essay about the final hours

Final Hours

written by: Donnalee Shapiro

So I’ve been thinking about my father all day today. He died 25 yrs ago this month and were he still alive, would be 100 yrs old next May. My thoughts have been fixed though around the night of his death those many years ago.

My father had liver cancer and was on hospice care at home. I knew his last days were nearing and my sister and I stayed close to home, helping our mother care for him and to help her cope under the weight of his impending death.

I am a firm believer that the importance of fate in life cannot be easily dismissed. My father died on a Tuesday evening and my mother had invited my most cherished Aunt Ruth and Uncle Rich over for dinner the night before, Monday, but they were unable to make it. Fate preferred they come for dinner on that Tuesday night instead.

Dinner was a simple but delicious home cooked meal and the feeling of closeness between us was palpable and reassuring. After dinner mom put on a pot of coffee and then had gone upstairs to the hall closet to pull out her most recent crocheted afghan to show my Aunt Ruth. I then got up and went into my dad’s room to check on him.

As I entered his room, he was laying on his back looking toward the left of the room where his mother’s picture had been hung many years before. As I approached his bed, he gazed over at me, his usual pale blue eyes now dark from pupils that were wide open, a sign of decreasing oxygen. I realized then, right then, that death was so near. I leaned down close to his face and asked, “daddy, are you in any pain?” He nodded slowly, no. I then asked, “are you afraid of anything dad?” Again he nodded, no. I then told him I loved him and that he need not worry about anything. I promised him that I would always take care of mom and Lorraine. He was so weak but his mind was definitely there. I told him that I was going to get mom and that I’d be right back.

I climbed the stairs toward my mother who was on her knees retrieving the afghan blanket that had been tucked away on the bottom of the closet shelf. I gently told her that dad’s death was near, helped her to stand back up and then encouraged her to go into his room and say whatever last words she wanted him to hear. As she went into dad’s room and closed the door, I then told my sister and aunt and uncle.

Soon we were all standing around dad’s bed holding his hand and telling him how much he was loved. My sister then said something so profound. She said, “it’s not goodbye daddy, it’s just see you later,” a phrase my dad always asked us to say whenever he was hospitalized and we were leaving him and going back home. He always said, “goodbye sounds so final.” Hearing my sister say that now poignant phrase had an instant emotional impact on me. I felt like 100 pounds had been lifted from my shoulders. They were the absolute right words at the absolute right moment!

As death crept closer, standing at the foot of my father’s bed, I noticed that his respirations were more rapid and shallow now and his tiny thin shoulders were moving up and back in a slightly rhythmic rolling motion. As dad’s life slowly ebbed away, he could no longer speak or gaze up at us anymore. Mom asked me, “can he still hear us?” I then asked, “daddy, can you hear us?” With his last bit of energy, he ever so slowly nodded his head up and then slowly back down again.

That final slow nod was our reassurance that he had indeed understood all of our heartfelt words of love, the promises made to him, and most importantly perhaps, the phrase… “we’ll see you later dad.”

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I am so touched by your experience. It reminds me of my mother’s death. Some of my siblings came to spend her last days with her but they had to return to work. On the day she passed, only my youngest brother and I were with her. We called siblings on our cell phones so that they could say good bye to her. Your father was so fortunate to have such a loving family. Thank you for sharing your story.

thank you so much for sharing your beautiful thoughts as well. We are blessed to have such moments

a truly wonderful story

Such a beautifully bitter-sweet story. At least we can have those cherished memories

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Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, these final hours.

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There have been any number of cinematic depictions about how we might find  ourselves living out the last few days before the imminent annihilation of our planet,  ranging from the quiet reflection of the Canadian drama " Last Night " to the overblown  nonsense of the disaster epic "2012" to some simple  canoodling with Keira Knightley in the quirky comedy "Seeking a Friend for the End of  the World".  The latest film to present viewers with a look at the final hours of mankind is an  Australian import titled, appropriately enough, "These Final Hours" and while it does  have a few things of interest going for it, this low-budget effort ends up arriving at its  necessarily predictable conclusion in too many unnecessarily predictable ways.

As the film opens, an asteroid has just landed in the North Atlantic and  kicked off a firestorm of destruction that has already taken out huge chunks of the  civilized world. In Perth, Australia, the approaching firestorm is set to arrive in about 12  hours and the mood of the remaining populace veers between grim resignation (with  suicides aplenty) and a determination to make Earth's remaining moments play out  like a mash-up of "The Road Warrior" and " The Purge ." Our anti-hero, James (Nathan  Phillips), is leaning more towards the latter and after a farewell snog with girlfriend Zoe  (Jessica de Gouw), he decides to leave her alone so that he can spend the rest of  his time at a wild bacchanal thrown by friend Freddy ( Daniel Henshall ) with his other  girlfriend, Vicky ( Kathryn Beck ) and not even her revelations that she is pregnant can  convince him to stay. He wants to get messed up because, as he puts it, "I don't want to  feel a thing." 

James heads off to the party that he has placed above everything else, and  after getting waylaid along the way, he sees a little girl who has been abducted by a couple of  depraved weirdos for presumably unspeakable reasons. D espite his insistence  that he no longer cares about anything, he rescues the girl, Rose ( Angourie Rice ), and  when he is unable to reunite her with her father, he decides to take her along to the  party in the hopes of finding someone there who can take her to be reunited with her  family. Needless to say, as they go along their trek, the two bear witness to any number  of horrible sights but Rose's optimism and innocence in the face of the oncoming  apocalypse (Spoiler Alert!) begins to change his cynical soul. Once they arrive at the  party—an orgy of open sex, prodigious drug and alcohol abuse and bouts of Russian  Roulette—he discovers that nihilism may no longer be his thing and tries to get Rose  back together with her family and settle his own outstanding emotional debts before it is  really too late.

Written and directed by Zak Hilditch , "These Final Hours" is more ambitious than its  presumably inexpensive origins might suggest but this is the kind of storyline that has  been done dozens of times before and even the better parts of this effort contain more  than a whiff of the familiar. The finale, for example, is presented in a relatively striking  manner but anyone who has seen the vastly superior apocalyptic drama " Take Shelter "  will no doubt notice a number of similarities between the two climaxes. Likewise,  the relationship between Phillips (whose presence here, following on the heels of  appearances in such films as " Wolf Creek ," "Snake on a Plane" and "The Chernobyl  Diaries," marks him as one of the guys you least want to have with you on a cinematic  excursion of any duration) and Rice doesn't really hit any overtly wrong notes but  nevertheless fails to break any new ground either. Even the end-of-the-world blowout  is nowhere as decadent as one might hope—from what we see, it basically feels like  Burning Man sans the morning-after hangovers—and when it does threaten to become  transgressive, as when little Rose is dosed with Ecstasy and begins tripping, it pulls  back the reins before things can get too weird.

"These Final Hours" has a couple of things in its favor. Sarah Snook , who delivered  such an amazing performance in the recent sci-fi mind-bender " Predestination ," shows  up in a brief but frighteningly vivid part as a grief-stricken mother convinced that Rose is  actually her late daughter and Lynette Curran has an equally strong scene as James's  estranged mother, who plans on riding out the end with some wine and a few jigsaw  puzzles. Visually, the film looks far more expensive that it probably was and there  are some admittedly arresting images scattered throughout. However, none of these  elements are enough to make you forget just how profoundly familiar the rest of it  is. 

"These Final Hours" is not without merit but if you pick only one Australian-made  apocalyptic road movie to see in 2015, my guess is that you should probably save your  time and money and just wait a couple of months for "Fury Road" to arrive.

Peter Sobczynski

A moderately insightful critic, full-on Swiftie and all-around  bon vivant , Peter Sobczynski, in addition to his work at this site, is also a contributor to The Spool and can be heard weekly discussing new Blu-Ray releases on the Movie Madness podcast on the Now Playing network.

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Film credits.

These Final Hours (2015)

Nathan Phillips as James

Angourie Rice as Rose

Daniel Henshall as Freddy

Jessica De Gouw as Zoe

David Field as Radio Man

Sarah Snook as Mandy's Mum

Kathryn Beck as Vicky

Lynette Curran as James' Mum

• Zak Hilditch
• Nick Meyers

Director of Photography

• Bonnie Elliott

Original Music Composer

• Cornel Wilczek

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• Short Story

The Final Hours.

• Zoe Downs, Grade 11

The night falls with gravity, a slight chill shivers down my spine, a cold breath exits my mouth as I exhale. The clock is slowly ticking away, my mind is wondering elsewhere, “Where could he be?” that one thought on my mind, which in this case never seemed to disappear. The clock stopped ticking, time its self-slowed down, I felt lifted but thought the worst. Three hours… three lonely hours has passed and not a trace, not a sound of his sweet gentle voice. I lie awake thinking about his last words before he left the door to comfort me, “I won’t be long, I love you.” The fifth hour has passed, time has started to speed and my heart begins to race, my phone still dark not yet lit up by a text, so I continue to send more. “Where are you, please I’m worried.” I stare at my phone waiting for my shoulders to lift and my breath to leave my body in a sigh of relief. Still nothing. What could have happened, what could he be doing to cause me this much pain and stress. A cold shiver runs down my spine once again as a cold breeze enters from the window, I stand and shut it, looking out onto my driveway where his car was parked. The seventh hour has passed and all the sudden I get a quiet knock, coming from my front door. I ran to the door with my heart racing and my shoulders lifted, closed my eyes and took a deep breath in and opened the door. Five thirty-four in the morning, my eyes begin to water and my heart sinks into the ground, my breath shortens and my body turned numb and cold. Two tall men in blue uniforms and shiny badges, holding their hands in front of their lifeless bodies, their heads are facing towards hell its self. I feared the worst but had a little hope in my sunken heart. “He’s never coming home,” I sink to the ground with tears rolling down my cheeks as if I had just gotten out of a cold shower. The officers comfort me and explain to me one of my worst fears. He was in a car crash, died as he arrived at the hospital, they say his body was as pale snow and his lips as blue as the sky. They tracked my phone since I was sending him constant messages, to make sure I could hear his angle voice… Which my cold, broken hearten body, will never be able to hear and enjoy again.

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Ooops! You waited until the very last minute to begin the college application process, and it’s probably stressing you out. But never fear – CollegeVine is here to make sure that your procrastination impacts your essay as minimally as possible.

We’ve included a guide for the 30-day essay, the 15-day essay, and the 3-day essay. If you have multiple essays to write in a short time, you can follow the appropriate guide for multiple prompts simultaneously, or offset it by a few days.

The 30-Day Essay

At this point, you want to focus on ideas. You have the freedom to spend a few days figuring out which direction your essay is going to take, so take your time to think about what you want to convey in your essay. Find four to five topics to begin with—you can ask your parents, friends, and teachers about what they find interesting about you in order to speed this process up. Try to choose anecdotes from your life that, in retrospect, you learned from, and these stories will inform your topic. Even the shortest, most insignificant moment can make a great essay if it shaped you in some way. If you are writing a “why this school” essay, make a list of reasons why you are applying. Do appropriate research to find strong reasons that show your genuine interest in the school. 

