OU assignments - I bloody hate writing conclusions I do!

[HMC]

I loathe and detest writing a conclusion, especially when there is a tight word count - it just seems like unnecessary repetition and re-stating what you have already covered. I am well aware however that assignments are not considered properly dressed without one!

Do you have any top tips for writing brilliant conclusions. What is your approach?

Do you write your conclusion first HMC?

What subject are you studying?

I find the whole essay-writing process sheer torture from beginning to end, but I do focus on writing my conclusion first. It always changes as I refine my argument though

I think conclusions that simply restate what has been argued are a bit dull tbh. I try to suggest some further issues that have been raised by the argument and end it in style with a great quote or some bit of jiggery-pokery that sounds good.

Conclusions are the easiest part ime! By that time I am so au fait thoroughly bored of my subject matter I have no problem summing it up in a concise way and resent the 1000s of words it has taken to get there! Seriously: just think about it and not down a few headings on the salient points. Then fluff them out a bit and try to come up with something pithy to sign the whole thing off with. Quotes can work for this. Good luck, I didn't mean to be flippant as they are a PITA.

I've been a lecturer for years HMC, and hate writing conclusions too, so sympathies there.

On conclusions for short essay, I'd generally say that a good one will recap very briefly and then open the essay out to hint at the broader implications of the findings (beyond the text or issue in question).

You want the reader to think-yes, she's right. And I could use her conclusion as an insight that will help me next time (I look at a 19thC novel, a study of newts etc).

It always pays to sound grand and emphatic, with a tub-thumping final sentence. It's always the same questions that get answered and so sounding livelier and more memorable than everyone else can only help.

At the same time you don't want to start a new essay. A good strategy can be to read your intro, and the first line of each para up to the end of the essay. The conclusion then will be the logical progression from those other elements.

Molesworth said the same thing much more succinctly Good luck.

This might be discipline-specific but in an arts essay, I wouldn't end on a quotation as it sounds as if you are deferring to someone else as the authority at exactly the point when you are trying to show yourself to be an authority. Like Alan Partridge, you want to seem like a man in control of his vehicle ...

I defer to MrsSeanBean on all other matters though as she is a great talker of sense.

Good point about the quote thing sibh - much better to end in your own voice, I agree

sorry if this is teaching granny to suck eggs but...

Try to see your conclusion as a way of tying all your points together - linking each point you have made to validate your overarching theme/view/point.

read other peoples essays to see how they do theirs and find out what you like and dislike about different styles

It's not just restating the individual elements

I think Wabbit is exactly right about needing to find your own style, by reading around and incorporating your own voice ... Trying to sound 'academic' usually ends in tears because the writer gets too self-conscious.

Can I offer another way of conceptualising conclusions:
If your introduction is a roadmap (telling the reader where you are headed, via what), and the middle of the essay is the journey, then the conclusion is the aerial view.

The Partridge reference was deliberately patriarchal btw-men tend to be more comfortable extrapolating over-arching conclusions. Women tend to be rewarded for caution elsewhere in life but get tripped up when they use it in essays. (A study showed that this was the reason women were not getting firsts in history at Oxford).

There is some brilliantly insightful advice here - thank you so much! Particularly like the aerial view analogy

Molesworth - it takes a disciplined mind indeed to write a conclusion first. I must admit that my assignment writing is an organic process , by which I mean I have a vague idea of what I want to write, just start typing and then pull it together. Surprisingly (no more so than to me!) my assignments do not end up rambling and off the point, because I edit, cut and paste etc. I certainly agree with you though that it is a very rational and coherent thing to do - to write the conclusion first (but I seem incapable!)

I've tried writing essays plans before starting, but get 'blocked'....

I don't think I did too bad a job with my latest assignments' conclusion. I briefly summarised my main points and then did manage to add something fresh and insightful at the end...However my last assignment was painful - it was like birthing a melon. It took a long time coming and it's great relief to have it off my desk. I'm doing history btw.

Still hate conclusions though

I never write the conclusion first (not that I have written many essays, mind)...but sort of first just jot down teh ponts I want to make in my Essay....I do soemtimes write the introduction first and change it as I go along...but have now come to the conclusion that writing the body first is the esiest way to go, as long as you know in your head what you are writing about...

And I think you will get your writing to another level if you don't jsut restate points, but actually your conclusion should also show that, because of this that and the other, you have come to that conclusion but maybe this , that and somehting else has to be taken a closer look at and be further investigatesd to really know...

however, I may well be completely talking out of my backside....
but I find the Intro and conclusion generally the easiest part, tbh...