Anyone for an Essay?: Repeat the arguments.This is the nice, safe, borin...

Anyone for an Essay?:

Repeat the arguments.

This is the nice, safe, boring way to finish.

This technique works really well in exams where the examiner simply wants an answer to a definite question. Just repeat each of the three paragraphs (or perhaps four?) of your answer – one at a time.

Question: What were the causes of the First World War?

Your finish:

There were therefore three causes of the First World War. Archduke Franz Ferdinand was murdered. Then there was the impulsive order by the Kaiser to mobilize. Finally there was the general attitude of the Europeans that the war would be over by Christmas.

Question: How do you start up your own business?
Today we have heard how starting your own business can be fun. We have heard how to draw up a simple business plan. And we have learned that pivoting makes a huge difference.

Here is how one of the greatest orators of all time used this trick. 

On November 19, 1863, Edward Everett, the chief speaker at the Gettysburg cemetery dedication, spoke for about an hour. The President rose to his feet and everyone's heart sank – another hour's speechifying!


This is how President Lincoln started:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

And this is how he finished, just a few minutes later:

...that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Used well, summarising what you have written and repeating the first sentences of your piece will make a nicely rounded essay. Like throwing a boomerang, the words fly away and then gently return to your hand as you finish to a very appreciative audience.



And this technique works very well in exams.