how to end of a love essay

So much is at stake in writing a conclusion. This is, after all, your last chance to persuade your readers to your point of view, to impress yourself upon them as a writer and thinker. And the impression you create in your conclusion will shape the impression that stays with your readers after they've finished the essay.

The end of an essay should therefore convey a sense of completeness and closure as well as a sense of the lingering possibilities of the topic, its larger meaning, its implications: the final paragraph should close the discussion without closing it off.

To establish a sense of closure, you might do one or more of the following:

• Conclude by linking the last paragraph to the first, perhaps by reiterating a word or phrase you used at the beginning.
• Conclude with a sentence composed mainly of one-syllable words. Simple language can help create an effect of understated drama.
• Conclude with a sentence that's compound or parallel in structure; such sentences can establish a sense of balance or order that may feel just right at the end of a complex discussion.

To close the discussion without closing it off, you might do one or more of the following:

• Conclude with a quotation from or reference to a primary or secondary source, one that amplifies your main point or puts it in a different perspective. A quotation from, say, the novel or poem you're writing about can add texture and specificity to your discussion; a critic or scholar can help confirm or complicate your final point. For example, you might conclude an essay on the idea of home in James Joyce's short story collection,  Dubliners , with information about Joyce's own complex feelings towards Dublin, his home. Or you might end with a biographer's statement about Joyce's attitude toward Dublin, which could illuminate his characters' responses to the city. Just be cautious, especially about using secondary material: make sure that you get the last word.
• Conclude by setting your discussion into a different, perhaps larger, context. For example, you might end an essay on nineteenth-century muckraking journalism by linking it to a current news magazine program like  60 Minutes .
• Conclude by redefining one of the key terms of your argument. For example, an essay on Marx's treatment of the conflict between wage labor and capital might begin with Marx's claim that the "capitalist economy is . . . a gigantic enterprise of dehumanization "; the essay might end by suggesting that Marxist analysis is itself dehumanizing because it construes everything in economic -- rather than moral or ethical-- terms.
• Conclude by considering the implications of your argument (or analysis or discussion). What does your argument imply, or involve, or suggest? For example, an essay on the novel  Ambiguous Adventure , by the Senegalese writer Cheikh Hamidou Kane, might open with the idea that the protagonist's development suggests Kane's belief in the need to integrate Western materialism and Sufi spirituality in modern Senegal. The conclusion might make the new but related point that the novel on the whole suggests that such an integration is (or isn't) possible.

Finally, some advice on how not to end an essay:

• Don't simply summarize your essay. A brief summary of your argument may be useful, especially if your essay is long--more than ten pages or so. But shorter essays tend not to require a restatement of your main ideas.
• Avoid phrases like "in conclusion," "to conclude," "in summary," and "to sum up." These phrases can be useful--even welcome--in oral presentations. But readers can see, by the tell-tale compression of the pages, when an essay is about to end. You'll irritate your audience if you belabor the obvious.
• Resist the urge to apologize. If you've immersed yourself in your subject, you now know a good deal more about it than you can possibly include in a five- or ten- or 20-page essay. As a result, by the time you've finished writing, you may be having some doubts about what you've produced. (And if you haven't immersed yourself in your subject, you may be feeling even more doubtful about your essay as you approach the conclusion.) Repress those doubts. Don't undercut your authority by saying things like, "this is just one approach to the subject; there may be other, better approaches. . ."

Copyright 1998, Pat Bellanca, for the Writing Center at Harvard University

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• How to conclude an essay | Interactive example

How to Conclude an Essay | Interactive Example

Published on January 24, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on July 23, 2023.

The conclusion is the final paragraph of your essay . A strong conclusion aims to:

• Tie together the essay’s main points
• Show why your argument matters
• Leave the reader with a strong impression

Your conclusion should give a sense of closure and completion to your argument, but also show what new questions or possibilities it has opened up.

This conclusion is taken from our annotated essay example , which discusses the history of the Braille system. Hover over each part to see why it’s effective.

Braille paved the way for dramatic cultural changes in the way blind people were treated and the opportunities available to them. Louis Braille’s innovation was to reimagine existing reading systems from a blind perspective, and the success of this invention required sighted teachers to adapt to their students’ reality instead of the other way around. In this sense, Braille helped drive broader social changes in the status of blindness. New accessibility tools provide practical advantages to those who need them, but they can also change the perspectives and attitudes of those who do not.

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Table of contents

Step 1: return to your thesis, step 2: review your main points, step 3: show why it matters, what shouldn’t go in the conclusion, more examples of essay conclusions, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about writing an essay conclusion.

To begin your conclusion, signal that the essay is coming to an end by returning to your overall argument.

Don’t just repeat your thesis statement —instead, try to rephrase your argument in a way that shows how it has been developed since the introduction.

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Next, remind the reader of the main points that you used to support your argument.

Avoid simply summarizing each paragraph or repeating each point in order; try to bring your points together in a way that makes the connections between them clear. The conclusion is your final chance to show how all the paragraphs of your essay add up to a coherent whole.

To wrap up your conclusion, zoom out to a broader view of the topic and consider the implications of your argument. For example:

• Does it contribute a new understanding of your topic?
• Does it raise new questions for future study?
• Does it lead to practical suggestions or predictions?
• Can it be applied to different contexts?
• Can it be connected to a broader debate or theme?

Whatever your essay is about, the conclusion should aim to emphasize the significance of your argument, whether that’s within your academic subject or in the wider world.

Try to end with a strong, decisive sentence, leaving the reader with a lingering sense of interest in your topic.

The easiest way to improve your conclusion is to eliminate these common mistakes.

Don’t include new evidence

Any evidence or analysis that is essential to supporting your thesis statement should appear in the main body of the essay.

The conclusion might include minor pieces of new information—for example, a sentence or two discussing broader implications, or a quotation that nicely summarizes your central point. But it shouldn’t introduce any major new sources or ideas that need further explanation to understand.

Don’t use “concluding phrases”

Avoid using obvious stock phrases to tell the reader what you’re doing:

• “In conclusion…”
• “To sum up…”

These phrases aren’t forbidden, but they can make your writing sound weak. By returning to your main argument, it will quickly become clear that you are concluding the essay—you shouldn’t have to spell it out.

Don’t undermine your argument

Avoid using apologetic phrases that sound uncertain or confused:

• “This is just one approach among many.”
• “There are good arguments on both sides of this issue.”
• “There is no clear answer to this problem.”

Even if your essay has explored different points of view, your own position should be clear. There may be many possible approaches to the topic, but you want to leave the reader convinced that yours is the best one!

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This conclusion is taken from an argumentative essay about the internet’s impact on education. It acknowledges the opposing arguments while taking a clear, decisive position.

The internet has had a major positive impact on the world of education; occasional pitfalls aside, its value is evident in numerous applications. The future of teaching lies in the possibilities the internet opens up for communication, research, and interactivity. As the popularity of distance learning shows, students value the flexibility and accessibility offered by digital education, and educators should fully embrace these advantages. The internet’s dangers, real and imaginary, have been documented exhaustively by skeptics, but the internet is here to stay; it is time to focus seriously on its potential for good.

This conclusion is taken from a short expository essay that explains the invention of the printing press and its effects on European society. It focuses on giving a clear, concise overview of what was covered in the essay.

The invention of the printing press was important not only in terms of its immediate cultural and economic effects, but also in terms of its major impact on politics and religion across Europe. In the century following the invention of the printing press, the relatively stationary intellectual atmosphere of the Middle Ages gave way to the social upheavals of the Reformation and the Renaissance. A single technological innovation had contributed to the total reshaping of the continent.

This conclusion is taken from a literary analysis essay about Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein . It summarizes what the essay’s analysis achieved and emphasizes its originality.

By tracing the depiction of Frankenstein through the novel’s three volumes, I have demonstrated how the narrative structure shifts our perception of the character. While the Frankenstein of the first volume is depicted as having innocent intentions, the second and third volumes—first in the creature’s accusatory voice, and then in his own voice—increasingly undermine him, causing him to appear alternately ridiculous and vindictive. Far from the one-dimensional villain he is often taken to be, the character of Frankenstein is compelling because of the dynamic narrative frame in which he is placed. In this frame, Frankenstein’s narrative self-presentation responds to the images of him we see from others’ perspectives. This conclusion sheds new light on the novel, foregrounding Shelley’s unique layering of narrative perspectives and its importance for the depiction of character.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

• Ad hominem fallacy
• Post hoc fallacy
• Appeal to authority fallacy
• False cause fallacy
• Sunk cost fallacy

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Your essay’s conclusion should contain:

• A rephrased version of your overall thesis
• A brief review of the key points you made in the main body
• An indication of why your argument matters

The conclusion may also reflect on the broader implications of your argument, showing how your ideas could applied to other contexts or debates.

For a stronger conclusion paragraph, avoid including:

• Important evidence or analysis that wasn’t mentioned in the main body
• Generic concluding phrases (e.g. “In conclusion…”)
• Weak statements that undermine your argument (e.g. “There are good points on both sides of this issue.”)

Your conclusion should leave the reader with a strong, decisive impression of your work.

The conclusion paragraph of an essay is usually shorter than the introduction . As a rule, it shouldn’t take up more than 10–15% of the text.

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Condensing a 1,000-plus-word essay into a neat little bundle may seem like a Herculean task. You must summarize all your findings and justify their importance within a single paragraph. 

But, when you discover the formula for writing a conclusion paragraph, things get much simpler! 

But, how to write a conclusion paragraph for an essay, and more importantly, how to make it impactful enough? Through this article, we will walk you through the process of constructing a powerful conclusion that leaves a lingering impression on readers’ minds. We will also acquaint you with essay conclusion examples for different types of essays. 

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Let’s start from the beginning: How can you write a conclusion for an essay?

How to write a conclusion for an essay

In order to write an effective conclusion, you must first understand what is a conclusion in an essay. It is not just the summary of the main points of your essay. A well-written conclusion effectively ties together the main ideas of your essay and also pays heed to their broader implications. The objectives of your concluding paragraph are as follows:

• Highlight the significance of your essay topic
• Tie together the key points of your essay
• Leave the reader with something to ponder about

A good essay conclusion begins with a modified thesis statement that is altered on the basis of the information stated throughout the essay. It then ties together all the main points of the essay and ends with a clincher that highlights the broader implications of your thesis statement. 

Now that we’ve understood the basics of how to conclude an essay, let’s understand the key aspects of a good conclusion paragraph. 

1. Restating your thesis statement

If you want to understand how to start a conclusion, you must realize that involves more than just restating the thesis statement word for word. Your thesis statement needs to be updated and expanded upon as per the information provided in your essay. 

There are many ways to start a conclusion. One such method could be to start with the revised version of your thesis statement that hints to the significance of your argument. After this, your conclusion paragraph can organically move on to your arguments in the essay. 

Let’s take a look at an effective way of writing a conclusion for an essay:

If the following claim is your thesis statement:

Virtual reality (VR) is undeniably altering the perception of reality by revolutionizing various industries, reshaping human experiences, and challenging traditional notions of what is real.

The restated thesis statement will be as follows: 

Our analysis has substantiated the claim that virtual reality (VR) is significantly transforming the way we perceive reality. It has revolutionized industries, reshaped human experiences, and challenged traditional notions of reality.

2. Tying together the main points

Tying together all the main points of your essay does not mean simply summarizing them in an arbitrary manner. The key is to link each of your main essay points in a coherent structure. One point should follow the other in a logical format.

The goal is to establish how each of these points connects to the message of your essay as a whole. You can also take the help of powerful quotes or impactful reviews to shed a unique light on your essay. 

Let’s take a look at an example:

VR presents a new paradigm where the distinction between the real and the virtual becomes increasingly blurred. As users dive into immersive virtual worlds, they are confronted with questions about the nature of reality, perception, and the boundaries of human consciousness. 

3. Constructing an impactful conclusion

Most of us are confused about how to end an essay with a bang. The answer is quite simple! The final line of your essay should be impactful enough to create a lasting impression on the reader. More importantly, it should also highlight the significance of your essay topic. This could mean the broader implications of your topic, either in your field of study or in general.

Optionally, you could also try to end your essay on an optimistic note that motivates or encourages the reader. If your essay is about eradicating a problem in society, highlight the positive effects achieved by the eradication of that problem. 

Here’s an example of how to end an essay:

In a world where virtual boundaries dissolve, VR is the catalyst that reshapes our perception of reality, forever altering the landscape of the human experience.

Here’s a combined version of all three aspects:

Our analysis has substantiated the claim that Virtual Reality (VR) is significantly transforming how we perceive reality. It has revolutionized industries, reshaped human experiences, and challenged traditional notions of reality. It presents a new paradigm where the distinction between the real and the virtual becomes increasingly blurred. As users dive into immersive virtual worlds, they are confronted with questions about the nature of reality, perception, and the boundaries of human consciousness. In a world where virtual boundaries dissolve, it is the catalyst that reshapes our perception of reality, forever altering the landscape of the human experience.

Now that we’ve understood the structure of a concluding paragraph, let’s look at what to avoid while writing a conclusion. 

What to avoid in your conclusion paragraph

When learning how to write a conclusion for an essay, you must also know what to avoid. You want to strengthen your argument with the help of a compelling conclusion paragraph, and not undermine it by confusing the reader. 

