Concluding sentence starters help you end a paragraph or essay with clarity and confidence. They guide the reader from your main ideas to a clear final point, so your writing feels complete and easy to follow. Many students struggle with how to close their thoughts, but choosing the right starter makes the ending smooth and meaningful. It also improves the overall structure of your writing, which is important for readability and SEO.
In this guide, you will learn what concluding sentence starters are, why they matter, and how to use them in academic, persuasive, and everyday writing. The goal is to make your conclusions strong without sounding repetitive or forced. You will also find helpful lists, examples, and simple templates that you can use in school essays, articles, reports, or blog posts. By the end, you will know exactly how to finish your ideas in a clear and effective way.
What Is a Concluding Sentence Starter?
A concluding sentence starter is a short phrase that signals the end of a paragraph or essay. It shows the reader that you are wrapping up your ideas and moving toward a final point. Writers use these starters to restate their message, summarize key information, or highlight the main takeaway. This helps the reader understand the purpose of the paragraph and follow the flow of your writing without confusion.
In academic writing, resources like the Harvard Writing Center and UNC Writing Center often emphasize the importance of clear transitions and strong closing sentences. Concluding sentence starters support this goal by creating smooth connections between ideas. They also make your writing more organized and SEO-friendly, because they improve structure, readability, and keyword placement. When you use the right starter, you guide the reader to a logical ending and strengthen the overall meaning of your content.
Concluding sentence starters can appear in essays, research papers, articles, and even blog posts. Whether you are summarizing evidence, offering a final insight, or preparing the reader for the next section, these starters keep your writing focused and easy to understand. They also help you avoid abrupt endings, which can weaken your message and reduce clarity.
Why Strong Conclusions Matter
Strong conclusions give your writing a clear purpose and a confident finish. When you use effective concluding sentence starters, you remind the reader of your main idea without repeating the same words. This final moment helps the reader understand why your point matters and how it connects to the rest of your paragraph or essay. A good conclusion also leaves a lasting impact, which is important for academic writing and online content.
In writing guides from trusted sources like the Harvard Writing Center and UNC Writing Center, the conclusion is described as the place where you bring your ideas together and show the bigger picture. When you end well, your message feels complete and meaningful. This not only helps in essays and reports but also improves the readability of blog posts and articles, which is essential for SEO and user engagement.
A strong conclusion also improves user experience. It makes your content easier to read, keeps the structure organized, and increases the chances that readers stay on your page longer. For websites needing Google AdSense approval, clear and well-structured writing signals quality and trust.
Types of Concluding Sentence Starters
Concluding sentence starters come in different types, and each one serves a specific purpose in writing. Choosing the right starter depends on your tone, audience, and the message you want to deliver. In academic writing, formal starters help you restate key points with clarity. In persuasive writing, stronger and more impactful starters guide the reader toward a clear opinion or action. For casual writing, simple and friendly starters keep the tone natural and easy to read.
Educational sources like the Harvard Writing Center and UNC Writing Center highlight how transitions shape the flow of your ideas. This is why concluding starters are often grouped into categories such as academic, persuasive, informal, and professional. Each category supports a different writing style and helps you end your thoughts smoothly. Using the right type also improves readability, which is an important factor for SEO and overall content quality.
Formal and Academic Concluding Sentence Starters
Formal and academic writing requires clear, organized, and confident endings. Concluding sentence starters in this category help you restate your main point, summarize key ideas, and guide the reader toward a logical final thought. Resources from the Harvard Writing Center and UNC Writing Center often highlight the importance of transitions because they make your writing easier to follow. Using academic starters strengthens your final sentence and gives your paragraph a polished finish.
These starters work well in essays, research papers, reports, and analytical writing. They help you show the relationship between your evidence and your conclusion without repeating the same words. They also improve clarity, which benefits both readers and search engines. When you end a paragraph with a strong academic starter, your argument feels more complete, and your writing becomes more professional.
Here are some examples of academic concluding sentence starters you can use:
In summary
In conclusion
To summarize
It can be concluded that
Taken together
Use these phrases when you need to close a point with confidence. They help your writing stay focused, structured, and aligned with the expectations of academic readers.
Persuasive and Argumentative Concluding Sentence Starters
Persuasive and argumentative writing aims to influence the reader’s opinion or encourage action. This makes the concluding sentence especially important. A strong persuasive conclusion ties your points together and highlights why your argument matters. Using the right concluding sentence starters helps you create that final impact with clear, confident language. Writing guides from institutions like the Harvard Writing Center often stress that conclusions in persuasive pieces must show the logical outcome of the evidence you presented.