Now that you have a few potential topics, think about how each one would respond to the prompt. Spend 15 minutes outlining each one, using your prompt to guide the outline. In essays that ask you to tell a story, a good topic should write itself and finding a strong essay idea will nearly always be more productive than forcing a story to respond to the prompt. For “why this school” essays, focus on the structure and connection between your reasons. Giving this step the necessary hours now will pay off later. Narrow your list of potential topics to your top one to three choices.

Now it’s time to put pen to paper. If you’re having a hard time, try writing in different environments—coffee shops, your room, or a library, for example—and alternate between topics, and remember that at least at this stage, more words is better than fewer; there will be a step to polish your writing later. 

By day 14, you should have written one rough essay for every “top choice” topic you decided on during day 5. This means that you should now have anywhere between one to three potential essays for a single prompt.

If you do have more than one essay written, it is now time to choose a single essay. Out of the two or three essays you have written in the past couple days, there is probably one that speaks to you more than the rest. If you’re having a hard time, think about which of the topics you’d like to spend another two weeks with, and try to figure out which one says the most about you. Essays with twice the number of words allowed or more should be ruled out; the anecdote is probably too long, or the topic requires too much detail to be effective.

Break days! Distance is important when writing. Take a break from your essays so that you can continue to edit with a fresh mind. These are great days to give your essay to other people to edit—school faculty members who know you well, a coach/music teacher, your parents, and one or two friends. If you are over the word limit, ask specifically for these editors to help you cut down the essay.

Reading your essay with a fresh mind should help you catch big, structural edits. Your first round of edits should involve content edits; you’re looking for what the essay really says about you as a person, and whether that was what you were trying to get across. How does the sentence flow? Does the essay move itself?

Break day! Get some more distance from your writing.

At this point, you might have received some edits back from the people you handed your essay to. Go through each of the edits and decide which suggestions you plan to take, and which seem to alter your personal voice or which don’t match the essay stylistically. Try to stay objective as you review these edits—some of them will be detrimental. If you can’t see why the change was made, it’s probably best to ignore it. If multiple people give you the same feedback, however, you may want to give it some thought.

Implement the edits that you liked. Then read through the essay again and make sure that there are no structural edits or content edits that still need to happen.

These days are the middle stage of your editing process. You’re looking for words that don’t fit the style of the essay, or which could be improved, as well as sentence flow problems. Are all your sentences the same length? Is one paragraph not as well written as the rest of the essay? This should also be the time that you cut words. If you are still more than 70 words over, try to cut full sentences. Otherwise, start by cutting unnecessary phrases and words.

Start doing smaller grammatical edits. A great way to catch edits is to record yourself reading your essay aloud and then listening to the recording. As you go through this process, highlight, mark, and comment on your essay. Afterwards, go through and use your notes to fix word flow, word choice, and grammatical mistakes.

Break day! It’s close to the deadline, we know. Take a break anyway – you need and deserve it.

Last minute edits! Spend some quality time with your essay by just reading it every few hours. Try to catch any small mistakes or random sentence flow problems. (If you suddenly realize that you hate your essay, reference the 3-Day Essay below. Be sure that you aren’t being hyper-critical, though—you may just hate the essay because you’ve spent so much time on it).

Congratulations! Your essay is done! It’s time for you to catch a break. 

The 15-Day Essay

Spend a few hours working on a list of ideas that could become potential essays. Choose one and make an outline.

Write your essay!

Ask a few people who you think would give constructive comments to read your essay— teachers, parents, and  friends. Spend some time doing content and structure edits. Figure out what you want the essay to convey about your personality, and determine whether your essay actually gets this across.

Do some structural editing. Pay attention to sentence flow, the length of paragraphs, overall organization. If your essay is too long, try to cut down on unnecessary information. Pay close attention to the way that you have structured paragraphs and make sure each one makes sense.

Take a break!

Synthesize the comments you received on your essay. Decide which suggestions you want to use and which ones you don’t. If you can’t figure out why a particular suggestion was made, ask the person who gave it. After you’ve gone through all the feedback, edit your essay accordingly.

Cut your essay down to the word limit – ask yourself which anecdotes, details, and adjectives are truly necessary. If you’re having trouble, reference the editors that you spoke to previously.

Work on grammatical and other small edits. Look for minor things that need to be corrected, such as punctuation and word choice. This process requires a few dedicated hours. Aim to really spend some time polishing your language. Reading your essay aloud can be a productive way to accomplish this.

Take a break from your essay!

Spend the whole day with your essay. Every few hours, do a reread and see if you can catch any small last minute edits. Don’t try to change anything major—you don’t have time!

Submit the essay and take a good nap. You’ve finished! 

The 3-Day Essay

Don’t panic. This is doable, but it’ll be a busy few days. Spend the morning coming up with ideas for your essay. Choose one, and use the afternoon to write it. Email this draft to teachers, and show it to your parents. Then, take a few hours off, and later at night, read it through to edit for content. Does the essay say what you intended it to?

Check your email throughout the day. When you get edits back, start incorporating those into the essay. Be picky about which ones you choose to include because you don’t want to take your own voice out of the essay. Spend the day doing structural edits. Every hour, take a thirty minute break from editing. By the end of the day, you should have an essay that fits within the word limit and also has a strong flow. The organization should be good, and you should be able to see how the essay builds upon itself.

DO NOT OPEN EDITS. If any of your readers have replied to your email, don’t open them at all. At this point, the extra edits will just freak you out, and you don’t have time to do major fixes. The name of the game today is small edits; look for grammar, word changes, and minor sentence structure changes. When you’re finally done, take a breath; you can finally relax. 

The 1-Day Essay 

Of course, writing a college essay the day before it’s due is far from ideal, but we know there are probably some of you out there who will find yourself in this situation. Don’t worry, it is not hopeless. Instead of trying to fit a step-by-step plan into a tight timespan, we’ve compiled some general tips to help you churn out that essay in one day. 

Choose your prompts strategically.

If you already know what you’re going to write about, great! Move on to the next tip. If not, see if you might have already written an essay to any of the available prompts. Especially if the prompts are open-ended, you may have already addressed a potential topic in previous school papers. Look through your files to see if you have any essays that you might be able to recycle. The key here is recycle : it goes without saying that you shouldn’t use a previously-written essay word for word for your college submission. You should still take time to tailor it to the prompt and make sure that it conveys your message clearly, whether it’s illustrating your strengths or expressing why you wish to attend that particular college. 

Make an outline. 

Yes, you may feel that you don’t have time for extensive planning, and that you should just jump in and get everything on paper. Try to rein in this urge and take one hour to make a brief outline, spelling out your “thesis” and all the points you want to address. This will help keep your thoughts in order as you write, especially in such a time-constricted context. 

Get that distance, re-read, and edit. 

It’s always tempting to just click submit once you’re done with a project you worked long and hard on, to feel that relief when you know it’s done. However, especially given the rushed nature of a last-minute essay like this, the revision and editing process is crucial, even if it’ll be minimal. Blatant errors will reflect poorly in your application! 

So when you’re done writing, set it aside for a few hours. Then, reread it, and make any necessary corrections—grammar mistakes, typos, sentence flow. When you’re sure it sounds they way you want it to, then you can submit. 

Wrapping it Up

Procrastinating on your college essays isn’t the best way to go, but it can be saved. If you haven’t started applying yet, start your college essays as early as possible! Longer breaks between editing sessions will allow you to get the distance necessary to be objective, and to produce the best quality essay you can.

Want help with your college essays to improve your admissions chances? Sign up for your free CollegeVine account and get access to our essay guides and courses. You can also get your essay peer-reviewed and improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays.

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These Final Hours review – awesomely unsubtle Auspocalypse drama

Australia has 12 hours left in Zak Hilditch’s end-of-days film, which comes on like a rash but offers moments of beauty amid the meteorite-strewn madness

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A ustralian writer-director Zak Hilditch has bolted out of the gates with a gnarly and borderline misanthropic end of the world movie, where bloodthirsty madmen roam lawless streets and drug-taking youth party like there’s no tomorrow (because there isn’t) during the final hours of the earth’s existence.

Extending the Auspocalypse genre pioneered by the Mad Max movies and recently treated as groundwork for a dour parable in David Michôd’s The Rover , the doomsday clock is ticking in These Final Hours – the twist being that hope for humanity has long passed its use-by date.

Hilditch establishes early on that there’s no avoiding the catastrophic impact of a meteorite in the mail. Plummeting to earth, it has created a tsunami of fire slowly consuming the world and there’s no chance of making it better by shooting Bruce Willis into space and playing a bit of Aerosmith.

The end of days is arriving down under, and quick – 12 hours is roughly how much time Australia has left. After a tiff with his girlfriend about whether to wind down the clock together or spend it doof-doofing at an apocalyptically good house party, James (Nathan Phillips) opts for the latter and leaves her for dead. On his way to the bash, James’ conscience pricks him into deviating from the plan.

Armed with a hammer (Mitre 10 presumably opted out of a sponsorship deal), he saves a kidnapped young girl named Rose (Angourie Rice) from a hideous fate. James takes her under his wing and shepherds her around a violent anarchic landscape like a guardian angel. His parental instincts only extend so far: he brings Rose to the party, where mohawked maniac Freddy (Daniel Henshall) waves his gun and belly around and guests behave like meth-injected primates.

In a less intense film, the moment Rose consumes an ecstasy pill forced onto her by a drug-crazed mother in search of a surrogate daughter – any daughter – might have signalled a turning point, a sign the story we’re watching is about to slip into morally dubious territory.

But Hilditch sets that feeling up from the get-go. He face-plants audiences on to savage streets strewn with crazies. In James DeMonaco’s 2013 film The Purge , American citizens are assigned one anything-goes night each year where all crimes are pardoned and citizens can to do as they please, violent or otherwise, in order to “cleanse”. These Final Hours captures a similar kind of lawlessness but without the promise of a reset button.

Hilditch makes the unruliness of life outside the law barbarous and wild, stamped with visions of those who’ve departed. “Trespassers will bleed before they die,” reads the blood-red spray paint plastered across one person’s gates. There’s plenty more messages along similar lines from corpses dangling from lamp posts (“sorry, had to leave”) to visions of a planet-destroying blaze tearing along the ocean.

Cinematographer Bonnie Elliott creates a sweaty sun-kissed look and editor Nick Meyers a sense of itch-inducing immediacy. The film comes on like rash, with a visceral bleakness that is rare and confronting outside the context of genre horror. And if These Final Hours slips a little in a plot sense, it’s because Hilditch’s focus ultimately lies elsewhere – in creating an experiential, brooding, disgustingly plausible hypothetical universe. By these criteria, These Final Hours is an awesome success.

It is also a symbolic work that fires from multiple cannons. Perhaps the film is a parable for drug taking. No matter how long, how hard or how passionately you party, the good times will come to an end as inevitably as life itself. Perhaps it’s about the importance of confronting immortality, but with a caveat: if everybody came to the conclusion life was transitory and devoid of meaning, the world would descend into anarchy.

There are more life-affirming interpretations to be uncovered from Hilditch’s hell-on-earth setting. James is stuck in a compelling dilemma, wanting to protect his innocent young friend but understanding he is powerless to change their doomed fate. The relationship he has with Rose is a reminder that good things can, and often are, accomplished when there is no material reward and no logical purpose for doing so.

