How to Write an Introduction and Conclusion (Edexcel GCSE English Literature): Revision Note
Exam code: 1ET0
Your introduction and conclusion are the frame of your essay. A strong introduction sets out your argument in a few sentences, and a strong conclusion shows where that argument has led. Together, they show the examiner that you have answered the question from start to finish, which is exactly what you need for the highest marks in Edexcel GCSE English Literature.
This page shows you how to write an essay introduction built around a thesis statement, how to write an essay conclusion that develops it, and how the two link together, with worked examples from Macbeth, An Inspector Calls and A Christmas Carol.
What is a thesis statement in English Literature?
A thesis statement is a short answer to the essay question that sets out your argument (the overall view you will prove in your essay). It is usually one sentence long, and it goes in your introduction.
A thesis is different from repeating the question. Repeating the question tells the examiner what you have been asked; a thesis tells them what you think. Here are both for this question:
Question (November 2021): In this extract, Duncan’s ambition is to be an honourable king who rewards loyalty. Explain the importance of ambition elsewhere in the play. In your answer, you must consider:
where ambition is shown
the effects ambition has within the play.
You must refer to the context of the play in your answer.
Repeating the question | Thesis statement |
|---|---|
Ambition is important elsewhere in the play, and Shakespeare shows where it appears and what effects it has. | Macbeth is clearly ambitious, but Shakespeare suggests that ambition alone is not enough to make him act: it takes Lady Macbeth’s pressure to turn his ambition into murder, and once he is king it leaves him afraid. |
Only the thesis gives a judgement on why ambition is important. It also gives the essay a direction, because each paragraph can now test one part of that view.
Your thesis covers the whole essay. Each main paragraph then opens with a topic sentence that covers one part of it.
The strongest thesis statements are built around a big idea (a concept such as power, guilt or responsibility that runs through the whole text), so they let you write about the whole text, not just one scene.
How to write an essay introduction for English Literature
Your introduction is built around your thesis statement. Here is how to write it in four steps:
Find the focus of the question: pick out the key words, and check which kind of question it is, such as “Explore how” (part (a)), “Explain the importance of” (part (b)) or “In what ways” (Post-1914)
Write your thesis statement: give your overall answer to the question in one sentence, using its key words
Signpost your main ideas: briefly name the two or three ideas your paragraphs will use to prove your thesis
Name the writer’s purpose: say briefly why the writer presents the character or theme this way. This is also a natural place to link to context
Here are the four steps for this question:
Question (June 2023): Sheila: You’re squiffy. Eric: I’m not. Mrs Birling: What an expression, Sheila! Really the things you girls pick up these days! Explore the importance of the younger generation in An Inspector Calls. You must refer to the context of the play in your answer.
Step | An Inspector Calls |
|---|---|
1. Focus | Key words: “importance”, “the younger generation”, “context” |
2. Thesis statement | Priestley presents the younger generation, especially Sheila, as the characters who learn the most from the Inspector’s visit. |
3. Main ideas | She moves from a spoilt, self-centred young woman to someone who accepts her guilt, and finally to someone who challenges her parents’ refusal to change. |
4. Writer’s purpose | Through Sheila, Priestley suggests that the younger generation can build a fairer, more responsible society. |
Put steps 2 to 4 together and you have a three-sentence introduction:
Priestley presents the younger generation, especially Sheila, as the characters who learn the most from the Inspector’s visit. She moves from a spoilt, self-centred young woman to someone who accepts her guilt, and finally to someone who challenges her parents’ refusal to change. Through Sheila, Priestley suggests that the younger generation can build a fairer, more responsible society. |
How long should an introduction be?
Two to four sentences (one short paragraph) is enough. The three-sentence introduction above is a good model to follow. A long introduction uses up time you need for analysis, so set up your argument and move on.
What should you leave out of your introduction?
