Guide to spelling, punctuation and grammar

E
XAMPLE
3
Here is a concluding paragraph to a politics essay that asks what factors
brought about the downfall of Mrs Thatcher in 1990 when she resigned
after a leadership election:
The bulk of the evidence, then, points to the fact that
the Conservative Party in 1990 had lost confidence
in the Prime Minister to deliver another election
victory. Too many Tory MPs , especially perhaps those
in marginal constituencies, had become convinced
that Mrs Thatcher had sunk so low in public esteem
that she had become a liability to the party. Many
were also extremely critical about her stubbornness
in insisting on the Poll Tax to replace local rates, a
measure that had been deeply unpopular in the
country as a whole and which had led to serious
riots in the streets of London. In addition, divisions
about Europe were tearing the party apart and Mrs
Thatcher’s continual antagonism to the European
Union was seen as deeply divisive. Added to all these
factors were the personal issues of ambitious and
sacked ex-Ministers who led the revolt against the
Prime Minister and triggered the leadership
election. Thus, a whole raft of factors led to her
downfall, allied to the fact that she simply had been
in office for eleven years, which is the longest any
Prime Minister had served in that role in the
twentieth century.
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H
OW TO WRITE ESSAYS

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‘The bulk of the evidence, then, …’ introduces this final paragraph and
indicates to the reader that the writer is about to summarise the points
made in the essay and come to a conclusion. The following sentences
emphasise the points made in the body of the essay. ‘Thus’ leads into the
closing sentence of the paragraph, which acts as a final summing-up
sentence and as a neat way of rounding it off.
Your essay should have a concluding paragraph that
brings the essay back to the set topic and draws a
conclusion or summarises the evidence. Your assessor
must be left with the impression of a considered
conclusion.