Let’s take a look at a few strategies to avoid in your essay conclusion:

1. Avoid including new evidence

The conclusion should not introduce new information but rather strengthen the arguments that are already made. If you come across any unique piece of information regarding your essay topic, accommodate it into your body paragraphs rather than stuffing it into your conclusion.

Including new, contradictory information in the concluding paragraph not only confuses the reader but also weakens your argument. You may include a powerful quote that strengthens the message of your essay, or an example that sheds light on the importance of your argument. However, this does not include introducing a completely new argument or making a unique point.

2. Avoid the use of concluding phrases

Your conclusion should hint towards your essay coming to an end, instead of blatantly stating the obvious. Blatant concluding statements undermine the quality of your essay, making it clumsy and amateurish. They also significantly diminish the quality of your arguments. 

It is a good idea to avoid the following statements while concluding your essay:

• In conclusion,
• In summary,

While using these statements may not be incorrect per se, hinting towards a conclusion creates a better impression on the reader rather than blatantly stating it. 

Here are more effective statements you could use:

• Let this essay serve as a catalyst for…
• As we navigate the intricacies of this multifaceted topic, remember…
• As I bid farewell to this subject…

3. Don’t undermine your argument

Although there might be several points of view regarding your essay topic, it is crucial that you stick to your own. You may have stated and refuted other points of view in your body paragraphs. 

However, your conclusion is simply meant to strengthen your main argument. Mentioning other points of view in your essay conclusion, not only weakens your argument but also creates a poor impression of your essay.

Here are a few phrases you should avoid in your essay conclusion:

• There are several methods to approach this topic.
• There are plenty of good points for both sides of the argument.
• There is no clear solution to this problem.

Examples of essay conclusions

Different types of essays make use of different forms of conclusions. The critical question of “how to start a conclusion paragraph” has many different answers. To help you further, we’ve provided a few good conclusions for essays that are based on the four main essay types.

1. Narrative essay conclusion

The following essay conclusion example elaborates on the narrator’s unique experience with homeschooling.

• Restated thesis statement
• Body paragraph summary
• Closing statement

My experience with homeschooling has been a journey that has shaped me in profound ways. Through the challenges and triumphs, I have come to appreciate the unique advantages and personal growth that homeschooling can offer. As I reflect on my journey, I am reminded of the transformative power of this alternative education approach. It has empowered me to take ownership of my education, nurture my passions, and develop skills that extend far beyond the confines of academic achievement. Whether in traditional classrooms or homeschooling environments, it is through embracing and nurturing the unique potential within each of us that we can truly thrive and make a lasting impact on the world.

2. Descriptive essay conclusion

The following essay conclusion example elaborates on the narrator’s bond with their cat.

The enchanting presence that my cat has cannot be ignored, captivating my heart with her grace, charm, and unconditional love. Through the moments of playfulness, companionship, and affection, she has become an irreplaceable member of my family. As I continue to cherish the memories and lessons learned from her, I am reminded of the extraordinary power of the human-animal bond. In their company, we find solace, companionship, and a love that transcends words. In a world that can be challenging and tumultuous, never underestimate the profound impact that animals can have on our lives. In their presence, not only do we find love but also a profound sense of connection.

3. Argumentative essay conclusion

Here’s an essay conclusion example that elaborates on the marginalization of, and acute intolerance towards, LGBTQ+ individuals. 

The journey toward equality for LGBTQ+ individuals is an ongoing battle that demands our unwavering commitment to justice and inclusion. It is evident that while progress has been made, the journey toward equality for these individuals is far from complete. It demands our continued advocacy, activism, and support for legislative change, societal acceptance, and the creation of inclusive environments. The struggle for LGBTQ+ equality is a fight for the very essence of human dignity and the recognition of our shared humanity. It is a battle that requires our collective efforts, determination, and an unyielding belief in the fundamental principles of equality and justice.

4. Expository essay conclusion

This example of an essay conclusion revolves around a psychological phenomenon named the bandwagon effect and examines its potential ill effects on society:

The bandwagon effect in psychology is a fascinating phenomenon that sheds light on the powerful influence of social conformity on individual behavior and decision-making processes. This effect serves as a reminder of the inherently social nature of human beings and the power of social influence in shaping our thoughts, attitudes, and actions. It underscores the importance of critical thinking, individual autonomy, and the ability to resist the pressure of conformity. By understanding its mechanisms and implications, we can guard against its potential pitfalls and actively foster independent thought and decision-making, also contributing to a more enlightened and progressive society.

Now that you’ve taken a closer look at different conclusions for essays, it’s time to put this knowledge to good use. If you need to take your essay up a notch and score high, professional essay editing services are your best bet.

Happy writing!

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How to End a Relationship the Right Way

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When we fall in love, we often believe the relationship will last forever. We always hope that this one is the one , that it will be different this time, and that there's no way anything can ever happen to break you up.

Except, sometimes those things can happen, and you do break up. If we only look at the divorce rate, research shows it is around 50% (although measuring divorce rates is more complex than comparing marriages to divorces in a single year). Because they are not as closely monitored, it is much more difficult to obtain rates on casual and common law partnerships that break up.

Relationships end for a wide variety of reasons. Conflict is one common reason, but sometimes it involves other reasons that mean ending a relationship with someone you still care about. When this happens, you must learn to break up with someone you love. To do this, you should:

• Acknowledge that it will cause pain on both sides
• Have a face-to-face conversation
• Be honest but not overly detailed
• Avoid responding to arguments
• Make a clean break in order to create distance
• Be sympathetic
• Don't shame or blame the other person
• Allow yourself to grieve the relationship

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Why and How Do Breakups Happen?

Most of us enter relationships with the hope that we will never have to end them. Marriage, especially, is built on the premise that it will remain "until death do us part."

Common causes for breakups include personality differences, lack of time spent together, infidelity , lack of positive interactions between the couple, low sexual satisfaction , and low overall relationship satisfaction.

Ending a relationship is one of the most difficult things we have to do. No matter where you are in the breakup process, knowing how to break up well (including how to break up with someone you love) can help make this transition smoother and less harmful for both partners.

How to Break up the Right Way

We say "right" way, but in reality, there is no right or "best" way to break up. Every relationship is different, and every person in a relationship is different. It is up to you to consider the personality, needs, and feelings of your partner as you read through this article and figure out how to end things.

Recognize That It's Never Easy

Understand that there is no pain-free way to break up. We all wish that we could end relationships without any hurt or pain. But no matter how broken the relationship is, officially ending it will cause pain on both sides. Once you acknowledge that there will be pain, you can be prepared for the aftermath.

Do It Face-to-Face

If you've ever been dumped by text or email (or if you've been ghosted altogether), you know how it feels to be given so little consideration that the other person didn't even bother to tell you in person. Why do the same to another person?

Your partner deserves the dignity of a face-to-face conversation. An intimate setting is arguably better, but if you are worried about your partner having a violent reaction, a public place is safer.

Be Honest But Don't Give Too Much Detail

In general, people want to know why they're being dumped. While "you're terrible in bed" or "you lack ambition" might seem like an honest answer, it doesn't really preserve your partner's self-esteem or dignity.

Using a reflexive sentence like "I don't feel we're compatible sexually" or "I don't think our long-term goals align anymore" are nicer ways to express your feelings. Don't do a play-by-play of the things the other person did wrong or use clichés like "it's not you, it's me."

Do Not Give In to Arguments or Protests

 If the breakup is a surprise for the other person, they might try to argue, protest, or give reasons why you should remain together and try again one more time . If you are at the point of breaking up , nothing can restore or revive the relationship now. Giving in will only delay the inevitable.

Make a Clean Break

Do not suggest you stay friends. Avoid saying "let's stay in touch." To move on from romantic relationships, you need to avoid further emotional entanglements with the ex-partner. You may be friends again down the road, but this is not the right time to consider this possibility.

Show Empathy

Express your sadness at the breakup and share some good things about your time together. Being dumped feels really bad. You can soften the blow a little by talking about some of the good times you shared together.

Say something like, "You taught me so much about cooking and I am a better cook now, thanks to you". You want to make the other person feel like they had a positive impact on your life despite the relationship ending.

Avoid Blaming or Shaming

Avoid turning the other person into "the bad guy." Nobody's perfect. You have faults too, and turning your ex-partner into an evil figure is not helpful (aside from obvious instances of violence, but that's not the kind of relationship we're talking about here).

They may have done some bad things, like cheating , but they are human too. It's better to resolve your feelings around what they did (if they did anything wrong) rather than who they are.

Give Yourself Time to Grieve

Even if you are the one ending the relationship, there will be a period of heartbreak, sadness, and pain. This is one of the most difficult parts of figuring out how to break up with someone you love. You still care about them, but you need to remind yourself of the reasons why the relationship isn't working.

Realize that you will also need to adjust to your new situation. Surround yourself with people you love, do things that make you happy, and remember that crying and feeling sad is perfectly okay.

A Word From Verywell

In any breakup situation, the most important thing to remember is to be kind and compassionate . It's easy to forget how the other person might feel when we are so caught up in our own emotions, but it is essential to avoid centering the entire conversation on yourself. If you reach out with kindness and compassion, things will be much easier for everyone.

Amato PR. Research on divorce: Continuing trends and new developments . J Marr Fam. 2010;72:650-66. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2010.00723.x

Miller RS.  Intimate Relationships . New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education; 2018.

By Anabelle Bernard Fournier Anabelle Bernard Fournier is a researcher of sexual and reproductive health at the University of Victoria as well as a freelance writer on various health topics.

Conclusions

What this handout is about.

This handout will explain the functions of conclusions, offer strategies for writing effective ones, help you evaluate conclusions you’ve drafted, and suggest approaches to avoid.

About conclusions

Introductions and conclusions can be difficult to write, but they’re worth investing time in. They can have a significant influence on a reader’s experience of your paper.

Just as your introduction acts as a bridge that transports your readers from their own lives into the “place” of your analysis, your conclusion can provide a bridge to help your readers make the transition back to their daily lives. Such a conclusion will help them see why all your analysis and information should matter to them after they put the paper down.

Your conclusion is your chance to have the last word on the subject. The conclusion allows you to have the final say on the issues you have raised in your paper, to synthesize your thoughts, to demonstrate the importance of your ideas, and to propel your reader to a new view of the subject. It is also your opportunity to make a good final impression and to end on a positive note.

Your conclusion can go beyond the confines of the assignment. The conclusion pushes beyond the boundaries of the prompt and allows you to consider broader issues, make new connections, and elaborate on the significance of your findings.

Your conclusion should make your readers glad they read your paper. Your conclusion gives your reader something to take away that will help them see things differently or appreciate your topic in personally relevant ways. It can suggest broader implications that will not only interest your reader, but also enrich your reader’s life in some way. It is your gift to the reader.

Strategies for writing an effective conclusion

One or more of the following strategies may help you write an effective conclusion:

• Play the “So What” Game. If you’re stuck and feel like your conclusion isn’t saying anything new or interesting, ask a friend to read it with you. Whenever you make a statement from your conclusion, ask the friend to say, “So what?” or “Why should anybody care?” Then ponder that question and answer it. Here’s how it might go: You: Basically, I’m just saying that education was important to Douglass. Friend: So what? You: Well, it was important because it was a key to him feeling like a free and equal citizen. Friend: Why should anybody care? You: That’s important because plantation owners tried to keep slaves from being educated so that they could maintain control. When Douglass obtained an education, he undermined that control personally. You can also use this strategy on your own, asking yourself “So What?” as you develop your ideas or your draft.
• Return to the theme or themes in the introduction. This strategy brings the reader full circle. For example, if you begin by describing a scenario, you can end with the same scenario as proof that your essay is helpful in creating a new understanding. You may also refer to the introductory paragraph by using key words or parallel concepts and images that you also used in the introduction.
• Synthesize, don’t summarize. Include a brief summary of the paper’s main points, but don’t simply repeat things that were in your paper. Instead, show your reader how the points you made and the support and examples you used fit together. Pull it all together.
• Include a provocative insight or quotation from the research or reading you did for your paper.
• Propose a course of action, a solution to an issue, or questions for further study. This can redirect your reader’s thought process and help them to apply your info and ideas to their own life or to see the broader implications.
• Point to broader implications. For example, if your paper examines the Greensboro sit-ins or another event in the Civil Rights Movement, you could point out its impact on the Civil Rights Movement as a whole. A paper about the style of writer Virginia Woolf could point to her influence on other writers or on later feminists.

Strategies to avoid

• Beginning with an unnecessary, overused phrase such as “in conclusion,” “in summary,” or “in closing.” Although these phrases can work in speeches, they come across as wooden and trite in writing.
• Stating the thesis for the very first time in the conclusion.
• Introducing a new idea or subtopic in your conclusion.
• Ending with a rephrased thesis statement without any substantive changes.
• Making sentimental, emotional appeals that are out of character with the rest of an analytical paper.
• Including evidence (quotations, statistics, etc.) that should be in the body of the paper.