Leave out anything that delays your argument:
Plot summary: the examiner knows the story
Background facts: include context only if it shapes your answer, for example Priestley writing in 1945 about the kind of society he wanted Britain to become
Quotations: save your evidence for your main paragraphs, where you have room to analyse it
A list of techniques: name methods when you analyse them, not in advance
A pre-learned opening: stock phrases such as “the eponymous hero” rarely fit the question, so learn each text’s big ideas instead and build a fresh thesis in the exam
Examiner Tips and Tricks
Spend the first few minutes of each essay planning, before you write a word of your introduction. Jot down a one-sentence answer to the question, then list three ideas that support it, each with a moment or quotation from the text. That gives you your thesis and main ideas, so all your introduction needs is the writer’s purpose.
For example, if you decide that Macbeth’s ambition is “strong, but not enough on its own”, your three ideas might be his hesitation before the murder, Lady Macbeth’s pressure and the emptiness he feels once he is king. Add one context note too, because part (b) assesses context. Your thesis is ready, and your plan gives you a clear order for your paragraphs.
How to write a conclusion for an English Literature essay
A conclusion brings your argument together. It should show where your thesis has led, not simply repeat it. Here is how to write one in three steps:
Answer the question again, using its key words and what your essay has shown
Draw your ideas together: sum up in a sentence how your paragraphs support your thesis
Zoom out to the big idea: say what the text suggests more widely about people or society
Keep your conclusion focused. It is not the place for a new point or a new quotation: everything in it should come from the argument you have already made.
You can see a full conclusion, alongside a weak version, in the examples further down this page.
Do you need an introduction and conclusion?
Yes, you should include both. No marks are given for an introduction or conclusion on their own, but an effective introduction works as a plan for the rest of your essay, and a short conclusion that answers the question shows you’ve kept your focus on it. The exception is part (a) of the Shakespeare and 19th-century novel questions. Part (a) gets half of the 55 minutes for the section, and it assesses only your analysis of the extract, so one sentence on what the extract shows about the focus is enough before you start analysing.
How long should a conclusion be?
Aim for two to four sentences, like your introduction. If you are running out of time, write one sentence that answers the question: a brief final judgement is far better than no ending at all.
How should your introduction and conclusion link together?
Your introduction and conclusion work as a pair. The introduction states your argument, your main paragraphs develop it, and your conclusion shows where it has led. This is called a line of argument (one clear view that runs through the whole essay).
Think of it like a journey. Your introduction says where you are heading, and your conclusion shows that you have arrived, and what you have found out on the way.
The table below uses Macbeth as an example. It shows how one line of argument runs from the introduction, through each main paragraph, to the conclusion.
It uses the same Macbeth question as the thesis section above.
Part of the essay | What it does | An example using Macbeth |
|---|---|---|
Introduction | States the thesis | Macbeth is clearly ambitious, but Shakespeare suggests that ambition alone is not enough to make him act. |
Paragraph 1 | Tests the first idea | Macbeth admits that only “Vaulting ambition” drives him, and he decides not to kill Duncan. |
Paragraph 2 | Tests the second idea | His ambition only turns into action when Lady Macbeth questions his courage, so it needs her pressure to drive him to murder. |
Paragraph 3 | Tests the third idea | Once he is king, his ambition brings fear instead of satisfaction. |
Conclusion | Shows where the thesis has led | Macbeth’s ambition is real but hollow: it needs Lady Macbeth’s pressure to become action, and once fulfilled it leaves him fearful and alone. Many in Shakespeare’s audience saw killing a king as a sin against God, so his fear would seem a fitting punishment. Through Macbeth, Shakespeare warns that ambition destroys anyone who lets it overrule their conscience. |
The conclusion does not copy the introduction. It answers the same question, but with the deeper understanding the essay has built.
What do strong introductions and conclusions look like?
The table below shows three introductions for this A Christmas Carol question. Each version answers the question more directly and sets up a clearer argument.
Question (June 2025): In this extract, Marley’s Ghost speaks of his regrets and his ‘Incessant torture of remorse’. Explain how regret is important elsewhere in the novel. In your answer, you must consider:
how Scrooge learns to regret the actions of his past
what Scrooge does to put right his regrets about the past.
