And so, in Conclusion, I Will Now End My Paper and This Relationship

by Jeff Zuckerman, Dissertation Specialist, CSS Faculty Member, and Dating Advisor

Dear Jeff: How do I end a paper? Sometimes I just keep going on and on and on and on and on. And on.
Signed, Confused

PS: Also, can you help me end my relationship with my boyfriend?

Dear Confused: Luckily, ending a paper is much like ending a relationship. You have several choices, depending on your purpose, audience, and context—whether it’s an undergraduate or graduate paper.  Let’s start by ending things at the undergraduate level (with apologies to Lunsford [2008, pp. 134-135]):

• Move from specific to general.

When ending a relationship, you might tell your partner that his watching eight football games each weekend suggests his utter lack of interest in you and your needs.

In a paper, you might have described how droughts in Somalia have led to famine and war. In the conclusion, you might say how such problems at the start of the 21st century may well become commonplace throughout the Southern Hemisphere as the effects of global warming and population growth lead to widespread global destruction in coming decades.

• Conclude with a question.

When ending a relationship, your exit line might be a question: “I caught you kissing another girl in broad daylight. Did you really give me any other choice? Did you?”

In a paper, you might have described the need for the Israelis and Palestinians to compromise on land for peace. Your ending could then be a question: “Given that the two sides have made little progress in more than 40 years of tension, killing, and war, do they have any other choice?”

• Conclude with a call to action.

When ending a relationship, your exit line might be “Get your act together. It’s time you grew up.”

When ending a paper, a call to action can be effective—but only if it is specific and doable, rather than a vague statement that reads like a commercial.

Poor call to action: “Therefore, we should tell our leaders to be more supportive of higher education!” (An exclamation point is never effective in academic writing.)

Better call to action: “Therefore, shoppers and employees should (a) sign a petition telling specific stores to change to family-friendly hours on Black Friday, and (b) refuse to shop in stores that are open during the night.”

• Conclude with a warning.

When ending a relationship, you might warn said ex-boyfriend: “Don’t come around my house again, or my brother will have to intervene.”

When ending a paper, discuss what will happen if the position you have argued for does not come to fruition. “In conclusion, it’s important not only to return to your original thesis. Summarize briefly how your analysis of your experience and research has supported the thesis. If you do not end your paper with a logical, forceful, and clear concluding statement that fulfills your purpose, your instructor will likely wonder if you really had a point at all and if you even cared about the assignment. And you will long regret getting dumped by your professor.”

Coming next time: We’ll discuss how to break up with your partner and end a paper at the graduate level.  For more on writing a conclusion, see our web page.

---------------------

Reference
Lunsford, A. A. (2008). St. Martin’s handbook (6th ed.). Boston, MA: St. Martin’s Press.