UPSC Essay Introduction and Conclusion: How to Open and Close Well

Why the opening matters so much

An examiner reading a long stack of scripts forms an impression in the first paragraph. A clear, engaging opening buys goodwill for everything after it. A vague one makes the examiner read the rest looking for problems.

Five ways to open

1. A short story: a few lines about a person facing the dilemma the topic describes. This is the most reliable opening for abstract topics.
2. A scene or image: a farmer looking at a dry field, a student staring at a screen at 2 am. Concrete and quick.
3. A striking fact: only if you are sure of it. A wrong statistic in the first line is costly.
4. A contrast: two people, two cities or two eras that show the tension in the topic.
5. A question: one sharp question that the essay will answer. Use sparingly.

End the opening with your thesis

Whatever device you use, the opening paragraph should end with one or two sentences stating what your essay will argue. This is the line the rest of the essay serves.

Three ways to close

1. Return to the opening: bring back the person or image from the start and show how the argument changes how we see them.
2. A way forward: a short, realistic summary of what should be done, by whom.
3. A forward-looking line: connect the topic to the kind of country or society worth building.

Mistakes to avoid

• Opening with a dictionary definition of the topic.
• Stacking two or three quotations before saying anything of your own.
• Introducing a new argument in the conclusion.
• Ending on an extreme or preachy note. Balanced and hopeful reads best.

See it done

Every model essay in our UPSC Essay PYQ vault opens with a story, image or scene and closes by returning to it. Read three or four back to back and the pattern becomes easy to borrow.