These Final Hours is also about how beauty can be salvaged from the bleakest of scenarios. In one shot, a girl runs towards a car, all smiles and radiance, waving goodbye to the driver as he looks out of the rear view mirror and is reminded – in the lead-up to his own death – that memories are precious. It’s one of the most touching images Australian cinema has offered in some time. A flash of subtlety in a heinously unsubtle film, and a moment of respite from blood-splattered bedlam.

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Most viewed.

So much is at stake in writing a conclusion. This is, after all, your last chance to persuade your readers to your point of view, to impress yourself upon them as a writer and thinker. And the impression you create in your conclusion will shape the impression that stays with your readers after they've finished the essay.

The end of an essay should therefore convey a sense of completeness and closure as well as a sense of the lingering possibilities of the topic, its larger meaning, its implications: the final paragraph should close the discussion without closing it off.

To establish a sense of closure, you might do one or more of the following:

• Conclude by linking the last paragraph to the first, perhaps by reiterating a word or phrase you used at the beginning.
• Conclude with a sentence composed mainly of one-syllable words. Simple language can help create an effect of understated drama.
• Conclude with a sentence that's compound or parallel in structure; such sentences can establish a sense of balance or order that may feel just right at the end of a complex discussion.

To close the discussion without closing it off, you might do one or more of the following:

• Conclude with a quotation from or reference to a primary or secondary source, one that amplifies your main point or puts it in a different perspective. A quotation from, say, the novel or poem you're writing about can add texture and specificity to your discussion; a critic or scholar can help confirm or complicate your final point. For example, you might conclude an essay on the idea of home in James Joyce's short story collection,  Dubliners , with information about Joyce's own complex feelings towards Dublin, his home. Or you might end with a biographer's statement about Joyce's attitude toward Dublin, which could illuminate his characters' responses to the city. Just be cautious, especially about using secondary material: make sure that you get the last word.
• Conclude by setting your discussion into a different, perhaps larger, context. For example, you might end an essay on nineteenth-century muckraking journalism by linking it to a current news magazine program like  60 Minutes .
• Conclude by redefining one of the key terms of your argument. For example, an essay on Marx's treatment of the conflict between wage labor and capital might begin with Marx's claim that the "capitalist economy is . . . a gigantic enterprise of dehumanization "; the essay might end by suggesting that Marxist analysis is itself dehumanizing because it construes everything in economic -- rather than moral or ethical-- terms.
• Conclude by considering the implications of your argument (or analysis or discussion). What does your argument imply, or involve, or suggest? For example, an essay on the novel  Ambiguous Adventure , by the Senegalese writer Cheikh Hamidou Kane, might open with the idea that the protagonist's development suggests Kane's belief in the need to integrate Western materialism and Sufi spirituality in modern Senegal. The conclusion might make the new but related point that the novel on the whole suggests that such an integration is (or isn't) possible.

Finally, some advice on how not to end an essay:

• Don't simply summarize your essay. A brief summary of your argument may be useful, especially if your essay is long--more than ten pages or so. But shorter essays tend not to require a restatement of your main ideas.
• Avoid phrases like "in conclusion," "to conclude," "in summary," and "to sum up." These phrases can be useful--even welcome--in oral presentations. But readers can see, by the tell-tale compression of the pages, when an essay is about to end. You'll irritate your audience if you belabor the obvious.
• Resist the urge to apologize. If you've immersed yourself in your subject, you now know a good deal more about it than you can possibly include in a five- or ten- or 20-page essay. As a result, by the time you've finished writing, you may be having some doubts about what you've produced. (And if you haven't immersed yourself in your subject, you may be feeling even more doubtful about your essay as you approach the conclusion.) Repress those doubts. Don't undercut your authority by saying things like, "this is just one approach to the subject; there may be other, better approaches. . ."

Copyright 1998, Pat Bellanca, for the Writing Center at Harvard University

The Final Hours Essay

How to answer “The Final Hours Essay” correctly?

Let us look at the magic term: Essay . When a question asks a student to write an “essay,” they (students) are expected to provide a structured and well-organised piece of writing that presents and supports a main idea or a position. The essay should have an introduction that introduces the topic and states the position or a side of the writer, body paragraphs that support the thesis or position with evidence and examples based on their country of South Africa, and a conclusion that summarises the main points and restates the position (good/bad). For higher marks, the essay should demonstrate critical thinking, a paragraph with history or background of the topic, and all should be written with clarity and simple english for better understanding.

Shama Nathoo

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How to Write a Conclusion for an Essay

By the time you get to the final paragraph of your paper, you have already done so much work on your essay, so all you want to do is to wrap it up as quickly as possible. You’ve already made a stunning introduction, proven your argument, and structured the whole piece as supposed – who cares about making a good conclusion paragraph?

The only thing you need to remember is that the conclusion of an essay is not just the last paragraph of an academic paper where you restate your thesis and key arguments. A concluding paragraph is also your opportunity to have a final impact on your audience. 

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How to write a conclusion paragraph that leaves a lasting impression – In this guide, the team at EssayPro is going to walk you through the process of writing a perfect conclusion step by step. Additionally, we will share valuable tips and tricks to help students of all ages impress their readers at the last moment.

Instead of Intro: What Is a Conclusion?

Before we can move on, let’s take a moment here to define the conclusion itself. According to the standard conclusion definition, it is pretty much the last part of something, its result, or end. However, this term is rather broad and superficial.

When it comes to writing academic papers, a concluding statement refers to an opinion, judgment, suggestion, or position arrived at by logical reasoning (through the arguments provided in the body of the text). Therefore, if you are wondering “what is a good closing sentence like?” – keep on reading.

What Does a Good Conclusion Mean?

Writing a good conclusion for a paper isn’t easy. However, we are going to walk you through this process step by step. Although there are generally no strict rules on how to formulate one, there are some basic principles that everyone should keep in mind. In this section, we will share some core ideas for writing a good conclusion, and, later in the article, we will also provide you with more practical advice and examples.

Here are the core goals a good conclusion should complete:

• “Wrap up” the entire paper;
• Demonstrate to readers that the author accomplished what he/she set out to do;
• Show how you the author has proved their thesis statement;
• Give a sense of completeness and closure on the topic;
• Leave something extra for your reader to think about;
• Leave a powerful final impact on a reader.

Another key thing to remember is that you should not introduce any new ideas or arguments to your paper's conclusion. It should only sum up what you have already written, revisit your thesis statement, and end with a powerful final impression.

When considering how to write a conclusion that works, here are the key points to keep in mind:

• A concluding sentence should only revisit the thesis statement, not restate it;
• It should summarize the main ideas from the body of the paper;
• It should demonstrate the significance and relevance of your work;
• An essay’s conclusion should include a call for action and leave space for further study or development of the topic (if necessary).

How Long Should a Conclusion Be? 

Although there are no strict universal rules regarding the length of an essay’s final clause, both teachers and experienced writers recommend keeping it clear, concise, and straight to the point. There is an unspoken rule that the introduction and conclusion of an academic paper should both be about 10% of the overall paper’s volume. For example, if you were assigned a 1500 word essay, both the introductory and final clauses should be approximately 150 words long (300 together).

Why You Need to Know How to End an Essay:

A conclusion is what drives a paper to its logical end. It also drives the main points of your piece one last time. It is your last opportunity to impact and impress your audience. And, most importantly, it is your chance to demonstrate to readers why your work matters. Simply put, the final paragraph of your essay should answer the last important question a reader will have – “So what?”

If you do a concluding paragraph right, it can give your readers a sense of logical completeness. On the other hand, if you do not make it powerful enough, it can leave them hanging, and diminish the effect of the entire piece.

Strategies to Crafting a Proper Conclusion

Although there are no strict rules for what style to use to write your conclusion, there are several strategies that have been proven to be effective. In the list below, you can find some of the most effective strategies with some good conclusion paragraph examples to help you grasp the idea.

One effective way to emphasize the significance of your essay and give the audience some thought to ponder about is by taking a look into the future. The “When and If” technique is quite powerful when it comes to supporting your points in the essay’s conclusion.

Prediction essay conclusion example: “Taking care of a pet is quite hard, which is the reason why most parents refuse their children’s requests to get a pet. However, the refusal should be the last choice of parents. If we want to inculcate a deep sense of responsibility and organization in our kids, and, at the same time, sprout compassion in them, we must let our children take care of pets.”

Another effective strategy is to link your conclusion to your introductory paragraph. This will create a full-circle narration for your readers, create a better understanding of your topic, and emphasize your key point.

Echo conclusion paragraph example: Introduction: “I believe that all children should grow up with a pet. I still remember the exact day my parents brought my first puppy to our house. This was one of the happiest moments in my life and, at the same time, one of the most life-changing ones. Growing up with a pet taught me a lot, and most importantly, it taught me to be responsible.” Conclusion:. “I remember when I picked up my first puppy and how happy I was at that time. Growing up with a pet, I learned what it means to take care of someone, make sure that he always has water and food, teach him, and constantly keep an eye on my little companion. Having a child grow up with a pet teaches them responsibility and helps them acquire a variety of other life skills like leadership, love, compassion, and empathy. This is why I believe that every kid should grow up with a pet!”

Finally, one more trick that will help you create a flawless conclusion is to amplify your main idea or to present it in another perspective of a larger context. This technique will help your readers to look at the problem discussed from a different angle.

Step-up argumentative essay conclusion example: “Despite the obvious advantages of owning a pet in childhood, I feel that we cannot generalize whether all children should have a pet. Whereas some kids may benefit from such experiences, namely, by becoming more compassionate, organized, and responsible, it really depends on the situation, motivation, and enthusiasm of a particular child for owning a pet.”

What is a clincher in an essay? – The final part of an essay’s conclusion is often referred to as a clincher sentence. According to the clincher definition, it is a final sentence that reinforces the main idea or leaves the audience with an intriguing thought to ponder upon. In a nutshell, the clincher is very similar to the hook you would use in an introductory paragraph. Its core mission is to seize the audience’s attention until the end of the paper. At the same time, this statement is what creates a sense of completeness and helps the author leave a lasting impression on the reader.

Now, since you now know what a clincher is, you are probably wondering how to use one in your own paper. First of all, keep in mind that a good clincher should be intriguing, memorable, smooth, and straightforward.

Generally, there are several different tricks you can use for your clincher statement; it can be:

• A short, but memorable and attention-grabbing conclusion;
• A relevant and memorable quote (only if it brings actual value);
• A call to action;
• A rhetorical question;
• An illustrative story or provocative example;
• A warning against a possibility or suggestion about the consequences of a discussed problem;
• A joke (however, be careful with this as it may not always be deemed appropriate).

Regardless of the technique you choose, make sure that your clincher is memorable and aligns with your introduction and thesis.

