AP English Language and Composition

## Learning Outcomes

- Understand what makes a conclusion appropriate to the rhetorical situation in AP Lang
- Identify how audience, purpose, exigence, context, and message should shape a rhetorical analysis ending
- Explain the difference between a summary ending and an analytical conclusion
- Write conclusions that reinforce a clear line of reasoning rather than list devices
- Evaluate why an author's rhetorical choices matter for the intended audience
- Avoid common conclusion errors that reduce evidence and commentary scores

## AP English Language and Composition Syllabus

For the AP English Language and Composition, you are expected to understand how conclusions should respond to the rhetorical situation, with a focus on the following syllabus points:

- Know that the rhetorical situation includes **speaker**, **audience**, **purpose**, **exigence**, **context**, and **message**
- Explain how a conclusion should be appropriate to the purpose and context of the rhetorical situation
- Identify how rhetorical choices work together to influence a specific audience
- Explain the difference between **message** and **purpose**, and between **context** and **exigence**
- Understand that a strong rhetorical analysis conclusion synthesises the line of reasoning instead of repeating body points mechanically
- Recognise that the AP rubric rewards explanation of how evidence supports a line of reasoning, not a formulaic ending
- Avoid introducing new strategies, vague claims of effectiveness, or forced use of rhetorical situation vocabulary

## Test Your Knowledge

_Attempt these questions before reading this article. If you find some difficult or cannot remember the answers, look more closely at that area during your revision._

1. What should a rhetorical analysis conclusion do besides restate the thesis?
2. How is a conclusion shaped by audience and purpose?
3. What is the difference between **exigence** and **context**?
4. Why is “this is effective” too weak as a concluding claim?
5. What is the difference between a conclusion that summarises and one that synthesises?

## Introduction

In AP English Language and Composition, students often spend most of their effort on the thesis and body paragraphs, then rush the final lines. That is a mistake. A conclusion is not just where the essay stops. It is where you show the reader what your analysis has proved about the writer’s rhetorical situation.

For rhetorical analysis, the best conclusion does not simply repeat devices. It reconnects the writer’s **rhetorical choices** to the audience, purpose, and situation. In other words, it explains why the rhetoric matters. That final move strengthens your line of reasoning and leaves the reader with a clear sense of the text’s overall effect.

> **Key Term: rhetorical situation**
> The full set of circumstances shaping a text, including speaker, audience, purpose, exigence, context, and message.

### What a rhetorical analysis conclusion is really doing

A weak conclusion often sounds like this: the author uses diction, repetition, and imagery to get the point across. That ending is not wrong, but it is thin. It names strategies without explaining what they achieve, for whom, or why the situation makes those choices suitable.

A strong conclusion answers a bigger question: given this audience and this moment, why are these rhetorical choices the right ones?

That shift matters because rhetorical analysis is not device spotting. The task is to explain how choices develop the argument. Your conclusion should therefore move from **what the writer uses** to **what the writer accomplishes**.

> **Key Term: line of reasoning**
> The logical thread connecting a thesis, the evidence used, and the explanations that show how the evidence supports the argument.

A useful way to think about the conclusion is as a final act of compression. In the body of the essay, you spread the analysis out. In the conclusion, you pull it back together. You remind the reader of the argument in fresher wording, then show how the parts fit into one purposeful whole.

For example, imagine an essay on a political speech delivered after a national crisis. Your body paragraphs might analyse solemn diction, inclusive pronouns, and historical allusion. Your conclusion should not merely repeat those three features. Instead, it should explain that, taken together, those choices help the speaker calm a shaken audience, build national unity, and justify a specific response to the crisis. That is synthesis.

> **Test Tip:** If your conclusion could fit almost any rhetorical analysis essay, it is too generic. A good ending should sound specific to that exact speaker, audience, and occasion.

### Using audience, purpose, and exigence in the conclusion

Many students know the terms of the rhetorical situation but use them awkwardly. They produce endings like, “The rhetorical situation is audience, purpose, exigence, and context.” That is not analysis. The terms matter only when they help explain the writer’s success.

