hello everyone I'm Jenna and this is learn academic English here on my channel I teach
intermediate and advanced level lessons for people who want to take their language to the
next level and improve their English for school or work in today's video I'm going to teach you
how to write a conclusion paragraph it's not hard if you know how to do it but it's an important
part of your essay so in today's video I will show you how to write a conclusion paragraph I
will show you a few things you should not do in a conclusion paragraph and then I will show you some
examples of good conclusions so that you can see exactly what a good conclusion should look like
before we get into that please don't forget to give this video a like leave a comment below
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okay so let's learn about how to write a good conclusion paragraph so first of all what are
we talking about we're talking about the last paragraph of your essay so if you're writing
an essay of three or more paragraphs the last paragraph is going to be your conclusion paragraph
the conclusion can be short or a little bit longer depending on how long your essay is
so for a shorter essay of maybe two to three pages your conclusion paragraph is going to be fairly
short so we're thinking probably three to five sentences if your essay is a little bit longer
say three to five pages your conclusion might be a little bit longer maybe four to six sentences
and if your essay is quite long your conclusion might be a little bit longer but in general a
conclusion paragraph should not be too long I like to tell people that they should think about their
conclusion paragraph the same way that you feel when you go to see a movie and you are at the end
of the movie when you watch a movie and it's the end of the movie what do you want well you want
to feel that the movie is finished right you don't want there to be any loose ends or any new ideas
like a new plot twist that suddenly shows up at the end of the movie and then feels unfinished
instead you want to feel that there is a sense of closure that the movie is finished and you feel
satisfied that's the same feeling that your reader should have at the end of your essay you want to
give them a feeling of closure that it is finished and leave them feeling satisfied to do this you're
going to do two basic things first you're going to remind the reader of the most important ideas
in your essay and then you're going to leave them with some kind of feeling to finish the
essay but I like to think of it in three different parts so let's go through those parts one by one
number one restate your thesis statement but in different words so you don't want to copy
and paste your thesis statement here you want to restage your thesis statement using some slightly
different words then number two you're going to give a quick summary of the most important
ideas of your essay so in two to four sentences you're going to summarize the most important
points from your body paragraphs this helps to remind the reader how you supported your thesis
now how is this different from restating the thesis usually when you restate the thesis
it's going to be a little bit more General and then the summary of the main points is going
to get a little bit more specific now if you're writing a timed essay meaning an essay in class
or an essay maybe for the TOEFL or the IELTS you can usually skip this second step instead
you would just restate your thesis and then skip the second step of summarizing your main points
next number three this is what we usually call the final thought and the final thought can
look like one of the following number one it can be a prediction about the
future give the reader something to think about related to your topic in the future
number two a call to action or a suggestion what should the reader do now that he or she
has read your essay this is a very common way that we conclude an argumentative essay so if
we try to persuade someone about a topic then the conclusion might give a call to action what
should they do now and then number three you can also make a connection back to your hook
now if you remember a hook is the first part of your essay where you catch the reader's attention
it's the very first part of your introduction and sometimes this can be an interesting way to finish
the conclusion by making a connection back to that hook and I'll show you an example of that in just
a moment you can use a transition to show that the conclusion is beginning you can use one of the
following in conclusion in summary to sum up or to conclude and be sure that you use a comma after it
okay let's go on and look at a couple of things that you should not do in the conclusion
number one you should not copy and paste any sentences from your essay so if you restate
the thesis don't copy and paste the thesis instead use some slightly different words
the same thing with the summary of the main points you don't want to copy and paste any of those but
instead try to say it in a new and probably more concise way number two don't introduce
new ideas in the conclusion now if you're going to give some suggestions or advice or a call to
action that is actually a new idea that's okay because that is helping the reader to know what
comes next okay I just read your essay now what am I going to do with this information
but you don't want to give a lot of new ideas in the summary and I'll show you an example of that
in just a moment to help you see how that can be a problem but again remember that you don't
want to give new ideas in your conclusion and finally as I mentioned before your conclusion
should not be too long usually you're going to be aiming for between four and six sentences
conclusion paragraphs first I'm going to show you an example of a conclusion that has some problems
because there are new ideas and then I will show you three examples of good conclusion paragraphs
now I'm going to show you four examples of conclusion paragraphs and first we're going
to look at an example of a conclusion that is not good the reason that this conclusion is
not good is that it introduces too many new ideas so the topic of this essay is
shyness why are people shy and the essay talks about reasons or causes of shyness
let's look at the thesis statement first the thesis says psychologists
have found that shyness can result from both biological and environmental factors
okay so that's the thesis statement that shows the main idea of the whole essay now let's look
at the conclusion to sum up shyness seems to have both biological and environmental causes
okay so you can see how the writer has restated the thesis in slightly different words next
in the Yellow Part we're going to have a short summary of the most important ideas in the essay
some people come into the world shy others become shy as a result of their experiences in life
especially because of family life culture and the use of Technology okay so you can imagine that
there were different sections in the essay that explained these reasons that people are shy okay
so now we know what the main ideas of the essay were next we're going to go into the final thought
however since shyness can be caused by their the environment there are some solutions