These starters help you emphasize consequences, highlight benefits, or guide the reader toward a specific viewpoint. They also help you avoid weak endings that sound uncertain or incomplete. When readers clearly understand the reasoning behind your final point, your argument becomes stronger and more convincing.
Here are some persuasive concluding sentence starters you can use:
Therefore
As a result
Consequently
The evidence strongly suggests that
This supports the need to
These phrases work well in opinion essays, persuasive articles, debate writing, and policy-focused content. They help you deliver a powerful final message and encourage the reader to agree with or act on your ideas.
Informal and Creative Concluding Sentence Starters
Informal and creative writing allows you to end your thoughts in a friendly and natural way. These concluding sentence starters help you close a paragraph without sounding too formal or strict. They work well in blog posts, personal essays, lifestyle content, and storytelling. Writing centers like UNC and Harvard often remind writers to match the tone of their conclusion with the tone of the entire piece. In informal writing, this means keeping the language simple, warm, and conversational.
Using the right informal starter helps your content feel more human and relatable. It also improves readability, which is important for SEO and user engagement. When readers feel comfortable with your tone, they stay on your page longer and are more likely to continue reading the rest of your article. This creates a positive experience, which is especially useful when you want to build trust and authority on your website.
Here are some informal and creative concluding sentence starters you can use:
To wrap things up
All in all
At the end of the day
To put it simply
Looking back
My final thought is
To sum it up
These starters help you close your ideas smoothly while keeping your voice natural and easy to understand. They are perfect for writers who want to sound approachable, thoughtful, and clear.
Business and Professional Concluding Sentence Starters
Business and professional writing requires clarity, confidence, and a direct tone. Whether you are preparing a report, writing an email, or creating a presentation summary, your concluding sentence should guide the reader toward the final point or the next step. Professional writing guides, including those from university writing centers, often highlight how important clear transitions are for effective communication. A strong concluding starter helps you organize information, reduce confusion, and show professionalism.
In workplace communication, the final sentence often signals action, highlights key insights, or summarizes important details. Using the right concluding starter makes your message easier to understand and more impactful. It also improves the readability of your content, which is helpful for online documents, business blogs, and SEO-friendly articles. A clear ending builds trust with your audience and shows that you value their time.
Here are some business and professional concluding sentence starters you can use:
To conclude
To recap
Moving forward
Next steps include
The key takeaway is
These starters help you end your message with purpose and clarity. They work well in emails, reports, proposals, executive summaries, and project updates. With the right concluding phrase, you can guide readers toward decisions, actions, or a clear understanding of your final point.
How to Choose the Right Concluding Sentence Starter
Choosing the right concluding sentence starter depends on your audience, tone, and purpose. Different types of writing—academic, persuasive, informal, or professional—require different approaches. Using a starter that matches your content ensures your conclusion is clear, effective, and easy to read. For example, “In conclusion” works well in essays, while “To wrap things up” is better for blog posts or casual writing. Harvard and UNC writing centers emphasize aligning your closing with the style of your piece for maximum impact.
Here are some simple tips to select the right starter:
1.Consider your audience – Academic readers expect formal phrasing, while casual readers prefer conversational language.
2.Match the tone – Persuasive writing often needs strong, assertive starters, while informal content benefits from friendly, approachable phrases.
3.Focus on purpose – Are you summarizing, persuading, or guiding action? Choose a starter that clearly signals your intent.
4.Avoid repetition – Don’t use the same phrase multiple times in one article or essay. Vary your language to keep readers engaged.
5.Keep it concise – Short, clear starters make conclusions stronger and easier to read.
By following these rules, your conclusions will feel natural, purposeful, and professional. They also enhance readability and make your content more SEO-friendly.
Common Mistakes to Avoid in Conclusions
Even experienced writers can make mistakes when ending a paragraph or essay. One common error is relying too heavily on overused phrases like “In conclusion” without adding value. While these phrases signal an ending, they do not summarize your ideas or highlight the significance of your points. According to the Harvard Writing Center, conclusions should synthesize information, not just restate it.
Another frequent mistake is introducing new evidence or arguments in the conclusion. This can confuse readers and weaken your message. Your final sentence should focus on wrapping up what has already been discussed, not presenting new ideas. Wordy or vague endings are also problematic because they reduce clarity and impact. Short, focused sentences are more effective for both readers and search engines.