Clincher examples: - While New York may not be the only place with the breathtaking views, it is definitely among my personal to 3… and that’s what definitely makes it worth visiting. - “Thence we came forth to rebehold the stars”, Divine Comedy - Don’t you think all these advantages sound like almost life-saving benefits of owning a pet? “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”, The Great Gatsby

Conclusion Writing Don'ts 

Now, when you know what tricks and techniques you should use to create a perfect conclusion, let’s look at some of the things you should not do with our online paper writing service :

• Starting with some cliché concluding sentence starters. Many students find common phrases like “In conclusion,” “Therefore,” “In summary,” or similar statements to be pretty good conclusion starters. However, though such conclusion sentence starters may work in certain cases – for example, in speeches – they are overused, so it is recommended not to use them in writing to introduce your conclusion.
• Putting the first mention of your thesis statement in the conclusion – it has to be presented in your introduction first.
• Providing new arguments, subtopics, or ideas in the conclusion paragraph.
• Including a slightly changed or unchanged thesis statement.
• Providing arguments and evidence that belong in the body of the work.
• Writing too long, hard to read, or confusing sentences.

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Conclusion Paragraph Outline

The total number of sentences in your final paragraph may vary depending on the number of points you discussed in your essay, as well as on the overall word count of your paper. However, the overall conclusion paragraph outline will remain the same and consists of the following elements:

• A conclusion starter:

The first part of your paragraph should drive readers back to your thesis statement. Thus, if you were wondering how to start a conclusion, the best way to do it is by rephrasing your thesis statement.

• Summary of the body paragraphs:

Right after revisiting your thesis, you should include several sentences that wrap up the key highlights and points from your body paragraphs. This part of your conclusion can consist of 2-3 sentences—depending on the number of arguments you’ve made. If necessary, you can also explain to the readers how your main points fit together.

• A concluding sentence:

Finally, you should end your paragraph with a last, powerful sentence that leaves a lasting impression, gives a sense of logical completeness, and connects readers back to the introduction of the paper.

These three key elements make up a perfect essay conclusion. Now, to give you an even better idea of how to create a perfect conclusion, let us give you a sample conclusion paragraph outline with examples from an argumentative essay on the topic of “Every Child Should Own a Pet:

• Sentence 1: Starter
• ~ Thesis: "Though taking care of a pet may be a bit challenging for small children. Parents should not restrict their kids from having a pet as it helps them grow into more responsible and compassionate people."
• ~ Restated thesis for a conclusion: "I can say that taking care of a pet is good for every child."
• Sentences 2-4: Summary
• ~ "Studies have shown that pet owners generally have fewer health problems."
• ~ "Owning a pet teaches a child to be more responsible."
• ~ "Spending time with a pet reduces stress, feelings of loneliness, and anxiety."
• Sentence 5: A concluding sentence
• ~ "Pets can really change a child life for the better, so don't hesitate to endorse your kid's desire to own a pet."

This is a clear example of how you can shape your conclusion paragraph.

How to Conclude Various Types of Essays

Depending on the type of academic essay you are working on, your concluding paragraph's style, tone, and length may vary. In this part of our guide, we will tell you how to end different types of essays and other works.

How to End an Argumentative Essay

Persuasive or argumentative essays always have the single goal of convincing readers of something (an idea, stance, or viewpoint) by appealing to arguments, facts, logic, and even emotions. The conclusion for such an essay has to be persuasive as well. A good trick you can use is to illustrate a real-life scenario that proves your stance or encourages readers to take action. More about persuasive essay outline you can read in our article.

Here are a few more tips for making a perfect conclusion for an argumentative essay:

• Carefully read the whole essay before you begin;
• Re-emphasize your ideas;
• Discuss possible implications;
• Don’t be afraid to appeal to the reader’s emotions.

How to End a Compare and Contrast Essay

The purpose of a compare and contrast essay is to emphasize the differences or similarities between two or more objects, people, phenomena, etc. Therefore, a logical conclusion should highlight how the reviewed objects are different or similar. Basically, in such a paper, your conclusion should recall all of the key common and distinctive features discussed in the body of your essay and also give readers some food for thought after they finish reading it.

How to Conclude a Descriptive Essay

The key idea of a descriptive essay is to showcase your creativity and writing skills by painting a vivid picture with the help of words. This is one of the most creative types of essays as it requires you to show a story, not tell it. This kind of essay implies using a lot of vivid details. Respectively, the conclusion of such a paper should also use descriptive imagery and, at the same time, sum up the main ideas. A good strategy for ending a descriptive essay would be to begin with a short explanation of why you wrote the essay. Then, you should reflect on how your topic affects you. In the middle of the conclusion, you should cover the most critical moments of the story to smoothly lead the reader into a logical closing statement. The “clincher”, in this case, should be a thought-provoking final sentence that leaves a good and lasting impression on the audience. Do not lead the reader into the essay and then leave them with dwindling memories of it.

How to Conclude an Essay About Yourself

If you find yourself writing an essay about yourself, you need to tell a personal story. As a rule, such essays talk about the author’s experiences, which is why a conclusion should create a feeling of narrative closure. A good strategy is to end your story with a logical finale and the lessons you have learned, while, at the same time, linking it to the introductory paragraph and recalling key moments from the story.

How to End an Informative Essay

Unlike other types of papers, informative or expository essays load readers with a lot of information and facts. In this case, “Synthesize, don’t summarize” is the best technique you can use to end your paper. Simply put, instead of recalling all of the major facts, you should approach your conclusion from the “So what?” position by highlighting the significance of the information provided.

How to Conclude a Narrative Essay

In a nutshell, a narrative essay is based on simple storytelling. The purpose of this paper is to share a particular story in detail. Therefore, the conclusion for such a paper should wrap up the story and avoid finishing on an abrupt cliffhanger. It is vital to include the key takeaways and the lessons learned from the story.

How to Write a Conclusion for a Lab Report

Unlike an essay, a lab report is based on an experiment. This type of paper describes the flow of a particular experiment conducted by a student and its conclusion should reflect on the outcomes of this experiment.

In thinking of how to write a conclusion for a lab, here are the key things you should do to get it right:

• Restate the goals of your experiment
• Describe the methods you used
• Include the results of the experiment and analyze the final data
• End your conclusion with a clear statement on whether or not the experiment was successful (Did you reach the expected results?)

How to Write a Conclusion for a Research Paper

Writing a paper is probably the hardest task of all, even for experienced dissertation writer . Unlike an essay or even a lab report, a research paper is a much longer piece of work that requires a deeper investigation of the problem. Therefore, a conclusion for such a paper should be even more sophisticated and powerful. If you're feeling difficulty writing an essay, you can buy essay on our service.

However, given that a research paper is the second most popular kind of academic paper (after an essay), it is important to know how to conclude a research paper. Even if you have not yet been assigned to do this task, be sure that you will face it soon. So, here are the steps you should follow to create a great conclusion for a research paper:

• Restate the Topic

Start your final paragraph with a quick reminder of what the topic of the piece is about. Keep it one sentence long.

• Revisit the Thesis

Next, you should remind your readers what your thesis statement was. However, do not just copy and paste it from the introductory clause: paraphrase your thesis so that you deliver the same idea but with different words. Keep your paraphrased thesis narrow, specific, and topic-oriented.

• Summarise Your Key Ideas

Just like the case of a regular essay’s conclusion, a research paper’s final paragraph should also include a short summary of all of the key points stated in the body sections. We recommend reading the entire body part a few times to define all of your main arguments and ideas.

• Showcase the Significance of Your Work

In the research paper conclusion, it is vital to highlight the significance of your research problem and state how your solution could be helpful.

• Make Suggestions for Future Studies

Finally, at the end of your conclusion, you should define how your findings will contribute to the development of its particular field of science. Outline the perspectives of further research and, if necessary, explain what is yet to be discovered on the topic.

Then, end your conclusion with a powerful concluding sentence – it can be a rhetorical question, call to action, or another hook that will help you have a strong impact on the audience.

• Answer the Right Questions

To create a top-notch research paper conclusion, be sure to answer the following questions:

• What is the goal of a research paper?
• What are the possible solutions to the research question(s)?
• How can your results be implemented in real life? (Is your research paper helpful to the community?)
• Why is this study important and relevant?

Additionally, here are a few more handy tips to follow:

• Provide clear examples from real life to help readers better understand the further implementation of the stated solutions;
• Keep your conclusion fresh, original, and creative.

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So, What Is a Good Closing Sentence? See The Difference

One of the best ways to learn how to write a good conclusion is to look at several professional essay conclusion examples. In this section of our guide, we are going to look at two different final paragraphs shaped on the basis of the same template, but even so, they are very different – where one is weak and the other is strong. Below, we are going to compare them to help you understand the difference between a good and a bad conclusion.

Here is the template we used: College degrees are in decline. The price of receiving an education does not correlate with the quality of the education received. As a result, graduated students face underemployment, and the worth of college degrees appears to be in serious doubt. However, the potential social and economic benefits of educated students balance out the equation.

Strong Conclusion ‍

People either see college as an opportunity or an inconvenience; therefore, a degree can only hold as much value as its owner’s skillset. The underemployment of graduate students puts the worth of college degrees in serious doubt. Yet, with the multitude of benefits that educated students bring to society and the economy, the equation remains in balance. Perhaps the ordinary person should consider college as a wise financial investment, but only if they stay determined to study and do the hard work.

Why is this example good? There are several key points that prove its effectiveness:

• There is a bold opening statement that encompasses the two contrasting types of students we can see today.
• There are two sentences that recall the thesis statement and cover the key arguments from the body of the essay.
• Finally, the last sentence sums up the key message of the essay and leaves readers with something to think about.

Weak Conclusion

In conclusion, with the poor preparation of students in college and the subsequent underemployment after graduation from college, the worth associated with the college degree appears to be in serious doubt. However, these issues alone may not reasonably conclude beyond a doubt that investing in a college degree is a rewarding venture. When the full benefits that come with education are carefully put into consideration and evaluated, college education for children in any country still has good advantages, and society should continue to advocate for a college education. The ordinary person should consider this a wise financial decision that holds rewards in the end. Apart from the monetary gains associated with a college education, society will greatly benefit from students when they finish college. Their minds are going to be expanded, and their reasoning and decision making will be enhanced.

What makes this example bad? Here are a few points to consider:

• Unlike the first example, this paragraph is long and not specific enough. The author provides plenty of generalized phrases that are not backed up by actual arguments.
• This piece is hard to read and understand and sentences have a confusing structure. Also, there are lots of repetitions and too many uses of the word “college”.
• There is no summary of the key benefits.
• The last two sentences that highlight the value of education contradict with the initial statement.
• Finally, the last sentence doesn’t offer a strong conclusion and gives no thought to ponder upon.
• In the body of your essay, you have hopefully already provided your reader(s) with plenty of information. Therefore, it is not wise to present new arguments or ideas in your conclusion.
• To end your final paragraph right, find a clear and straightforward message that will have the most powerful impact on your audience.
• Don’t use more than one quote in the final clause of your paper – the information from external sources (including quotes) belongs in the body of a paper.
• Be authoritative when writing a conclusion. You should sound confident and convincing to leave a good impression. Sentences like “I’m not an expert, but…” will most likely make you seem less knowledgeable and/or credible.

Good Conclusion Examples

Now that we've learned what a conclusion is and how to write one let's take a look at some essay conclusion examples to strengthen our knowledge.

The ending ironically reveals that all was for nothing. (A short explanation of the thematic effect of the book’s end) Tom says that Miss Watson freed Jim in her final will.Jim told Huck that the dead man on the Island was pap. The entire adventure seemingly evaporated into nothingness. (How this effect was manifested into the minds of thereaders).

