How to Write a Conclusion for an Essay: Formula and 5 Examples

The conclusion for an essay ties up your points into one short paragraph, explaining your thesis statement in new words, showing how your points connect, and why they are important. This three-part strategy is the fastest way to answer how to write a conclusion for an essay. It'll work for most of the types of essays your classes assign. Keep your conclusion to about 5 to 10 percent of your word count. Do not add any new evidence.

Many students write the conclusion last, when they're short on time, and it turns into a list of what the essay already said. A stronger ending shows how those points fit together and what they lead to.

How to write a conclusion for an essay with a three-part formula

The formula I'd start with is Restate, Connect, Close, because each part gives your sentences one job. The sample sentences come from one invented essay. It argues that towns should keep funding public libraries because libraries give residents free internet access and a quiet place to study.

Together, those three sentences make a conclusion of about 70 words, which fits a 1,000-word essay.

Restate comes first because the reader can now judge your thesis with your evidence in mind. Use new wording, since a sentence copied from your introduction suggests the reader learned nothing in between.

Connect takes the most space because each body paragraph covers one point, so this is the first place the reader sees how the points relate. In the library essay, internet access explains who comes in, and the quiet rooms explain why they stay.

Close gives the reader a reason to care about the result. You can name who should act, or what happens if nothing changes, as long as it follows from what the essay showed.

To draft the paragraph, copy your thesis and the topic sentence of each body paragraph onto one page. Rewrite the thesis, look for the link between the topic sentences, and then ask who should care about the result.

The conclusion will also be vague if the thesis is vague. You can fix that first by using our guide to writing a thesis statement. If you haven't even started, you can use the Essay Outline Generator to turn your assignment prompt into a list of things to cover, and you write the sentences yourself. It's free with an account.

Conclusion examples for five essay types

Comparing finished paragraphs with their theses is a fast way to learn how to write a conclusion for an essay. All five essays are invented for this guide, and each conclusion fits the 5 to 10 percent range for its essay's length.

Argumentative essay on phones in class

This is a 1,000-word essay for a high school class. Its thesis is "High schools should collect phones during class because phones pull attention away from lessons and from classmates."

Collecting phones at the start of class protects the two things a school day is built around: lessons and the people in the room. A student without a phone follows the lesson more closely, and the same student is more likely to talk to the person at the next desk. Those gains support each other, since students who know their classmates ask more questions. A school that wants more from its lessons can start with a basket at the classroom door.

The first sentence restates the thesis with new words for both reasons. The next two connect those reasons, which the body treated separately, and the Close names one small action a school could take.

Analytical essay on Frankenstein

This is a 2,000-word literary analysis of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Its thesis is "Shelley presents Victor's abandonment of his creature as a worse failure than the experiment that made him."

Victor Frankenstein's greatest failure comes after the experiment succeeds, when he runs from his creature and leaves him to survive alone. Shelley builds the rest of the novel on that decision. The creature teaches himself to speak and read, and he turns violent after the De Lacey family, whom he has secretly helped, drives him away. When he asks Victor for a companion, Victor agrees and then destroys the unfinished work. The deaths that follow include Victor's closest friend and his wife. Each step repeats the first refusal, because Victor keeps declining to answer for what he made. Shelley's novel asks readers to judge a creator by how he treats what he creates.

The opening restates the thesis with a new emphasis on timing. Connect is longer here because the middle is one chain of events, told in the writer's own words with no quotation, and the Close stays inside the novel.

Compare and contrast essay on Athens and Sparta

This is a 1,500-word comparison for a world history class. Its thesis is "Athens and Sparta both expected citizens to serve the city, and they differed sharply in what that service meant."

Athens and Sparta started from the same belief, that a citizen owed service to the city, and they built very different societies on it. A citizen of Athens was expected to vote, debate and sit on juries, and a citizen of Sparta trained for war from childhood. Those expectations shaped what each city was known for: Athens for its navy, art and philosophy, and Sparta for the strongest land army in Greece. A shared value can produce two opposite ways of life, so anyone studying a society should look at how it puts its values into practice.

A weak comparison ends by listing each side again. Here the Connect sentences give each city one clause and explain the differences with one cause, and the Close goes wider while still following from the body.

Personal essay on failing a driving test

This is a 650-word narrative for a college writing class. Its thesis is "Failing my driving test twice taught me to ask for help before I'm in trouble."

I passed on my third try, with my aunt's advice on an index card in the glove box. Both failures had the same cause, which was that I'd told nobody I was scared of left turns. Once I said it out loud, someone could help. I still get nervous at busy intersections, and now I say so.

A personal essay can change the order of the parts. Here Connect comes second, where the two failures get one cause, and then the writer restates the lesson in their own voice and closes on a changed habit.

Expository essay on photosynthesis

This is an 800-word explanation for a biology class. Its thesis is "Photosynthesis happens in two stages, which together use sunlight to turn water and carbon dioxide into sugar and oxygen."

Photosynthesis is a two-stage process that stores the energy of sunlight in sugar. The light reactions capture that energy and split water, which releases oxygen, and the Calvin cycle then uses the energy to build sugar from carbon dioxide. Plants use the sugar to grow, and animals get it by eating plants or other animals, so the same process supports most food chains on Earth.

An expository essay has no position to defend, so Restate gives the main idea of the explanation. Connect shows that the second stage depends on the first, and the Close says why the topic matters, using a point the essay already explained.

