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Conclusions

What is the difference between summarizing and concluding?

Imagine you enter a room, and you see a broken fishbowl on the floor and a happy looking cat licking its lips.

What do you conclude?

Maybe the cat ate the fish

We have analysed the information to come to an opinion or conclusion.

Summarising just means picking out the main factors:

Broken fishbowl
Missing fish
Happy cat

Basically, we need some analysing of the information presented in the body paragraphs in our conclusion.

How can I write a good conclusion?

You can start with a general summary and include one of the following ways to conclude:

We can give an opinion
We can give a suggestion
We can give a warning/ prediction

How to start a conclusion

In conclusion,
To conclude,
In summary,
To summarise,

It is normal and acceptable, but not necessary, to start your conclusion with a general summary.

What were the body paragraphs about?

Examples:

In conclusion, studying abroad leads to various advantages and disadvantages for the attending student.

To conclude, there are arguments both for and against banning smoking in all public areas.

In summary, global warming results from many factors and there are ways available to reduce it.

This is not enough for a complete conclusion.

Giving an opinion

If we wrote a thesis-led essay, then paraphrase the opinion you gave in the introduction but add some relevant detail from the body paragraphs.

Introduction: Children should not be forced the do any exams until they have reached the age of twelve. While some opposition to this can be identified, the support for it is stronger, which will be proven in this essay.

Conclusion: In conclusion, there are arguments on both sides of this idea. However, due to children needing time to grow and mature without pressure, they should not sit exams at a young age. Doing so leads to anxiety issues and long-term mental problems.

We can give an opinion for argument-led essays too.

Advantages/ disadvantages

Are there more advantages than disadvantages?
Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?

Conclusion: In conclusion, studying abroad leads to various advantages and disadvantages for the attending student. Clearly the benefits of this outweigh the drawbacks, especially for job prospects, so if they can, I recommend students to take the opportunity to study abroad.

Causes/ solutions/ effects

What’s the main cause?
What’s the best solution?
What’s the worst effect?

Conclusion: In summary, global warming results from many factors and there are ways available to reduce it. It is obviously being caused by human behaviour and will not change unless people decide to live their daily lives differently. It needs both governments and the individual to work together in order to reduce its impact.

Give a suggestion

Giving a suggestion is similar to an opinion because it is what you think should be done. You can simply use the modal verb:

…. Should……

You need to think about who needs to do the action:

The government should……..

People should ………

Schools should ……….

Example:

Conclusion: In summary, global warming results from many factors and there are ways available to reduce it. People should change their daily routine to be more environmentally friendly, and the government should impose more restrictions if any changes are to happen.

Conclusion: In conclusion, there are many factors affecting employees work life balance, causing them to suffer from a range of mental health issue. The government should introduce more laws protecting workers personal time.

Conclusion: To summarise, purchasing a car can be both beneficial and detrimental. The prospective buyer should carefully consider their long-term financial situation carefully before making a decision.

Give a warning/ prediction

Another good way to conclude is to give a warning or prediction about the future. This can be done with conditional structures.

First conditional:

If the government enforces the road laws more strictly, then the number of road accidents will probably decrease quickly.

Likely to happen
Tense – present simple

Second conditional:

If the government did not change the road laws, then the number of accidents could continue to be high.

Unlikely or impossible to happen
Tense – past simple

Examples:

Conclusion: In summary, global warming results from many factors and there are ways available to reduce it. If actions are not taken soon, then this issue may be unresolvable in the future. People should pressure their governments to get more involved in green initiatives.

Conclusion: To conclude, there are clearly a lot of mental health problems arising from the current lack of a divide between work life and a personal life. If the government implements stricter laws protecting the worker's hours and free time, then these problems can be mitigated over time.

For IELTS:

Conclusions do not need to be long (2 to 3 sentences work, at most 4)

The DON’TS

DON’T add new ideas
DON’T write it too detailed and too long
DON’T use examples
DON’T make it too general or vague

Example: In conclusion, there are benefits and drawbacks of owning a car. The benefits clearly outweigh the drawbacks.

DON’T just list your ideas from the body paragraphs.