Conclude Your Essay

Déjà vu: Just as we can use a story to introduce an issue, topic, or controversy, we can use a story to complete our argument. Think of the story in your conclusion as either a threat (Let your readers get a glimpse of what will happen if they don't adopt your ideas)--or a carrot (Let your readers see the happy consequence of following your advice). This kind of conclusion appeals to pathos to a degree.

Follow this structure when you use another's story to conclude your essay. Although there are several parts, they combine to form one paragraph:

1. Briefly Summarize Your Main Points

Quickly remind your readers of what you're trying to say and stress the importance and value of your ideas.

2. Transition: Identify a Carrot or a Threat

Second, gracefully lead your reader into your story and identify the consequences of acting on your advice or ignoring you. Try something along the lines of "Failure to act now will produce disastrous effects similar to what happened to Grand Junction citizens during the economic bust in the 1980's." Or, "Imagine what would happen if we don't act now."

3. Tell the Story

Tell a story. Forget any claims, transitions, or assertions. Make sure you answer who, what, when, where, and why. Don't forget all the strategies you learned about description. Consider brainstorming categories, offer sensory detail, use style strategies: metaphor, simile, periphrasis, personification, hyperbole. Render, don't tell.

4. Comment on story and encourage readers to choose wisely.

Add a sentence or two that makes the point or significance of the story more explicit or obvious. (i.e. "So, we have a choice. We can act or we can we acted upon.")

Consider this example:

Because of the great benefits a music program can bring to students, it is crucial that music remains in schools. If we do not teach music to students, it will slowly fade out of our culture. Imagine the world without music. Suppose you are driving down North and all you hear is the sound of the crumbling of static over the speakers. It is a sunny day, the birds are chirping and even though there is a slight breeze, you still find your legs sticking to the seat in the warmth. You scan the radio for something less abrasive to fit the relaxed mood of the day, and all you can find are people blabbing on talk shows. Someone is complaining about the gas prices, another reporting a drug bust, another counseling dysfunctional families. Nothing fits with the smell of fresh daisies and the white puffy clouds overhead, so you keep searching and searching until finally you disappointedly settle on the dull roar of the engine and cars honking outside. Music is all around us, in our cars, on our computers, radios and TV's, and to loose that would be to loose an integral part of our everyday lives, and would take away all that cannot be expressed in words. We would loose the brilliance of Bach, the grief of Beethoven, the joy of Mozart and the rebelliousness of Shostakovich. Along with that, we'd loose the music of today's culture; the Beatles, the Eminem's, the American Idols. Taking music out of schools is to take away the artists that could be, the audiences to appreciate them and therefore, the money to support them. I don't mean to be dramatic [hesitation] but the children are our future and I want music to be a part of them, so that music can be a part of our future as well. We must make a choice to support school music programs or try to eliminate them, and the benefits of keeping them highly outweigh the anything gained by getting rid of them.