Writing an essay in English (part 4 of 4): conclusions. Level B2 and C1

This article will help you with FCE, CAE, IELTS and TOEFL.

When you write an essay, you must always remember to write a conclusion.

To some students, writing a conclusion seems unnecessary. Maybe in your culture this is not necessary, but you need to add a brief conclusion, just one or two sentences, effectively repeating your opinion. In this way, you are telling the reader goodbye, reminding them of your thinking.

In fact, this is the easiest part of your essay, so that’s great!

There are several connectors you can use for your conclusion. Here is a list you might find useful:

To conclude / In conclusion / In my opinion / On balance / All in all / All considered

Of course, you only need one of these in each essay, but it’s a good idea to broaden your vocabulary, so you can vary the way you write and speak.

Let us look at the example essay from the previous articles. The question was:

“Should people use more public transport instead of private cars?”

Your answer started as follows:

1.       INTRODUCTION: I believe that people should use public transport more often.

2.       THIRD PARAGRAPH: Firstly, .......

3.       SECOND PARAGRAPH: Secondly, …..

4.       THIRD PARAGRAPH:  Thirdly,….

5.       CONCLUSION: “To conclude, there are arguments for and against using public transport rather than cars but, on balance, I believe that we should all use public transport whenever possible.”

In my conclusion, I have actually used two connectors – to conclude and on balance. All I have done is to repeat my opinion after considering different points of view. And that’s it. Your essay is done. Easy, don’t you think?