Start with **audience**. A conclusion should show why the rhetoric is likely to affect the people being addressed. This means thinking about their beliefs, fears, values, or expectations.

> **Key Term: audience**
> The intended readers, listeners, or viewers a writer is trying to influence.

If a speaker addresses grieving citizens, a conclusion might stress how respectful tone and shared language help build trust. If an author writes for skeptical lawmakers, the conclusion might stress how legal evidence and measured diction build credibility. Same exam skill, different audience logic.

Next comes **purpose**.

> **Key Term: purpose**
> What the writer hopes to accomplish through the text, such as persuading, defending, condemning, or motivating.

Purpose is not the same as topic. “Education” is a topic. “To persuade school board members to fund public education” is a purpose. A good conclusion returns to that action goal. Ask: what is the writer trying to get the audience to think, feel, accept, or do?

Then add **exigence**.

> **Key Term: exigence**
> The issue, event, or problem that prompts the writer to speak or write at that moment.

Exigence explains the urgency of the text. Why now? If a speech responds to war, protest, election defeat, or public criticism, the conclusion should show how the rhetoric answers that pressure. A conclusion becomes stronger when it suggests that the writer’s choices are not random stylistic decorations but practical responses to a real need.

Compare these two endings:

- Weak: The speaker uses repetition and emotional language effectively.
- Stronger: By repeating shared values and using emotional language, the speaker steadies an anxious public and answers the immediate pressure of national uncertainty.

The second is better because it connects strategy to exigence and audience.

You may also need **context**.

> **Key Term: context**
> The broader historical, cultural, social, or situational background surrounding a text.

Context is broader than exigence. A war speech may have the immediate exigence of a recent attack, but the larger context could include years of political tension. In a conclusion, context usually matters when it helps explain why the audience would respond in a certain way.

For instance, a civil rights speech in the mid-twentieth century carries a different weight from a graduation speech in the twenty-first century. The conclusion should reflect that. It should not treat every audience as abstract or timeless.

> **Test Tip:** You do not need to force every rhetorical situation term into the conclusion. Use the ones that sharpen your analysis most clearly.

### Distinguishing message from purpose in the final paragraph

Students often blur **message** and **purpose**, which weakens conclusions.

> **Key Term: message**
> The central idea, claim, or meaning communicated by the text.

The **message** is what the text says. The **purpose** is what the writer wants that message to do.

For example:

- Message: citizens must protect democratic values
- Purpose: to persuade listeners to support reform or resist apathy

Why does this distinction matter in a conclusion? Because good endings often connect both. They explain not only what the writer communicates, but also why communicating it in that way matters.

A weak conclusion might say, “The author argues for democracy.” That identifies message only. A stronger conclusion would say, “Ultimately, the author frames democracy as a shared moral duty in order to persuade skeptical citizens that political participation is urgent and necessary.” That moves from message to purpose.

This distinction also helps you avoid vague endings. If you only repeat the theme, your conclusion becomes summary. If you show what that theme is meant to accomplish, your conclusion becomes rhetorical analysis.

Here is a practical pattern:

- Restate the message in fresh words
- Connect the key rhetorical choices to the intended audience
- Explain how those choices help achieve the purpose
- If relevant, connect the effect to exigence or context

That pattern keeps the final paragraph analytical.

### From summary to synthesis: how strong conclusions sound

A summary conclusion repeats. A synthesis conclusion combines.

Suppose your body paragraphs analyse:

- appeals to shared identity
- contrast between past and present
- repetition of a call to action

A summary ending says:
The speaker uses shared identity, contrast, and repetition to persuade the audience.

A synthesis ending says:
Taken together, these choices allow the speaker to turn a divided audience into a more unified one, linking past sacrifice to present duty and making action feel both necessary and honorable.

