10/6/2017 Conclusions

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Writing Process and In academic writing, a well-crafted conclusion can provide the final word on the value
Structure of your analysis, research, or paper. Complete your conclusions with conviction!

Creating an Argument Conclusions show readers the value of your completely developed argument or
Thesis vs. Purpose thoroughly answered question. Consider the conclusion from the reader's
Statements perspective. At the end of a paper, a reader wants to know how to benefit from the
Developing a Thesis work you accomplished in your paper. Here are ways to think about the purpose
Statement of a conclusion:

Architecture of
To connect the paper's findings to a larger context, such as the wider
Arguments
conversation about an issue as it is presented in a course or in other published
writing.
Working with Sources To suggest the implications of your findings or the importance of the topic.
Quoting and
To ask questions or suggest ideas for further research.
Paraphrasing Sources
To revisit your main idea or research question with new insight.
Using Literary Quotations
Citing Sources in Your
Paper Should you summarize?
Consider what readers can keep track of in their heads. If your paper is long or
Drafting Your Paper complex, some summary of your key points will remind readers of the ground you've
Introductions covered. If your paper is short, your readers may not need a summary. In any paper,
Paragraphing you'll want to push beyond mere summary to suggest the implications or applications
of your work.
Conclusions

Revising Your Paper How do you start drafting a conclusion?

Peer Reviews
Effective conclusions take the paper beyond summary and demonstrate a further
Reverse Outlines appreciation of the paper's argument and its significance: why it works, why it is
Revising an meaningful, and why it is valuable. To get started, you might ask yourself these
Argumentative Paper questions:
Revision Strategies for
Longer Projects
How do the ideas in your paper connect to what you have discussed in class,
or to what scholars have written in their treatment of your topic?
Finishing Your Paper What new ideas have you added to the conversation? What ideas do you
Twelve Common Errors:
critique?
An Editing Checklist What are the limitations of your data, methods, or results?
What are the consequences of the strongest idea that comes out of your
How to Proofread your
paper?
Paper
How can you return to the question or situation you describe in your
Improving Your Writing introduction?
Style
Grammar and Examples
Punctuation
Cite References in Your
Paper Mechanical engineering

Writing Center Home From Mounting methodologies to measure EUV reticle nonflatness (SPIE Proceedings
7470, 2009), by UWMadison Professor Roxanne L. Engelstad's lab. Notice how
Battula et al. explain the limitations of their findings, and identify specific future
developments that would make their proposal more accurately testable.

The horizontal whiffle tree mount should have performed the best considering the
kinematics of the 16 support points, as well as theoretically displaying the least
amount of gravitational distortions. However, due to possible friction at the pivoted
joints and the current tolerances on the whiffle tree system, there were difficulties in
using this mount. At this time, the process of averaging the measurements taken at
four vertical orientations appears to be the best approach.

Gender and Women's Studies

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10/6/2017 Conclusions
From Examining Millie and Christine McKoy: Where Enslavement and Enfreakment
Meet (Signs 37, 2011), by UWMadison Professor Ellen Samuels. Notice how
Samuels's conclusion briefly summarizes her article's main claims before turning to
the consequences of her strongest claims.

While there are still many questions left unanswered about the McKoys, and many
possible truths to be drawn from their lives, I have aimed in this article to establish
that at least two things are not true: the tale of the beneficent and beloved
slaveowners and the resigned, downcast expression on Millie's face in the altered
picture. Moreover, I contend that turning away from historical legacies as complex
and dangerous as those of enslavement and enfreakment keeps us from being able
to understand them and to imagine different futures. We need to develop paradigms
of analysis that allow us to perceive and interpret both the radical empowerment of
the McKoys' lives and the oppressions that are no less fundamental to their story.
Such an analysis must allow for dissonance, contradictions, and even discomfort in
its gaze. Only then can we move forward with the work of shaping new
representations and new possibilities for extraordinary bodily experience.

Legal writing
From UWMadison Law Professor Andrew B. Coan's Judicial Capacity and the
Substance of Constitutional Law (2012). Notice how this conclusion emphasizes the
significance of the topic under consideration.

Judicial capacity has been too long misunderstood and too long neglected. It is a
central institutional characteristic of the judiciary, which has significant predictive
power in important constitutional domains and also significant normative
implications. It deserves consideration from constitutional theorists on par with that
accorded to judicial competence and judicial independence. Indeed, it is crucial to a
full understanding of both of these much-discussed institutional features of the
judiciary.

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