All in all, international schools hold the key to building a full future that students can achieve. (Thesis statement simplified) They help students develop their own character by learning from their mistakes, without having to face a dreadful penalty for failure. (Thesis statement elaborated)Although some say that kids emerged “spoiled” with this mentality, the results prove the contrary. (Possible counter-arguments are noted)

In conclusion, public workers should be allowed to strike since it will give them a chance to air their grievances. (Thesis statement) Public workers should be allowed to strike when their rights, safety, and regulations are compromised. The workers will get motivated when they strike, and their demands are met.

In summary, studies reveal some similarities in the nutrient contents between the organic and non-organic food substances. (Starts with similarities) However, others have revealed many considerable differences in the amounts of antioxidants as well as other minerals present in organic and non-organic foods. Generally, organic foods have higher levels of antioxidants than non-organic foods and therefore are more important in the prevention of chronic illnesses.

As time went by, my obsession grew into something bigger than art; (‘As time went by’ signals maturation) it grew into a dream of developing myself for the world. (Showing student’s interest of developing himself for the community) It is a dream of not only seeing the world from a different perspective but also changing the perspective of people who see my work. (Showing student’s determination to create moving pieces of art)

In conclusion, it is evident that technology is an integral part of our lives and without it, we become “lost” since we have increasingly become dependent on its use. (Thesis with main point)

You might also be interested in reading nursing essay examples from our service.

How To Write A Conclusion For An Essay?

How to write a good conclusion, how to write a conclusion for a college essay.

Daniel Parker

is a seasoned educational writer focusing on scholarship guidance, research papers, and various forms of academic essays including reflective and narrative essays. His expertise also extends to detailed case studies. A scholar with a background in English Literature and Education, Daniel’s work on EssayPro blog aims to support students in achieving academic excellence and securing scholarships. His hobbies include reading classic literature and participating in academic forums.

is an expert in nursing and healthcare, with a strong background in history, law, and literature. Holding advanced degrees in nursing and public health, his analytical approach and comprehensive knowledge help students navigate complex topics. On EssayPro blog, Adam provides insightful articles on everything from historical analysis to the intricacies of healthcare policies. In his downtime, he enjoys historical documentaries and volunteering at local clinics.

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How to write a 2000-word Essay: What works Best?

Writing a remarkable 2000-word essay is an overwhelming task for students. This type of essay requires an overwhelming amount of knowledge, time to write, and the ability to organize your thoughts concisely. This guide will explain everything you need to complete a 2000-word essay.

How long is a 2000-word essay?

In academic writing, a 2000-word essay is the same as four pages of a single-spaced document or eight pages double-spaced one . Double spacing means there should be blank lines between each line of text that prevent them from blurring together. Your instructor may ask you to double-space the essay to make it easier to read and to allow reviewers to make comments or suggestions about the assignment.

Each page of single-spaced content has 500-550 words, while a double-spaced page has 250-275. If you are using MLA or APA formatting style, the formatting standard for an essay should be (1) double-spaced, (2) Times New Roman font, and (3) one-inch margins all around. If you use Ariel font pages

How Many Paragraphs is a 2000 Words Essay

A 2000-word essay consists of between 7 and 9 paragraphs, each having between 3 and 5 or more full and coherent sentences. Please note that there are no proper rules on how many sentences your paragraph should have since each paragraph discusses different ideas relating to the main topic of your essay.

Some paragraphs could be shorter and others longer. Some paragraphs could be a sentence shorter, and others about half a page long. What matters more is how you structure and complete the paragraphs.

However, you should not concern yourself with the length of your paragraph that you forget what matters most: the content of the paragraphs. Communicate effectively the quality of the message to ensure you answer the topic.

Can I Write 2000 Words in Two Hours?

Writing a 2000-word article in two hours is challenging but not impossible. Typically, a good essay requires in-depth research, a clear structure for the paper, and an organization of your ideas, which requires adequate time.

However, quickly completing an essay depends on your familiarity with the topic and typing speed. Most adults have an average typing speed of 40 words per minute (WPM). However, for experienced typists, the average typing speed is about 76 words per minute. Many college students trying to finish their assignments on time usually type 60-70 words per minute.

If you are having an essay crisis and can’t seem to figure out how to write a 2000-word essay in two hours, use the following tips;

Plan your essay

Take 10 – 15 minutes to organize your thoughts by identifying your essay's main topics and ideas. Focus only on key ideas and avoid unnecessary details to save time. Then, decide how you will organize them in your paper. A great tip is to have a logical order, ensuring a link between all ideas.

Research Efficiently and effectively

All academic papers, especially long-form essays like a 2000-word essay, require in-depth research to gather supporting information for your topic. You need to dedicate a few minutes to gather sources before writing.

Write the Introduction

Use 5-10 minutes to write a compelling introduction, beginning with a hook to grab readers' attention. Then, provide some context about the topic and state your thesis statement.

Write the Body Paragraphs

Allocate 10- 15 minutes to discuss each idea supporting your main topic. If you have 5 ideas, it will take you about 50 minutes to finish writing the body of your essay.

Write Your Conclusion

Use 10-15 minutes to finalize your essay by restating your thesis statement, summarizing the main points, reminding the readers why they should care, and providing recommendations/ suggestions for the main topic.

Revise Your Essay

Use 20 minutes to review your draft to correct any mistakes you made while writing. The final draft should be free of any errors (punctuation, grammar, and spelling) and be plagiarism-free. You must also ensure that all ideas are clearly and concisely written.

Please note that writing a 2000-word essay under time constraints will likely affect the quality of your work; however, following the above tips ensures you finish a well-structured 2000-word essay quickly.

What is the Format for a 2000 Word Essay?

A 2000-word essay is an academic paper with the same format as others. This means it has an introduction, a body paragraph, and a conclusion. Your introduction and conclusion should comprise approximately 25% of the total word count of the essay, while the rest of 75% should be dedicated to the body.

Introductions

An introduction of a 2000-word essay is 5-10% of the total word count. It should be between 100 – 150 words of concisely written content. If you have no idea what to include in the introduction, the following tips will offer a starting point.

• Set the scene
• Introduce the topic or problem under discussion.
• If needed, provide definitions of complex concepts.
• An explanation of why the topic or problem matters. (provide the size or the scope of the matter).
• The purpose of the essay.
• Introduce the thesis statement, which is the central idea of the essay.
• Briefly provide the outline you will use to explain the paper's logic.

Your introduction should be a paragraph or two long since a paragraph is made of 100 words.

The Main Body

A body of a 2000-word essay will make up about 75% of the total word count. It should be divided into 5-7 paragraphs, each discussing one central idea that identifies the main topic. These paragraphs should be 150- 250 words, each supported by 2 or more references. Note that the longer the assignments, the more important it is to provide links that refer to earlier points, thus connecting ideas.

When you begin writing the body, your ideas will likely flow randomly from the mind. Since you are writing for readers with different backgrounds and viewpoints, you must organize these ideas to make it easier for them to process and understand. Use the following format to organize the body of your essay;

• Write a topic sentence that identifies the paragraph topic you will discuss.
• Supporting information , such as examples, details, and evidence, contributes to the main topic. When you provide evidence, ensure you explain why it is relevant to the topic.
• A concluding sentence also acts as a transition to the next paragraph. Provide a conclusion that reminds readers of what they have read and shows the topic's significance.

Use the above format to organize the rest of the body paragraphs. Consider writing this plan on paper and pinning it on your desk to remind yourself whenever you write an essay. 

Additionally, consider using the following writing techniques and tools to help finish your essay in under two hours.

Technique 1: The Pomodoro technique

The Pomodoro Technique. This technique involves working continuously for 25 minutes and then taking a 5-minute break. The Pomodoro technique is effective because it allows you to focus while avoiding burnout. Research shows that taking regular breaks can increase well-being and performance.

Technique 2: Write in Batches

Writing in batches is an effective method to finish a 2000-word essay in two hours. It involves dividing your essay into sections and working on them before taking a break.

Use tools such as Grammarly and Hemingway Editor to help edit your work and ensure no errors before submission.

This is the final paragraph of your essay. Like an introduction, a conclusion makes up about 5-10% of a 2000-word essay. This means that a conclusion for a 2000-word essay has approximately 100-150 words.

If you follow the above format, the total word count will 2050.

How Long Will It Take to Write a 2000 Words Essay?

Finishing a 2000-word essay will take 6-8 hours on average. However, if you are just typing the essay without doing any in-depth research, outlining the work, or adding citations and references, it will take about 50 minutes. For a handwritten essay, it takes about 1.7 hours to finish a 2000-word essay.

Please note that some students can finish a 2000-word essay in just under two hours, while others can take at least five days (2 for in-depth research, 2 for writing the essay, and one for revising and editing) to finish. All this will depend on the complexities of the topic. A complex topic will probably require more time for research, especially if getting the sources for the topic is challenging.

The assignment deadline will also influence whether someone can finish the essay quickly or not. Many students often find themselves swamped with assignments, wondering which to prioritize. If you have a 1000-word essay and another for 2200 words, prioritize the latter and focus on finishing the shorter one later.  

If you want to finish your essay quickly, avoid distractions such as social media, TV, friends, etc.

How Many References Are in a 2000 Words Essay

A 2000-word essay should have between 10 and 20 high-quality references. Please take note that these are just suggestions. Logically, there should be a source in every paragraph. Each argument supported by credible evidence must have a reference. Some factors that will determine how many references each of your paragraphs will have include:

The Type of Research

If you are conducting empirical research, you will need more references compared to doing research for a theoretical paper. This is because the latter focuses on synthesizing existing concepts.

Depth of the Research

If your 2000-word essay is about a complex topic, you must do more thorough research to locate all the evidence supporting or refuting your claims. This means your essay will have more references than one that does not need much research.

Assignment’s Requirements

Your instructors will specify the number of references to use in your essay; they might verbally communicate this in class or highlight it on the assignment prompt. Thus, it's essential to always read and understand your prompt before working on the assignment.

If there are no specifications about essay references, check with your instructor how many are appropriate for the type of essay you are writing.

Writing Time by Word Counts

The following table outlines how long it takes to complete an essay, depending on the number of words.

From the above table, it's clear that a person's typing speed will dictate whether they can finish an assignment quickly or not.

Writing Time by Page Counts

Wondering how long it takes to complete a page? The table below will let you know how long it will take to finish an essay based on page counts.

This rough estimate is based on slow, average, and fast writers.

Tips to Help You Finish a 2000 Words Essay

So, you left your 2000-word essay until the last minute and can't seem to figure out how to finish it on time? No worries. The following tips can help.

Eat a Good Breakfast

A study published in the National Library of Medicine has shown that eating a good breakfast is associated with positive outcomes for learners and professionals. Breakfast gives you energy after fasting overnight for more than 7 hours. Take some brain food fuel, such as yogurts topped with berries, to give you steady energy as you write your essay. This will prevent you from feeling hungry, which could be a distraction.

Pick Your Equipment and Workstation

When you sit down to write, everything must be within reach. So, pick a conducive environment away from distractions and collect all materials like your laptops, pens, notebooks, etc.

Set Time Management Goals

When you have an urgent assignment that is 2000 words long, time management is key to success. Good time management skills will help you finish the task quickly while avoiding distractions. You can break up your tasks into chunks and work on them individually.

