For Class Jan 30th

We are going to be going over conclusions as well as touching briefly (again) on persuasive techniques to better prepare you for your persuasive essays coming up. We will be focusing mostly then on conclusions and what is expected of them, how to construct them etc. Please review (and edit for practice) the essay from the previous class (Jan 23) and come prepared to write a conclusion for that paper. Before we get to the handout, a subtle reminder to please bring a draft of your persuasive essay to class on Feb 6th; we will be peer editing that day. Please feel free to contact me via email or come see me during office hours on tuesday.

Handout:

Closing an Essay

Most of your essays will end with a closing statement or conclusion, a signal to the reader that you have not simply stopped writing but have actually finished. The conclusion completes the essay, bringing to a climax while assuring readers that they understood your intention. Usually set off in its own paragraph, the conclusion may consist of a single sentence or group of sentences.

Some Strategies for Closing Paragraphs:

• Create an image. • Recommend a course of action.
• Strike a note of hope or despair. • Summarize the paper. (Sometimes okay)
• Use a quotation. • Echo the introduction.
• Give a symbolic or powerful fact or other detail • Restate the thesis in a fresh way.

Example of a summary / call for action conclusion:

Until we get the answers, I think we had better keep on building power plants and growing food with the help of fertilizers and such insect-controlling chemicals as we now have. The risks are well known, thanks to environmentalists. If they had not created a widespread public awareness of the ecological crisis, we wouldn’t stand a chance. But such awareness by itself is not enough. Flaming manifestos and prophesies of doom are no longer much help, and a search for scapegoats can only make matters worse. The time for sensations and manifestos is about over. Now we need rigorous analysis, united effort and very hard work.
– PETER F. DRUKER, “How Best to Protect the Environment”

Closing Paragraphs to Avoid:

• Don’t simply restate your introduction – statement of subject, thesis sentence and all. Presumably the paragraphs in the body of your essay have contributed something to the opening statements, and it’s that something you want to capture in your conclusion.
• Don’t start off in a new direction, with a subject different from the one your essay has been about. If you arrive at a new idea, this may be a signal to start fresh with that idea as your thesis.
• Don’t conclude more than you reasonably can from the evidence you have presented. If your essay is about your frustrating experience trying to clear a parking ticket, you cannot reasonably conclude that all local police forces are tied up in red tape.
• Don’t apologize for your essay or otherwise cast doubt on it. Don’t say, “Even though I’m no expert,” or “This may not be convincing, but I believe it’s true,” or anything similar. Rather, to win your reader’s confidence, display confidence.