How to Conclude a Five Paragraph Essay
Writing a five paragraph essay is one of the first stages in acquiring more advanced writing skills. From a five paragraph essay, more advanced genres of writing simply require additional paragraph transitions and more complex body paragraph construction. Learning to write a five paragraph essay is an essential part of learning to write for upper-level elementary, middle school and secondary education students. Five paragraph essays typically end with a conclusion that summarizes the main topics of the body paragraphs and re-states the essay topic or thesis sentence. Concluding a five paragraph essay with appropriate content and style will leave readers with no remaining questions and a sense of completion after reading your essay.
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Instructions
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Begin the conclusion by referencing the main idea or topic of the essay. For example, in an essay entitled, "The Four Seasons," a topic sentence might be, "As the earth travels around the sun, planet rotation and revolution cause the seasons to change." The purpose of a conclusion is to answer all remaining questions a reader might have. The answers would be found in the body paragraphs, but a summary of the answer is appropriate at the beginning of the concluding paragraph. Therefore, an example first sentence for the conclusion of the essay entitled, "The Four Seasons" might be: "Both planet revolution and rotation contribute to Earth's changing seasons." In both the topic sentence and beginning sentence of the essay's conclusion, the information is the same. However, in the conclusion, the tone is different. As a writer, the assumption is that your reader has already gained the required knowledge and you are merely referring to information that is already known.
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Refer to each body paragraph in brief statements that summarize the main information. For example, in the essay entitled, "The Four Seasons," each body paragraph might address the Earth's revolution, the Earth's rotation, and the characteristics of each season. Therefore, in the conclusion, you should make brief statements that reference each of these topics without going into the detail that was present in the body paragraphs.
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Craft a concluding statement that leaves no unanswered questions and relates the importance of your essay to the reader. In the essay entitled, "The Four Seasons," it is important to mention that, without a natural progression of seasons, the Earth's climate would be uniform, either perpetually cold or perpetually hot. It might also be important to mention the cultural significance of holidays and other celebrations that only occur in locations where the seasons change. An example pf a concluding statement for this essay might be, "Many of Earth's life forms depend on seasonal changes for biological and cultural functions. Earth would not be the same place without changing seasons, nor would mankind be as culturally or biologically diverse."
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Tips & Warnings
At times, it is appropriate to end a five paragraph essay conclusion with a question. The question usually gives the reader something to ponder and might be considered, "food for thought." However, the question should not be able to be answered within the essay.
References
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