Four kinds of ineffective conclusions

• The “That’s My Story and I’m Sticking to It” Conclusion. This conclusion just restates the thesis and is usually painfully short. It does not push the ideas forward. People write this kind of conclusion when they can’t think of anything else to say. Example: In conclusion, Frederick Douglass was, as we have seen, a pioneer in American education, proving that education was a major force for social change with regard to slavery.
• The “Sherlock Holmes” Conclusion. Sometimes writers will state the thesis for the very first time in the conclusion. You might be tempted to use this strategy if you don’t want to give everything away too early in your paper. You may think it would be more dramatic to keep the reader in the dark until the end and then “wow” them with your main idea, as in a Sherlock Holmes mystery. The reader, however, does not expect a mystery, but an analytical discussion of your topic in an academic style, with the main argument (thesis) stated up front. Example: (After a paper that lists numerous incidents from the book but never says what these incidents reveal about Douglass and his views on education): So, as the evidence above demonstrates, Douglass saw education as a way to undermine the slaveholders’ power and also an important step toward freedom.
• The “America the Beautiful”/”I Am Woman”/”We Shall Overcome” Conclusion. This kind of conclusion usually draws on emotion to make its appeal, but while this emotion and even sentimentality may be very heartfelt, it is usually out of character with the rest of an analytical paper. A more sophisticated commentary, rather than emotional praise, would be a more fitting tribute to the topic. Example: Because of the efforts of fine Americans like Frederick Douglass, countless others have seen the shining beacon of light that is education. His example was a torch that lit the way for others. Frederick Douglass was truly an American hero.
• The “Grab Bag” Conclusion. This kind of conclusion includes extra information that the writer found or thought of but couldn’t integrate into the main paper. You may find it hard to leave out details that you discovered after hours of research and thought, but adding random facts and bits of evidence at the end of an otherwise-well-organized essay can just create confusion. Example: In addition to being an educational pioneer, Frederick Douglass provides an interesting case study for masculinity in the American South. He also offers historians an interesting glimpse into slave resistance when he confronts Covey, the overseer. His relationships with female relatives reveal the importance of family in the slave community.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Douglass, Frederick. 1995. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself. New York: Dover.

Hamilton College. n.d. “Conclusions.” Writing Center. Accessed June 14, 2019. https://www.hamilton.edu//academics/centers/writing/writing-resources/conclusions .

Holewa, Randa. 2004. “Strategies for Writing a Conclusion.” LEO: Literacy Education Online. Last updated February 19, 2004. https://leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/conclude.html.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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The Weeders (1868) by Jules Breton. Courtesy the Met Museum, New York

The enchanted vision

Love is much more than a mere emotion or moral ideal. it imbues the world itself and we should learn to move with its power.

by Mark Vernon   + BIO

Most ancient traditions, not only Christianity, picture the universe as an involution of divine love. It emanates from an origin that precedes frail beings. According to a hymn of creation in the Rig Veda, love is a fundamental presence: ‘In the beginning arose Love’ – or Kāma in Sanskrit: the love that sparks desire and vitalises consciousness through practices of yogic attention. In mystical Islamic traditions, love is similarly comprehended as an external power more than an emotion. For the Sufi, love forces believers, who are called lovers, out of themselves towards the Beloved, who is God. Even Stoicism was originally a discipline for discovering that the world is shaped by the Logos, or active word of creative love.

Today, this appreciation of reality, with its ‘built-in significance’ and ‘admirable design’, to quote C S Lewis, has become a ‘discarded image’. Any curious person enquiring of the universe now, and inspired by science, might feel themselves to be confronted by a reality of unknown or unknowable significance, or of no significance at all. Moreover, such doubt or confusion seems to be the price of rejecting a fanciful worldview for a scientific one. Apprehending the universe no longer consists of an awesome realisation that your mind fits the divine mind to some degree, but becomes one of uncertain, probing wonder: intellectual humility threatened by cognitive humiliation. Nor can anyone who is suffering turn to myths and rituals conveying the purposes of a love that exceeds and might contain their afflictions; they must bear their woe alone or, if they are lucky, in solidarity with similarly isolated others.

As a psychotherapist, I feel sure this feeling of existential seclusion exacerbates distress as well as other symptoms, like excessive consumption or spiritual discontent. Although the prevalence of suffering is given as a prime reason to reject the existence of divine love, paradoxically, I suspect its dismissal has made suffering worse. The healing power of having suffering recognised and understood, even when its causes remain, is a phenomenon that anyone engaged in caring will know. To be with suffering, which is more than just to witness it, is to be vulnerable, which can in turn bring an awareness that love and connection are basic and immovable. This is why people attest to finding God in suffering, regardless of rational objections. That mystery is central to any sure – as opposed to merely asserted – conviction that there is divine love.

Love is the formidable helpmate of our attention. This was something on which the philosopher Simone Weil , who famously took upon herself the sufferings of others , insisted – refusing, for example, to consume more that the miserable rations allowed her compatriots in France, when she was confined to a hospital bed in London in 1943. ‘By loving the order of the world we imitate the divine love which created this universe of which we are a part,’ she wrote.

Put another way, love was considered a universal force and a matter for knowledge, integral to the warp and weft of reality, not just a beneficent feeling or costly duty, practised at a personal level in acts of compassion or charity. When someone received love or gave it, they aligned themselves with the fundamental vitality pulsing through them and everything else. Sun and moon, mountains and seas, plants and birds, beasts of water and land. Everything participated in a common movement of love that would eventually return them to their source and sustainer.

Human beings could intentionally attend to this dynamic and collaborate with it. But, if not, if love is demoted from this role it becomes, at best, a moral ideal or emotion, exapted from evolution and sustained by the brain. Metaphysical agnosticism has replaced ‘ontological rootedness’, to borrow from the philosopher Simon May. Little wonder people feel disorientated or worse. To misquote R D Laing: someone who describes love as an epiphenomenon might be a great scientist, but someone who lives as if love is so will need a good psychiatrist.

But might the older notion of love be returning, as Weil and others have hoped? Might we be moving past the Romantics, who strove to comfort modern minds disturbed by what William Wordsworth called the ‘still, sad music of humanity’ because we are coming to know once more of that ‘holier love’? Might love be not just all you need, but something precisely required to account for who we are and all that is?

P rovocative hints that challenge a reflexive discounting of the enchanted vision, and which might spur a shift by reorientating attention and re-opening avenues of perception, can be drawn from moral philosophy, trends in contemporary biology and by considering the nature of intelligence. Consider first the moral issue. It begins with the observation that uncoupling love from its divine telos, and redescribing it solely in terms of evolved behaviours and all-too-human desires, has had unintended consequences. In particular, the secular turn has inverted the dictum that God is love, and made love a god, encouraging a sentimentalisation of love – a sappy deity for an otherwise godless age. Worse, the reversal excites a demand that is impossible to meet, by tasking humans with offering the unconditional love that, until a couple of centuries ago, would have been taken as coming only from God.

When unconditional love was known as a divine emanation, to claim that capacity for oneself, or to ask it of another, was a form of madness or idolatry. But now everyone is supposed to deliver and receive it, and overlook that we mortals are flawed and floundering. For such reasons, the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan proposed that, in a world without God, love is more honestly defined as a pact. ‘To love is, essentially, to wish to be loved,’ he said: in other words, I’ll give you what we can call love, if you offer me the same. The trouble is, such deals undermine and destroy love, as the philosopher and novelist Iris Murdoch realised. Compromise and trade-offs are part of life, yes, but love’s whole point is to draw us beyond the transactional and mediocre. Consider the nature of creativity, Murdoch writes in The Sovereignty of Good (1970): ‘The true artist is obedient to a conception of perfection to which his work is constantly related and re-related in what seems an external manner.’ Love is likewise not fired by injunctions such as ‘Improve a little’ but rather by the call ‘Be perfect!’

The transcendent end to which love leads needn’t be called God, Murdoch felt, though it must be recognised as superhuman and excellent. Following Plato, she called it the Good, ‘the magnetic centre towards which love naturally moves,’ which also reveals the nature of love’s energy. ‘Love is the tension between the imperfect soul and the magnetic perfection which is conceived of as lying beyond it,’ she continued. That ‘beyond’ is the key thought here, with its intuition that what is most longed for is independent of us. Love is active in the psyche that hopes to know more than is currently even conceivable. To foreclose that transformation not only thwarts love, it is dehumanising; since to be human is to yearn for contact with more.

This ‘sovereignty of good’ is impressive, given the way it appears to call us, make demands upon us, and not let us go. But is that the same as affirming love’s transcendent actuality? Some biologists, it seems, are developing a worldview that invites the possibility.

Instead of phrases like ‘the mating season’, Darwin prefers ‘the season of love’

The move is happening in two steps: a first that can be characterised as bottom-up; a second, top-down. The bottom-up element stems from the revised picture of the living world that has been emerging in recent years. This new thinking has left behind the reductive view of life, characterised by Richard Dawkins as driven by selfish genes , to appreciate that cooperative, holistic and interdependent creaturely processes operate at and between all levels of life, from proteins and genes to the organism as a whole – and beyond, including ecological interactions with the so-called external environment.

It’s a fractal picture, driven by the explanatory power derived from considering how wholes matter quite as much as parts. Patterns of interaction that are present at the micro-level are amplified and transformed at the macro-level, with that in turn affecting the granular. Homologous parallels can be detected across species, too. What manifests as attraction and cooperation in simpler organisms becomes altruism and empathy among the more complex, with love capping the pyramid. Building on the foundations laid by biologists like Lynn Margulis, who championed symbiosis in evolution, and developed in books such as Interdependence (2015) by the biologist Kriti Sharma, the new picture changes the status of love from epiphenomenon to an emergent quality, springing from antecedent forms discernible within all sorts of interactions and behaviour; if love in all its fullness is present only in creatures like us, capable of forming intentions and consciously acting sacrificially, then love’s forerunners run all the way down the chain of living entities.

This, incidentally, is akin to the opinion of Charles Darwin. In The Descent of Man (1871), he discusses the ‘love-antics’ of birds, alongside using functional terms such as ‘display’, and instead of phrases like ‘the mating season’, he prefers ‘the season of love’. But he proposes something else, too. While nascent forms of love might evolve alongside the practicalities of survival – caring for offspring, for example – others, such as meeting aggression with kindness or loving enemies, would need ‘the aid of reason, instruction, and the love or fear of God.’ Which brings us to the top-down revision within biology. It shares the vision of an interplay of life processes across levels. But where the bottom-up biologists detect empathy and its precursors in the behaviour of a range of animals, the top-down revisionists are sceptical that complex psychological capacities like empathy exist in any creatures except humans.

In From Extraterrestrials to Animal Minds: Six Myths of Evolution (2022), the evolutionary biologist Simon Conway Morris examines the evidence for empathy in creatures from crows to chimps, and finds the data wanting. The matter is subtle and often raises hackles, but the crucial point is that context matters. The environment in which animals live shapes how they behave, as it does with humans, but for nonhuman animals context radically determines what behaviour is possible in the first place. Empathy is a case in point, because being moved by the suffering of a stranger, for instance, is morally significant when it can happen regardless of context, which no other animal appears capable of. ‘It is far from clear that our nearest cousins are anywhere near a moral dimension,’ Conway Morris concludes.

His alternative proposal, in line with Darwin’s conclusion about what it takes to love enemies, is that humans can access and align with moral verities, by virtue of being aware of a transcendent dimension that has not emerged, but been discovered. The human capacity for emotional self-regulation, say, and the ability to have sympathy with radically diverse perspectives, means that we can be open to the revelation of moral features of reality, top-down. The implication is that, while there are certainly analogues to love in other parts of the animal kingdom, these do not form complete pathways for evolutionary development. Rather, our ancestors have readied us for the perception of a love that pre-exists us.

Needless to say, the top-down conclusion is controversial, given the overtone of human exceptionalism, to say nothing of the implication that the creatures we love may not equally love us back. But the enquiry can be nudged along by extending the matter of what we know and turning to the question of how we know anything at all. In this, what we attend to is crucial.

C onsider a delightful anecdote told to me by the astronomer Bernard Carr. A former colleague of Stephen Hawking, Carr joined him at the premiere of the film about Hawking’s life, The Theory of Everything (2014). Carr was paying attention and, as they watched, an irony dawned in his mind. ‘The film was primarily about Stephen’s personal relationship with Jane, his first wife,’ he explained, ‘even though personal relationships and emotions, indeed mind itself, will probably never be covered by any Theory of Everything.’ In short, the film gave the lie to the aspiration to derive a complete account of existence from physics alone, and the reason is obvious: love is real and routinely experienced by human minds; but scientifically speaking, love can be evidenced only indirectly, by measuring the after-effects it leaves in its often-turbulent wake.

That first-hand quality is a feature of many types of knowledge. You can learn a lot about swimming by reading about swimming, but you can never learn how to swim from books. Even knowledge that can be captured in words or equations has a participatory dimension, of which the words and equations are tokens. Humans don’t only calculate but also comprehend, which the philosopher Mary Midgley in Wisdom, Information and Wonder (1989) described as arising from ‘a loving union’. Her point is that knowledge is never merely information amassed, like a digital dataset, but involves an intentional engagement with whatever the information might be about, that latter element being the revelatory issue. Intelligence rests on a dialogue with the world; flow is the feeling of immersion in the exchange. And it is love that invites us in.

Love is an active ingredient of our intelligence in another way. Consider the welter of sense-perceptions that bombard us all day, every day. The cognitive psychologist John Vervaeke argues that we can make sense of the avalanche of what we see, hear, smell, taste and touch through what he calls ‘relevance realisation’; we do not sort through the data, as an AI might, but care for some things above others, and thereby spontaneously spot what matters through the maelstrom. With the exception of the occasional sociopath, people are drawn by what is good, beautiful or true; these qualities organise things for us, even when we are not entirely clear what the good, beautiful or true might be. The ‘transcendentals’, as they were traditionally known, therefore have an objective character, even leading us over current horizons of perception to discover new insights. Weil put it like this: ‘The beauty of the world is the order of the world that is loved.’

