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Playlist How to Write an A Essay 30 videos
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How to Write a Concluding Sentence With a Punch 1693 Views
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Description:
This video gives key tips for writing punchy concluding sentences, plus advice on when to use them. Making a joke, taking a step back, and bringing your argument full circle can all be great ways to conclude a paragraph—and they’re all discussed in this video.
Transcript
- 00:04
How to Write a Concluding Sentence With Punch
- 00:08
Writing an essay can be dangerous, like getting into a boxing match with a kangaroo.
- 00:12
Allow us to explain.
- 00:14
When writing an essay, you're setting up your attack, you're making your move, but
- 00:18
the whole thing can fall apart if you don't end strongly.
Full Transcript
- 00:23
How do you write a concluding sentence... with a punch?
- 00:26
Just as a boxing match with a 'roo consists of multiple rounds, your essay consists of
- 00:30
multiple paragraphs.
- 00:31
It's important to end some of these with a little jab to the gut, just to get your
- 00:35
point across and let your opponent... er... reader, know you mean business.
- 00:39
Anyway, short paragraphs don't need punchy concluding sentences, but longer paragraphs do.
- 00:44
A great way to conclude a paragraph is to remind readers where you started. If you started
- 00:49
talking about effects of toxic laundry detergent on the environment, remind your readers of that.
- 00:55
And say you've spent four or five detailed sentences describing the anatomy of a kangaroo's
- 01:00
legs. Let your reader know that a kangaroo's legs are for more than just hopping.
- 01:05
The end of your essay needs a sentence so punchy that it's a "great big honking walloper."
- 01:10
That's Shmoop-slang meets Australian slang for "total knock out."
- 01:16
The final sentence should leave your readers' heads spinning.
- 01:18
Ask yourself, what's the theme of your essay?
- 01:22
If the point is that animals display human characteristics, such as a love for boxing,
- 01:26
make sure to focus on that.
- 01:28
If the point of your essay is that kangaroos bite other boxers' ears off, a la Mike Tyson,
- 01:33
well... good luck finding citations for that one.
- 01:36
Whatever your point, you need to lead your reader's thought process in that direction
- 01:39
by saying something like, "Animals are more like us than we think."
- 01:43
Your conclusion is a good place to take a step back and analyze something larger.
- 01:47
How do kangaroos fit into the world? Marsupials might be a small part of the animal kingdom,
- 01:52
but they're still important.
- 01:55
Just don't zoom too far out. "Kangaroos are awesome!" might be true, but it's
- 01:58
a little too vague of a note to end your essay on.
- 02:01
You can also make a joke, like, "Don't take a kickboxing class with a kangaroo."
- 02:06
You just have to make sure this fits in with the tone of the rest of your essay. If your
- 02:10
paper is about kangaroos going extinct and leaving your readers in tears, a humorous
- 02:14
rim-shot isn't the best note to end on.
- 02:17
Finally, you can bring your essay full circle.
- 02:20
Maybe you can make a reference to the title of your essay. Perhaps it's called "Hopping
- 02:24
Mad" and you get angry when kangaroos and wallabies are confused. Or you can talk about
- 02:29
how kangaroos are always "Kicking it to the Limit."
- 02:32
OR maybe you can think of a reference that doesn't sound like the name of an eighties
- 02:36
dance aerobics class.
- 02:38
So those are a few ways to write concluding sentences with a punch.
- 02:42
Take a step back.
- 02:42
Make a joke.
- 02:43
Bring your essay full circle.
- 02:45
And make sure to transition into the ending like the smooth operator that you are.
- 02:49
After all, while you don't want to telegraph your knockout punch in a title bout, but in
- 02:53
an essay, it's nice to let your reader know that it's coming.
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