Scholarly writing and how to get it done. / And a workshop for my own ideas, scholarly and poetic
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Friday, January 4, 2013
Don't
begin your concluding paragraph with the words, "In conclusion." If you don't know why you shouldn't do this, you can ask me, but it should be obvious.
Could you elaborate? I'm not a scholar but on e-mails I often write a long explanation and then add an "In summary" paragraph briefing the situation and my conclusion.
I was talking about scholarly articles, not emails. If your last paragraph of an 9,000 word essay begins with the words "In conclusion..." it sounds very bush league, like you think you have to write those words so people will know it's your conclusion. Normally, too, the conclusion itself would be several paragraphs, not one.
I much prefer "in conclusion" at the end of a student essay to some of the alternatives, such as "summing up" or "we can say that" ... but I see your point that it's "bush league."
Could you elaborate? I'm not a scholar but on e-mails I often write a long explanation and then add an "In summary" paragraph briefing the situation and my conclusion.
ReplyDeleteI was talking about scholarly articles, not emails. If your last paragraph of an 9,000 word essay begins with the words "In conclusion..." it sounds very bush league, like you think you have to write those words so people will know it's your conclusion. Normally, too, the conclusion itself would be several paragraphs, not one.
ReplyDeleteI much prefer "in conclusion" at the end of a student essay to some of the alternatives, such as "summing up" or "we can say that" ... but I see your point that it's "bush league."
ReplyDelete