When a river enters a larger body of water, the words of Indigenous languages allude to love

Suffering is integral to a searching intelligence, too. Breakthroughs often occur after breakdowns because wisdom tends to arise not with the accumulation of knowledge, but when an old mindset or worldview gives way – a process that is typically troubling and traumatic. But in that transition we are met, which is why a discovery may be greeted with a delighted exclamation: Eureka! Our minds can knowingly resonate with a wider intelligence, in a way that’s seemingly unavailable to other creatures. The pattern of seeds on a sunflower’s head may manifest a Fibonacci sequence, but humans can spot the mathematical and almost musical regularity – and, driven by love, delight in it.

My suspicion is that noticing the felt experience of our connection with the natural world, the associated moments of beauty and revelation, and concluding that the resulting joy is given as a gift, is part of the reason that Indigenous ways of knowing are reviving. ‘Indigenous peoples live in relational worldviews,’ explains Melissa Nelson, a professor at Arizona State University, whose heritage includes Anishinaabe, Cree, Métis and Norwegian. Nelson refers to the notion of ‘original instructions’, which is the array of rituals, myths and patterns around which Indigenous ways of life are organised, together aimed at deepening communion between humans and the more-than-human. She tells me: ‘There is a nurturing quality to the universe that is for us like a natural law, a universal principle that we can tap into: this field of love that is the matrix of the universe.’ The significance for environmental and ecological concerns is obvious.

What’s particularly striking is that analogues of love are perceived in the interactions of the so-called inanimate world, too. For example, when a river enters a larger body of water, the word used in several Indigenous languages alludes to love, Nelson says. Alternatively, viewing the planets or stars can be experienced as a relationship: receiving a quality of light that simultaneously lights up the soul – an insight remembered in words like ‘influence’, which originally meant stellar inflow.

To my mind, there are implications, here, for re-envisioning the place of humans in the world: part of the distinctiveness of our task is to bring this richness to mind. That can make a difference insofar as it increases the attention afforded to love. ‘We live in dire poverty in many places,’ Nelson continues, referring to spiritual as well as material need. ‘But we have this profound understanding of love being a cosmic universal force, that comes to us from the natural world and from the universe as a whole. That really strengthens us in terms of our embodiment and survival, and to thrive and regenerate.’

This kind of awareness might be called a participatory consciousness, and it’s been part and parcel of Western ways of knowing, too. The reciprocity has tended to be discounted since the birth of modern science because of the way dispassionate objectivity is valued, a stance that has brought gains. But perhaps for not much longer. ‘We do not obtain the most precious gifts by going in search of them but by waiting for them,’ Weil observed, because gifts are given in love and spotted by the right quality of attention.

The ramifications of reincorporating something of the premodern view are far reaching. Existential loneliness can be tried, found wanting, and reframed: it’s not all in your head. Or there is the feeling of wonder and connectedness that comes with awareness of the extraordinary nature of reality. The experience is offered a rationale: our minds fit the intelligence that shapes the world. Maybe, too, a love recognised as drawing us can invite us to stop trying to turn our corner of the universe into a tortured, technological paradise, and instead consider how we might design ways of life that deepen our attention, better harmonise with the planet and our nonhuman fellows, and even raise awareness of its divine wellspring. We might want to attend to the best once more, and bear what it takes to commune with this abundance, because there is a cosmic love and we can move with its power, along with everything else that is.

Thinkers and theories

Rawls the redeemer

For John Rawls, liberalism was more than a political project: it is the best way to fashion a life that is worthy of happiness

Alexandre Lefebvre

Anthropology

Your body is an archive

If human knowledge can disappear so easily, why have so many cultural practices survived without written records?

Helena Miton

Seeing plants anew

The stunningly complex behaviour of plants has led to a new way of thinking about our world: plant philosophy

Stella Sandford

Sex and sexuality

Sexual sensation

What makes touch on some parts of the body erotic but not others? Cutting-edge biologists are arriving at new answers

David J Linden

Knowledge is often a matter of discovery. But when the nature of an enquiry itself is at question, it is an act of creation

Céline Henne

Human reproduction

When babies are born, they cry in the accent of their mother tongue: how does language begin in the womb?

Darshana Narayanan

How to End Your Love Letter + 99 Sweet and Creative Ways to Sign Off 

Ending a love letter is just as important as how you start it. 

You wouldn’t abruptly stop talking mid-conversation with your partner, would you? 

Similarly, your romantic missives deserve thoughtful, sweet closes that tug at the heartstrings instead of fizzling out. 

The closing is your last chance to reinforce your affection before signing your name. 

Whether you want to make them laugh or leave them craving more, the possibilities are endless. 

How to End a Heartfelt Letter

Why love letter endings are so important, ending a letter with love, 1. all my love , 2. love that lasts, 3. my one and only , 4. made to love you, 5. the best part of me  , 6. signed with love  , cute ways to end a letter, 7. xoxo to my sweetie , 8. you make my heart smile , 9. all my love , 10. i can’t wait, 11. i’m just smitten , 12. enchanted by you .

• How to End a Letter without Saying Love

13. You've Got My Heart 

14. my favorite person , 15. counting down, 16. you make life sweeter , 17. from my heart to yours , 18. falling hard, 19. needle in a haystack, romantic ways to end a letter, 20. you have my heart , 21. our destiny , 22. my whole world , 23. our next chapter , 24. time stands still , 25. where my heart resides , final thoughts.

The closing lines of a meaningful letter deserve thought and care to perfectly encapsulate your message. 

The ending should complement the overall spirit of your writing with a paragraph or short series of lines that echo the sentiment you hope to leave with your special person . 

Aim to wrap up any loose threads while reaffirming the affectionate emotions conveyed throughout. 

Your sign-off should not introduce brand-new topics or feelings out of sync with the rest of the piece. 

Select a warm, intimate, or light-hearted farewell that flows naturally from the heartfelt expressions preceding it. 

With care and consistency, your final words will become a memorable, integral part of a letter written from the heart.

Just like a conversation, a love letter needs a proper closing.

An abrupt or thoughtless ending can leave your partner feeling disappointed, confused, or even doubtful of your feelings. 

On the other hand, a thoughtful, heartfelt sign-off reinforces your affection and keeps the romantic spark alive.

• It's your last chance to drive home your message of love before signing your name. The ending should complement what you've already written.
• A creative, personalized closing makes your letter more meaningful and genuine. It shows you put effort into the entire piece, not just the body paragraphs.
• The closing sets the tone for potential future letters . A positive ending will make your partner excited to receive more notes from you.
• Letters that just stop without a closing paragraph seem unfinished, like a conversation that ends mid-sentence. You need to wrap up your thoughts.
• Well-crafted closing s can be just as sweeping and romantic as the most emotive passages. End on a high note!

How to End a Love Letter: 21 Examples of Closing Paragraphs

Ending your love letter can be challenging. 

To inspire you, here are 21 examples of romantic, thoughtful ways to sign off—from short and poetic to funny and sweet paragraphs filled with affection.

Let these touching closes help you seal your love note perfectly.

Babe, my heart is so full of love for you. Even this little letter can't contain it all. You mean everything to me, now and always. Can't wait to see you and give you all my love in person. XXXOOO!

Our bond is so strong and real—I just know we’re built to last. You still give me butterflies every time I see you! Through all of life’s ups and downs, I choose you. I can’t imagine not having your cute face to come home to. Love you to the moon and back!

You’re my ride-or-die, my whole world, my person…and my only true love. What we have is so special, babe. Thanks for making every day an adventure, even after all this time! Honestly, I don't know what I'd do without you.  

We just click so well in every way. It’s like the stars aligned when we met. Loving you comes so naturally. I can't imagine being this happy with anyone else. You just get me. I'm so glad I get to do life with my favorite person.    

Being with you makes me want to be the best version of myself. You inspire me and make me feel so cared for. I don't really know how I got so lucky, but I won the jackpot with you! Love doing this thing called life together.

You know I'm not the mushiest, but you truly mean everything to me. Thanks for being my partner in crime and making every day fun. I love doing life with you by my side. Can't wait for more crazy adventures together!   

Where would I be without my darling man lighting up my days? Every moment we’re apart feels empty compared to when I’m wrapped up tight in your arms. I’m already counting down the moments until I can gaze into your eyes again and cover your adorable face in kisses! I’ll be dreaming of you, my one and only!

That adorable smile of yours makes me melt every single time! I light up whenever you walk in the room. Just knowing you exist makes my world a happier place. I can’t help but grin from ear to ear when I think of our next date night together. You make me bubbly and bright inside, and I’ll be waiting for you with the biggest kiss ever. 

My heart smiles every time I think of you. Just knowing you're in my life fills me with joy and comfort. I miss your face when we're apart and can't wait for more time together. Please keep a warm spot for me in your heart until I can throw my arms around you when I see you again.

I don’t know how I can wait another minute until I get to wrap you in my arms and smother you with kisses. I love you so much that I think I might burst!  But I’m trying to hold myself together so you don’t have to pick up any bits and pieces when you get back. So please hurry because my body, mind, and heart are aching for you, my love.

I don’t have a clue how it happened, but somehow you managed to rope me in, and now I’m head over heels, silly in love! I might need to get my head checked because all I do is daydream about your cute face. Here’s hoping you don’t come to your senses and realize what a goofball I am. Until then, I’ll be over here, fully obsessed with my amazing partner in crime.

Well, you went and did it! You swooped in with your charm and good looks and put me under your magical spell. Now I’m a complete goner, grinning all starry-eyed just thinking about our next rendezvous. Just promise you won’t turn me into a frog or newt anytime soon! I’d miss all our fun adventures together, and these cute love notes would be rather tricky to write with webbed feet.

How to End a Letter Without Saying Love

You have all of my affection now and in the days ahead. Our connection continues to deepen, and my commitment grows stronger. I'm so thankful our lives are intertwined and that I get to keep learning new things about you every day.

Of all the people in the world, you're my favorite. Spending time together fills me with warmth and contentment. Your spirit lifts me up, even when we're miles apart. Know that you are special, valued, and adored. I think my heart is melting for you…

Counting down the moments until I get to be by your side again brings me such happiness and anticipation. I cherish our special bond and look forward to making it stronger as we spend many more amazing times together. Our next date can't come soon enough! I think you’ve wrapped me around your little finger…

Being with you adds a touch of sweetness to everything I do. Your presence makes the hard times easier and good times even better. Thanks for filling my world with joy and laughter. 

I wanted to send some affection from my heart straight to yours. Keep a space for me amidst all the love that surrounds you. I'll be holding you in my heart until we meet again. 

If this letter hasn’t made it clear, I think I’m falling hard for you. I can’t believe how similar we are and how comfortable I feel when I’m around you. I’m glad we are taking it slow because I want to savor every moment of getting to know each other and learning about the amazing person I see in you.

I feel so lucky to have met you and can’t wait to learn about everything that makes you…YOU! From what I’ve seen so far, you’re not only handsome, but you are smart, funny, kind, and a true gentleman. You might be my needle in a haystack! I can’t wait to see you next week. 

My heart belongs to you, now and always. Though we may be apart, our bond connects us through it all. I look forward to our next chapter and all our special moments in between. Please know you are cherished.

We have something truly magical – I just feel it. When we're together, everything falls into place. I can't predict where this journey will take us, but I know it will be special as long as we're side by side.

You mean everything to me. Your smile brightens even my darkest days. This distance is only temporary; soon, we'll be reunited to make new memories. Until then, know that you are always on my mind and in my heart.

I love what we've shared so far, but I’m so excited for what comes next. With you by my side, this adventure called life just keeps getting better. Our growing bond is a treasure. The best is yet to be written.

Babe, time melts away when we're tangled up together. But the moments also feel suspended, bursting with deep feelings almost too much to bear. Soon, we’ll have more cozy memories, just you and me. For now, all my love.

Please know wherever you wander, my heart remains steadfast by your side, filled with my affection for you alone. Our spirits are never far, despite the miles. I'll be holding you close in my heart until we meet again.

99 Love Letter Closings

You’ll want a touching, meaningful way to sign off when finishing your romantic missive. Use these 99 closing words and phrases to make your love letter endings more original and expressive. Let these options inspire your last loving lines.

