Listen, we know that writing a conclusion paragraph can be tedious and annoying because, well, we just presented our whole argument, why do we need to restate it again? And while we do see and understand your point, conclusions are a lot more important than we give them credit for. They encompass an entire argument and offer a short way of restating all of the essay’s points. Moreover, consider this possibility: what if the research articles we use for writing didn’t have a conclusion section? That’s a pretty grim possibility. Because of this, conclusions are necessary for any paper, and we’re going to cover how to write a conclusion for a research paper so your paper is perfect and no one ever finds out how you really feel about conclusions.
Basic Structure
The rest of this blog post outlines different things you should consider about how to write a conclusion for a research paper, but we want to give you the basic structure first so you can start building the ideal conclusion.
- Restate your thesis statement
- Summarize your points
- Add connections/transitions between them (optional)
- Consider why these are relevant to your topic and assignment
- Have a memorable ending
Return to Your Thesis Statement
Since you’re writing your conclusion, it’s safe to say you’ve got a thesis statement. We recommend that you copy and paste it right before this paragraph begins so you don’t have to scroll to the top of your essay all the time. Now that you’ve got your thesis there, rephrase it; this will be the first sentence of your conclusion. It will remind your reader of the points you made, and it will connect your conclusion to the introduction. Moreover, this is your opportunity to check if all of your body paragraphs match your thesis statement. If there’s anything you need to fix, now is the perfect time to do so. Also, try not to begin with something like “To sum up,” or “In conclusion,” your reader knows this is the last paragraph and knows what to expect.
Check Your Rubric
Every assignment should come with a rubric that you can check to see if your work meets all the relevant criteria, and before writing your conclusion, you should reread this. The reason why we include this as a necessary part of how to write a conclusion for a research paper is because your teacher might want a single paragraph or maybe they want more. moreover, they could include specific instructions for the conclusion like underlying your thesis statement or highlighting the summary of each point in a different color. Trust us, it’s better to read this before rather than later when you realize you need to modify a lot of things. Moreover, there could be a word limit or minimum, meaning you need to plan accordingly for a paragraph that has to be at least 150 words long or no longer than 100 words.
Outline Your Main Points
In theory, you should know what your arguments are and what you just wrote about, but because it’s likely you wrote your research essay across different days, some of the details might be hazy. We recommend that you read your essay again and write a few of the points that were in each paragraph. For example, you might know that the first body paragraph was about plastic ducks, but you don’t remember what you wrote about plastic ducks. Doing this quick outline or annotation can help not only tell you what to write but also how to write a conclusion for a research paper.
Tip: If you use Litero’s “Write a conclusion” function, you’ll get a fully formed conclusion that covers all of your points, and you can always ask it to shorten or expand it if you need to.
Consider the Connection Between Points and Why You Used Them
Now, you can’t just write a summary for each body paragraph and then put them in the same section. You need to work on how these all connect. Let’s return once again to the thesis statement. All of your points should relate to your thesis, so your summaries should also relate to it. When you’re thinking about how to write a conclusion for a research paper, you should think about why you chose this topic or approach; this can help you determine the best way to connect your points. You can use introductory phrases like “furthermore,” “however,” “because of this,” and “considering [point x].” These phrases tell your readers what they can expect from this new sentence, and they must relate to the role of each point/body paragraph. If you need to add more sentences to explain the connections, you can use Litero’s functions to expand a point or add new sentences.
Don’t Add More Information
Your conclusion shouldn’t add new information; if it does, it’s not really a conclusion. If you need or want to add a new statistic or argument, you should go back to the paragraph that talks about the relevant point you need. The conclusion doesn’t typically admit new information, and you shouldn’t test this. Focus on what your essay already says and your thesis statement. Citations shouldn’t really be here because you’re just repeating points you made.
Add a Memorable Ending
Your conclusion should have an ending that your reader remembers, and it’s an easy thing to over when knowing how to write a conclusion for a research paper. This ending can be a call to action or an emphasis on the general topic, and if you need help, you can always use the AI chat in Litero to create an ending that fits your essay.
Edit and Proofread
The final step is to edit and proofread your paragraph. You can do this with Litero’s grammar check function as well as its plagiarism tool to make sure you didn’t include any details that qualify as plagiarism. Focus on how the paragraph flows and try to look at it as someone who didn’t just spend a good chunk of time researching and writing about this topic.