Organizational Methods:  CONCLUSIONS

• The way you conclude your paper is determined by the organizational approach you use to develop it.
• As indicated in the section on introductions, your introduction can either conclude with a statement of the thesis (deductive approach) or with a pivotal question (inductive approach).
• How you write your introduction affects how you write your conclusion.

(1) DEDUCTIVE Approach

• If you end your introduction with a statement of the thesis, you need to conclude your composition in one of two ways:
   
  1. Concluding Statement:  If you believe that your thesis is within the reader's experience, that the body of the composition is developed without burdensome explanations, and that the overall tone is informal, you can simply write at the end of the last paragraph a concluding statement which restates you thesis.
      
  2. Concluding Paragraph:  If your thesis is more challenging in that it is not within your reader's experience and requires many in-depth developmental paragraphs to be properly substantiated, you should provide a concluding paragraph. In it, summarize the main ideas in the topic sentences of your developmental paragraphs and provide a concluding statement which restates the main idea housed in the thesis statement.
      
• Suppose that you are writing deductively with the thesis statement, "A vacation on Martha's Vineyard Island can be an exhilarating experience" appearing at the end of your introductory paragraph. You can be reasonably sure that your reader has traveled to popular vacation spots, even though the reader might not have vacationed at Martha's Vineyard. Because of the informal nature of this thesis, the body of the composition should not be lengthy or burdensome. Therefore, a concluding statement at the end of the last paragraph in the body of the composition will suffice to conclude the paper. The concluding statement might be as follows:
   
  • "So, if you plan to travel this summer, Martha's Vineyard Island offers a unique vacation experience."
     
• On the other hand, suppose that the thesis of a deductively organized composition is, "Building a modular home involves unique construction concepts." The tone of this thesis is more formal and the nature of the idea is perhaps not within the experience of most readers. Also, the body of the composition will be more involved with the need for many developmental paragraphs. In this case, you should conclude the composition with a summary paragraph which reviews the main ideas located in the topic sentences of the developmental paragraphs. A concluding statement should be developed that restates the thesis. This concluding statement might read as follows:
   
  • "The consumer must evaluate all options in determining whether to build a modular home."

(2) INDUCTIVE Approach

• If you end your introductory paragraph with a pivotal question, the thesis statement will appear at the end of the composition and answer that question.
   
• The thesis can be placed at the end of the last developmental paragraph if the tone of the composition is informal and the number of developmental paragraphs is minimal.
   
• On the other hand, if the composition has a more formal tone and is developed by a number of involved supporting paragraphs, the thesis will appear at the end of a separate paragraph which you will create to summarize the main ideas in your paper.
   
• Although most compositions are written deductively, at times a thesis statement can be better presented at the end of the composition to create a desired effect, or to logically respond to a pivotal question presented in the introductory paragraph. You should recognize the opportunity to diversify your organizational methods, and at least occasionally, utilize the inductive approach.

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