1. Ever yours

2. Hugs and kisses 

3. Your adoring fan

4. Lovingly

5. Forever in my heart

6. Faithfully yours 

7. With all my affection

8. Tenderly yours

9. Enamored by you  

10. Unconditionally yours

11. Eternally together

12. Devotedly yours 

13. Besos y abrazos

14. With great fondness

15. Adoring you always

16. Yours affectionately

17. Love without end 

18. With amour 

19. Your fervent admirer

20. In my heart forever

21. Truly and deeply

22. Hopelessly enchanted 

23. From my heart to yours

24. With arms open wide  

25. My heart is yours

26. Yesterday, today, tomorrow

27. Your loving lady (or man)

28. Longing for you  

29. Your ardent suitor

30. Spellbound by you

31. Devoted heart  

32. Counting the days

33. Burning bright for you  

34. My beating heart 

35. Be mine always   

36. Your sympathetic soul

37. Through smiles and tears

38. My home and my heart

39. Beyond the stars

40. Mine, tenderly

41. For now and for always

42. Across the miles  

43. Ephemeral eternity  

44. My love abounds 

45. Until we meet again

46. Thou hast my heart

47. Love without measure

48. Completely in love

49. Dreaming of you

50. From my arms to yours

51. With caring thoughts

52. Yours faithfully   

53. Till my last breath 

54. Holding you near  

55. Through sun and rain  

56. Written in the stars   

57. My heart's compass   

58. From dusk till dawn

59. Yours tenderly    

60. Everlasting flame  

61. Destined together

62. All that I am   

63. With great affection  

64. Lost in your love  

65. My end and my beginning   

66. As the tides turn

67. Until we embrace  

68. With open arms

69. Love always finds a way

70. Beyond eternity   

71. My love abides 

72. As time goes on  

73. Cherishing you  

74. Undying devotion 

75. Infinite as the sea  

76. A token of my affection

77. My heart's true home

78. Bound by destiny  

79. Yours faithfully   

80. To the moon and back

81. With loving thoughts

82. Through joy and sorrow   

83. My guiding starlight  

84. Yours tenderly  

85. Heartstrings tugging

86. Through times of peace   

87. My love endures

88. As waves to shore  

89. My heartbeat booms  

90. Our time will come

91. Longing across the miles   

92. Soon, in your arms 

93. My heart awaits you   

94. Beyond all measure

95. Beyond earth and sky  

96. As Long as stars shine 

97. My home is with you  

98. Across time and space

99. My heart is set on you

Whether you want your love letter closing to be cute, funny, romantic, or heartfelt, choosing the perfect ending is vital. Let these creative ideas inspire your last lines while our tips guide you in crafting a thoughtful, consistent close. Most importantly, allow your sign-off to genuinely reflect the depth of affection in your own unique bond. With a meaningful ending, your love letter is sure to be cherished.

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How to write a captivating essay conclusion

(Last updated: 12 May 2021)

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You may be surprised when we say that an essay conclusion is, in some ways, comparable to a piece of text as emotive as say, Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. Sounds ridiculous? Perhaps. But, extravagant comparisons aside, what we mean here is that the core purpose of an essay conclusion can be compared to the end of any great speech, monologue or presentation that leaves you feeling something . Ultimately, when you conclude an essay, you want to engage the reader's emotions, whether they be excitement, surprise, contemplation, or a mix of these and more. And you want to do this in much the same way that Martin Luther King would have done with his captivated audience on that memorable day in 1963.

Conclusions are among the hardest parts of an essay to write well. You need to round off your essay effectively. You need to leave your reader with the best possible impression of your work. And, you need to somehow recap all your central points without simply repeating yourself. Sound like a tricky balancing act? We explain it all in more depth below – read on for our tips on how to conclude an essay effectively.

How do I conclude an essay?

What is a conclusion? It’s a question that seems, on the face of it, to have a perfectly simple answer. It’s the paragraph (or so) at the end of your essay where you bring your essay to a stop by recapping your central arguments, right? Easy.

If we asked you to list a few synonyms for an essay conclusion, we’re willing to bet you’d come up with a few words or phrases like “recap”, “summary”, “restatement of your thesis”, and so on. And it’s true you’re likely to find all of these somewhere in the conclusion of an essay.

"Words and phrases like 'recap', 'summary' and 'restatement of your thesis' don't accurately describe what an essay conclusion is. A conclusion is so much more, and a lot hinges on how well it is done."

But none of the phrases above fully grasp the function of an essay conclusion. In fact, taking any one of them to be entirely synonymous with an essay conclusion is likely to lead you down the path towards writing bad essay conclusions, or at least missed-opportunity conclusions – conclusions that don’t take full advantage of their place at the end of the essay to fulfil their rhetorical potential.

OK then, how do I avoid concluding an essay badly?

Before we get to answering the question of what an essay conclusion is, it’s useful to spend a moment thinking about some of the things an essay conclusion isn’t .

• It’s not a repeat of your introduction. Every university instructor has encountered an essay where a student has copied and pasted, almost word-for-word, their introduction at the bottom of their essay. It should be obvious that there’s no point in doing this. You're just eating up words by repeating the same information over again. And if a conclusion were simply a rehash of the introduction, there wouldn’t be any point in ending the essay with it. You could just end with your final body paragraph argument. Or, if you really wanted your reader to read the introduction again and remind themselves of your central arguments, you could simply say something like, “See introduction”! OK, so copying and pasting the introduction is an extreme example, and you’re probably thinking “there’s no way I’d do something like that.” But it’s fairly common for students to conclude an essay by simply rephrasing their introduction. Just paraphrasing yourself while retaining all the content of your introduction isn’t a whole lot different from the copy-paste job. You’re still just going through the motions and repeating the same information without really getting to grips with the dedicated function a conclusion is supposed to fulfil.
• It’s not just a summary of your body paragraphs. Another common trap students fall into is to view the essay conclusion simply as a recap. They conclude an essay by providing a concise summary of each of the arguments they’ve made. This kind of recap can form an important part of your conclusion, especially in longer essays where you’ve made a series of complex arguments. But, as with repeating your introduction, eating up valuable word count simply to rehash stuff you’ve already said is redundant and doesn’t fulfil any sort of rhetorical or persuasive function.
• It’s not a place to add new content or make new arguments. Yes, your essay conclusion shouldn’t be simply a recap, a summary, or a repeat of what you’ve already written in your essay. But it is a place where you reflect on the arguments you’ve made rather than starting to introduce anything new. And here’s where the whole business of how to conclude an essay starts to get a bit complicated. If a conclusion is neither simply a recap of old information nor a place for new information, what is it, exactly?

A conclusion is a sales pitch!

If you’ve been paying attention you may have seen that we’ve already mentioned “rhetoric” a couple of times so far in this post – and this is no accident. You can’t really talk about essay conclusions without talking about rhetoric. The conclusion to an essay is the most purely rhetorical part of the entire piece.

By “rhetorical”, we mean a conclusion’s (and indeed the entire essay’s) ability to convince or persuade the reader of certain outlooks or arguments. An essay conclusion needs to use rhetoric to emotionally connect with the reader in some way. And this is done through the use of certain language and the way the information is presented.

If alarm bells are starting to ring at the mention of rhetoric, quiet them. Rhetoric gets a bad name in public discourse. Phrases like “pure rhetoric” or “empty rhetoric” are often used to suggest that an utterance lacks substance or integrity, or is somehow dishonest or insincere. And those are the last things you want your reader to take away from reading your essay! But rhetoric is one of the oldest scholarly disciplines in the world. In Classical societies – and in fact right up to the beginning of the twentieth century – it was considered one of the most important disciplines throughout Western society. The fact that it’s acquired something of a bad name over the last hundred years or so doesn’t mean it’s not still the foundation of good writing.

More importantly, your rhetorical skills can make a huge difference to whether your reader actually buys your argument. Let’s say we have two writers. One is skilled in rhetoric; the other less so. Both could make an identical set of arguments with the same supporting evidence and elicit entirely different responses in their readers. It’s true that the excessive use of rhetorical flourishes can rub your reader up the wrong way. It could cause them to think your essay is more about style than substance. But the subtler cues – in the way you phrase, structure, and present your arguments – can unquestionably make the difference between winning over a sceptical audience and leaving them unmoved.

"How you phrase, structure, and present arguments in your essay conclusion can make the difference between winning over a sceptical audience and leaving them unmoved – which could easily make a difference to your overall grade."

So what does all this have to do with how you conclude an essay? This can all seem a bit abstract when we’re dealing with essay writing , so let’s try an analogy. Let’s imagine you’re delivering a sales pitch for a property company. That company is trying to sell waterfront properties in a desirable holiday location – the Caribbean, say. Your audience is a set of moderately well-off individuals who regularly take expensive holidays. But, they’re not sure they can afford to buy a second home in the Caribbean. Even if they can afford it, they’re unclear if it would be a good investment.

To convince the members of your audience that they want to buy one of your properties, you’re going to have to conduct quite a detailed pitch. It could easily take a couple of hours or more to list the features of the property, the merits of the location, and the financial arrangements that will allow buyers to fund their purchase. You’ll make many arguments throughout your pitch, not all of which will be equally exciting. Sure, you’ll tell your potential customers about the balcony that leads off the master bedroom, the distance to the beach, and the amenities of the town in which the properties are located.

But your customers will also want to know other details: can they let the property while they’re not using it, for example? What kind of returns will that bring, and will these be enough to offset the purchase price? How are properties taxed in the area? And how about the facilities the local authority will provide? What kind of sanitation and waste facilities does the property have? Is it connected to a sewer or does it use a septic tank?

If the buyer is going to sign on the dotted line when it’s all done, you’re going to have to provide convincing answers to all of these questions. But simply recapping your arguments in order isn’t going to end the presentation effectively. You don’t want the lingering thought in your audience’s mind to be taxes or sewage. And you certainly don’t want to hit them with any new detail in your closing few slides. In fact, you don’t really want them to leave the presentation with any of the details you’ve discussed uppermost in their mind. Dwelling on any of the details is likely to remind them that buying and owning property is time-consuming, expensive, and stressful.

The impression you want to leave them with is that of having their very own place in the sun. An island paradise that’s theirs to return to any time they want to. You don’t want them leaving the building still musing over any of the specific points of your sales pitch. They need to be moved by the overall effect – and the promise – of what you’ve offered them. Sun on their backs, sand between their toes, and a crystal-clear blue ocean stretching out ahead of them.

So how does this help me conclude an essay?

OK, we get it. You’re not selling anybody a beach getaway when you conclude an essay. But what the above analogy describes is rhetoric . In an essay, you are making a pitch. And the same principles as the property sales example above apply.

Your essay conclusion is your parting shot. It’s your opportunity to leave your reader with a favourable impression of the arguments you’ve just made. You want them, at minimum, to be convinced that you’ve achieved what you set out to achieve; that you’ve proved your points . Better yet, you want them to feel satisfied that you’ve taken them on an intellectual journey that was interesting and rewarding.

Best of all, though, is if you leave them with a feeling of excitement . Excitement that your essay promises a new way of thinking about a topic, or a promising line of intellectual inquiry. The scholarly equivalent of feeling sand between their toes, in other words.

My five-paragraph essay has to be exciting ? How do you propose I manage that?

It’s true that not all essays are equally rewarding to read. But academia is all about the collaborative generation of knowledge. And even first-year undergraduate students can offer an original take on a subject that causes their instructors to think about a topic in a new way. Maybe they’ll even incorporate that new angle into their class teachings, or the next paper they write. Don’t underestimate how exciting that can be for instructors. And don’t underestimate how much your instructor – with a pile of fifty or a hundred essays to sift through – will appreciate a well-written, animated essay that reads satisfyingly from start to finish. And if there’s even a germ of an original idea in the essay, it’s your job to sell it. It’s your job to highlight what’s new and innovative about your argument, and to excite your reader. That’s what a good essay conclusion does.

Here's a note if you’re writing an essay using a formulaic structure like the five-paragraph, three-argument essay. With these formulaic essays it’s even more important that you don’t simply regurgitate your introduction in your conclusion. The key to concluding an essay of any length or complexity is persuading your reader that there’s been development between the start and end of the essay. They must end knowing more than they did at the start. The same applies for five-paragraph essays.

Let’s consider an example where you’re writing a five-paragraph essay about Shakespeare’s famous Sonnet 18, and you’ve been asked to examine some of the formal features of the sonnet. We’ll take a look at a sample introduction that concisely outlines the thesis of the essay, and then think about how we might conclude such an essay effectively. (Note: this example contains some fairly detailed literary-critical terminology, but you don’t need to understand this to be able to follow along.)

Introduction:

William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 (“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”) is one of his best-known sonnets and deals with themes of eternal love, ageing, and the nature of art. This essay explores how Shakespeare uses the formal structure of the sonnet, together with small but significant variations in the meter, and the conceit of the changing seasons, to explore these themes.

Body paragraphs:

[ Body paragraph 1: the structure of an English sonnet, the use of the “turn” at the start of the third quatrain, and the couplet at the end that presents a neat summary of the poem’s message about the timelessness of art in the face of human ageing.]

[ Body paragraph 2: the generally regular use of iambic pentameter in the sonnet, and the effects of strategic substitutions, in particular the replacement of the first iambic foot in line 3 with a spondaic foot, and its introduction of a note of restlessness and discord after the harmonious opening two lines.]

[ Body paragraph 3: the conceit of the changing seasons that runs through the entire poem, and the ways in which Shakespeare uses the sonnet structure to explore different aspects of this theme.]

Bad essay conclusion (rephrasing of the thesis statement, lacking any development):

Sonnet 18 explores the themes of love, ageing, and art through the extended metaphor of the changing seasons. Shakespeare uses the sonnet’s formal structure, variations in the iambic pentameter meter, and the conceit of summer changing into winter, to explore these eternal themes.

Better essay conclusion (recaps on central points and makes some attempt to draw them together):

In Sonnet 18, Shakespeare explores the themes of love, ageing, and art through the extended metaphor of the changing seasons. Shakespeare uses both the meter and structure of the sonnet to maximise the effectiveness of this metaphor. Metrical variations like the spondaic substitution at the start of the third line maximise the drama of this metaphor. By making use of the formal structure of the sonnet – especially the “turn” at the start of the third quatrain – Shakespeare is able to explore different facets of his central conceit of summer changing into winter.

