opening and closing sentence of a conclusion

[rirerire]

are we not supposed to write "in conclusion" or "to conclude"...?
I just got some essays marked by ex hsc students and a common critique was that those lines sound too colloquial or redundant, I wasn't aware of this haha
what do I write instead to open my conclusion. and how do I end my conclusion w a sentence that has some kind of lasting impact- I currently generally just summarise everything I said in the essay.

thanks!!

[Sine]

are we not supposed to write "in conclusion" or "to conclude"...?
I just got some essays marked by ex hsc students and a common critique was that those lines sound too colloquial or redundant, I wasn't aware of this haha
what do I write instead to open my conclusion. and how do I end my conclusion w a sentence that has some kind of lasting impact- I currently generally just summarise everything I said in the essay.

thanks!!

I haven't done HSC but in general, you don't want to be using stuff like "In conclusion" or "To conclude".

It is good you are summarising your essay in the conclusion though. You never want to bring any new ideas into the conclusion. It is difficult to say what you should write without the essay topic or even what the essay is on but in general, I think you want to either be confirming your position on something or leaving the reader with something to think about.

[The Cat In The Hat]

are we not supposed to write "in conclusion" or "to conclude"...?
I just got some essays marked by ex hsc students and a common critique was that those lines sound too colloquial or redundant, I wasn't aware of this haha
what do I write instead to open my conclusion. and how do I end my conclusion w a sentence that has some kind of lasting impact- I currently generally just summarise everything I said in the essay.

thanks!!

Personally (though, VCE student here, so it might not be correct) I usually use 'ultimately' instead, e.g. 'Ultimately, [author] shows that [arguments] through [etc.]'

[angewina_naguen]

are we not supposed to write "in conclusion" or "to conclude"...?
I just got some essays marked by ex hsc students and a common critique was that those lines sound too colloquial or redundant, I wasn't aware of this haha
what do I write instead to open my conclusion. and how do I end my conclusion w a sentence that has some kind of lasting impact- I currently generally just summarise everything I said in the essay.

thanks!!

Hey, rirerire!

Just wanted to add to all the other wonderful responses here. I use "Ultimately" and "In essence" as substitutes for "In conclusion" because I think they are better for summarising and reinforcing your judgement on the question in that opening sentence of your conclusion 

As for how you can finish the essay with an impactful sentence, I really encourage students to wrap their essays up by pinpointing what the effect of the text is on the audience. This allows your personal voice to emerge at the very end and show your marker that you believe the text serves a greater purpose beyond just being a thing to study. An example of how you might write it could be something like this; "Thus, The Crucible will continue to remind audiences today and in the future to exercise critical judgement and evaluation towards their own behaviours and motivations as human beings." Hope that helps but feel free to ask any follow up questions!

Angelina