The main purpose of the conclusion is to show that the main aim of the piece of writing has been achieved. Therefore, the conclusion should match the introduction in terms of the ideas presented and the argument put forward.
Conclusions are also difficult to write. Fortunately, conclusions have a pattern you can follow so that you can write a convincing conclusion. In clearly written sentences, you restate the thesis from your.introduction (not word for word), make a brief summary of your arguments and finish with some sort of judgment about the topic. Here are some steps to follow in writing a conclusion.
1. Restatement of aims
Begin with a sentence that refers to the main subject. It should recall the issues raised in the introduction and discussed in the body of the essay. That is to say, what is the aim of the piece of writing. Also, it is a good idea to start your conclusion with transitional words (e.g.“in summary” “in conclusion” “to conclude”) to link to previous paragraph and to signal that these are your final words on the subject. Some useful patterns are as follows.
This study set out to determine ...
The present study was designed to determine the effect of ...
The purpose of the study was to determine ...
The project was undertaken to design ... and evaluate ...
Activity 4-1: Providing a statement of aims
Below are the titles of academic essays. Infer from the titles the aim of the papers and provide possible statements of aims.
(1) Timed versus At-home Assessment Tests: Does Time Affect the Quality of Second Language Learners’ Written Compositions?
(2) The English Lesson as a Site for the Development of Critical Thinking
(3) Individual Differences in a Proficiency Task as a Function of L2 and non-L2 Specific Dimensions
2. Brief summary
Give a brief summary of your arguments and identify the main reasons/ causes/ factors that relate to the question addressed by drawing together the points made in the main body of the essay. If there are two or more parts to the question, be sure to include responses to each part in your conclusion. Useful patterns for summarizing the content and the findings are: