Download and read the article "Got Milk?"
Answer "Reader's response" question #5, "Writer's Response" questions #1, #3 and #5 and "Write Time" question #4.
When you have completed the questions, get a copy of the "Writing Conclusions" worksheet. Go back to the article and read the conclusion.
A good conclusion should begin with a summary statement and do at least two of the following things:
- connect the main ideas presented in the body
- connect back to the introduction
- connect the ideas in the text to personal experience
- connect the topic to ideas beyond the text (a text-to-world connection)
Which of these things does the conclusion in the article do?
Go back to your handout "Linking Your Ideas Using Transitions" and identify the main ideas in your article or research paper. Then use the "Writing Conclusions" handout to write a rough draft of your conclusion.
Share your conclusion with a partner. Then, based on your partner's suggestions, get another copy of the "Writing Conclusions" handout and write a second conclusion. Be sure to include a transition so that your conclusion connects to the rest of your paper!
Which of the two conclusions that your wrote do you think was better? why?
Expository writing lesson #9: how do we write conclusions?
