You might know this already, but we’re incorrigible know-it-alls. That’s why we recently launched a Quora. Now, whenever we have downtime from slavishly polishing the world’s best essays for you, our beloved clients, you can find us answering some of Quora users’ toughest questions with our trademark combination of reliable information and sarcastic style.
Recently, a Quora user asked, “Is it necessary to thank your reader at the end of an essay?”
This was quite a specimen of inquiry, an unusual question indeed, so we tackled it like starving wolves on a lone elk. As we debated this profound issue, it provoked a lot of stimulating discussion over here in the Unemployed Professors Offices and Writing Dungeon.
Should you thank readers for sticking through til the end of an essay? Had we ever seen that in an essay? Should you thank your readers at some other point, like in the middle when you can tell they’re bored because it was boring to write? Should you send them a thank-you card, an Edible Arrangements basket, something else, if they read the whole ? What if your essay is really boring? Then should you send a more expensive gift? What if you read their boring essay first? What if they have insomnia and want to be bored? What if reading boring essays without any direct thank-you whatsoever is like, their kink? What if the entire essay is a Toulmin-style investigation of thanking people for reading?
Our consensus was that generally, you don’t need to thank the reader at the end of an essay, at least not in those exact words. But you can use some techniques to thank them implicitly, and your essay will be stronger for it. Want to see what those examples are? You’re welcome to check out our full answer here. Thanks for reading!
