As a teacher, one of your primary responsibilities is to prepare your students for their future which involves a lot of essay writing. When applying to a college, they have to write an application essay. Once students start college, they are required to write in academic language for every single course they take. If they proceed to graduate school, students face the biggest academic writing challenge: their thesis or dissertation.
Also, writing skills are practically mandatory for any job. First of all, all people have to write resumes and cover letters from time to time. On the job, they face business reports, performance evaluations, and plenty of emails. But what’s the foundation of proper writing skills? Essays. You know this, but your students don’t seem to get it? Let’s see what is the problem and find a way to solve it!
The Problem with Conclusions
You’re constantly getting incomplete papers. The start looks promising, and the argumentation is solid, but the conclusion is not convincing enough. Why are students struggling with conclusions so much?
The answer is plain simple: they don’t have time for that part. It’s the point when websites like UK Best Essays start looking tempting. Some students order the papers online, while others submit incomplete content.
How can you solve this issue? By showing them how a proper conclusion looks like! It’s not just about giving instructions of the type “Wrap things up and connect all loose ends to a convincing conclusion.” What does that mean anyway?
Here are 7 best ways to end an essay. You can use these samples to teach your students how to write conclusions.
7 Convincing Sample Conclusions
- Restate the Main Idea in a New Way
“Although the founders of Apple, Google and Microsoft started their companies with a similar “nerdy and future-oriented” approach, they grew into different directions. Apple grew into a centralized organization with projects developed around a single person’s reputation. Google and Microsoft grew into less centralized companies based on greater collaboration.”
This kind of conclusion cements the thesis without making the content seem repetitive.
- Relate to a Broader Idea
“The future of a man is uncertain, but The Brothers Karamazov gives us an unambiguous idea for it: it’s about spiritual revaluation. Through incredible struggles, Dmitri went from chaos to acceptance. Each of us comes to the point of life when we stand at Mitya’s boundaries. The world as we know it ceases to exist, and we have to choose a new direction – the one of spiritual revaluation.”
This conclusion relates the theme (a book in this case) to a broader idea. It leaves the reader thinking about their viewpoints.
- Direct the Reader to Further Research
“Achilles is not the only character from Greek mythological texts characterized by superhuman athleticism and courage. The ideas of Ancient Greece were based on the concept of masculinity. All these myths came from the need for fathers to pass those cultural values onto their sons.”
With this conclusion, the writer encourages the reader to dig deeper into the topic and write about their findings.
- Write With Authority
Academic writing is all about conveying authority. That’s why the “I think” approach doesn’t work in conclusions. This part of the essay should be confident since it comes after the substantial evidence provided in the previous paragraphs.
“That’s why Steve Jobs was the greatest leader of the 21st century.”
Such a simple conclusion is convincing, yet effective. “That’s why I think that Steve Jobs was the greatest leader of the 21st century,” on the other hand, is not a confident statement. It doesn’t sound like it was proven throughout the body of the essay.
- Make It Hopeful
When your students are tackling severe issues, such as global warming, they make the essays too negative. They forget about the fact that we have the power to change things.
“Every single one of us has the power to make a change. We’re all victims of the global warming that resulted from the actions of our ancestors. Instead of making the same mistakes as our parents did, we can restore some of the damage by becoming more environmentally conscious.”
This conclusion works because it finds the element of hope.
- Make It Emotional
“Children are a product of what their parents’ approach was. Those of us who had a single parent always lack the things we could have learned from the other one. No matter how loving and supporting the single parent was, there’s a gap they couldn’t possibly fill in.”
When the student concludes with personal experience, they add an emotional layer which creates lasting impressions.
- What Can We Do about It?
“Women will bring important changes to society only through education. The higher the education we get, the less likely we are to settle for less than what we deserve. Through education and support from society, we’ll save women from mutilation.”
When an essay ends with a call to action, it gets people thinking about change. It includes everyone in a potential solution, and that’s why it works. The reader gets the impression that they spent valuable time reading this essay.
Thus, teaching through examples is always better than giving general instructions. Once your students understand what types of conclusion work best, they are ready to write very powerful endings.