Best essay conclusion (recaps central points but makes the key links between them explicit and gestures towards broader implications):

Shakespeare’s sonnets are among the most celebrated sequences of poems in the English language, and Sonnet 18 provides several important illustrations of why this is. The formal techniques Shakespeare uses to explore the poem’s central conceit of changing seasons are often very subtle, but demonstrate a mastery of the sonnet form that enhances his exploration of his central conceit of the changing seasons. We have seen, for example, how minor metrical variations have a powerful impact on the poem’s message, like the use of the spondaic foot “Rough winds” in place of an iambic foot at the start of the third line, which introduces a note of conflict into the seemingly harmonious simile with which he begins the sonnet. And the archetypal sonnet “turn” that Shakespeare deploys at the start of the third quatrain allows him to convey a profound message about the redemptive, eternal power of art, transforming a melancholy lament on the process of ageing into a triumphant celebration of the poem itself.

As you’ll see from these three examples, there are many different ways to conclude an essay and recap on its central points. Each of the above essay conclusions could apply to the same basic thesis statement and three body paragraphs, but they would have radically different effects on the overall way a reader interprets the value of these arguments.

Our first example simply restates the thesis without displaying any significant development. The points made in the three body paragraphs are simply presented in the conclusion as a list. This creates an overall effect of disjointedness (often a major problem for five-paragraph essays).

The second example demonstrates the bare minimum a reader should expect from a conclusion. It creates a sense of development through the essay by revisiting some of the detail of the body paragraphs and attempting to draw links between them.

However, the third example represents a much more convincing “sales pitch” for this kind of essay. It groups together the various body paragraph arguments into a single unifying theme. In this case, it’s the idea that Shakespeare’s greatness as a poet rests in his mastery of form and content, and his ability to weave the two subtly into a poem that first descents into a lament on the ravages of ageing and then abruptly turns into a celebration of art and poetry.

What makes this conclusion example really stand out from the other two is its sense of balance between recap and sales pitch. Although it doesn’t introduce any new content, it does gesture towards broader implications for the arguments presented in the essay. For example, it highlights Shakespeare’s greatness as a poet and a master of form. The effect on a mundane, humdrum five-paragraph essay is quite transformative. The essay conclusion takes the contents of a fairly bog-standard, elementary literary-critical argument and makes them seem exciting and relevant.

A conclusion can’t save a bad essay, of course. But if you conclude an essay with the right sales pitch you can make even fairly elementary arguments sparkle!

How (and how not) to conclude an essay – dos and don’ts

The examples above offer some good pointers to help you conclude an essay in the most persuasive possible way. Here’s a summary of what we’ve learned:

• Do sell it. If your introduction and body paragraphs are where you lay the solid groundwork for your essay, your conclusion is where you convince your reader that what they’ve read represented a fun, insightful, intellectual journey that was worth their time. Don’t be afraid of rhetoric when you’re looking to conclude an essay – make the biggest, boldest pitch you can for the value of what you’ve argued.
• Do pull it all together. When you conclude an essay, you’re not only trying to convince your reader of the merit of your individual points or body paragraphs. You’re also making the case that your essay represented a unified, coherent whole. If you include one new thing in your introduction, make it an explicit theme that unifies all of your points and convinces your reader that your essay is a single, flowing, logical unit.
• Do be speculative. The conclusion to an essay is the one place where you get to bend the rules just a little bit. Throughout the rest of your essay you need to be scrupulously careful not to make assertions you can’t back up. But it’s expected that your conclusion gestures broadly – and slightly speculatively – towards the implications of your argument. Don’t go nuts and claim your argument will change the world, of course. That’s wholly unsupportable and comes across as ludicrous and overblown – the “bad” kind of rhetoric. But you should be aiming to excite your reader. You can often do this by suggesting that there’s an urgent need to change approach to a problem or view it in a new way.
• Don’t just rehash your thesis. The absolute least effective way you can conclude an essay is to simply repeat what you’ve already said in your introduction. You’ll create a sense of stagnation which is the very opposite of the sense of progression and dynamism you’re trying to create. This is especially true if your essay is short.
• Don’t introduce whole new arguments. It’s true, your essay conclusion should revisit your arguments in a fresh way, whether that’s by underlying a unifying theme or gesturing towards the implications of what you’ve written. But you still need to conclude your essay by reflecting on arguments you’ve already made, not by introducing new ones.

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5 moving, beautiful essays about death and dying

by Sarah Kliff

It is never easy to contemplate the end-of-life, whether its own our experience or that of a loved one.

This has made a recent swath of beautiful essays a surprise. In different publications over the past few weeks, I’ve stumbled upon writers who were contemplating final days. These are, no doubt, hard stories to read. I had to take breaks as I read about Paul Kalanithi’s experience facing metastatic lung cancer while parenting a toddler, and was devastated as I followed Liz Lopatto’s contemplations on how to give her ailing cat the best death possible. But I also learned so much from reading these essays, too, about what it means to have a good death versus a difficult end from those forced to grapple with the issue. These are four stories that have stood out to me recently, alongside one essay from a few years ago that sticks with me today.

My Own Life | Oliver Sacks

As recently as last month, popular author and neurologist Oliver Sacks was in great health, even swimming a mile every day. Then, everything changed: the 81-year-old was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer. In a beautiful op-ed , published in late February in the New York Times, he describes his state of mind and how he’ll face his final moments. What I liked about this essay is how Sacks describes how his world view shifts as he sees his time on earth getting shorter, and how he thinks about the value of his time.

Before I go | Paul Kalanithi

Kalanthi began noticing symptoms — “weight loss, fevers, night sweats, unremitting back pain, cough” — during his sixth year of residency as a neurologist at Stanford. A CT scan revealed metastatic lung cancer. Kalanthi writes about his daughter, Cady and how he “probably won’t live long enough for her to have a memory of me.” Much of his essay focuses on an interesting discussion of time, how it’s become a double-edged sword. Each day, he sees his daughter grow older, a joy. But every day is also one that brings him closer to his likely death from cancer.

As I lay dying | Laurie Becklund

Becklund’s essay was published posthumonously after her death on February 8 of this year. One of the unique issues she grapples with is how to discuss her terminal diagnosis with others and the challenge of not becoming defined by a disease. “Who would ever sign another book contract with a dying woman?” she writes. “Or remember Laurie Becklund, valedictorian, Fulbright scholar, former Times staff writer who exposed the Salvadoran death squads and helped The Times win a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the 1992 L.A. riots? More important, and more honest, who would ever again look at me just as Laurie?”

Everything I know about a good death I learned from my cat | Liz Lopatto

Dorothy Parker was Lopatto’s cat, a stray adopted from a local vet. And Dorothy Parker, known mostly as Dottie, died peacefully when she passed away earlier this month. Lopatto’s essay is, in part, about what she learned about end-of-life care for humans from her cat. But perhaps more than that, it’s also about the limitations of how much her experience caring for a pet can transfer to caring for another person.

Yes, Lopatto’s essay is about a cat rather than a human being. No, it does not make it any easier to read. She describes in searing detail about the experience of caring for another being at the end of life. “Dottie used to weigh almost 20 pounds; she now weighs six,” Lopatto writes. “My vet is right about Dottie being close to death, that it’s probably a matter of weeks rather than months.”

Letting Go | Atul Gawande

“Letting Go” is a beautiful, difficult true story of death. You know from the very first sentence — “Sara Thomas Monopoli was pregnant with her first child when her doctors learned that she was going to die” — that it is going to be tragic. This story has long been one of my favorite pieces of health care journalism because it grapples so starkly with the difficult realities of end-of-life care.

In the story, Monopoli is diagnosed with stage four lung cancer, a surprise for a non-smoking young woman. It’s a devastating death sentence: doctors know that lung cancer that advanced is terminal. Gawande knew this too — Monpoli was his patient. But actually discussing this fact with a young patient with a newborn baby seemed impossible.

"Having any sort of discussion where you begin to say, 'look you probably only have a few months to live. How do we make the best of that time without giving up on the options that you have?' That was a conversation I wasn't ready to have," Gawande recounts of the case in a new Frontline documentary .

What’s tragic about Monopoli’s case was, of course, her death at an early age, in her 30s. But the tragedy that Gawande hones in on — the type of tragedy we talk about much less — is how terribly Monopoli’s last days played out.

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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, how to end a college essay effectively.

Hey, peeps! I'm working on my college essay and I'm really stuck on how to end it. Can anyone share examples of impactful endings or give some advice on how to finish strong? I want to leave a lasting impression on the reader.

Hello! Ending a college essay effectively can indeed leave a lasting impression on the reader. You can try different techniques based on the content and tone of your essay. Here are four strategies to consider:

1. Reflective statement: This involves bringing your essay full circle by connecting the ending to the beginning. This can create a sense of completion for your reader and emphasize the personal growth or lessons learned during your story.

Example: "I started my journey with doubts and apprehension, yet through persistence and commitment, I discovered newfound confidence and a love for my chosen path."

2. Powerful imagery: A vivid image or description can leave a strong impact on the reader, particularly if it captures the theme or essence of your essay.

Example: "As I stood on the mountaintop and looked out at the vast horizon, I realized how small my fears were in comparison to the endless opportunities waiting for me."

3. Thought-provoking question: Ending with a question can encourage the reader to think deeply about the issues you raised in your essay, ensuring that your story stays with them.

Example: "In a world that constantly evolves and presents new challenges, how do we continue to adapt and reinvent ourselves while staying true to who we are?"

Remember, the ending should feel authentic to you and your story, so go with the technique that best suits your essay's tone and content. Good luck with your college essay!

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CollegeVine’s Q&A seeks to offer informed perspectives on commonly asked admissions questions. Every answer is refined and validated by our team of admissions experts to ensure it resonates with trusted knowledge in the field.

Before You Write a Love Essay, Read This to Get Examples

The day will come when you can’t escape the fate of all students: You will have to write a what is love essay.

No worries:

Here you’ll find tons of love essay topics and examples. No time to read everything? Scroll down to get a free PDF with original samples.

Definition: Essay on Love

First, let’s define what is love essay?

The most common topics are:

• Definition of love
• What is love?
• Meaning of love

Why limit yourself to these hackneyed, general themes? Below, I’ll show how to make your paper on love original yet relevant to the prompt you get from teachers.

Love Essay Topics: 20 Ideas to Choose for Your Paper

Your essay on love and relationship doesn’t have to be super official and unemotional. It’s ok to share reflections and personal opinions when writing about romance.

Often, students get a general task to write an essay on love. It means they can choose a theme and a title for their paper. If that’s your case,  feel free to try any of these love essay topics:

• Exploring the impact of love on individuals and relationships.
• Love in the digital age: Navigating romance in a tech world.
• Is there any essence and significance in unconditional love?
• Love as a universal language: Connecting hearts across cultures.
• Biochemistry of love: Exploring the process.
• Love vs. passion vs. obsession.
• How love helps cope with heartbreak and grief.
• The art of loving. How we breed intimacy and trust.
• The science behind attraction and attachment.
• How love and relationships shape our identity and help with self-discovery.
• Love and vulnerability: How to embrace emotional openness.
• Romance is more complex than most think: Passion, intimacy, and commitment explained.
• Love as empathy: Building sympathetic connections in a cruel world.
• Evolution of love. How people described it throughout history.
• The role of love in mental and emotional well-being.
• Love as a tool to look and find purpose in life.
• Welcoming diversity in relations through love and acceptance.
• Love vs. friendship: The intersection of platonic and romantic bonds.
• The choices we make and challenges we overcome for those we love.
• Love and forgiveness: How its power heals wounds and strengthens bonds.

Love Essay Examples: Choose Your Sample for Inspiration

Essays about love are usually standard, 5-paragraph papers students write in college:

• One paragraph is for an introduction, with a hook and a thesis statement
• Three are for a body, with arguments or descriptions
• One last passage is for a conclusion, with a thesis restatement and final thoughts

Below are the ready-made samples to consider. They’ll help you see what an essay about love with an introduction, body, and conclusion looks like.

What is love essay: 250 words

Lao Tzu once said, “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” Indeed, love can transform individuals, relationships, and our world.

A word of immense depth and countless interpretations, love has always fascinated philosophers, poets, and ordinary individuals. This  emotion breaks boundaries and has a super power to change lives. But what is love, actually?

It’s a force we feel in countless ways. It is the warm embrace of a parent, filled with care and unwavering support. It is the gentle touch of a lover, sparking a flame that ignites passion and desire. Love is the kind words of a friend, offering solace and understanding in times of need. It is the selfless acts of compassion and empathy that bind humanity together.

Love is not confined to romantic relationships alone. It is found in the family bonds, the connections we forge with friends, and even the compassion we extend to strangers. Love is a thread that weaves through the fabric of our lives, enriching and nourishing our souls.

However, love is not without its complexities. It can be both euphoric and agonizing, uplifting and devastating. Love requires vulnerability, trust, and the willingness to embrace joy and pain. It is a delicate balance between passion and compassion, independence and interdependence.

Finally, the essence of love may be elusive to define with mere words. It is an experience that surpasses language and logic, encompassing a spectrum of emotions and actions. Love is a profound connection that unites us all, reminding us of our shared humanity and the capacity for boundless compassion.

What is love essay: 500 words

A 500-word essay on why I love you

Trying to encapsulate why I love you in a mere 500 words is impossible. My love for you goes beyond the confines of language, transcending words and dwelling in the realm of emotions, connections, and shared experiences. Nevertheless, I shall endeavor to express the depth and breadth of my affection for you.

