Writing a Conclusion Paragraph
for your Social Studies/Language Arts Research Paper
“BASIC” MANDATORY REQUIREMENTS:
 must BEGIN with a restated thesis statement that clearly restates the 3 subtopics discussed in your paper. (This is your FIRST sentence.)
 NEVER introduces new details that haven’t been discussed already o You don’t want frustrate your readers by mentioning some new statistic or fact that you aren’t going to thoroughly explain. Your readers shouldn’t have more unanswered questions after reading your paper than they did before they began.

 Should NEVER insult the reader by saying, “I wrote about…” or “In this paragraph, I will…” or “The purpose of this paper is…” The reader is smart enough to know what he/she just read, and to realize that you just wrote it in a paragraph or paper.

 Must be at least 5-7 sentences.
 Must remind readers of your paper’s main focus (the person, the place or the era you researched).  Should repeat a few main or important details discussed throughout the paper, as a reminder of how that proves what you stated in your thesis.

o Make sure you don’t repeat it exactly the same and make sure you don’t repeat everything—you don’t want to sound like a broken record.
 Should END with something that leaves your readers thinking (This is your LAST sentence!) o this could be a rhetorical question, or a recommendation/urge for action

Where How do I begin?
Your conclusion paragraph is like a pyramid such as the one shown in the picture to the right.  Opposite of your introductory paragraph, your conclusion should start with the most specific (narrowest) statements (this is your thesis again!) and should end with broader, more general thoughts (something to leave your readers thinking about.)

Your conclusion paragraph should answer or discuss the following questions: 1. What ...

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