Writing introductions and conclusions are daunting tasks for many students when they engage with academic writing. After you have brainstormed and developed a great writing idea, writing them down coherently is the next step. Writing introductions and conclusions can be challenging, but these are not impossible tasks to achieve for writers regardless of the level of writing.
Introduction
Putting your thoughts down in the first line is where it all begins. What is your essay, project, writing task about? What do you intend to achieve with the piece of writing? What is your rationale for engaging in that topic at the given time? Better put, why is the topic important? Who do you intend as the target audience and why should they care?
While the above may seem overwhelming, writing good introductions is answering the simple question – what is this writing about and why does it matter? An introduction is your opportunity to captivate the attention of your readers and give them reasons to read your entire paper. This shows that this part of your paper is important and must be approached with the utmost sense of clarity, coherence and organization. If you throw your readers off balance right from the introduction, the tendency is high that they may not read the entire essay or read with a biased mind. The tips below will help you write a good introduction:
- Have a sketch of your writing plans, goals, audience, etc.
- Decide what point is most important to communicate to your audience in your introduction
- Have a clear template
- Create a rough first draft
- Try writing your introduction when you feel the most comfortable writing it – this means you can write it first, last, or even in the middle of your writing
Conclusion
Now that you have done the work of writing your paper, the conclusion is where you give a summary and relevance of the paper. This section reinforces the knowledge readers have gained from reading the work. The conclusion does not have to be long, but the context determines the length. A tip for writing a good conclusion is to provide important information that makes readers understand your project and relevance, even without reading the entire work. That is, by reading just the conclusion, readers should be able to get a sense of what the paper is about, why it matters and the ways forward, if any. Here are a few tips for writing good conclusions:
- Recap your thesis statement, significance of project, and the major supporting points
- Do not repeat your thesis statement or major points verbatim
- Avoid being wordy; conclusions should be concise and direct
- Reinforce the relevance of the project or implications
- Leave readers with ideas to ponder
As you work on your introductions and/or conclusions, you are welcome to visit the Writing Center and meet with a consultant to review your draft(s).
Resource created by: Ifeoluwa