Effective Conclusions for Informational and Persuasive Writing
The conclusion is your chance to have the last word on the subject of your writing piece. The conclusion allows you to wrap up the issues you have raised in your paper, summarize your thoughts, demonstrate the importance of your ideas, and leave your reader thinking.
Example (How a $1,000,000 donation should be used to improve the middle school):
Thesis: To keep the most current information and resources at the middle school students’ fingertips, the school board should use the $1,000,000 donation to begin a program that adds new nonfiction and new fiction texts to the library each year.
Topic Sentence #1: Each year, the school board should use a portion of the $1,000,000 donation to add newly released non-fiction books to the library shelves.
Topic Sentence #2: In addition to the nonfiction text books, a portion of the donation should go to increasing the fiction collection each year as well.
Conclusion: With an overall expansion of the middle school’s non-fiction collection, students grow as thinkers and readers, and by adding new materials to the shelves each year, students’ knowledge expands along with the new discoveries and texts that are uncovered and published in our world (restatement of main idea). Although many uses of the $1,000,000 could improve students’ education, only through yearly updates to our library are students surrounded by the new knowledge and stories of our society and world (concession statement). The school board should not limit students’ learning with a small library but rather expand students’ minds by increasing the library’s collection with the generous million dollar donation (call-to-action).
Note: Narrative conclusions (or resolutions), like introductions, do not include a set criteria like the other modes of writing. The resolution of a narrative should include some sense of resolution to the main conflict in the story. In addition, the resolution of a narrative may span multiple paragraphs depending on the piece.
- Informational writing typically ends with ideas that address why or how the topic was important. The conclusion gives the reader ideas to take away or will help one see, think differently about, or appreciate the topic in some relevant way.
Example (The Eiffel Tower): This special landmark never fails to produce a lasting impression. Photographers often feature it in postcards and souvenirs, and people ofen connect its attraction with love and romance. However, to the French people the Eiffel tower is just a part of their everyday life. But to the world, this huge structure is universally known as the symbol of Paris.
- Persuasive writing typically concludes with the following:
- A restatement of the main idea
- A concession statement that acknowledges the other side of the argument presented
- A call-to-action for the reader to be moved in some way.
Example (How a $1,000,000 donation should be used to improve the middle school):
Thesis: To keep the most current information and resources at the middle school students’ fingertips, the school board should use the $1,000,000 donation to begin a program that adds new nonfiction and new fiction texts to the library each year.
Topic Sentence #1: Each year, the school board should use a portion of the $1,000,000 donation to add newly released non-fiction books to the library shelves.
Topic Sentence #2: In addition to the nonfiction text books, a portion of the donation should go to increasing the fiction collection each year as well.
Conclusion: With an overall expansion of the middle school’s non-fiction collection, students grow as thinkers and readers, and by adding new materials to the shelves each year, students’ knowledge expands along with the new discoveries and texts that are uncovered and published in our world (restatement of main idea). Although many uses of the $1,000,000 could improve students’ education, only through yearly updates to our library are students surrounded by the new knowledge and stories of our society and world (concession statement). The school board should not limit students’ learning with a small library but rather expand students’ minds by increasing the library’s collection with the generous million dollar donation (call-to-action).
Note: Narrative conclusions (or resolutions), like introductions, do not include a set criteria like the other modes of writing. The resolution of a narrative should include some sense of resolution to the main conflict in the story. In addition, the resolution of a narrative may span multiple paragraphs depending on the piece.
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