how do we write an effective conclusion through narrative writing

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how do we write an effective conclusion through narrative writing

The Perfect Ending: Concluding the Narrative Essay

Concluding a narrative essay can be a challenge for experienced and beginning writers alike. Writers often fall into the trap of tying the narrative up too neatly, telling the readers what they are supposed to take away from their story instead of letting the reader come to their own conclusions. Study a few essays from some of the great writers and notice how they conclude their stories. Often the ending to their narratives is left ambiguous; the reader isn’t exactly sure how everything will turn out. The reader should be left with a sense of closure, without being told how or what to feel.

Conclude with an Image

Have you ever heard the phrase, “Show, don’t tell”? Showing an image puts a visual in the reader’s mind, an effective way to conclude without telling too much. Showing an image prevents you from telling your feelings, which, in most cases, you want to avoid. In the essay “Buckeye,” Scott Russell Sanders uses the image of a grazing deer to conclude his narrative:

. . . within a few paces of a grazing deer, close enough to see the delicate lips, the twitching nostrils, the glossy, fathomless eyes.

This lyrical conclusion comes from “Bathing,” as writer Kathryn Winograd shows the last moments of her bath:

The wind sings through the window like a siren, and the steam floats from my skin like milk.

Conclude in the Action

Show yourself in action. Move. Do something, anything, to avoid telling the reader how happy, or sad, or hopeful you are in the end. Look at something, and walk away, as Edward Hoagland does in “The Courage of Turtles”: But since, short of diving in after him, there was nothing I could do, I walked away.

Or look at something, and become mesmerized. A chapter from the classic memoir, Stop Time by Frank Conroy, “Yo-Yo Going Down, a Mad Squirrel Coming Up,” shows a young Conroy as he watches a girl through a window:

That same night, hidden in the greenery under the window, I watched a naked girl let down her long red hair.

Conclude with Dialogue

Dialogue can be tricky to conclude with, but can work if it avoids a message or moral. You’ll only want to use this concluding technique if it has been maintained in the narrative; you probably don’t want to throw in spoken word if we haven’t heard anyone speak up until that point.

David Sedaris, in his essay, “Cyclops,” ends with the voice of his father, who is the main character in this essay: “I don’t know where you got it from, but in the end, it’s going to kill you.”

The following brief reply, taken from Jo Ann Beard’s “The Fourth State of Matter,” shows an image, followed by unquoted dialogue. Beard uses italics instead:

Around my neck is the stone he brought me from Poland. I hold it out. Like this? I ask. Shards of fly wings, suspended in amber. Exactly , he says.

Another example below comes again from Scott Russell Sanders, this from “Cloud Crossing,” as his toddler son babbles:

“Moon,” he is piping from the back seat, “moon, moon!”

Conclude by Reflecting

When used well, reflection is a great way to convey feelings without telling the reader how you felt – or how they should feel. Reflection offers the writer’s thoughts about what is happening or has happened. Reflection can include thoughts about the moment or thoughts looking back, about the experience. Reflection can add clarity, as we see the writer thinking through the experience. This concluding moment is from James Baldwin’s, “Notes of a Native Son”:

. . . I wished that he had been beside me so that I could have searched his face for the answers which only the future would give me now.

Bret Lott, in his short essay, “Brothers,” reflects on childhood memories of his family, taking him into the present with his own two sons:

What I believe is this: That pinch was entry into our childhood; my arm around him, our smiling, is the proof of us two surfacing, alive but not unscathed. And here are my own two boys, already embarked.

In Conclusion

When writing your own conclusion, think about what you want your readers to take away from your story. Then think about how best you can show it. You seldom can go wrong with images. Dialogue is a great way to let a character have the last word. Ending with reflection, sharing thoughts or feelings, works when a bit more needs to be said. Think about what feeling, emotion, or question you want to leave your readers with, the take-away, then choose the type of conclusion that best suits the narrative. It’s not unusual to actually write the conclusion first, and it often serves as a road map to get the narrative where it needs to go. Taking time to carefully craft a conclusion can make or break your narrative.

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Very important and well-said.

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How to Write Narrative Conclusions

In the conclusion of a narrative essay, you impart your takeaway message, a lesson or a reflection -- a new discovery of meaning in life -- to your reader. A narrative essay is one of the many rhetorical modes in writing, such as description, comparison and contrast, definition, argument, evaluation, illustration, classification, cause and effect, process and analysis. But, for the conclusion to work, all parts of the narrative essay must build toward it.

Explore this article

1 Narrative Essay

Open your introduction with the overall background information about the significant event, person or object, explaining why you have decided to write about it. A narrative essay often opens with a time-signaling device, such as “Once upon a time,” “When I graduated from high school” or “Last night.” Typically, you will provide the background information of the event in journalistic details: who, what, where, when, why and how. You can further enhance your background information by using sensory perceptions -- such as visual, tactile, olfactory, and auditory images -- to enhance the description of the event.