To avoid these mistakes, always review your conclusion for clarity, brevity, and purpose. Ensure your starter aligns with your tone and content type, and check that you are providing a meaningful summary or final insight. Clear, well-crafted conclusions enhance readability, improve user experience, and increase your website’s credibility, which is essential for SEO and Google AdSense approval.
Quick Templates and Fill-in-the-Blank Closers
Using templates can make writing conclusions faster and more effective. Fill-in-the-blank starters help you create strong endings without struggling to find the right words. They are useful for academic essays, blog posts, business reports, and persuasive writing. Templates also ensure that your conclusion stays focused, clear, and aligned with your main points.
Here are some easy-to-use templates for concluding sentences:
- “Given [main evidence], it is clear that [conclusion].”
- “Considering [point A] and [point B], the best next step is [action].”
- “Taken together, [summary of points], which shows [takeaway].”
- “Therefore, [implication or consequence].”
These templates are flexible and can be adapted to any type of writing. By filling in the blanks with your own ideas, you can create concise, impactful conclusions that guide your reader smoothly from your main points to your final message. They also improve readability, maintain structure, and strengthen SEO value.
Short Checklist for Editing Your Conclusion
Before finalizing your conclusion, it’s important to review it for clarity, focus, and impact. A short checklist helps ensure that your ending is effective and professional. Following these steps also improves readability and keeps your content SEO-friendly, which is valuable for website approval and audience engagement.
Here is a simple checklist for editing conclusions:
1.Restate the thesis or main point – Make sure your final sentence reflects the core idea.
2.Synthesize, don’t summarize – Combine key points instead of repeating them word-for-word.
3.Avoid introducing new evidence – Keep the focus on what you have already discussed.
4.Highlight significance or takeaway – Show why your ideas matter to the reader.
5.Use an appropriate concluding starter – Match the tone and purpose of your content.
6.Keep it concise and clear – Short, direct sentences are easier to read and more impactful.
Following this checklist ensures your conclusion is polished, meaningful, and professional. It also enhances user experience and helps your content perform better in search engines.
Final Examples: Before and After Rewrites
Seeing how weak conclusions can be improved with effective starters helps you understand their value. Below are five examples showing weak endings and how to strengthen them using concluding sentence starters.
Example 1
- Weak: “The research is complete.”
- Strong: “In summary, the research clearly demonstrates the impact of daily exercise on mental health.”
Example 2
- Weak: “We talked about climate change.”
- Strong: “Given these findings, it is clear that immediate action is necessary to address climate change.”
These before-and-after examples show how using strong concluding sentence starters can transform a weak or abrupt ending into a polished, clear, and persuasive conclusion. They also enhance readability and make your content more professional and engaging.
Resources and Further Reading
For writers who want to improve their conclusions and use of sentence starters, the following resources provide valuable guidance. These sites offer tips, examples, and structured approaches to writing strong endings for essays, articles, and professional documents.
- Harvard College Writing Center – Guidance on effective conclusions and transition phrases.
- UNC Writing Center – Tips for wrapping up essays and summarizing key points.
- Vanderbilt University Writing Studio – Advice on formal and persuasive writing conclusions.
- Study.com – Practical examples and exercises for using concluding sentence starters.
- Ref-n-Write / Academic Phrasebank – Extensive lists of academic sentence starters for essays and research papers.
These resources help you understand how to structure conclusions, choose the right sentence starters, and improve the overall clarity and professionalism of your writing. Using them can make your content stronger, more credible, and more SEO-friendly.
FAQ: Concluding Sentence Starters
Here are some common questions about concluding sentence starters, along with concise, helpful answers. Including an FAQ section improves user experience and SEO by addressing common search queries.
1. Is “In conclusion” bad to use?
No, it is not bad, but it can be overused. Vary your phrasing to make conclusions more engaging.
2. How long should a conclusion be?
A conclusion is usually one paragraph. Keep it short and focused, summarizing key points without adding new information.
3. Can I use a question as a concluding sentence?
Yes, rhetorical questions can be effective in blogs or persuasive writing, but avoid them in formal academic papers unless it fits the tone.
4. Should I restate my thesis in the conclusion?
Yes, but do it in a new way. Summarize your main points and show their significance rather than repeating the thesis verbatim.
5. How do I choose the right starter?
Consider your audience, tone, and purpose. Use formal starters for academic writing and conversational ones for blogs or emails.
6. Can conclusions include action steps?
Yes, especially in persuasive or business writing. Use starters that guide the reader toward the next step or desired outcome.
