Writing a Conclusion

All essays should essentially be a process: you propose a thesis or idea in your introduction; you analyse your text to try to prove your idea in the main body of your essay; then you decide whether your idea was correct in the conclusion. As such, your conclusion is absolutely vital so don’t rush to finish it.

Never conclude your essay by simply summarising or recapping your essay. A brief summary of your argument may be useful for coursework, but shorter essays should not require you to repeat your main ideas.

Avoid phrases like “in conclusion,” “to conclude,” “in summary,” and “to sum up”; these are a bit obvious and sound formulaic.

The following structure is a useful one to follow:

Brief recap: e.g. The characters of Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Lady Bracknell are very similar in many respects; for example, they both pursue social status with little regard for the feelings of those involved.

Reference to the larger issue: e.g. The differences lie in the presentation of the characters in what are essentially two very different genres of text.

Evaluation of the main arguments: e.g. As has been shown, the character of Lady Catherine is thwarted in her ambitions to stop Mr Darcy from marrying beneath him. This is in keeping with the conventions of the romantic novel of manners genre which requires a happy ending for our heroine. For Lady Bracknell however, there is no such disappointment as she is satisfied to allow Gwendolen to marry Jack when she realises his family connections. This fits with the style of the comedy of manners which seeks to expose the hypocrisies of society.

Highlighting the most important aspects: e.g. It is this outcome of their intentions and how they express them that ultimately divides the two characters.

Things you could include:

• Link the last paragraph to the first, perhaps by using a word or phrase you used at the beginning.
• Use a sentence that’s parallel in structure to establish a sense of balance or order to draw a discursive essay to a satisfactory end e.g. Whilst Lady Catherine is presented to be cold and calculating in her efforts, Lady Bracknell is presented as foolish and contradictory in hers.
• Finish with a quotation from the text or a critic that fully supports your main point or puts a different slant on it and then say something about it so that you have the last word e.g. Smith’s assertion that “Desdemona is punished by the patriarchy” may well be true, but surely it is the patriarchy who come out of the play in the weaker position.
• Conclude by setting your discussion into a different, perhaps larger, context e.g. Despite the similar dystopian stories, it is interesting to note that the title1984 has become synonymous with dictatorship and control, whereas Brave New World has connotations of adventure and opportunity.
• Conclude by redefining one of the key terms of your thesis e.g. Perhaps it would be more accurate to blame Hamlet’s madness on his mother’s acceptance of Claudius rather than Claudius’s pursuit of Gertrude.
• Conclude by considering the implications of your argument e.g. If we really believe that the theocratic control in the novel was unavoidable, where does that leave us now in a society which seems determined to make the same mistakes?