How To End An Article

Every article writer at one time or another comes to the end of their article and cant quite figure out how to end it. This happens to me all the time. But I dont stay blocked for long. I simply use a rule that I figured out a long time ago when I started teaching writing. Tell them what you told them.

That is go back to the beginning of your article and look at your lead then turn it in some way and end it. Here is a lead from a Popular Mechanics article.

Lead. Call it a passion. Americans have been taking to the great outdoors in a big way for decades. Fueling this trend is a cornucopia of outdoor toys--everything from mountain bikes to ATVs to snowmobiles 4x4x dirt bikes and PWCs that offer new and more exciting ways to recreate. Problem is with all these machines running around it can be a tad hard on the environment--a situation that can result in the great outdoors becoming well not so great after awhile.

Now the author took this lead which says we are harming the great outdoors and turned it to "we need to tread lightly as a solution. "Here is the ending.

Ending: Theres am ancient Matove American proverb that captures the philosophy of Tread Lightly: "We did not inherit the earth from our parents. We are borrowing it for our children." It has never rung more true than today.

       Now here is a retail business article I did recently for the North American Retailer Dealers Association. Here is the lead.

Lead: A few years ago sales of high-end middle and low-end products could be depicted in the form of a pyramid.

Expensive appliances and consumer electronics made up only the top of the pyramid because they sold in low volume to affluent customers. Mid and low-priced goods which sold in high volume made up the rest of the pyramid.

Today independent retailers report that their sales are beginning to look more like hourglasses. The tops and the bottoms of the markets are getting bigger while sales of mid-priced appliances and consumer electronics are leveling off or declining.

Now here is the ending. I had essentially finished with 4 ways to reach the high-end market but that didnt finish it I needed something to wind it up. To do that I looked back at the lead and just turned it around.

Ending: By paying attention to the high and low ends of product lines that appeal to its marketplace a dealership can ensure that it does not miss the movement of consumers to different ends of the market.

I call this method my safety valve because it works every time I get stuck.