The conclusion
The conclusion is much like a short version of your introduction: you’ll restate the main points and wrap everything up. Don’t introduce new information here!
There are three steps to writing a good conclusion:
- Restate the thesis
- Summarize the main points
- End with a “closer” sentence
Let’s follow these steps to write an effective conclusion paragraph for the same prompt we’ve used in the other examples.
Restate the thesis
You’ve already written a thesis in your introduction paragraph. for the conclusion, just take the same concept and shorten it into a single sentence.
Below is our example introduction and an example body paragraph. A full essay would include two more body paragraphs, but for clarity, we’ve omitted them here and will jump to the conclusion. The restatement of the thesis is at the end, in bold.
Few pause to consider the consequences of the modern technology we rely so heavily upon. A simple “Hey Google, take me home” gives me automatic instructions for how to get back to my house. The cereal I ate this morning and its ingredients went through several automated systems to end up in my bowl so all I have to do is buy it from the store. I am a daily user of these automated processes. However, without exercising care and thought, replacing people with machines would have detrimental consequences.
We jeopardize our relationships when we replace people with machines. Consider the dilemma of calling Mom for her recipe vs. looking up the recipe online. Just last week, my husband, Ben, and I agreed that our pizza recipe was only subpar. I remembered the excellent pizza my mom used to make for me as a kid, and I thought to give her a call for some tips. As most moms would be, she was more than happy to give me the detailed list of instructions. After about ten minutes of chatting, I hung up the phone having gained information I needed and trusted. Could I have gotten a just as excellent pizza recipe online in only thirty seconds versus my invested ten minutes with mom? Probably. However, I can’t help but wonder what Mom and I would lose if I never called her for her advice. My relationship with her is too important to hand over to a machine.
Replacing people with machines would have harmful consequences.
See how the restatement of the thesis is just a single sentence? It serves as a reminder of what you argued throughout your essay.
Summarize the main points
The summary of the main points reminds the audience of the reasons behind your thesis. You can do this in three separate sentences, one per body paragraph, or you can combine them all into a single list with a colon.
Our example uses the second approach with a list and a colon.
Replacing people with machines would have harmful consequences. It would particularly harm three things: our relationships with people, our job security, and our individual mental health.
It’s very short, but it effectively summarizes the main points we’ve made during the essay.
End with a “closer” sentence
The “closer” sentence is the last sentence of your essay, meant to neatly wrap things up and summarize everything. Writing a perfect closer is hard. Don’t stress out if you find yourself running out of time! Saying anything to summarize your essay is better than cutting it short and ending suddenly.
Here’s our complete example of a conclusion paragraph with a closer:
Replacing people with machines would have harmful consequences. It would particularly harm three things: our relationships with people, our job security, and our individual mental health. A machine may seemingly make life more convenient. However, humanity cannot afford to prioritize convenience over the things that matter most.
This ending sentence summarizes the entire essay. As a bonus, it includes a piece of a counterargument, i.e., an opposing view the audience may be considering while reading your essay. This helps the closer sound different from the restatement of the thesis. Otherwise, it can feel a bit repetitive.
And that’s it for the conclusion! This should be the quickest and easiest part of your essay to write because you are simply summarizing what you have already written.