Use Online Tools to Speed Up the Research Process

Research can take an awful amount of time, especially for a complex topic. So, speed up the process by using online tools like Google Scholar to find sources for your essay.

Also, check if your instructor has published a list of sources on your module's online platform. Most of them are kind enough to put them online.

Write Your Notes directly on Your Laptop.

Normally, when researching a topic, you will write ideas in a notebook and then use it later when typing on your laptop. However, since you are in a hurry, skip this step and directly type the ideas and their sources on our computer. Once you are done, you can drag and drop paragraphs in the correct order.

An essay that is 2000 words long is a common type of essay you will encounter in school. You must be well prepared by understanding what it takes to complete this type of essay. Whether you are a seasoned writer or a beginner, the above guide will be helpful when writing a 2000-word essay.

If you are struggling with writing a paper or essay that is 2000 or 2200 words long, we can help. EssayManiacs has a team of professional writers who can write such an essay in under a day or between 7 and 8 hours or less. Therefore, if you want help with your assignments , we are online and ready to help. Please place an order, and we will assign your paper to a writer within the next few minutes. In terms of cost, it should cost you around $18-25/page, depending on the urgency. Engage us for a discount.

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Sat / act prep online guides and tips, the best college essay length: how long should it be.

College Essays

Figuring out your college essay can be one of the most difficult parts of applying to college. Even once you've read the prompt and picked a topic, you might wonder: if you write too much or too little, will you blow your chance of admission? How long should a college essay be?

Whether you're a terse writer or a loquacious one, we can advise you on college essay length. In this guide, we'll cover what the standard college essay length is, how much word limits matter, and what to do if you aren't sure how long a specific essay should be.

How Long Is a College Essay? First, Check the Word Limit

You might be used to turning in your writing assignments on a page-limit basis (for example, a 10-page paper). While some colleges provide page limits for their college essays, most use a word limit instead. This makes sure there's a standard length for all the essays that a college receives, regardless of formatting or font.

In the simplest terms, your college essay should be pretty close to, but not exceeding, the word limit in length. Think within 50 words as the lower bound, with the word limit as the upper bound. So for a 500-word limit essay, try to get somewhere between 450-500 words. If they give you a range, stay within that range.

College essay prompts usually provide the word limit right in the prompt or in the instructions.

For example, the University of Illinois says :

"You'll answer two to three prompts as part of your application. The questions you'll answer will depend on whether you're applying to a major or to our undeclared program , and if you've selected a second choice . Each response should be approximately 150 words."

As exemplified by the University of Illinois, the shortest word limits for college essays are usually around 150 words (less than half a single-spaced page). Rarely will you see a word limit higher than around 650 words (over one single-spaced page). College essays are usually pretty short: between 150 and 650 words. Admissions officers have to read a lot of them, after all!

Weigh your words carefully, because they are limited!

How Flexible Is the Word Limit?

But how flexible is the word limit? What if your poignant anecdote is just 10 words too long—or 100 too short?

Can I Go Over the Word Limit?

If you are attaching a document and you need one or two extra words, you can probably get away with exceeding the word limit by such a small amount. Some colleges will actually tell you that exceeding the word limit by 1-2 words is fine. However, I advise against exceeding the word limit unless it's explicitly allowed for a few reasons:

First, you might not be able to. If you have to copy-paste it into a text box, your essay might get cut off and you'll have to trim it down anyway.

If you exceed the word limit in a noticeable way, the admissions counselor may just stop reading your essay past that point. This is not good for you.

Following directions is actually a very important part of the college application process. You need to follow directions to get your letters of recommendation, upload your essays, send supplemental materials, get your test scores sent, and so on and so forth. So it's just a good general rule to follow whatever instructions you've been given by the institution. Better safe than sorry!

Can I Go Under the Word Limit?

If you can truly get your point across well beneath the word limit, it's probably fine. Brevity is not necessarily a bad thing in writing just so long as you are clear, cogent, and communicate what you want to.

However, most college essays have pretty tight word limits anyways. So if you're writing 300 words for an essay with a 500-word limit, ask yourself: is there anything more you could say to elaborate on or support your points? Consult with a parent, friend, or teacher on where you could elaborate with more detail or expand your points.

Also, if the college gives you a word range, you absolutely need to at least hit the bottom end of the range. So if you get a range from the institution, like 400-500 words, you need to write at least 400 words. If you write less, it will come across like you have nothing to say, which is not an impression you want to give.

What If There Is No Word Limit?

Some colleges don't give you a word limit for one or more of your essay prompts. This can be a little stressful, but the prompts generally fall into a few categories:

Writing Sample

Some colleges don't provide a hard-and-fast word limit because they want a writing sample from one of your classes. In this case, a word limit would be very limiting to you in terms of which assignments you could select from.

For an example of this kind of prompt, check out essay Option B at Amherst :

"Submit a graded paper from your junior or senior year that best represents your writing skills and analytical abilities. We are particularly interested in your ability to construct a tightly reasoned, persuasive argument that calls upon literary, sociological or historical evidence. You should NOT submit a laboratory report, journal entry, creative writing sample or in-class essay."

While there is usually no word limit per se, colleges sometimes provide a general page guideline for writing samples. In the FAQ for Option B , Amherst clarifies, "There is no hard-and-fast rule for official page limit. Typically, we anticipate a paper of 4-5 pages will provide adequate length to demonstrate your analytical abilities. Somewhat longer papers can also be submitted, but in most cases should not exceed 8-10 pages."

So even though there's no word limit, they'd like somewhere in the 4-10 pages range. High school students are not usually writing papers that are longer than 10 pages anyways, so that isn't very limiting.

Implicit Length Guideline

Sometimes, while there's no word (or even page) limit, there's still an implicit length guideline. What do I mean by this?

See, for example, this Western Washington University prompt :

“Describe one or more activities you have been involved in that have been particularly meaningful. What does your involvement say about the communities, identities or causes that are important to you?”

While there’s no page or word limit listed here, further down on page the ‘essay tips’ section explains that “ most essay responses are about 500 words, ” though “this is only a recommendation, not a firm limit.” This gives you an idea of what’s reasonable. A little longer or shorter than 500 words would be appropriate here. That’s what I mean by an “implicit” word limit—there is a reasonable length you could go to within the boundaries of the prompt.

But what's the proper coffee-to-paragraph ratio?

Treasure Hunt

There is also the classic "treasure hunt" prompt. No, it's not a prompt about a treasure hunt. It's a prompt where there are no length guidelines given, but if you hunt around on the rest of the website you can find length guidelines.

For example, the University of Chicago provides seven "Extended Essay" prompts . You must write an essay in response to one prompt of your choosing, but nowhere on the page is there any guidance about word count or page limit.

However, many colleges provide additional details about their expectations for application materials, including essays, on FAQ pages, which is true of the University of Chicago. On the school’s admissions Frequently Asked Questions page , they provide the following length guidelines for the supplemental essays: 

“We suggest that you note any word limits for Coalition or Common Application essays; however, there are no strict word limits on the UChicago Supplement essays. For the extended essay (where you choose one of several prompts), we suggest that you aim for around 650 words. While we won't, as a rule, stop reading after 650 words, we're only human and cannot promise that an overly wordy essay will hold our attention indefinitely. For the “Why UChicago?” essay, we suggest about 250-500 words. The ideas in your writing matter more than the exact number of words you use!”

So there you go! You want to be (loosely) in the realm of 650 for the extended essay, and 250-500 words for the “Why UChicago?” essay.

Help! There Really Is No Guidance on Length

If you really can't find any length guidelines anywhere on the admissions website and you're at a loss, I advise calling the admissions office. They may not be able to give you an exact number (in fact, they probably won't), but they will probably at least be able to tell you how long most of the essays they see are. (And keep you from writing a panicked, 20-page dissertation about your relationship with your dog).

In general, 500 words or so is pretty safe for a college essay. It's a fairly standard word limit length, in fact. (And if you're wondering, that's about a page and a half double-spaced.) 500 words is long enough to develop a basic idea while still getting a point across quickly—important when admissions counselors have thousands of essays to read!

"See? It says 500 words right there in tiny font!"

The Final Word: How Long Should a College Essay Be?

The best college essay length is usually pretty straightforward: you want to be right under or at the provided word limit. If you go substantially past the word limit, you risk having your essay cut off by an online application form or having the admissions officer just not finish it. And if you're too far under the word limit, you may not be elaborating enough.

What if there is no word limit? Then how long should a college essay be? In general, around 500 words is a pretty safe approximate word amount for a college essay—it's one of the most common word limits, after all!

Here's guidance for special cases and hunting down word limits:

If it's a writing sample of your graded academic work, the length either doesn't matter or there should be some loose page guidelines.

There also may be implicit length guidelines. For example, if a prompt says to write three paragraphs, you'll know that writing six sentences is definitely too short, and two single-spaced pages is definitely too long.

You might not be able to find length guidelines in the prompt, but you could still hunt them up elsewhere on the website. Try checking FAQs or googling your chosen school name with "admissions essay word limit."

If there really is no word limit, you can call the school to try to get some guidance.

With this advice, you can be sure you've got the right college essay length on lockdown!

Hey, writing about yourself can even be fun!

What's Next?

Need to ask a teacher or friend for help with your essay? See our do's and dont's to getting college essay advice .

If you're lacking in essay inspiration, see our guide to brainstorming college essay ideas . And here's our guide to starting out your essay perfectly!

Looking for college essay examples? See 11 places to find college essay examples and 145 essay examples with analysis !

Ellen has extensive education mentorship experience and is deeply committed to helping students succeed in all areas of life. She received a BA from Harvard in Folklore and Mythology and is currently pursuing graduate studies at Columbia University.

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A Soldier’s Final Journey Home

Sgt. Kennedy Sanders was killed in a drone attack on a U.S. outpost in Jordan. A collection of photos offers a glimpse into her life.

Photographs and Text by Kenny Holston

Kenny Holston, a Times photojournalist and former Air Force photographer, reported from Waycross, Ga., Dover Air Force Base and Washington.

“This is what they sent us,” Oneida Sanders said, kneeling beside a heavy wooden chest in her living room. “These are Kennedy’s things.”

Sgt. Kennedy Sanders’s belongings were shipped home to her parents after she was killed: Dog tags, identification cards, Polaroids of her family. Gold jewelry and a quarter that appeared to be stained with blood.

The items offered a glimpse into the person, soldier and daughter that Kennedy was and who she had hoped to become.

Kennedy was serving on a U.S. military outpost in Jordan in January when an Iran-backed militia launched a drone attack on the base. Less than 24 hours later, two uniformed service members showed up on the doorstep of Oneida and Shawn Sanders in the small town of Waycross, Ga.

Ms. Sanders wasn’t home that morning, but her husband, Shawn, was. He told her to return home right away and then began calling family members and friends, asking them to come to the house.

When Ms. Sanders arrived, one of the soldiers read a statement informing them that their 24-year-old daughter had been killed in action.

“As soon as I got into the house and saw the two officers standing in the living room, I collapsed,” Ms. Sanders said.

The last time Ms. Sanders heard her daughter’s voice was the day before she was killed. They had talked about the type of Girl Scout cookies Kennedy wanted her mother to send and her decision to re-enlist in the Army.