First and foremost, I love you for who you are. You possess a unique blend of qualities and characteristics that captivate my heart and mind. Your kindness and compassion touch the lives of those around you, and I am grateful to be the recipient of your unwavering care and understanding. Your intelligence and wit constantly challenge me to grow and learn, stimulating my mind and enriching our conversations. You have a beautiful spirit that radiates warmth and joy, and I am drawn to your vibrant energy.

I love the way you make me feel. When I am with you, I feel a sense of comfort and security that allows me to be my true self. Your presence envelops me in a cocoon of love and acceptance, where I can express my thoughts, fears, and dreams without fear of judgment. Your support and encouragement inspire me to pursue my passions and overcome obstacles. With you by my side, I feel empowered to face the world, knowing I have a partner who believes in me.

I love the memories we have created together. From the laughter-filled moments of shared adventures to the quiet and intimate conversations, every memory is etched in my heart. Whether exploring new places, indulging in our favorite activities, or simply enjoying each other’s company in comfortable silence, each experience reinforces our bond. Our shared memories serve as a foundation for our relationship, a testament to the depth of our connection and the love that binds us.

I love your quirks and imperfections. Your true essence shines through these unique aspects! Your little traits make me smile and remind me of the beautiful individual you are. I love how you wrinkle your nose when you laugh, become lost in thought when reading a book, and even sing off-key in the shower. These imperfections make you human, relatable, and utterly lovable.

I love the future we envision together. We support each other’s goals, cheering one another on as we navigate the path toward our dreams. The thought of building a life together, creating a home filled with love and shared experiences, fills my heart with anticipation and excitement. The future we imagine is one that I am eager to explore with you by my side.

In conclusion, the reasons why I love you are as vast and varied as the universe itself. It is a love that defies logic and surpasses the limitations of language. From the depths of my being, I love you for the person you are, the way you make me feel, the memories we cherish, your quirks and imperfections, and the future we envision together. My love for you is boundless, unconditional, and everlasting.

A 5-paragraph essay about love

I’ve gathered all the samples (and a few bonus ones) in one PDF. It’s free to download. So, you can keep it at hand when the time comes to write a love essay.

Ready to Write Your Essay About Love?

Now that you know the definition of a love essay and have many topic ideas, it’s time to write your A-worthy paper! Here go the steps:

• Check all the examples of what is love essay from this post.
• Choose the topic and angle that fits your prompt best.
• Write your original and inspiring story.

Any questions left? Our writers are all ears. Please don’t hesitate to ask!

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Essays About Losing a Loved One: Top 5 Examples

Writing essays about losing a loved one can be challenging; discover our helpful guide with essay examples and writing prompts to help you begin writing. 

One of the most basic facts of life is that it is unpredictable. Nothing on this earth is permanent, and any one of us can pass away in the blink of an eye. But unfortunately, they leave behind many family members and friends who will miss them very much whenever someone dies.

The most devastating news can ruin our best days, affecting us negatively for the next few months and years. When we lose a loved one, we also lose a part of ourselves. Even if the loss can make you feel hopeless at times, finding ways to cope healthily, distract yourself, and move on while still honoring and remembering the deceased is essential.

5 Top Essay Examples

1. losing a loved one by louis barker, 2. personal reflections on coping and loss by adrian furnham , 3. losing my mom helped me become a better parent by trish mann, 4. reflection – dealing with grief and loss by joe joyce.

• 5. ​​Will We Always Hurt on The Anniversary of Losing a Loved One? by Anne Peterson

1. Is Resilience Glorified in Society?

2. how to cope with a loss, 3. reflection on losing a loved one, 4. the stages of grief, 5. the circle of life, 6. how different cultures commemorate losing a loved one.

“I managed to keep my cool until I realized why I was seeing these familiar faces. Once the service started I managed to keep my emotions in tack until I saw my grandmother break down. I could not even look up at her because I thought about how I would feel in the same situation. Your life can change drastically at any moment. Do not take life or the people that you love for granted, you are only here once.”

Barker reflects on how he found out his uncle had passed away. The writer describes the events leading up to the discovery, contrasting the relaxed, cheerful mood and setting that enveloped the house with the feelings of shock, dread, and devastation that he and his family felt once they heard. He also recalls his family members’ different emotions and mannerisms at the memorial service and funeral. 

“Most people like to believe that they live in a just, orderly and stable world where good wins out in the end. But what if things really are random? Counselors and therapists talk about the grief process and grief stages. Given that nearly all of us have experienced major loss and observed it in others, might one expect that people would be relatively sophisticated in helping the grieving?”

Furnham, a psychologist, discusses the stages of grief and proposes six different responses to finding out about one’s loss or suffering: avoidance, brief encounters, miracle cures, real listeners, practical help, and “giving no quarter.” He discusses this in the context of his wife’s breast cancer diagnosis, after which many people displayed these responses. Finally, Furnham mentions the irony that although we have all experienced and observed losing a loved one, no one can help others grieve perfectly.

“When I look in the mirror, I see my mom looking back at me from coffee-colored eyes under the oh-so-familiar crease of her eyelid. She is still here in me. Death does not take what we do not relinquish. I have no doubt she is sitting beside me when I am at my lowest telling me, ‘You can do this. You got this. I believe in you.’”

In Mann’s essay, she tries to see the bright side of her loss; despite the anguish she experienced due to her mother’s passing. Expectedly, she was incredibly depressed and had difficulty accepting that her mom was gone. But, on the other hand, she began to channel her mom into parenting her children, evoking the happy memories they once shared. She is also amused to see the parallels between her and her kids with her and her mother growing up. 

“Now I understood that these feelings must be allowed expression for as long as a person needs. I realized that the “don’t cry” I had spoken on many occasions in the past was not of much help to grieving persons, and that when I had used those words I had been expressing more my own discomfort with feelings of grief and loss than paying attention to the need of mourners to express them.”

Joyce, a priest, writes about the time he witnessed the passing of his cousin on his deathbed. Having experienced this loss right as it happened, he was understandably shaken and realized that all his preachings of “don’t cry” were unrealistic. He compares this instance to a funeral he attended in Pakistan, recalling the importance of letting grief take its course while not allowing it to consume you. 

5. ​​ Will We Always Hurt on The Anniversary of Losing a Loved One? by Anne Peterson

“Death. It’s certain. And we can’t do anything about that. In fact, we are not in control of many of the difficult circumstances of our lives, but we are responsible for how we respond to them. And I choose to honor their memory.”

Peterson discusses how she feels when she has to commemorate the anniversary of losing a loved one. She recalls the tragic deaths of her sister, two brothers, and granddaughter and describes her guilt and anger. Finally, she prays to God, asking him to help her; because of a combination of prayer and self-reflection, she can look back on these times with peace and hope that they will reunite one day. 

6 Thought-Provoking Writing Prompts on Essays About Losing A Loved One

Society tends to praise those who show resilience and strength, especially in times of struggle, such as losing a loved one. However, praising a person’s resilience can prevent them from feeling the pain of loss and grief. This essay explores how glorifying resilience can prevent a person from healing from painful events. Be sure to include examples of this issue in society and your own experiences, if applicable.

Loss is always tricky, especially involving someone close to your heart. Reflect on your personal experiences and how you overcame your grief for an effective essay. Create an essay to guide readers on how to cope with loss. If you can’t pull ideas from your own experiences, research and read other people’s experiences with overcoming loss in life.

If you have experienced losing a loved one, use this essay to describe how it made you feel. Discuss how you reacted to this loss and how it has impacted who you are today. Writing an essay like this may be sensitive for many. If you don’t feel comfortable with this topic, you can write about and analyze the loss of a loved one in a book, movie, or TV show you have seen. 

When we lose a loved one, grief is expected. There are five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Discuss each one and how they all connect. You can write a compelling essay by including examples of how the different stages are manifested in books, television, and maybe even your own experiences. 

Death is often regarded as a part of a so-called “circle of life,” most famously shown through the film, The Lion King . In summary, it explains that life goes on and always ends with death. For an intriguing essay topic, reflect on this phrase and discuss what it means to you in the context of losing a loved one. For example, perhaps keeping this in mind can help you cope with the loss. 

Different cultures have different traditions, affected by geography, religion, and history. Funerals are no exception to this; in your essay, research how different cultures honor their deceased and compare and contrast them. No matter how different they may seem, try finding one or two similarities between your chosen traditions. 

If you’d like to learn more, our writer explains how to write an argumentative essay in this guide.For help picking your next essay topic, check out our 20 engaging essay topics about family .

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“The amount of happiness that you have depends on the amount of freedom you have in your heart.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh

Nine years ago my heart was in a million little pieces that formed the basis for a million regrets.

I had my first serious relationship in college, when all my insecurities came to a head. My ex-boyfriend had to juggle multiple roles, from therapist to cheerleader to babysitter.

The whole relationship revolved around holding me up. I realized this soon after it ended—that I’d spent three years expecting someone else to love me when I didn’t love myself. The guilt and shame kept me single for almost a decade.

I dated, but it was always casual. I’d start getting close to someone and then find a way to sabotage it.

Long after I let go of the man, feelings about the relationship held me back. I was afraid of being vulnerable. I was afraid of being hurt . But mostly I was afraid of hurting someone else again and having to live with that.

If you’ve been holding onto an old relationship, now is the perfect time to let go. Here’s how you can start moving on.

1. Practice releasing regrets.

When a relationship ends, it’s tempting to dwell on what you did wrong or what you could have done differently. This might seem productive—like you can somehow change things by rehashing it. You can’t. All dwelling does is cause you to suffer.

When you start revisiting the past in your head, pull yourself into the moment. Focus on the good things in your current situation: the friends who are there for you and the lessons you’ve learned that will help you with future relationships.

It might help to tell your friends to only let you vent for ten minutes at a time. That way you’re free to express your feelings, but not drown in them.

2. Work on forgiving yourself.

You might think you made the biggest mistake of your life and if only you didn’t do it, you wouldn’t be in pain right now. Don’t go down that road—there’s nothing good down there!

Instead, keep reminding yourself that you are human. You’re entitled to make mistakes; everyone does. And you will learn from them and use those lessons to improve your life.

Also, keep in mind: if you want to feel love again in the future, the first step is to prepare yourself to give and receive it. You can only do that if you feel love toward yourself. And that means forgiving yourself.

3. Don’t think about any time as lost.

If I looked at that unhealthy relationship or the following decade as time lost, I’d underestimate all the amazing things I did in that time. True, I was single throughout my twenties, but that made it easier to travel and devote myself to different passions.

If you’ve been clinging to the past for a while and now feel you’ve missed out, shift the focus to everything you’ve gained. Maybe you’ve built great friendships or made great progress in your career.

When you focus on the positive, it’s easier to move on because you’ll feel empowered and not victimized (by your ex, by yourself, or by time.) Whatever happened in the past, it prepared you for now—and now is full of opportunities for growth, peace, and happiness.

4. Remember the bad as well as the good.

Brain scientists suggest nearly 20% of us suffer from “complicated grief,” a persistent sense of longing for someone we lost with romanticized memories of the relationship. Scientists also suggest this is a biological occurrence—that the longing can have an addictive quality to it, actually rooted in our brain chemistry.

As a result, we tend to remember everything with reverie, as if it was all sunshine and roses. If your ex broke up with you, it may be even more tempting to imagine she or he was perfect and you weren’t.  In all reality, you both have strengths and weaknesses and you both made mistakes.

Remember them now. As I mentioned in the post 40 Ways to Let Go and Feel Less Pain , it’s easier to let go of a human than a hero.

5. Reconnect with who you are outside a relationship.

It’s quite possible you lived a fulfilling single life before you got into this relationship. And maybe you felt strong, satisfied, and happy, if not with everything in your life, on the whole.

Remember that person now. Reconnect with any people or interests that may have received less attention while you were attached.

Your former self attracted your ex, and they’re still there inside you. That person will get you through this loss and will attract someone equally amazing in the future, when the time is right. If you can’t remember who you were, get to know yourself now. What’s important to you? What do you enjoy? What makes you feel alive?

If you never felt satisfied and happy on your own, use this as opportunity to become the kind of person you’d want to be with, because you’re going to be with yourself forever, regardless of your relationship status. And though someone else can complement your life, you are the only one who can fill yourself from the inside out.

6. Create separation.

Hope can be a terrible thing if it keeps you stuck in the past. It’s not easy to end all contact when you feel attached to someone. Breaking off the friendship might feel like ruining your chances at knowing love again.

It’s helped me to change my hopes to broader terms. So instead of wanting a specific person to re-enter your life, want love and happiness, whatever that may look like.

You will know love again. You won’t spend the rest of your life alone. In one way or another, you will meet all kinds of people and create all kinds of possibilities for relationships—if you forgive yourself, let go, and open yourself up, that is.

7. Let yourself feel.

Losing a relationship can feel like a mini-death, complete with a grieving process.

First, you’re shocked and in denial. You don’t believe it’s over and you hold out hope. Next, you feel hurt and guilty. You should have done things differently. If you did you wouldn’t be in this pain.

Then, you feel angry and maybe even start bargaining. It would be different if you gave it a second go. You wouldn’t be so insecure, defensive, or demanding. Then you might feel depressed and lonely as it hits you how much you’ve lost.

Eventually, you start accepting what happened and shift your focus from the past to the future.

