in a certain part of the world, you can state a few results and conclude that there is a tendency, which shows evidence of global warming.
- Argumentative. Here’s where you have to train and learn how to write a strong conclusion. It is as important in this type of essay as it is in persuasive one, though it is a bit more complex. The problem is that there is an opposition of your opinion to others, as well as a comparison. Putting everything into the conclusion, even in short form, will make it as bloated and totally weak. But what should a conclusion include in this case? Easy – the jist, or what you have to repeat all the time, in other words, your most important argument.
How to conclude an essay without a headache
There are times when you feel like you’re going to throw up if you open that paper again. I’ve felt like that many times and now I know there is just one thing to do. While I’m sitting here trying to write my conclusion for an essay, all I can think of is going to sleep. What helped me was one of those essay conclusion writing services that you can find by the dozen in the internet.
All I had to do was ask them to write my essay conclusion and then I could go and have my well-earned rest. If you think of doing the same, just search for essay proper format. You’ll surely find what you’re looking for.