2 Organizing Body Paragraphs

In the ensuing body paragraphs, organize the content according to how the event occurred chronologically -- such as first, second and third -- or by what the event has taught you in three significant areas of your life. For example, you can say your auto accident taught you the following three important lessons: never drive drunk, accidents can happen to anyone anywhere and life is more valuable than a few drinks. Use these three lessons as your topic sentences in each body paragraph, supported by real life examples based on your personal observation and experience, again, using personal details. For example, your first topic sentence might read, “The car wreck taught me never to drive drunk again,” followed by supporting arguments based on your real-life experience of having actually had a car wreck.

3 Transitional Devices

Ordering your narrative essay chronologically in the sequence of how the event has unfolded makes your story flow better. But by ordering your body paragraphs with the lessons you have learned, you are showing your critical ability to describe an event in the introduction -- a simple task -- and then taking off from that simple event to a critical thinking, such as lessons learned -- a more complex task. However, either way of organizing your narrative will be fine as long as you offer a takeaway message in your conclusion.

4 Closing Narrative Essays

The conclusion of narrative essays is not different from others types of essays: it provides a sense of awakening, a moment of sudden realization, inspiration, recognition, insight and comprehension so that the readers will take away this epiphany you are trying to share. You might say something like: "I realized that drinking and driving do not mix and that my life -- and the lives of others -- may depend on my remembering this." Such a conclusion should ultimately lead the reader to act according to your persuasion, such as not to drive drunk in this case.

1 Evergreen, A Guide to Writing with Reading; Susan Fawcett

About the Author

Dr. Yoon Kim earned a Ph. D. in English from Oklahoma State University. His editing experience includes Ph.D. dissertations (English), and senior professor’s research articles (Psychology and Education) that are published in peer-reviewed professional journals.

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Transitions For Essays

Regardless of how old we are, we never stop learning. Classroom is the educational resource for people of all ages. Whether you’re studying times tables or applying to college, Classroom has the answers.

Do you need ideas for writing a conclusion for a narrative story? This post will cover the meaning of a conclusion, teaching tips for brainstorming ideas to include in a conclusion, mentor text, examples, and effective teaching steps for your writing lesson plans. These ideas are ideal for any writing curriculum and are a part of a series of mini lessons for writer’s workshop designed for scaffolding through the writing process.

Common Core Standard: We can provide a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or events.

What is a conclusion? It is the end of the story or solution to the problem. The readers should be reminded of the main idea and feel that the story has come a full circle with an ending. Don’t leave your readers hanging. Give them a solid conclusion. That doesn’t mean you can’t give them something to think about for future stories or what may happen after the story, but conclude the plot you have built up throughout the story. Come down from the heightened suspense and climax and finish the story.

2. MENTOR TEXT

Did you know that using a mentor text doesn’t mean the book has to be newly introduced? Did you read First Day Jitters at the beginning of the school year? Get the book back out, retell the story, and then read the conclusion together pointing out how it closes the story. When using mentor text for specific skills, you are mainly focusing on that skill, so it doesn’t matter if you’ve already read it.

Peter’s Chair by Ezra Jack Keats

First Day Jitters by Julie Danneburg

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

Always model! What does that mean? Modeling a lesson is showing students exactly how to apply the knowledge of the lesson into writing. It is best to have an ongoing story and add each lesson as you go. It creates a scaffolding approach to writing. In all of my interactive writing notebooks created for Grades 1-8, I provide modeled lessons. What does that mean? You don’t have to come up with all the ideas yourself. You can use the modeled stories as your class story. Of course you can also have students input too.

4. TAKE NOTES

I am a firm believer that taking notes or providing students with mini anchor charts for their notes is a very valuable tool. They will have this information at their fingertips when they are writing future stories. This is an example of an interactive writing notebook page using a finish line flag for the graphic so students can have a visual for finishing or ending.

5. PRACTICE

Providing practice for students is also valuable before they are asked to write a conclusion on their own. I like to give groups of students a VARIETY OF WRITING PROMPTS and ask them to create a plot with a conclusion to share with other groups or the whole class.

After students have the background knowledge, modeled samples, and practice, they are ready to apply their knowledge! This is an example of an interactive writing notebook page where students write the end of their story inside a finish line flag. Then students should transfer that conclusion onto their graphic organizer for the story.

Students should share their conclusions with their peers. They will get to see how other students are finishing their stories and may prompt more ideas for this writing or future writing.

I hope you gathered a few ideas useful for your own classroom or homeschool student. There are many more writing mini lessons just like this one! If you are looking for ways to write a strong conclusion, visit my post in the revising stage called HOW TO WRITE A JAMMIN’ CONCLUSION!

Check out my FREE writing masterclass! CLICK HERE

LAST LESSON: WRITING MINI LESSON #20- WRITING DIALOGUE IN NARRATIVE WRITING

NEXT LESSON: WRITING MINI LESSON #22- WRITING A ROUGH DRAFT FOR A NARRATIVE ESSAY!

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL LIST OF WRITING MINI LESSONS

This lesson is also included in the STEP-BY-STEP WRITING ® Programwith mini-lessons designed to scaffold through the writing process. Writing units included are sentence structure, paragraph writing, narrative writing, opinion writing, and informative writing. See what is included in the image below and click on it to learn more about them! You will turn your reluctant writers into ROCKSTAR WRITERS ™!

