Saturday, October 5, 2024

Fall 2024 Post 08: Writing Conclusions

Josh Bernoff has a wonderful post about writing conclusions which inspires me to say something about how to conclude an academic essay or even conclude a blog post, such as this one. Let's see how I do.

But first, click the link above and read Bernoff's post. He's quite an accomplished writer, and you can learn something from reading him. After all, you have to write a conclusion for two essays and many blog posts this term. You should start practicing your conclusions.

From my experience as a writer and writing teacher, conclusions present a couple of problems for academic writers. First, too many academic writers are trapped in the 5 paragraph essay formula, as Bernoff notes in his post. I can see why. Most of us were taught that formula in high school, and it's fairly easy to do. You can bang out an essay in one sitting the night before it's due and get it off your to-do list with a minimum of involvement. If you really don't care about the topic, then getting it done quickly is the prime consideration. The form goes like this:

  1. One intro paragraph to say what you're going to say (the thesis).
  2. Three paragraphs to say it and support it.
  3. One conclusion paragraph to say what you said (basically, restate the thesis).

You turn it in even though you know it's a vapid little essay that says damned near nothing and that you yourself wouldn't read (I'm convinced that many of my students don't actually read their own essays), but you know the teacher has to read it, and you're hoping that they, too, are busy and just want to be done with grading, so maybe they'll give you a good grade, or at least a passing grade. It's dull writing and why many English teachers drink to excess (not I, of course). You might need to repeat your thesis if you are writing a book or exceedingly long essay, but we are writing short works in this class (blog posts and two 1,000 word essays), so you can safely assume that your reader will remember the thesis that they just read less than five minutes ago — assuming that you wrote a memorable thesis.

A second problem with five-paragraph conclusions is that people tend to start writing one thing, and along the way, their essay morphs into something a little — or a lot — different. So now you have a quandary: do you conclude with the thesis you started with, the point you ended with, or just move on to something altogether different? Who knows?

Obviously, conclusions require a different way of thinking. Fortunately, Bernoff gives us some useful advice about how conclusions should work, and he provides five different ways to conclude your essay. First, he says you might tell your readers what to do with the information you've just given them. For instance, I could conclude this post by telling you to use one of his five conclusion strategies when you rewrite one of your essays for me. Now you know what to do with the information I'm giving you. That's concrete action, and now that you've read both Bernoff and me, you know how and why to conclude that way.

Second, Bernoff says you can conclude by telling your reader what will happen next, or in one year, or in five years based on what you've written. Where does your information take the reader or the nation or the world? For instance, I could conclude this post by telling you that using Bernoff's conclusion strategies will convince your readers — including your teachers — that you are a bright person who knows how to write and who deserves a good grade. This kind of conclusion helps you understand the consequences of my post for your own writing.

Third, Bernoff says to conclude with the broader significance of what you've written. I could conclude this post by saying that if all my students would write better conclusions, then the quality of academic discourse at Middle Georgia State would go way up, we would all sound smarter, and students would make better grades. This conclusion helps you see the larger implications of my post.

Fourth, Bernoff says to conclude by noting analogous, or similar, things happening elsewhere. For instance, I could conclude this post by noting that being able to write conclusions that ease the reader elegantly back into the real world with some useful knowledge is similar to a satisfying conclusion to an engaging movie. A good ending to a movie tells the viewers that the movie is over and resolves the main issues of the movie or prompts the viewers to come back for the sequel. Your conclusions can do something like that — and I may write more about this later (sequel).

Finally, Bernoff says you can conclude with a brief discussion about when your information is true or applies. This helps your reader understand the context in which your discussion makes the most sense. For instance, I could conclude this post by saying that being able to end a written document elegantly helps your academic readers, including your teachers, to understand the significance of your essay, and it convinces them that you were worth reading. That's an especially important result to get from your teacher who must assign you a grade and later from your boss who has to decide whether to keep employing you or not.

Any one of these five types of conclusion works so much better for this post than merely repeating my thesis, saying something like: So I've told you five different ways to conclude an academic essay. That is so boring, and it insults your intelligence by assuming that you can't remember what you just read. I suppose this tactic was fine for your Tenth Grade English class, but it really doesn't work in college, or in life.

So which of these five conclusions works best for this blog post and why? (Oh, yeah, you can also conclude a post with a question that suggests ways to extend the discussion, as I just did.) Now that you have six ways to end an academic essay or blog post, tell me which approach makes the most sense for this particular post. And notice how, by adding a sixth strategy, I just messed up any chance of simply repeating my original thesis which mentions only five strategies, but I am free to do this because I'm not concluding by simply retelling you what I just told you. You, too, should stop concluding your writing by simply restating the thesis. Why not ask Gemini for 10 different ways to conclude an academic essay, and leave the most interesting in a comment below. Also, leave a comment about which of these many strategies best fits your second essay for this class and why you will use it.

13 comments:

  1. As of reading this post, I’ve already concluded my second essay for the class. But I’d have to say my conclusion falls under the second example, as I wanted the reader to consider their future as I attempt to convince them to major in cybersecurity. For this blogpost, the first example best fits, as you’re challenging us to determine which example would best work for this blogpost, and using our own essays and other sources to determine what sort of conclusion would best fit our own writings. I asked Gemini to provide 10 different ways to conclude an academic essay, and an example I found interesting was concluding with a personal reflection. Sharing your own insights and experiences to add a human touch to your conclusion can help the reader better understand and process your writing.

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  2. I appreciate Dr. Hamon expanding and clarifying how to write a meaningful conclusion. I also agree how frustrating it can be invest the time in ready an essay only to finish and not really have benefited from the time spent reading. For me, I like a conclusion that reinforces the thesis of the essay or leaves me looking for what happens next, with interest. I will revisit both of my submitted documents with a sharp focus on the conclusion.