Version | Introduction: A Christmas Carol |
|---|---|
Weak | A Christmas Carol is a novella by Charles Dickens, published in 1843. It is about a man called Scrooge who is visited by three ghosts. In this essay, I am going to write about regret. |
Better | Dickens presents Scrooge regretting lots of things when the ghosts visit him. He learns that he should have been nicer to other people and less mean with his money, and by the end of the novella he changes. |
Strong | Dickens presents Scrooge’s regret as the start of a journey from isolation to connection. The Spirits show him what his greed has cost himself and others, and the vision of his own lonely death finally convinces him to change. Through Scrooge, Dickens suggests that wealth only has value when it is used to help others. |
The weak version gives background and announces the topic without answering the question. The better version answers the question and names some of his regrets, but it describes what happens instead of making a judgement, and it never says why Dickens presents Scrooge’s change. The strong version makes a judgement and sets out the stages of the argument.
Part (b) of the novel question assesses AO1 only, so the strong version gives Dickens’ purpose without adding any context.
The next table shows two conclusions for the same An Inspector Calls question.
Version | Conclusion: An Inspector Calls |
|---|---|
Weak | In conclusion, the younger generation is very important in the play, and Sheila and Eric change a lot. |
Strong | Priestley presents the younger generation as the hope of the play, and Sheila is the character who changes the most, moving from thoughtless privilege to genuine responsibility. Unlike her parents, she refuses to forget what the Inspector has shown her once the danger seems to have passed. Through Sheila, Priestley suggests that real change means accepting responsibility for others, and that the hope for a fairer society lies with the younger generation. |
The strong version returns to the thesis, shows how Sheila’s change develops and zooms out to Priestley’s message.
Introductions and conclusions in your Edexcel GCSE English Literature exam
Edexcel assesses your argument through AO1, which asks you to “maintain a critical style and develop an informed personal response”. A clear introduction and conclusion help you show the critical style that top-level answers need.
This table shows how to approach each part of your two exam papers:
Paper | Section | Introduction | Conclusion |
|---|---|---|---|
Paper 1 | Part (a): one sentence on what the extract shows about the focus of the question, with no context. Part (b): give a thesis about the theme elsewhere in the play, and include context | Part (a): a closing sentence that answers the question. Part (b): make a final judgement on the theme across the play | |
Paper 1 | Choose your question, then build your thesis from its key words, and name the writer’s purpose | Return to your thesis and zoom out to the writer’s message | |
Paper 2 | Part (a): one focused sentence on the extract. Part (b): give a thesis about the focus of the question across the novel, with no context | Part (a): a closing sentence that answers the question. Part (b): make a final judgement on the novel as a whole | |
Paper 2 | Draw the two poems together in a short final comparison that answers the question | ||
Paper 2 | Open with the main similarity or difference between the two poems | End with a brief final comparison |
Examiner Tips and Tricks
Your conclusion is the last thing the examiner reads before they judge your argument. Before you write it, reread your introduction. Then answer the question again, showing how far your thinking has developed.
For example, if your introduction argues that Scrooge’s regret takes him “from isolation to connection”, your conclusion might show that Dickens uses this journey to argue that no one is beyond redemption. The examiner can follow your argument from your first sentence to your last, which is the sustained focus on the question that top-level answers show.
Sources
Stanley Wells and Gary Taylor (eds), 2005, The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works (Second Edition), Oxford University Press
Priestley, J.B. (1992). An Inspector Calls. Heinemann.
Dickens, Charles. A Christmas Carol. Project Gutenberg eBook #46. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46
Pearson Edexcel Level 1/Level 2 GCSE (9–1) in English Literature (1ET0) Specification, Issue 2 (June 2019). Pearson.
Pearson Edexcel GCSE English Literature Paper 1 Question Papers, November 2021 and June 2023, and Paper 2 Question Paper, June 2025. Pearson.
Pearson Edexcel GCSE English Literature Paper 1 Mark Scheme (Results) Summer 2025. Pearson.
Pearson Edexcel GCSE English Literature Paper 1 and Paper 2 Examiners’ Reports, June 2025, and Paper 2 Examiners’ Report, June 2017. Pearson.
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