Kennedy’s unit, a team of engineering specialists trained to deploy on short notice and build infrastructure like roads and airstrips, had arrived in Jordan shortly after the war between Israel and Hamas began in October. The soldiers were supporting Operation Inherent Resolve, a mission to combat the Islamic State, which has claimed the lives of 113 U.S. service members since it began in August 2014, according to the latest Defense Department casualty report .

Sgt. William Jerome Rivers and Sgt. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett were also killed in the drone strike in Jordan.

Kennedy’s parents have grappled with the pain of outliving their child ever since. “It’s heavy," Ms. Sanders said, pausing briefly, her voice notably changed when she spoke again. “It’s heavy.”

Family had always been important to Kennedy. Even as an adult she preferred being home. From a young age, she looked after her twin brother, Kendall. She was protective of her younger brother, Christian.

She was known in Waycross for her athletic ability, leadership, work ethic and style. She was polite but didn’t have time for small talk. But when people got to know her they usually found she was an extrovert, the life of the party, Ms. Sanders said.

During a dignified transfer in February at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, Kennedy’s flag-draped transfer case was the last of the three carried off a military cargo plane. President Biden stood, hand over heart, on the cold, wet tarmac to pay his respects as the commander in chief.

Mr. and Ms. Sanders said that Mr. Biden met with them privately at Dover and expressed a genuine understanding of their tremendous pain as he, too, had lost a child.

Mr. Biden posthumously promoted Kennedy from specialist to sergeant and awarded her a purple heart, one of the military’s most distinguished decorations.

After the dignified transfer at Dover, Kennedy’s remains were returned to Waycross.

Kennedy’s parents did not see their daughter’s body until just before the public viewing on Feb. 16. The family still has not received the official autopsy report from the Defense Department, leaving them to speculate about the precise cause of her death.

“You know, if you think about an explosion victim, your mind goes all types of directions,” Ms. Sanders said. “I didn’t know what was coming back to us in that box.” Seeing her daughter’s body in one piece “was a relief for me,” she said.

People from Waycross and the surrounding area filed into the viewing for Kennedy. For hours, friends and neighbors approached Ms. Sanders in tears to hug her, pray with her and offer their condolences.

“I don’t feel strong,” she said, referring to the day of the viewing. “I feel like, at any moment, I can have a breakdown, at any second, but it is a very deliberate and conscious effort just to get up every day and shower, brush my teeth, do basic things.”

The next day hundreds of people attended Kennedy’s funeral service at the local middle school. Ms. Sanders was overwhelmed with emotion as she and her family slowly made their way down the aisle to see Kennedy one final time.

As the service ended, pallbearers placed Kennedy’s flag-draped casket in the back of a horse-drawn carriage to be taken to Oakland Cemetery.

At graveside, service members folded the flag, and an officer knelt to hand it to Mr. Sanders, himself a former Marine.

Kennedy and her family — her father, cousins and uncles — dedicated their lives to the U.S. Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force.

The family has found that it is not alone, as the city of Waycross has come together to preserve Kennedy’s memory.

The street she grew up on is now named after her, a sprawling mural has been painted on the side of a business downtown, and scholarships in Kennedy’s name have been created. Her name was recently engraved on the Waycross Veterans Memorial.

Months after her death, a task as simple as opening the mail can bring the harsh reality of Kennedy’s absence rushing back, as it did in April when Ms. Sanders received a letter from the county election office informing her that her daughter would be removed from the list of registered voters.

“Whenever you deal with this, you are in disbelief and shock for a long time,” said Ms. Sanders. “But every now and then, you know, something happens that makes you realize that it’s really real, and she is really gone.”

Kenny Holston is a Times photographer based in Washington, primarily covering Congress, the military and the White House. More about Kenny Holston

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The Donald Trump I Saw on The Apprentice

For 20 years, i couldn’t say what i watched the former president do on the set of the show that changed everything. now i can..

On Jan. 8, 2004, just more than 20 years ago, the first episode of The Apprentice aired. It was called “Meet the Billionaire,” and 18 million people watched. The episodes that followed climbed to roughly 20 million each week. A staggering 28 million viewers tuned in to watch the first season finale. The series won an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program, and the Television Critics Association called it one of the best TV shows of the year, alongside The Sopranos and Arrested Development . The series—alongside its bawdy sibling, The Celebrity Apprentice —appeared on NBC in coveted prime-time slots for more than a decade.

The Apprentice was an instant success in another way too. It elevated Donald J. Trump from sleazy New York tabloid hustler to respectable household name. In the show, he appeared to demonstrate impeccable business instincts and unparalleled wealth, even though his businesses had barely survived multiple bankruptcies and faced yet another when he was cast. By carefully misleading viewers about Trump—his wealth, his stature, his character, and his intent—the competition reality show set about an American fraud that would balloon beyond its creators’ wildest imaginations.

I should know. I was one of four producers involved in the first two seasons. During that time, I signed an expansive nondisclosure agreement that promised a fine of $5 million and even jail time if I were to ever divulge what actually happened. It expired this year.

No one involved in The Apprentice —from the production company or the network, to the cast and crew—was involved in a con with malicious intent. It was a TV show , and it was made for entertainment . I still believe that. But we played fast and loose with the facts, particularly regarding Trump, and if you were one of the 28 million who tuned in, chances are you were conned.

As Trump answers for another of his alleged deception schemes in New York and gears up to try to persuade Americans to elect him again, in part thanks to the myth we created, I can finally tell you what making Trump into what he is today looked like from my side. Most days were revealing. Some still haunt me, two decades later.

Nearly everything I ever learned about deception I learned from my friend Apollo Robbins. He’s been called a professional pickpocket, but he’s actually a “perceptions expert.” Apollo has spent his life studying the psychology of how we distort other people’s perceptions of reality and has done so by picking pockets onstage for the entertainment of others. He is a master of deception, a skill that made him, back in the day, the so-called best-kept secret in Las Vegas. After “fanning” his marks with casual, unobtrusive touch designed to make them feel safe or at ease, Apollo determines where the items reside—the wallet inside a breast pocket, the Rolex fastened to a wrist—and he removes these items without detection. He’ll even tell you what he intends to steal before he does it. He does this not to hurt people or bewilder them with a puzzle but to challenge their maps of reality. The results are marvelous. A lot of magic is designed to appeal to people visually, but what he’s trying to affect is your mind, your moods, your perceptions.

As a producer working in unscripted, or “reality,” television, I have the same goal. Like Apollo, I want to entertain, make people joyful, maybe even challenge their ways of thinking. But because I often lack the cinematic power of a movie, with its visual pyrotechnics or rehearsed dialogue, I rely on shaping the perceptions of viewers, manipulating their maps of reality toward something I want them to think or feel.

The presumption is that reality TV is scripted. What actually happens is the illusion of reality by staging situations against an authentic backdrop. The more authentic it is to, say, have a 40-foot wave bearing down on a crab boat in the Bering Sea for Deadliest Catch , the more we can trick you into thinking a malevolent Russian trawler is out there messing with the crabber’s bait. There is a trick to it, and when it works, you feel as if you’re watching a scripted show. Although very few programs are out-and-out fake, there is deception at play in every single reality program. The producers and editors are ostensibly con artists, distracting you with grand notions while we steal from you your precious time.

But the real con that drove The Apprentice is far older than television. The “pig in the poke” comes from an idiom dating to 1555: “I’ll never buy a pig in a poke / There’s many a foul pig in a fair cloak.” It refers to the time-honored scam of selling a suckling pig at market but handing over a bag (the poke) to the purchaser, who never looks inside it. Eventually, he discovers he’s purchased something quite different.

Our show became a 21 st -century version. It’s a long con played out over a decade of watching Trump dominate prime time by shouting orders, appearing to lead, and confidently firing some of the most capable people on television, all before awarding one eligible person a job. Audiences responded to Trump’s arrogance, his perceived abilities and prescience, but mostly his confidence . The centerpiece to any confidence game is precisely that— confidence .

As I walk into my interview for The Apprentice , I inadvertently learn how important it is for every one of us involved to demonstrate confidence above all else.

I sit down with Jay Bienstock, the showrunner, who has one last producer position to fill and needs somebody capable and hardworking. His office is sparse, and the desk is strategically placed directly across from the couch, with a noticeable angle downward from his desk to whomever is seated across from him. (I’m recalling all of the quoted conversations here to the best of my ability; they are not verbatim.)

He is smiling and even laughing throughout the interview, but from the steep angle at which he gazes down on me, there is no mistaking who is in charge. He seems to like what he hears and offers to follow up with my agent. “But I have to check your references before I can hire you,” he says. “You’d be crazy not to,” I reply. He laughs, claps his hands together, and grins. “ THAT’S what I’m talking about,” he says. “That’s the confidence this show needs!”

I sit there, several inches below eyeline, and ponder what just happened. What, I wonder, is so “confident” about suggesting he’d be crazy to not check my references? Then it dawns on me. He thinks I meant “You’d be crazy not to hire me.” The signal to noise begins.

Listen to Bill Pruitt discuss this story on What Next , Slate’s daily news podcast:

Before I leave, I have to ask: Why Trump? Bienstock discovers that we both lived in New York for a time. Knowing what we know about Trump, selling the idea that intelligent people would compete to land a job working for him will be a challenge.

“The idea is to have a new and different billionaire every season—just like there’s a new and different island on Survivor . We reached out to Spielberg, Katzenberg, Geffen, among others,” he says. “Trump is the only one who agreed to sign on.” (Bienstock didn’t respond to a request for comment.)

“We’ll make it work,” Bienstock says confidently. I rise, shake his hand, and leave, and head over to Dutton’s bookstore to pick up a used copy of Trump’s The Art of the Deal . It is filled with takeaways about branding and strategizing but conveniently omits Trump bluffing his way through meetings with contractors, stiffing them when it is convenient to do so, and betraying his most trusted colleagues to get what he wants. (The book’s ghostwriter, Tony Schwartz, has since tried to get the bestseller recategorized in the Library of Congress as a work of fiction.)

Another show of confidence is the budget the series commands. It’s not as expensive as a scripted series, but for a reality show, the price is high. Never have I worked on a series with this level of funding, but the cost is justified. This needs to feel real.

New York City is the perfect—though expensive—backdrop. Trump’s actual offices are, however, less than telegenic. They are cramped, and a lot of the wood furniture is chipped or peeling. None of it is suitable to appear on camera. We need what grifters call the Big Store: a fake but authentic-looking establishment in which the con goes down. Trump Tower, at the time, is mostly condos and some offices situated in the high-rise. The mezzanine comprises vacant and overpriced retail space, all of it unfinished. Trump offers the space to the production—at a premium, naturally—and it is inside this location that we create our own “reception area” with doors leading to a fake, dimly lit, and appropriately ominous-feeling “boardroom.”

Next door, there’s the “suite” where the contestants will live, which is made to look like a trendy loft-style apartment they all share. The lodgings are made up of partitions surrounding tiny, hard bunks upon which the candidates sleep; the illusion comes from elegantly appointed common areas, where most of the interplay will go down.

