Another Way to Look At Writing Conclusions

The last paragraph (or sometimes paragraphs, when writing much longer essays ) should reflect upon the thesis statement and its subtopics that you have addressed in your essay. 

There are other ways to view your conclusions, and viewing a conclusion in these different ways will help guide you in what else you can say beyond being repetitive. You may not address each question below each time, but here are some general ideas you may explore in your conclusion rather than simply "restating the thesis":

• What is important to the general audience/larger world about what you have argued/analyzed/defined. etc.? What knowledge do you provide us, and why is that important? 

• What is the impact of this knowledge I provide ? Who is affected, how? 

• Where does my idea fit in the larger discussion of the subject addressed in the essay? (compare or contrast with socially common views, stereotypes, and/or subjects)

• What recommendations can I make, and why, based on my thesis and other points made in the essay?

• If I were to continue discussing the topic, what are some points that I did not make that are worth exploring, and that are related to what I've already pointed out? 

• What would I like others to consider that I did not have 'time' to in this essay? (Pose questions that you haven't addressed that are relevant to what you have already written. Pose questions that are within the context of your essay--further questions that relate to your ideas.)

Another way of looking at just conclusions and the above general conclusion strategies when dealing with literary analysis:

• Here is how it is put by the University of Iowa's Writing center: "The conclusion is a good place to not only sum up the points made in the paper but to suggest the further implications of your argument.  You do not want to simply reiterate the points you have made in your introduction, thesis, or body paragraphs.  Instead, use the analyses that you have already presented to ask questions, or suggest the possible next logical step in the argument.  You can use the conclusion to draw connections between your chosen text and its genre and historical or cultural contexts.  You want to make sure that the claims you make in the conclusion are not too far-fetched or wildly out of step with the rest of your paper.  The conclusion should be the final step in the progression of your argument."

• Ask questions based on your essay points!

• Suggest next possible step in the argument!

• Draw connections between your essay subject text and other texts in the genre or same time period or cultural perspective 

• Do you know of any novel or other literature that does similar things to the novel you wrote about? Explain connections, if so.

• Do you know of texts outside literature that your novel may connect to? What are they and how do they relate? What does it say that similar things are done outside of literature?

• Culturally, does your text seem to say something about some the time period the author is writing about? Does the novel relate to some historical event outside of the book?  

• Does the text (or, do the texts) do something special within the genre that relates to your essay argument?  (For instance, our book has some differences between it an a normal novel, right? What could be said about those differences?)