if people know about the effect of technology on shyness they can use technology less
if people understand the way that family causes shyness they can find other ways to be social
also if they understand how culture can affect shyness they can find ways to become more outgoing
on the other hand perhaps shyness is not a bad thing and does not need to be avoided okay so
what's going on here well in the blue section we have uh the writer is attempting a final thought
with um a kind of um some advice or suggestions the problem is that it's too much if you want
to use an advice or suggestion final thought it should be concise and just leave the the
reader with a feeling like hmm something to think about but this is too much first there are four
different uh suggestions or five and it's each of them leaves the reader feeling like I want to
know more about this and again it's just too much so this is not a good conclusion if the writer
wants to explore Solutions the writer can actually add a Solutions paragraph at the end of the essay
that could go as a paragraph before the conclusion and that would be the appropriate place to discuss
so many different suggestions and to explain each one a little bit more okay let's move on to three
examples of good conclusion paragraphs the first one is the same topic that we just looked at
shyness seems to have both biological and environmental causes some people come into the
world shy others become shy as a result of their experiences in life especially because of family
life culture and the use of Technology okay again restatement of the thesis first and then a short
summary of the main ideas of the essay next let's look at the final thought however since
shyness is caused by increased technology it seems that it can be partially avoided
if people become aware of this effect on social skills they can prioritize time spending time with
people and less time alone on their devices if not we may see an increase in shyness in the future
okay here we have a final thought that gives a suggestion and it's really just one suggestion
if shyness is caused by technology what can we do and then it leads into a short prediction
about the future again this leaves the reader with a feeling of satisfaction I know what the
essay was about and it leaves me with something to think about or maybe something that I can do
okay let's look at the next one the next one the topic is about giving undocumented
immigrants a driver's license so let me just tell you really quickly about this topic
in this in the United States each state has different laws and some states have explored
the idea of allowing undocumented immigrants that means people who are living here without documents
to get a driver's license and there are several benefits to giving driver's licenses to everyone
the state of California actually passed this law several years ago so this essay is no longer up
to date but I do like to use it because the essay is quite good so let's just look at the
conclusion but just keep in mind that the law in California has already changed and
undocumented immigrants can get a driver's license now okay so the thesis the state of
California should offer driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants for security reasons
this is an argumentative essay that is meant to persuade the reader to take this position let's
look at the conclusion in conclusion allowing undocumented immigrants to have driver's licenses
will bring important Security benefits to the people of California okay take a moment you may
want to pause the video and notice how the writer restates the thesis statement at the beginning of
the conclusion the thesis statement idea is the same but the words are slightly different
next it moves into a short summary of the main ideas
these benefits would include greater Homeland Security safer roads and more secure conditions
for the undocumented okay so it looks like the writer explored those three benefits in the essay
all right so now we remember what the main ideas were next let's go into the final thought
like the Sacramento woman whose car was hit by an undocumented immigrant with no license
or insurance California residents deserve to feel secure while driving to work and school
an undocumented immigrants should be able to drive without fear
because of the benefits to all residents Californians ought to voice immediate
support for this proposal and lawmakers should begin the process of making it a law
all right let's look at the final thought because they're actually kind of two parts so the first
part like the Sacramento woman whose car was hit what's this talking about well this is referring
back to the hook which was at the beginning of the essay at the beginning of the essay
the writer told a short story about a person in Sacramento and so this is just reminding the
reader of that hook which allows the reader to feel like the essay has come full circle
then it states why this is important and then what should be done this is a call to action a call to
action is that people should avoid support for this and lawmakers should make it a law
could we take out this part right here
the connection back to the hook absolutely we could take it out and then the final thought
would be a little bit shorter but it would not be referring back to that story in the hook
okay let's go to the next one and the next one the topic is about changing expectations
of marriage this essay talked about how women's expectations of marriage they are changing in
many Asian countries let's read the thesis statement first there are three main reasons
women's expectations of marriage are higher than before in many Asian countries a desire for
personal fulfillment increased Independence and a modern view of choosing a spouse
now okay let's read the conclusion in conclusion the way that Asian women
think about marriage has changed in recent years okay so take a moment to notice how
does the writer restate the thesis statement next we're going to go into the main or most
important points from the essay which is going to be these three reasons okay
they are shifting from the traditional way of thinking about marriage to a more modern View
in which women value personal happiness Financial Independence and the right to choose their spouses
okay next these higher expectations may shock a grandmother but it will
not surprise anyone in the Next Generation
so in this final thought the writer is just giving a short prediction about the future uh this topic
doesn't really need like a call to action probably um and this is just a great concise conclusion uh
the grandmother actually is another example of going back to the hook in the hook there was a
story about a woman who had these new ideas of marriage and it shocked her grandmother
so this is connecting back to the hook is it necessary to do that no then short prediction
about the future it will not surprise anyone in the Next Generation I hope these examples
of conclusion paragraphs have helped you to see what a good conclusion paragraph can look like
it helps you to know how to write a conclusion paragraph if you have questions be sure to let
me know below and make sure to check out my writing playlist because I have many
other videos about academic writing that I know you will love until next time take care