You have to go through the feelings as they come, but you can help yourself get through them faster. For example, if you’re dwelling in guilt, make forgiving yourself a daily practice. Read books on it, meditate about it, or write about it in a journal .

8. Remember the benefits of moving on.

When you let go, you give yourself peace.

Everything about holding on is torturous. You regret, you feel ashamed and guilty, you rehash, you obsess—it’s all an exercise in suffering. The only way to feel peace is to quiet the thoughts that threaten it.

Letting go opens you up to new possibilities .

When you’re holding onto something, you’re less open to giving and receiving anything else.

If you had your arms wrapped around a huge bucket of water, you wouldn’t be able to give anything other than that bucket, or grab anything else that came your way. You might even struggle breathing because you’re clutching something so all-encompassing with so much effort.

You have to give to receive. Give love to get love, share joy to feel joy. It’s only possible if you’re open and receptive.

9. Recognize and replace fearful thoughts.

When you’re holding onto a relationship, it’s usually more about attachment than love. Love wants for the other person’s happiness. Fear wants to hold onto whatever appears to make you happy so you don’t have to feel the alternative.

You might not recognize these types of fearful thoughts because they become habitual. Some examples include: I’ll never feel loved again. I’ll always feel lonely. I am completely powerless.

Replace those thoughts with: All pain passes eventually. It will be easier if I help them pass by being mindful. I can’t always control what happens to me, but I can control how I respond to it.

10. Embrace impermanence.

Nothing in life lasts forever. Every experience and relationship eventually runs its course.

The best way to embrace impermanence is to translate it into action. Treat each day as a life unto itself. Appreciate the people in front of you as if it were their last day on earth. Find little things to gain in every moment instead of dwelling on what you lost.

When I feel like clinging to experiences and people, I remind myself the unknown can be a curse or an adventure. It’s up to me whether or not I’m strong and positive enough to see it as the latter.

It took me eight years to work through my feelings about relationships and letting go; but I am happy to report I am fifteen months into a healthy relationship, standing firmly on my own two feet. In fact, last night he flew from California to Boston, where I’ve been visiting for the last two weeks, to spend time with me and my family.

I don’t regret the time when I was single, but I know now I could have hurt less and created even more possibilities for myself if I put more effort into completely letting go. I hope you’ll make that choice.

Update: As you can see from the comment section, I have received many requests for advice, and I have done my best to offer guidance and support. However, I feel a responsibility to express that this post presents my own personal experiences and lessons. I am not an expert on relationships, and I hold no formal training in psychology or counseling. If you are in a physically or emotionally abusive or otherwise unhealthy relationship, I highly recommend you consult a qualified professional.

Update #2: Due to the high volume of requests for advice, on this and other posts, I may not be able to respond to your comment. However, you are more than welcome to share your experiences! Other readers may be able to offer their insights. Alternatively, you may want to join the Tiny Buddha forums to seek guidance and support from the community.

About Lori Deschene

Lori Deschene is the founder of Tiny Buddha. She started the site after struggling with depression, bulimia, c-PTSD, and toxic shame so she could recycle her former pain into something useful and inspire others do the same. She recently created the Breaking Barriers to Self-Care eCourse to help people overcome internal blocks to meeting their needs—so they can feel their best, be their best, and live their best possible life. If you’re ready to start thriving instead of merely surviving, you can learn more and get instant access here .

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• Writing Paragraphs

How to Conclude a Paragraph

Last Updated: December 13, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Diane Stubbs and by wikiHow staff writer, Danielle Blinka, MA, MPA . Diane Stubbs is a Secondary English Teacher with over 22 years of experience teaching all high school grade levels and AP courses. She specializes in secondary education, classroom management, and educational technology. Diane earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Delaware and a Master of Education from Wesley College. There are 11 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 115,891 times.

If you want a body paragraph to be effective, you need to conclude it properly — a closing sentence is as imperative as a conclusion is to an essay or a research paper. Closing or concluding sentences act like a concluding paragraph in an essay and review the points you made in the paragraph. To effectively conclude a paragraph, restate your topic sentence and include what you taught the reader. Tailor the sentence to the type of essay you’re writing, whether it’s a persuasive or compare and contrast essay.

Reviewing Your Paragraph

• Focus on what you lay out in the topic sentence.
• Note your evidence and details.

• If your topic sentence reads, “Cats may be small, but they’re mighty predators,” then your main idea is that cats are big hunters.
• Your concluding statement should show how your paragraph supported the idea that cats are big predators. For example, a closing statement might read, “Based on these statistics, cats are predators who hunt frequently and decrease the area bird population.”

• For example, the closing statement above, “Based on these statistics, cats are predators who hunt frequently and decrease the area bird population,” reminds the reader that the paragraph just provided statistics about how often cats hunt and how they impact the local bird population. These details support the main idea, and the writer has mentioned both.

Drafting a Closing Statement

• Consequently
• As a result

• An example topic sentence might read: “Cats are natural predators because they enjoy hunting and will even hunt for sport.”
• Your concluding statement for this paragraph might read: “As a result of their continued hunts even after they’re domesticated and provided cat food, cats are proven to be natural predators.”

• As an example, “The data shows that cats hunt even when they have steady meals, which proves that they are natural hunters.”

• For example, “As the data shows, feral cats hunt 140% more than domestic cats.”

• For example, “Consequently, homes that own cats have fewer birds living in their yards.”

• For example, “In the end, cats hunt out of instinct.”

• For example, “To conclude, feral cats are more dangerous to birds than house cats because they have more hunting opportunities and kill more birds each year on average.” This sentence supports the main idea that feral cats hunt more than house cats and shows how the two details provided in the sentence link back to the topic sentence.

• For example, your closing statement could read, “In summation, statistics show that cats who wear bell collars are less of a threat to birds because they kill fewer birds even if they have the same number of hunting opportunities.” This signals to the reader that the writer has finished with one main idea and is moving onto another in a new paragraph.

Avoiding Common Errors

• You also want to avoid the word “you.” For example, don’t say, “As you can see” in your concluding sentence.
• There are some exceptions, such as if you’re writing an introductory paragraph or an opinion essay.

• Reread your concluding statement, then compare it to your paragraph. Do you reference one detail but not another? If it does, rewrite the sentence to address the main points, not the subpoints.

• A poor closing statement might read: “As you can see, the evidence suggests that cats like to hunt."
• A better closing statement could read: “Based on the data, cats look for opportunities to hunt for sport, proving they are natural predators."

Expert Q&A

• In some cases, the concluding statements in introductions and conclusions may have a slightly different format. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Remember that your goal is to show the reader your ideas. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Focus on your main idea. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

• Try to avoid sounding redundant. Thanks Helpful 2 Not Helpful 0
• Don’t just restate your topic sentence. Show how the details you’ve provided contribute to the main idea. Thanks Helpful 3 Not Helpful 1

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• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/editing-and-proofreading/
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/paragraphs/
• ↑ https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/wrd/chapter/writing-summaries/
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/transitions/
• ↑ https://lsa.umich.edu/sweetland/undergraduates/writing-guides/how-do-i-write-an-intro--conclusion----body-paragraph.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/essay_writing/argumentative_essays.html
• ↑ https://owl.excelsior.edu/rhetorical-styles/compare-and-contrast-essay/
• ↑ https://owl.excelsior.edu/rhetorical-styles/cause-and-effect-essay/
• ↑ https://www.grammarly.com/blog/how-to-write-an-informative-essay/
• ↑ https://wts.indiana.edu/writing-guides/paragraphs-and-topic-sentences.html
• ↑ https://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/conclusion

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How to watch the 2024 Olympics closing ceremony

The Olympic rings are seen on the Eiffel Tower during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

The balloon carrying the Olympic cauldron rises above Tuileries Garden as the Eiffel Tower stands in the distance during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

France’s Jules Bouyer competes in the men’s 3m springboard diving preliminary at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Simone Biles, of the United States, competes during the women’s artistic gymnastics individual balance beam finals at Bercy Arena at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Leon Marchand from France competes in a men’s 4x100-meter medley relay heat at the Summer Olympics in Nanterre, France, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

United States’ LeBron James flexes after scoring during a men’s basketball game against Brazil at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

A’ja Wilson (9), of the United States, grabs a rebound over Marie Guelich (11), of Germany, in a women’s basketball game at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Villeneuve-d’Ascq, France. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Noah Lyles, of the United States, reacts following the men’s 200-meters final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France.(AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

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Follow along for the latest updates from today’s Olympic action , including the women’s basketball final , where host France faces the U.S., and later, the closing ceremony .

PARIS (AP) — The Paris Olympics are coming to a close on Sunday.

U.S. gymnastics star Simone Biles made a triumphant return, taking her Olympic gold tally to seven. French swimmer Léon Marchand won five medals — four of them gold — fulfilling comparisons to Michael Phelps. Armand “Mondo” Duplantis won another gold medal, but the real show for the 80,000 at the Stade de France — which will be the site of Sunday’s closing ceremony — was when he broke the world record for the ninth time.

Sha’Carri Richardson rallied in the anchor leg to lead the U.S. to a win in the 4x100 meter relay and claim her first Olympic gold medal.

Boxer Imane Khelif of Algeria won a gold medal after being in the spotlight because of misconceptions about her gender , and breaking made its Olympic debut with Japan’s b-girl Ami taking the gold.

Organizers of the Paris Games have, for the most part, successfully showcased the beauty of the French capital. Beach volleyball has taken place next to the Eiffel Tower . Holding events in the polluted Seine River , however, has proven more difficult.

Who is winning the 2024 Olympics?

The United States leads the medal standings overall, with China next in line. Australia, Japan, Britain and France are vying for the third spot. Here is Saturday’s Olympic schedule of events , as well as the overall list of medal winners .

What’s the last event of the 2024 Olympics?

The women’s basketball gold medal game between the United States and France is the last event before the closing ceremony. It’s scheduled to tip off at 3:30 p.m. CEST (9:30 a.m. EDT) at Bercy Arena.

When is the 2024 Olympics closing ceremony?

The closing ceremony is scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. CEST (3 p.m. EDT) on Sunday at Stade de France just north of Paris. It’s expected to last until 11:15 p.m. CEST (5:15 p.m. EDT).

What will happen during the closing ceremony?

It will feature traditional highlights, including the athletes’ parade and the handover of the Olympic flag to the organizers of the 2028 Los Angeles Games . H.E.R., the five-time Grammy winner , is expected to sing the U.S. national anthem live at the Stade de France as part of the handover. There will be a medal presentation ceremony — for the women’s marathon from earlier in the day.

Catch up on the latest from Day 15 of the 2024 Paris Olympics:

• Basketball: Steph Curry’s late barrage seals fifth straight Olympic men’s basketball title , as US beats France.
• Gymnastics: Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu could replace Jordan Chiles as bronze medalist in floor exercise after a court ruling.
• Soccer: The U.S. women’s soccer team won its fifth Olympic gold medal , and first since 2012, by beating Brazil 1-0.

It’s almost over: What to know about the Paris Olympics closing ceremony .

Follow along with our Olympics medal tracker and list of winners. Here is the Olympic schedule of events.

It’s a more traditional setting after the Seine River was used for the audacious opening ceremony , but don’t expect it to be dull. It features the same artistic director — Thomas Jolly. Organizers said in a recent statement that it will include “over a hundred performers, acrobats, dancers and circus artists.” There will be musical performances and “the participation of world-renowned singers will complete the picture. ... Part of the show will take place in the air, while the giant sets, costumes and spectacular lighting effects will take spectators on a journey through time, both past and future.”

Jolly added: “It’s a very visual, very choreographic, very acrobatic show with an operatic dimension to give a great visual fresco and say goodbye to athletes from all over the world.”

How can I watch the closing ceremony?

OLYMPIC PHOTOS : See AP’s top photos from the 2024 Paris games

It will air on NBC and Peacock.

AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

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Britain’s Violent Riots: What We Know

Officials had braced for more unrest on Wednesday, but the night’s anti-immigration protests were smaller, with counterprotesters dominating the streets instead.

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By Lynsey Chutel

After days of violent rioting set off by disinformation around a deadly stabbing rampage, the authorities in Britain had been bracing for more unrest on Wednesday. But by nightfall, large-scale anti-immigration demonstrations had not materialized, and only a few arrests had been made nationwide.

Instead, streets in cities across the country were filled with thousands of antiracism protesters, including in Liverpool, where by late evening, the counterdemonstration had taken on an almost celebratory tone.

Over the weekend, the anti-immigration protests, organized by far-right groups, had devolved into violence in more than a dozen towns and cities. And with messages on social media calling for wider protests and counterprotests on Wednesday, the British authorities were on high alert.

With tensions running high, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s cabinet held emergency meetings to discuss what has become the first crisis of his recently elected government. Some 6,000 specialist public-order police officers were mobilized nationwide to respond to any disorder, and the authorities in several cities and towns stepped up patrols.

Wednesday was not trouble-free, however.

In Bristol, the police said there was one arrest after a brick was thrown at a police vehicle and a bottle was thrown. In the southern city of Portsmouth, police officers dispersed a small group of anti-immigration protesters who had blocked a roadway. And in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where there have been at least four nights of unrest, disorder continued, and the police service said it would bring in additional officers.

But overall, many expressed relief that the fears of wide-scale violence had not been realized.

Here’s what we know about the turmoil in Britain.

Where arrests have been reported

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