Provide Closure Probably the most obvious purpose of a conclusion is to bring closure—to cue the audience
Click here to ORDER NOW FOR AN ORIGINAL PAPER ASSIGNMENT: Assignment: Effective Conclusions

Assignment: Effective Conclusions
Assignment: Effective Conclusions

Assignment: Effective Conclusions

Assignment: Effective Conclusions

Assignment: Effective Conclusions

An effective conclusion will serve two purposes: It will summarize the speech and provide closure.

Just as you learned ways to introduce a speech, you can learn how to conclude one. We will begin by considering the purposes of conclusions, and then we will ex- plore methods to help you achieve those purposes.

Summarize the Speech A conclusion is a speaker’s last chance to review his or her central idea and main ideas for the audience.

Reemphasize the Central Idea in a Memorable Way The conclusions of many famous speeches rephrase the central idea in a memorable way. For example,

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PTechniques for Effective Introductions • Use an illustration or anecdote.

• Present startling facts or statistics.

• Share a quotation.

• Employ appropriate humor.

• Ask a rhetorical question.

• Refer to historical or recent events.

• Reveal something about yourself.

• Make note of the occasion.

• Acknowledge the speeches before yours.
194 CHAPTER 8 Introducing and Concluding Your Speech

General Douglas MacArthur’s farewell to the nation at the end of his career con- cluded with these memorable words:

“Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.” And like the old soldier of that ballad, I now close my military career and just fade away—an old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the light to see that duty. Good-bye.22

Likewise, when on July 4, 1939, New York Yankees legend Lou Gehrig addressed his fans in an emotional farewell to a baseball career cut short by a diagnosis of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), he concluded with the memorable line,

I may have had a tough break, but I have an awful lot to live for.23

But memorable endings are not the exclusive property of famous speakers. With practice, most people can prepare similarly effective conclusions. Chapter 10 offers ideas for using language to make your statements more memorable. As a preliminary example of the memorable use of language, here is how Noelle concluded her speech on phony academic institutions on the Internet:

What we have learned from all this is that we, and only we, have the power to stop [fraudulent learning institutions]. So we don’t get www.conned.24

This speaker’s clever play on “dot.com” helped her audience remember her topic and central idea.

The end of your speech is your last chance to impress the central idea on your audience. Do it in such a way that they cannot help but remember it.

Restate the Main Ideas In addition to reemphasizing the central idea of the speech, the conclusion is also likely to restate the main ideas. Note how John effec- tively summarized the main ideas of his speech on emissions tampering, casting the summary as an expression of his fears about the problem and the actions that could ease those fears:

I’m frightened. Frightened that nothing I could say would encourage the 25 percent of emissions-tampering Americans to change their ways and correct the factors that cause their autos to pollute disproportionately. Frightened that the American public will not respond to a crucial issue unless the harms are both immediate and observable. Frightened that the EPA will once again prove very sympathetic to industry. Three simple steps will alleviate my fear: inspection, reduction in lead con- tent, and, most importantly, awareness.25

Most speakers summarize their main ideas in the first part of the conclusion or as part of the transition between the body of the speech and its conclusion.

Provide Closure Probably the most obvious purpose of a conclusion is to bring closure—to cue the audience that the speech is coming to an end by making it “sound finished.”

Use Verbal or Nonverbal Cues to Signal the End of the Speech You can attain closure both verbally and nonverbally. Verbal techniques include using such transitional words and phrases as “finally,”“for my last point,” and perhaps even “in conclusion.”

You may remember that “in conclusion” appears on that list of instructors’ pet peeves at the beginning of the chapter. Like opening your speech by asking a rhetorical question, signaling your closing by saying “in conclusion” is not inherently wrong. It is

closure The quality of a conclusion that makes a speech “sound finished”
Effective Conclusions 195

a pet peeve of some instructors because of the carelessness with which student speakers often use it. Such a cue gives listeners unspoken per- mission to tune out. (Notice what students do when their professor sig- nals the end of class: Books and notebooks slam shut, pens are stowed away, and the class generally stops listening.) A concluding transition needs to be followed quickly by the final statement of the speech.

You can also signal closure with nonverbal cues. You may want to pause between the body of your speech and its conclusion, slow your speaking rate, move out from behind a podium to make a final im- passioned plea to your audience, or signal with falling vocal inflection that you are making your final statement.

Motivate the Audience to Respond Another way to provide closure to your speech is to motivate your audience to respond in some way. If your speech is informative, you may want your audience to take some sort of appropriate action—write a letter, buy a product, make a telephone call, or get involved in a cause. In fact, an action step is essential to the persuasive organizational strategy called the moti- vated sequence, which we discuss in Chapter 15.

At the close of her speech on negligent landlords, Melanie in- cluded a simple audience response as part of her action step:

By a show of hands, how many people in this room rely on rental housing? Look around. It’s a problem that affects us all, if not directly, then through a majority of our friends. . . .26

Another speaker ended a speech to an audience of travel agents by recommend- ing these specific action steps:

• Continuously develop and improve your professional and business skills.

• Embrace and utilize the new technologies. You are either riding on the new technology highway, or you are stand- ing in the dust, left behind.

• Continuously build and strengthen your top industry organizations locally and nationally so their brands, endorsement, and influence can work powerfully on your behalf.

• Develop a passion for this business and inspire the same in your employees and co-workers.27

In both of the preceding examples, the speakers draw on the principle of proximity, discussed in this chapter, to motivate their audiences. When audience members feel that they are or could be personally involved or affected, they are more likely to respond to your message.
You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASSDiscussion Questions (DQ)

Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation

Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.
APA Format and Writing Quality

Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes

I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy

For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.