Notice the difference. The second ending does three things:

1. It combines the devices into one effect
2. It identifies the audience impact
3. It implies the writer’s purpose

That is exactly what AP readers want to see in strong commentary.

Another important point: conclusions should usually move to a slightly wider level of significance, but not to a random one. If you end with a broad claim, it must come directly from the analysis. For example, after analysing a speech about women’s political rights, it makes sense to end by noting that the rhetoric works because it reframes exclusion as a contradiction within democratic ideals. That broadens the insight while staying tied to the essay.

It would not make sense to end with a sweeping statement about “all of society today” unless your essay has prepared for that move.

Useful flexible stems include:

- Ultimately, the writer’s choices work together to persuade [audience] that [message].
- Taken together, these strategies allow the writer to respond to [exigence] while advancing [purpose].
- By shaping the argument for [audience] in this context, the writer makes the message more compelling.
- The text’s effectiveness comes not only from what it argues, but from how carefully it addresses the needs and expectations of its audience.

These are supports, not rules. If every conclusion you write sounds identical, you risk sounding mechanical.

### Common conclusion mistakes and how to fix them

The most common error is introducing a new rhetorical choice in the conclusion. If you have not analysed irony, syntax, or imagery in the body, do not suddenly mention it at the end. The conclusion is for tying together your existing line of reasoning, not opening a new one.

A second error is repeating the thesis word for word. That creates the feeling that the essay has stalled. The fix is to restate the claim in different language and with slightly deeper insight.

A third error is listing devices mechanically:
“Overall, the author uses diction, imagery, syntax, ethos, pathos, and logos.”

This sounds busy but proves little. Readers reward explanation, not inventory.

A fourth error is making unsupported judgments such as “this is effective” or “the audience is persuaded.” Effective for whom? Why? Based on what? The claim must be grounded in the audience and purpose. For example:

- Weak: This is effective.
- Better: This is likely persuasive to an audience already anxious about national division because it offers both emotional reassurance and a clear moral framework.

A fifth error is forcing every rhetorical situation term into one sentence. That usually produces stiff writing. Precision beats completeness.

Here is a worked contrast.

Poor conclusion:
Overall,, the author uses repetition, diction, and appeals to emotion. This is effective and shows the rhetorical situation.

Stronger conclusion:
Ultimately, the speaker’s repeated appeals to shared sacrifice and carefully controlled emotional language help a grieving audience see loss as a call to unity rather than despair. In responding directly to the crisis before them, the speech turns mourning into civic purpose.

The stronger version avoids naming terms for the sake of it, but it still shows audience, exigence, and purpose clearly.

One more danger: overclaiming. Do not say a speech “convinces everyone” unless the text itself justifies that certainty. More accurate phrases include:

- likely persuades
- helps the audience accept
- makes the message more compelling
- strengthens the appeal
- positions the speaker as credible

That kind of wording sounds more thoughtful and more defensible.

## Key Point Checklist

_This article has covered the following key knowledge points:_

- A rhetorical analysis conclusion should be appropriate to the purpose and context of the rhetorical situation
- The conclusion should do more than repeat the thesis or list devices
- Strong endings synthesise the line of reasoning by showing how rhetorical choices work together
- Audience matters because conclusions should explain who is being influenced and why those people would respond
- Purpose is the writer’s goal, not just the topic of the text
- Exigence is the immediate issue or event that prompts the text, while context is the broader background
- Message is what the text communicates, while purpose is what the writer wants that message to achieve
- A strong conclusion often reconnects strategy to audience, purpose, and sometimes exigence
- Weak conclusions often introduce new devices, repeat the thesis word for word, or make vague claims of effectiveness
- “This is effective” is too weak unless the claim is explained through audience and purpose
- You do not need to force every rhetorical situation term into the conclusion
- Flexible sentence stems can help, but the best conclusions sound specific to the passage and essay

## Key Terms and Concepts

- rhetorical situation
- line of reasoning
- audience
- purpose
- exigence
- context
- message


Rhetorical Situation - Conclusions for rhetorical situation