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  3. I think the what will happen next works best for the conclusion because it makes us think about how we will now have to incorporate this somewhere into an assignment. I believe your fourth way to end a blog post makes the most sense. I believe the fifth and final one is closer to my doc two, but in all reality I don't believe my doc two is closer to any of these. I would still use the fifth because it helps people actually utilize the information by telling them situations where they can actually apply it. I like this from gemini, "Offering a Solution: After outlining the problem, you can offer a potential solution or recommendation for addressing the issue at hand.Example: "The solution to the rising costs of higher education lies in a combination of government intervention, institutional reform, and increasing financial literacy among students.""

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  4. The critique of the five-paragraph essay formula is very relatable. I remember being taught to churn out formulaic essays in high school, intro, three body paragraphs, conclusion, and feeling like I was just going through the motions, checking boxes rather than saying anything meaningful. The way the post calls out this approach as “vapid” and acknowledges that many of us probably wouldn’t even want to read our own work feels like a direct hit, in the best way. It’s nice to see this problem not only addressed but paired with actionable solutions. The introduction of Bernoff’s five strategies for writing conclusions is helpful. Each method, from suggesting action, predicting the future, highlighting broader implications, drawing analogies, or addressing contextual applications, opens up a whole new way of thinking about how I can engage with my reader at the end of a piece. What struck me most was the idea that a conclusion doesn’t have to be a summary or restatement of the thesis. That approach, while easy and safe, really does feel like an insult to the reader’s intelligence. The examples provided for each strategy helped me see how to use them in my own writing, especially the forward-looking approach. Telling readers where the ideas lead or what actions to take feels leaves a lasting impression, much more so than just tying a neat little bow around the thesis. Phrases like “vapid little essay” and the funny jab about English teachers drinking to excess gave this post a personality that’s often missing in academic writing advice. It felt like you were talking directly to me as a student, someone who understands the pressure to “just get it done” but also wants to push me to do better. The final move, adding a sixth strategy of ending with a question, was a great touch. It pulled me in as a reader, making me reflect on which conclusion strategy resonates with me and which I could use in my own writing. I can see myself using the forward-looking approach in my next essay to suggest how the ideas could apply in real-world contexts, but I might also experiment with analogies to make my writing more memorable.

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  5. Bernoff's insights are definitely valuable, especially when it comes to breaking free from the rigid 5-paragraph essay structure that many of us learned in high school. His advice can help make your writing more engaging and meaningful, which is crucial for both academic essays and blog posts.

    When concluding an essay, it's important to go beyond just restating your thesis. Instead, try to synthesize the information you've presented, offering a new perspective or insight. This can leave your readers with something to ponder and make your writing more memorable. Since you have to write conclusions for your essays and blog posts this term, practicing these techniques can really enhance your work. Good luck!

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  6. In my opinion, the best conclusion for this blog post would be writing about the broader significance of concluding your writings. Talking about the wider significance of this writing would inform and persuade writers to rethink how they write their conclusions; it could also qualify as a broad call to action. My second essay has also been completed, but the best decision would be his first strategy, though his third is a close runner-up.

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  7. The five-part essay is good for high school-level writing, and even serves some purpose beyond that as a basic outline for what you want your essay to be. Beyond that, I agree that there are more interesting ways to conclude an essay that captivates both the reader and writer than just simply restating a thesis, which I have avoided in both of my essays, mostly employing the first or third tactic mentioned by Bernoff.

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  8. All the 5 different ways to conclude an essay that Bernoff provides are significantly better than the conclusions that I see in some high school peers. I think the 5 paragraph essay format is like a set traditional structure that students must follow in high school, which really limits on the student's ability to write in their own different ways. Personally, I favor the way of concluding of writing the broader significance of the topic, as it provides a wider view that encompasses topics outside of the topic.

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  9. I enjoyed Bernoff's post, what I got from it was finish strong, don't just summerize. You want to leave people with more to think about. The 5 paragraph essay is a good start to learn how to write, but if you do any writing passed high school you should definetly learn to write in a diffrent format. I kind of picture it as you want to end your paper in a bang, like the ending of a fireworks show.

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  10. This work uses Josh Bernoff's ideas for convincing conclusions to provide a thoughtful study of how to conclude a blog post or academic essay. The ideas provided are particularly useful for authors looking to move beyond simply restating the thesis conclusion.

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  11. I prefer to conclude with the broader significance of the essay. It definitely reiterates your point and help the reader see the bigger picture of the essay. I feel that doing your conclusion this way helps better persuade the reader to see your point of view.

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  12. Awesome read, I Enjoyed Josh Bernoffs post because it provided me with different ways to write an essay with a meaningful conclusion! When your audience reads your essay, you want them to be persuaded by your point of view.

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  13. I always fall victim to the 5 paragraph essay that we are all so aquainted to. However, I find myself straying away from that usual format when I am actually interested in the topic. Or even if I am not interested, I just have more to say. Yes, I always try to find the most useful things to say when writing an essay because I simply have to, but some topics are simply just better than others. And when they aren't, using Gemini for an extra boost is extremely helpful. And, like you mentioned, even using Gemini to help generate conclusions that aren't the usual and generic: restating the thesis, is very helpful. However, reading other people fall in line of doing this would always rub me the wrong way because I wish I could tell them otherwise. But, I can only give them a gentle nudge in the right direction. In high school I got it burned in my brain from the scolds to not just say "In conclusion..." and restating my thesis, but to give a real conclusion. Which Bernoff writes about in a simple, yet helpful manner. And you used as well in this blog post, which is all the more reason for a student to pay special attention to this, and put in extra work if they struggle with a conclusion.

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