I feel that intros and conclusions of a particular piece of writing, or a speech, are the two most important parts. If your intro sucks, then people are most likely going to get bored, frustrated, and either stop reading or listening. If your conclusion sucks, then it shows that you cant really tie everything together. The section on conclusions for this weeks reading was very informative and is pretty straitforward about what a good conclusion should do or should contain. I had always been taught that a conclusion is your chance to tie everything together, and that you should always try to make the reader say "wow," or that you should at least leave them wanting more. The first section on page 211 reinforces those thoughts, but also adds that you should, "leave them laughing or leave them crying, or better still, leave them in a more complex emotional state that works with the more complex thinking you hope they'll do." It basically says that the conclusion essentially makes the paper. You can have an awesome paper written, but its all for nothing if you dont have an ending.