Ways to end an essay

[alpacinou]

Hello to all,

imagine you have written a formal essay and in the last paragraph you want to put a phrase at the beginning of your conclusion.

Is it okay to use "all in all" ?

All in all, I think the technological advancements have made our lives better....

I already found these:

In conclusion,
By way of conclusion,
To sum up,

What are some similar situations that can be used in formal writing?

 

[Tarheel]

Hello to all,

imagine you have written a formal essay and in the last paragraph you want to put a phrase at the beginning of your conclusion.

Is it okay to use "all in all" ?

All in all, I think the technological advancements have made our lives better....

I already found these:

In conclusion,
By way of conclusion,
To sum up,

What are some similar expressions that can be used in formal writing?

They are all fine, but none of the writers whose work I read regularly use any such expressions.

It's always a good idea to read more stuff than you write.

 

[alpacinou]

They are all fine, but none of the writers whose work I read regularly use any such expressions.

It's always a good idea to read more stuff than you write.

So "all in all" is not just for speaking? It can be used in a formal writing?

 

[Tarheel]

So "all in all" is not just for speaking? It can be used in [STRIKE]a[/STRIKE] formal writing?

I suppose.

Do you want to write an essay?

 

[Tdol]

So "all in all" is not just for speaking? It can be used in a formal writing?

I wouldn't use it. I would use one of the alternatives you gave.

 

[alpacinou]

I wouldn't use it. I would use one of the alternatives you gave.

Why? Is it informal or spoken language?

 

[Tarheel]

Bob: How should I end an essay?
Tom: Write the conclusion (the last paragraph). Then stop.

 

[jutfrank]

all in all is fine here. It's actually much better than the others you've mentioned.

As a teacher, I'd strongly advise you to be cautious when presenting to your students a set of apparently synonymous discourse markers. They are not all used in identical ways.

 

[NamelessKing]

I've used "On the whole", "In summary" and "By and large" apart from the ones you've listed.

Not a teacher

 

[jutfrank]

I've used "On the whole", "In summary" and "By and large" apart from the ones you've listed.

In summary can be used if you do actually intend to follow with a summary but it does not work in the example sentence given here, which is not a summary. The other two are okay in this context but would not work in other contexts.

Again, I'll say that the best phrase to use to open a concluding paragraph depends on what you want to say. You cannot simply memorise a list of synonymous and interchangeable phrases.

Could you please make it clear that you are not a teacher.

 

[emsr2d2]

NamelessKing, please use "Not a teacher", not "No teacher" in future. I have edited it for you in this thread.

 

[jutfrank]

Could you please make it clear that you are not a teacher.

I apologise, NamelessKing, if you had made it clear when I wrote that. For some reason, I didn't notice.

 

[emsr2d2]

It was added by the OP after your comment, and then I edited it.

 

[Rover_KE]

Riaegnacu, please read this extract from the forum's Posting Guidelines:

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