Try for a good closing – one that surprises and refreshes readers with stimulating ideas that lead them beyond the essay. How? When you reach the point of writing the closing, make an unexpected shift from the thesis you have been writing about to a different thesis. Practically all great essays do this. And some – perhaps one in five – go further; they add spice to the closing by shifting to a more informal writing style.
To illustrate, consider the January 11, 2006, entry in this weblog, titled “George Perkins Marsh and John Muir: their contrasting styles of writing.” It’s a miniature essay which opens with the thesis that Marsh is an information conveyer, and Muir is an emotion conveyer. Then comes the essay’s main section, a sample of Marsh’s writing conveying information about the interconnectedness of nature, followed by a sample of Muir’s writing conveying emotion about the interconnectedness of nature.
For the closing, I shifted the thesis to another, posed as a question, “How is it possible for one person to learn to write well as an information conveyer when that suits the purpose, and as an emotion conveyer when that suits the purpose? Inherited or acquired?” To lead readers to answering this for themselves, I quoted a remark of Jacob Bronowski. What makes this a good closing is that it unexpectedly opens a door, inviting readers to think beyond the essay.
* * *
For advice and illustrations on good ways of closing essays, see chapter 11 of How about it, Writer?, by H. Charles Romesburg, (ISBN 1-4116-2862-4).
The Friend You've Been Waiting For
- The friend you've been waiting for has also been waiting for you. Meet each other at your local animal shelter.
Who runs this blog?
- The Saunterer. That's me, H. Charles Romesburg, Professor in the Department of Environment and Society, Utah State University. As part of my research I saunter through the writings of especially creative people, keeping an eye open for insightful ideas on subjects that are joined with great goodness and creativity. I will in this blog present ideas from the writings of more than three hundred of these creators: painters, scientists, mathematicians, entrepreneurs, writers, poets, naturalists, actors, rock climbers and more. Among the subjects that will be covered: How workers in most every vocation and avocation can work as artists do, creating use, beauty, or both, of rare note. How regularly experiencing wild nature makes us better creators. How it is that the more all forms of life come to be revered, the more creative society will be. For some of the other subjects that will be covered, click on cnr.usu.edu/romesburg
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January 16, 2006
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Books by H. Charles Romesburg
H. Charles Romesburg: The Life of the Creative Spirit
Practically all of the quotations in this blog's posts are collected in "The Life of the Creative Spirit."H. Charles Romesburg: How About It, Writer?
Based on a study of more than 12,000 essays from the very best literary magazines, this book provides writers with lists of thousands of classic forms of opening sentences, titles, transition sentences, ways of saying "for example," and ways of closing nonfiction pieces. When you are writing an essay and want a hint for a better or fresh way of saying what you mean, looking through the lists acts on the imagination, stimulating your creativity. From Lulu Press (ISBN 1-4116-2862-4, 194 pp., softback), it's $16.95 when ordered from Lulu.com/Romesburg , and $22.95 from bookstores. To view its cover, click on www.cnr.usu.edu/romesburg/how_about_it_writer.htm To view its title page, contents, and first two chapters, click on: www.cnr.usu.edu/romesburg/how_about_it_writer_preview.pdfH Charles Romesburg: Best Research Practices
The Saunterer’s new book (2009), Best Research Practices explains how to plan and carry out reliable experiments, how to conceive and circumstantially support research hypotheses, how to test research hypotheses with the hypothetico-deductive method, how to discover cause and effect, and more. It’s based on his examination of 5,000 top scientific articles, studying the methods used to produce reliable knowledge. Preview it on-line by going to the following link: http://print.google.com/print?isbn=9780557017836
Great post, it would be very helpful.
Posted by: Jack Ramos | August 13, 2010 at 12:03 PM