Writing Mini Lesson #20- Dialogue in a Narrative Essay

10 steps to making chocolate.

What Is a Good Way to End a Narrative Paragraph?

Consider how many times you have been disappointed by a conclusion either because that conclusion lacked logic, vision or revelation. Then, there are those pieces which seem to go nowhere and just end without that feeling of closure. Conclusions can be a challenge even for the most gifted writers, much less the beginning writer. To create a good ending for your narrative paragraph you should practice the following steps.

Reflect on What You Learned

If you are writing a personal narrative, your ending should also include reflection, or your thoughts about the event. If you are writing a fictional account, include the character's reflection. Consider the conclusions you came to that will shape future actions. End by explaining what you would do differently should the situation come up again. Offer advice to those who face a similar problem. Your reflection is the beginning stage of explaining the lesson learned.

Analyze the Story's Significance

The narrative you have written obviously means something to you or you would have written about something else. However, that does not always mean other people are interested. In your conclusion, you should consider the question every reader has the right to ask, "so what?" Analyze for yourself why this event is significant, and consider why anyone else would care. Is it a universal story that we have all been through? Is it a story that can be told on several levels with layers of meaning? Is it a funny illustration of age-old wisdom? Once you have a compelling reason, include it in your paragraph's conclusion.

Use Emotions

Your emotions about the situation should come through in your final statement. Don't be a cold fish if you are writing about a tragic lesson you learned. Don't leave out the humiliation (or humor) if you learned a lesson about embarrassing situations. How did the consequences of your actions affect you? Remember how you felt in that moment you learned your lesson and put it in your reflection. If you are writing fiction, incorporate your character's emotions.

Present the Moral

Every story, be it personal or fictional, has a message that is born out of the author or character's reflection. If you are only writing one paragraph, your final statement should make that message clear. This statement of the moral or lesson is the equivalent of the thesis statement in an essay, or the lead in a news article. It makes your point or message known. It should incorporate all the elements mentioned before: reflection, analysis and emotion. If you have followed these guidelines you should have an excellent conclusion for your narrative paragraph.

Based in central Florida, J. Jeremy Dean has written for 16 years and has written news and entertainment articles for "The Daily Commercial" in Leesburg, Fla. In 2002, he won the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors award for criticism. Dean holds a professional writing bachelor's degree from Glenville State College and a master's of education degree from National Louis University.

The Writing Center • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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:

Strategies to avoid

Four kinds of ineffective conclusions

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.

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COMMENTS

What Are Characteristics of Narrative Writing?
Characteristics of narrative writing include a sequential narrative, detailed observations, changes or conflict, a connection to the present, and a main idea or dominant feeling. Narrative writing relates a personal story and is typically t...
What Is the Best Way to Write a Narrative Statement?
Narrative statements, also called personal statements, vary in content but should be consistent, have a main focus, include engaging and creative content, avoid generalizations, convey knowledge of a certain academic subject area or job ski...
How Do You Write an Interview in Narrative Form?
Writing an interview in narrative form presents the information in a story-telling style rather than as a transcript of the questions and answers. When writing a narrative-style interview, follow these steps:
Writing a Conclusion for a Narrative Essay
One of the most common methods for concluding a narrative essay is to write a summary, which includes brief statements of the main points. For a
Conclusion Overview & Examples
To summarize a conclusion, the author should highlight or note the main events, key concepts, or important thoughts throughout the narrative
The Perfect Ending: Concluding the Narrative Essay
When writing your own conclusion, think about what you want your readers to take away from your story. Then think about how best you can show it
Structure of a Personal Narrative Essay
Try applying this structure to your own writing: write sentences for the corresponding elements of your introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion in the
How to Write a Conclusion for Your Next Writing Project
This final summation should also contain the moral of your story or a revelation of a deeper truth. A good conclusion will wrap up your final
How to Write Narrative Conclusions
In the conclusion of a narrative essay, you impart your takeaway message, a lesson or a reflection -- a new discovery of meaning in life -- to your reader.
Writing a Personal Narrative: Writing a Closing or Conclusion for Kids
Are you ready to write a personal narrative? First you have to brainstorm some ideas! This video shows you how to think of topics for your
Writing Mini Lesson #21- Writing the Conclusion of a Narrative Essay
What is a conclusion? It is the end of the story or solution to the problem. The readers should be reminded of the main idea and feel that the story has come a
How to make a good conclusion of a narrative essay
1. Restate the main idea of your essay, or your thesis statement. 2. Summarize the three subpoints of your essay. 3. Leave the reader with an interesting
What Is a Good Way to End a Narrative Paragraph?
If you are writing a fictional account, include the character's reflection. Consider the conclusions you came to that will shape future actions. End by
Conclusions
Strategies for writing an effective conclusion · Play the “So What” Game. · Return to the theme or themes in the introduction. · Synthesize, don't summarize.