Writing Band Six Essays-Conclusion

Even if you are running out of time and can’t write a proper conclusion, at least try to give one concluding sentence. The conclusion is one place you can be brief without being penalised severely. Nevertheless, sum up your argument and conclude well.

In your conclusion you need to:

• Restate your thesis without restating your thesis

You need to draw your essay back to its overall thesis, but better essays will always find a different way to say their original thesis.

• Summarise the points you have talked about in the essay

You only need to highlight the points you have already made-do not introduce any new ideas or evidence!

• Restate the texts that have provided examples that prove your thesis

This is the step you can cut out if pushed for time. A good idea would be to have a sentence after your restated thesis that says something like “This is evident in (author name)’s (text’s name).

• End with a final remark about the topic

Again, if pushed for time you can leave this out. However, this final remark is really the essence of conclusion-it sums up your arguments and thoughts about the topic. This is where you throw in references to the syllabus and what the module requires of you to prove you have made connections between the syllabus and the texts and ideas you have studied. This is probably the most difficult part of the conclusion as you need to make a statement which somehow encompasses the relevance and importance of the topics you have talked about in the essay to our understanding of the world in general. How intense.