Most op-ed conclusions are boring. Here’s how to write one that leaves an impression.

Conclusions might be the least appreciated aspect of the op-ed writing process.

Most writers are flummoxed when they realize they need to wrap up their op-ed but don’t know how to write a conclusion.

Lacking other options, they finish the article by restating their thesis and either looking ahead or issuing a call-to-action. There’s nothing wrong with this. But remember: Top outlets don’t publish B+ op-eds. If you want to distinguish your article, writing a thought-provoking conclusion is one way to separate out from the herd.

To take your endings a step further, here are some suggestions:

Quote someone

Nineteenth-century priest and poet Charles Kingsley said, “Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful. Beauty is God’s handwriting.”

Closing your op-ed with a beautiful expression is a great way to ensure people retain what you wrote. Quotes like the one above sum up your argument in an artful way, which reaches the reader at a subconscious depth. That’s what you want to do! They also help balance out the more technical tone most business leaders write in.

Tell a story

I love reading opinion articles that conclude with a short anecdote. This anecdote should help illustrate why your primary argument is so important. It might be a story about an individual who’s personally impacted by the issue you’re discussing, or it could be about someone who might benefit from changes you’re proposing.

If you want bonus points, end your piece by finishing a story you started in the introduction. If this is done well, it looks really impressive.

As with quotes, well-told stories make readers really feel something. Emotion, more than intellectual understanding, is what truly influences high-level decision-making and drives change.

Raise the stakes

As you conclude your piece, it’s helpful to make sure readers truly understand the implications of what you’re arguing.

There are various ways to do this. You could hint at the consequences of action or inaction, or you could talk about how many people are affected by the issue. You could also, as mentioned earlier, tell a story about how the issue has an outsized effect on people’s lives.

If you want to be provocative, you can raise the possibility of something extreme happening that most people wouldn’t anticipate. This doesn’t need to be a hard prediction; you’re just saying that the chance it MIGHT happen is so unacceptable that involved stakeholders need to do something.

Say you’re arguing, for instance, that the government should step in to cap consumer gas prices. Your primary warning in the article is that not doing so will be a serious detriment to consumers. But if you want to raise the stakes in the conclusion, you could float the possibility that this will cause the auto sales market to tank, because gas prices are so high that fewer consumers can afford to own cars.

All of this said, a good conclusion is not going to make or break your op-ed. I often worked on well-written pieces with mediocre conclusions, and ended up fixing them myself. So don’t sweat this too much. It’s not even close to as important as your lead, thesis and supporting points.

But if you’re looking to write an op-ed that breaks the surface in a sea of mediocrity, a strong conclusion can certainly help.