# Conclusions



## pita (Jan 17, 2004)

I hate the part of paper-writing when you need to write a conclusion. I suck at conclusions. I usually restate my intro (weak, I know) or say something almost moralistic about the text because I feel bad about ripping it apart for several pages. 

I'm sure some of you must know how to write awesome conclusions. Share your secrets! I need to write one right now.


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## kikachuck (Nov 10, 2003)

pita said:


> I hate the part of paper-writing when you need to write a conclusion. I suck at conclusions. I usually restate my intro (weak, I know) or say something almost moralistic about the text because I feel bad about ripping it apart for several pages.
> 
> I'm sure some of you must know how to write awesome conclusions. Share your secrets! I need to write one right now.


I usually don't spend much time with my conclusions. A professor of mine once said to me that the key to organizing a paper is to: 1) tell them what you are going to say 2) say it, then 3) tell them what you said. All I usually do is compress and summarize my whole paper in two or so paragraphs.

If it happens to be a research paper where you do actually draw conclusions, I would state what those conclusions are.


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## Perfectionist (Mar 19, 2004)

I like to end my conclusion by looking at the bigger picture. What does what I've just talked about for the past seven pages mean on a more broad sense? If there are any arguments I've used related to culture or politics or learning or any other broad theme I like to emphasize how they can make a difference in everyday life. I don't even want to count how many papers I've written where I've ended with the words "affects society as a whole"\

In general though, you don't want to make it to obvious that you're simply restating your arguments. Avoid words like "In conclusion" and "In summary" because it just shows the reader you are following a very cookie cutter style. Bring your reader back to your thesis, and remind them what methods you used to prove your thesis throughout your entire paper. If you addressed other possible hypotheses, explain again to the reader why yours is the best and the others pale in comparison. Think about where the conclusions of the paper could take the reader next, or the next logical step after your conclusions.


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