What to leave out of a conclusion

Leave out anything that starts a new line of thought or weakens the argument you've finished. Much of learning how to write a conclusion for an essay is learning what to cut, so look for these six items first:

• A new argument or new evidence needs support, and the last paragraph has no room for it. If the point matters, put it in the body.
• A word-for-word copy of the thesis tells the reader nothing new, so keep the claim and change the wording.
• A line-by-line summary repeats what the reader saw a moment ago. Show how the points connect, which the body hasn't done.
• An apology or hedge, such as "I may be wrong, but", weakens a claim you spent the whole essay supporting. Deal with any real limit in the body.
• A quotation that needs analysis belongs in a body paragraph, since the conclusion has no room to explain it.
• A moral or a sweeping claim about all of humanity goes further than your evidence. Keep the Close to the people and cases you discussed.

Here is a weak ending from an invented 1,000-word essay on bike lanes, followed by a fix.

Before:

To sum up, bike lanes are good for cities. First, I talked about safety. Second, I talked about traffic. Third, I talked about pollution. Bike lanes also help local shops. I may be wrong, but I think cities should build more of them. Since the dawn of time, people have looked for better ways to travel, and everyone wants a better world.

After:

Bike lanes make city streets safer, and safer streets persuade more people to ride a bike. Each new rider leaves a car at home, which eases traffic and cuts pollution as well. A city that wants fewer crashes, less traffic and cleaner air can start with the streets it already has.

The fixed version drops the list, the hedge and the line about the world. A point about shops needs its own body paragraph, or it comes out. Safety, traffic and pollution now form a chain, because safety brings more riders and more riders mean less traffic and pollution.

Conclusion starters, grouped by what the sentence does

A conclusion starter gives you the first few words of a sentence, so choose one by the job that sentence has to do. Then finish it in your own words.

When you revise, test each starter by deleting it. If the sentence still makes sense, leave the starter out.

"In conclusion" is allowed in some classes, and some teachers ask younger writers to use it. Many instructors prefer that the reader can tell it's the end without the phrase, since the paragraph is already the last one. This advice varies by teacher and course, so check with your instructor.

How long a conclusion should be for your essay length

A conclusion is usually about 5 to 10 percent of the essay's word count. That's a common rule of thumb, so a word limit from your handout or your instructor comes first.

The rule is least useful at the short end, because 25 words is about one sentence and the formula needs three. In a 500-word essay, use the top of the range or go slightly over. The free Word Counter needs no sign-up, so paste the conclusion and then the whole essay to get both numbers.

Don't use the conclusion to reach your word count, since extra sentences there can only repeat the body. If the essay is short, our guide to adding words without padding shows what to add to the body. If it's long, trim the body first, and the sentence-level cuts in our guide to cutting 1,000 words work on essays as well as papers.

A conclusion for a research paper vs essay

An essay conclusion concludes an argument. A research paper conclusion reports the findings of a study. You have no results to report in an essay, so your whole job is to make an argument. If the task allows you to do so, you can also usually formulate your own opinion. If you're reporting on a study, check out our guide on how to write the conclusion of a research paper.

Read your introduction and conclusion together before you submit

Read the introduction and the conclusion back to back before submitting your essay. The two sections will tell you if your essay lived up to its promise. Learning how to write a conclusion for an essay also gives you a test for the whole draft. If your conclusion is hard to write, it may be because you never chose one argument for the body of your essay.

Run these checks in order:

1. Read the two paragraphs one after the other. If you could swap them without anyone noticing, rewrite the ending using what the body established.
2. Check that the thesis matches what the body argued. Essays change as you draft them, so the body may now make a different point from your introduction. Change the thesis if the body's version is better, and then restate the new version.
3. Check for a new claim. Find the place in the body that supports each sentence of the conclusion, and cut any sentence that has no support.

Once you've finished writing your essay, you can use the free Essay Checker to read through it piece by piece. It will correct any grammar, spelling and punctuation errors, and show you what corrections it's made. It'll also give you some brief feedback on your structure, clarity and academic tone. You'll need to revise your work yourself. Free accounts offer 2 checks a day of up to 250 words each.

If your ending sounds more casual than the rest of the essay, the Academic Tone Converter, free with an account, expands contractions and replaces casual wording with formal terms. Skip it for a personal essay, where your own voice is part of the assignment.

Frequently asked questions

Q: How to write a conclusion for an essay without repeating yourself?

Write about how your points connect and leave the points themselves in the body. Look for a link between them, such as one causing the other, and then say what follows from it. Your thesis still comes back, in new words.

Q: How long should a conclusion paragraph be for a 1,000-word essay?

A conclusion paragraph for a 1,000-word essay is usually about 50 to 100 words, or three to five sentences. That follows the common rule of thumb of 5 to 10 percent, and a word limit from your instructor comes first.

Q: Can you use "in conclusion" in an essay?

Yes, in some classes, and the advice varies. Some teachers ask younger writers to use the phrase, and many instructors prefer that the reader can tell it's the end without it. Check with your instructor if you're unsure.

Q: Can a conclusion include a new quote or idea?

Usually no, because a new quote or idea needs analysis, and the conclusion has no room for it. Put it in a body paragraph if it matters. Returning to a quotation you've already discussed is a different case, and many instructors accept a short one.

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