Building An Impressive Term Paper Conclusion

As of the name suggests, the conclusion comes at the end of your term paper. In fact it's the end of every type of essay, it's the final paragraph. One of the mistakes which many students make in their term paper writing is that they write a poor conclusion. This is doubly sad because if they have done plenty of research, written well and used the correct structure and citation reference requirements, they spoil all that good work by creating a poor conclusion. Avoid this. Don't think because you've worked so hard to get 80% or 90% of the term paper complete, that now you can simply rush out a conclusion and all will be well. It won't be. You must put as much time into your conclusion as you do to any other part of your term paper.

Your conclusion has to contain at least two major elements.

• a feeling of finality
• a summary of all that has gone before

This feeling of finality is what ends so many things be it a book, a film or a play. You want the reader of your term paper to have the feeling that they have genuinely come to the end of the work. Not because there are no more words to read but because the words they read in the finale give them a satisfied sensation. Yes, you have rounded off your term paper in just the right way.

And the second component of every conclusion is that it is a précis, it is a summary of everything which is happened beforehand. A good tip in writing an excellent conclusion is to read through the previous paragraphs and make a note of each main point you have made. Of course you should never forget any thesis statement. Then with all these points in front of you, you write in as few words as possible, a compact version of all those points. This superb summary of what's gone before is what helps to give that feeling of finality. You are reinforcing all the information you've provided beforehand.

One important tip in creating your conclusion is that you avoid inserting new information. This is not the place for a new idea or a new argument. All of that happens before the conclusion. Do not muddy the waters.

And finally, just as you will have gone over all parts of your term paper to check for spelling and grammatical errors, you must do the same for your conclusion. Aim to keep it as short as possible. Aim to cover all the main points that you have introduced before. And make sure that it has been edited within an inch of its life.