Using Questions in the Conclusion

Conclusion Paragraphs—One Place for Questions

The purpose of a conclusion paragraph is to wrap-up—as an overview—the argument points from the body-paragraphs and reassert—in new wording—the point of the whole essay: the thesis statement.

If you are wrapping up the essay’s information and you ask your reader a question here or there, then you are defeating the purpose of declaring that your argument is the only way to believe.  When you ask the reader a question, he stops…comes out of the paper…and answers the question for himself.  You do not know if the way he answers will benefit your argument.  Maybe he answers the question and then begins to return to your writing, yet after realizing that he does not agree with your initial statements, he puts down the writing.  You just lost your reader.  The goal of writing is to entice and KEEP readers in your writing all the way to the end.  Only by keeping them there can you argue your point and persuade them of your side.

If the reader does not set down your paper but simply returns to the writing, you—as a writer—now must work twice as hard to re-engage the reader and submerge him back into your views, sources, and argument—always reminding him of the strong arguments from the body-paragraphs.  Often, the reader never fully submerses his head again into your writing, thus weakening your persuasive discourse, right as you were wrapping things up in the essay.

If you ask questions, you risk two things: 1) losing the reader, and 2) sounding like you do not know what you are talking about since you are looking to the reader for answers and stimulation for your writing through the question/answer pattern.  It is alright to ask yourself questions in the planning/prewriting phase, but once you have those answers and you begin your draft, all of the questions need to go. 

If all else fails, there is one place in a conclusion paragraph where a question might work well—the closing sentence of the conclusion paragraph.  After all, the very last sentence is supposed to ‘wow’ the audience, causing them to act, or think further upon your argument.  This location is sometimes acceptable for a question to leave the reader thinking about.  However, even in this location, it does not always work well, and so please use this tactic wisely.

© 2018 by Jeanette L. H. Dick

Using Questions in the Conclusion