Questions in a Conclusion?

What goes where

in a Conclusion Paragraph:

Questions

When we think about a CONCLUSION paragraph, we first need to think through the 'purpose' of that paragraph.  To do this, you might have to ask yourself a few questions—what is the purpose of a CONCLUSION?  How does it work to connect to the body-paragraphs or the INTRODUCTION?  While I am posing questions for you to consider, these (questions) are NOT something you will want to include in your essay—unless the question is used as the “CULMINATING” sentence of your CONCLUSION.

The goal of a CONCLUSION is to assure the reader of your argument, its validity, and its strength.  After all, the reader has invested much time in the reading, and now it is time to send the reader off into reality, knowing that what you argued in the body-paragraphs was the correct side to the issue.  

However, if the CONCLUSION  takes too long (for example, if you try to recap every-little-thing that was established in the closing sentences of the body-paragraphs), or if it asks the reader numerous question on the topic but not relating to the argument thesis, you will lose the reader.  Done.  Paper down.  We're out of here!  The reader will simply stop reading right there!  

You do not want the reader to stop reading before you are done wrapping everything up.  You do not want to have the reader start thinking about answers to questions before you have shown how all of your points fit together to prove your argument.   Keep questions out of the CONCLUSION, and if you must use a question, it must be reserved for the Step 3: Culminating Thought.

• STEP 1: Re-assert the THESIS, yet by using new words to convey the same claim established in the last line of the INTRODUCTION.
• STEP 2: Synthesize; do not simply summarize.  Assert definitively each of the closing sentences of the body paragraphs; after all, those last sentences were the finalizing, synthesizing argument for the sub-point of the thesis in that body-paragraph.  
• STEP 3: Create a "culminating' thought to leave the reader assured of your argument.  You could pose a question to the reader here, but this is the only location in the CONCLUSION where a question can be asked.

A QUESTION as the "CULMINATING" Thought  

from The Write Place

The sample below is a simplified version of what is expected in a CONCLUSION.  Keep in mind that your CONCLUSION will be a bit more specific in Step 2: Synthesizing than is shown below.

• Posing questions: Posing questions, either to your readers or in general, may help your readers gain a new perspective on the topic, which they may not have held before reading your conclusion. It may also bring your main ideas together to create a new meaning.

Example

Campaign advertisements should help us understand the candidate's qualifications and positions on the issues. Instead, most tell us what a boob or knave the opposing candidate is, or they present general images of the candidate as a family person or God-fearing American. Do such advertisements contribute to creating an informed electorate or a people who choose political leaders the same way they choose soft drinks and soap? ("Strategies")

Example Explained

[re-invent the thesis stsatement] Campaign advertisements should help us understand the candidate's qualifications and positions on the issues. [wrap-up; synthesizing the overall argument of the body-paragraphs] Instead, most tell us what a boob or knave the opposing candidate is, or they present general images of the candidate as a family person or God-fearing American. [CULMINATING Thought--in the form of a QUESTION] Do such advertisements contribute to creating an informed electorate or a people who choose political leaders the same way they choose soft drinks and soap? 

Click HERE to learn more about Synthesizing

Work Cited

“Strategies for Writing a Conclusion.” Strategies for Writing a Conclusion," The Write Place, 19 Feb. 2004, leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/conclude.html.

© 2018 by Jeanette L. H. Dick

Using Questions in the Conclusion