Conclusions bring closure to your discussion. You do not need to restate your thesis verbatim. If you have established a clear thesis and developed that thesis in the body of the paper, your reader should have a good idea of the main ideas in the paper. Thus, you are signaling to your reader that "you have dealt with the topic as fully as you want to and that you believe your discussion is complete" (Goldman, Hirsch 145).

You may want to pick back up some of the ideas that began the paper. This "circling" can provide a sense of continuity for the reader and provide logical structure for your paper. For example, the introduction above discusses the Columbine shootings. A conclusion might read as follows.

Although the controversy regarding gun control will never be fully put to rest, establishing legislation to deal with the moral issues that present themselves as the United States hurtles toward the twenty-first century is imperative. Our children need to know that they are safe not only in their homes, but in their schools. The Columbine tragedy testifies not only to increasing violence in the world, but also to the lack of preventative measures surrounding guns. Unfortunately, violence will always be a part of the world, but, fortunately, people have the means to limit and control the weapons of violence. Americans should seize that opportunity.

Submit an introduction and/or conclusion for comments to The Writing Exchange.

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