During a tour of the set, I have my first encounter with Trump. I leave the suite and enter the gear room, the only vacant retail space that will remain unfinished. It is filled with equipment and crew members milling about. In walks a trio of men. In the middle is Trump, in a navy blue suit and scarlet tie. He’s surprisingly tall, and not just because of the hair. He is flanked by two even taller men. Bienstock makes introductions, and I watch as Trump shakes hands with everyone. I’d been told he would never do this, something about fearing unwanted germs. When it is my turn, I decide on the convivial two-hander and place my right hand into his and my left onto his wrist as we shake. His eye contact is limited but thorough. He is sizing me up. He looks like a wolf about to rip my throat out before turning away, offering me my first glimpse at the superstructure—his hairstyle—buttressed atop his head with what must be gallons of Aqua Net.

I watch as Trump saunters around the room, snatches up a fistful of M&Ms from the craft service table set aside for the crew, and shoves them into his mouth. Then he is gone, ushered away toward some important meeting he must attend, as if to say, to one and all present, This is unimportant .

Eventually, it’s time to roll cameras. When Trump is called to perform, we are filming the first scene of the first episode on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, and he is about to deliver the first task. Filming inside this beacon of capitalism and wealth gives the series the legitimacy it needs. A con artist would call staging the scam inside a legitimate institution “playing a man against the wall.”

From the balcony overlooking the famed trading room floor, Trump will set up the entire premise of the show on camera and engage in a little banter with the other participants. This includes introducing his advisers, George Ross, an older, grouchy attorney devoted to Trump’s legal affairs, and Carolyn Kepcher, a perpetual skeptic who runs his hospitality units and one of his golf clubs. (They might be called “the shills,” others in on the con who will act as Trump’s eyes and ears.)

The contestants are there, lined up and zeroed in on by camera operators getting reaction shots to whatever it is Trump says. Although they mostly just stand and wait, they patiently go along with the proceedings. They are not in on the con. They act as “the little blind mice,” who, in fraudster terms, convey a sense of authenticity by reacting to the goings-on, like lab rats caught in a maze.

Nothing is scripted—except for what Trump needs to say. Cue cards are present, but mostly it is Bienstock running up, coaching Trump, tossing out suggestions from the script he has written for the man. The feeling is that while doing a fair job of repeating the necessary words verbatim, Trump also appears to be inadvertently shouting at the contestants. His hands shuttle back and forth as if holding an invisible accordion, a gesture now famous in memes .

Each episode is filmed over three days. For the first episode, the two teams of contestants, divided by gender, take to the streets to carry out the initial task of trying to sell lemonade for the most money. The women pulverize the men.

Having won, the women are invited upstairs for a direct look at Trump’s very own apartment in Trump Tower, a reward designed specifically to introduce viewers to the gaudy but elevated world of Donald Trump at home. The men, who lost, go back to the loft to await their fate at the hands of Trump. He will be sending one of them home.

Inside the now-empty boardroom set, a meeting with the producers is called for the first briefing of Trump before the anticipated firing. With Trump are his cronies, Ross and Kepcher. Trump is “too busy,” so they have each observed both teams in the field and make an assessment of who prevailed and who fell behind.

Now, this is important. The Apprentice is a game show regulated by the Federal Communications Commission. In the 1950s, scandals arose when producers of quiz shows fed answers to likable, ratings-generating contestants while withholding those answers from unlikable but truly knowledgeable players. Any of us involved in The Apprentice swinging the outcome of prize money by telling Trump whom to fire is forbidden.

Considering this, Bienstock wisely chooses to record these off-camera briefings in case the FCC ever rolls up on us. Rather than blurt out who they think should get canned, the two producers of that week’s episode—each following one team—are coached to equitably share with Trump the virtues and deficiencies of each member of the losing team. This renders a balanced depiction of how and why they lost. There are obvious choices of whom to fire, but we want it to be something of a horse race, to sustain the drama and keep people watching.

Satisfied he has what he needs, Trump dismisses the prefiring discussion with the wave of a hand, claiming he has places to be, let’s get on with it, etc. We proceed to set up for what will be our first boardroom.

The producers retreat to the adjacent control room to watch the event unfold. Per the show’s format, the losing team is summoned in anticipation of one of its members being sent home. Leaving their luggage in the reception area, the men walk into the boardroom, where Trump is flanked by Ross and Kepcher, waiting for them solemnly. Trump just frowns from a gigantic red leather chair, his eyeline noticeably well above those sitting across from him.

The men proceed to verbally go after one another like gladiators jousting before the emperor. Trump takes the conversation into potentially dangerous terrain, asking one contestant, who is Jewish, whether he believes in “the genetic pool.” The contestant’s retort is swift and resolute: He tells Trump that he does, in fact, have the genes, “just like you got from your father, Fred Trump, and your mother, Mary Trump.” It pours out of him. It is dramatic. It is good reality TV.

The project manager must then choose two of the men to come back to the boardroom with him while everyone else is dismissed. An off-camera prefiring consultation with Trump takes place (and is recorded), right before the three men are brought back for the eventual firing. We film Trump, Ross, and Kepcher deliberating and giving the pluses and minuses of each, remarking on how risky it was for one of the contestants to stand up for himself the way that he did. Trump turns back and forth to each, listening. His cronies stick to their stories and give added deferential treatment toward Trump, with Ross strategically reminding him, “You’ve been taking risks your entire life.”

Trump summons the three men back into the boardroom for final judging. Trump grills one and says, “I will let you stay.” ( Wow! we think. A benevolent leader. ) When he turns his attention to the other man—the one he asked about genetics—it looks clear. He is doomed. So much so that the man stands when Trump tells him, “It seems unanimous.” Trump then offhandedly tells him to sit down, calling him “a wild card,” echoing Ross’ earlier observation of the boss, Trump.

After this comes an unwieldy moment when, at the behest of Bienstock, Trump fumbles through a given line. “We have an elevator,” he says to the remaining contestant, named David, “that goes up to the suite and an elevator that goes down”—he pauses to recall the exact wording—“to the street. And, David, I’m going to ask you to take the down elevator.”

The men react and awkwardly rise. It is an unsatisfactory conclusion, given all the preceding drama.

From the control room, we all watch as the three men depart the boardroom. A quick huddle takes place between the producers and the executive from NBC. We bolt from the control room out into the boardroom and confer with Trump, telling him we will need him to say something more direct to conclude the moment when David is let go.

“Well, I’d probably just fire him,” Trump says. “Why not just say that?” Bienstock asks. “Fine,” Trump says.

We return to the control room. The three men from the losing team are brought back into the boardroom, and Trump repeats his line about the elevator, then turns to David, who already knows his fate, and adds, “David, you’re fired.”

The line insertion happened in a perilously scripted way, but it is deemed satisfactory. “You’re fired” becomes the expression we will stick with. It works. Trump comes off as decisive and to the point.

Later, Trump will try to trademark “You’re fired.” He is not successful.

Trump’s appearances make up so little of our shooting schedule that whenever he shows up to film, it isn’t just the wild-card on-camera moments we both hope for and are terrified of that put everyone on edge. It is the way he, the star (and half owner) of the show, targets people on the crew with the gaze of a hungry lion.

While leering at a female camera assistant or assessing the physical attributes of a female contestant for whoever is listening, he orders a female camera operator off an elevator on which she is about to film him. “She’s too heavy,” I hear him say.

Another female camera operator, who happens to have blond hair and blue eyes, draws from Trump comparisons to his own Ivanka Trump. “There’s a beautiful woman behind that camera,” he says toward a line of 10 different operators set up in the foyer of Trump Tower one day. “That’s all I want to look at.”

Trump corners a female producer and asks her whom he should fire. She demurs, saying something about how one of the contestants blamed another for their team losing. Trump then raises his hands, cupping them to his chest: “You mean the one with the …?” He doesn’t know the contestant’s name. Trump eventually fires her.

(In response to detailed questions about this and other incidents reported in this article, Steven Cheung, a spokesman for the Trump 2024 campaign, wrote, “This is a completely fabricated and bullshit story that was already peddled in 2016.” He said that it is surfacing now because Democrats are “desperate.”)

Trump goes about knocking off every one of the contestants in the boardroom until only two remain. The finalists are Kwame Jackson, a Black broker from Goldman Sachs, and Bill Rancic, a white entrepreneur from Chicago who runs his own cigar business. Trump assigns them each a task devoted to one of his crown-jewel properties. Jackson will oversee a Jessica Simpson benefit concert at Trump Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City, while Rancic will oversee a celebrity golf tournament at Trump National Golf Club in Briarcliff Manor, New York.

Viewers need to believe that whatever Trump touches turns to gold. These properties that bear his name are supposed to glitter and gleam. All thanks to him.

Reality is another matter altogether. The lights in the casino’s sign are out. Hong Kong investors actually own the place—Trump merely lends his name. The carpet stinks, and the surroundings for Simpson’s concert are ramshackle at best. We shoot around all that.

Both Rancic and Jackson do a round-robin recruitment of former contestants, and Jackson makes the fateful decision to team up with the notorious Omarosa, among others, to help him carry out his final challenge.

With her tenure on the series nearly over, Omarosa launches several simultaneous attacks on her fellow teammates in support of her “brother” Kwame. For the fame-seeking beauty queen, it is a do-or-die play for some much-coveted screen time. As on previous tasks, Ross and Kepcher will observe both events.

Over at Trump National Golf Club, where I am stationed, it is sunny and bright, set against luscious fall colors. I am driven up to the golf club from Manhattan to scout. With me are the other producers, all of whom are men. We meet Trump at one of the homes he keeps for himself on the grounds of the club.

“Melania doesn’t even know about this place,” he says out loud to us, snickering, implying that the home’s function is as his personal lair for his sexual exploits, all of which are unknown to his then-fiancée Melania Knauss.

We are taken around the rest of the club’s property and told what to feature on camera and what to stay away from. The clubhouse is a particularly necessary inclusion, and it is inside these luxurious confines where I have the privilege of meeting the architect. Finding myself alone with him, I make a point of commending him for what I feel is a remarkable building. The place is genuinely spectacular. He thanks me.

“It’s bittersweet,” he tells me. “I’m very proud of this place, but …” He hesitates. “I wasn’t paid what was promised,” he says. I just listen. “Trump pays half upfront,” he says, “but he’ll stiff you for the rest once the project is completed.”

“He stiffed you?”

“If I tried to sue, the legal bills would be more than what I was owed. He knew that. He basically said Take what I’m offering ,” and I see how heavy this is for the man, all these years later. “So, we sent the invoice. He didn’t even pay that,” he says. None of this will be in the show. Not Trump’s suggested infidelities, nor his aversion toward paying those who work for him.

When the tasks are over, we are back in the boardroom, having our conference with Trump about how the two finalists compare—a conversation that I know to be recorded. We huddle around him and set up the last moments of the candidates, Jackson and Rancic.

Trump will make his decision live on camera months later, so what we are about to film is the setup to that reveal. The race between Jackson and Rancic should seem close, and that’s how we’ll edit the footage. Since we don’t know who’ll be chosen, it must appear close, even if it’s not.

We lay out the virtues and deficiencies of each finalist to Trump in a fair and balanced way, but sensing the moment at hand, Kepcher sort of comes out of herself. She expresses how she observed Jackson at the casino overcoming more obstacles than Rancic, particularly with the way he managed the troublesome Omarosa. Jackson, Kepcher maintains, handled the calamity with grace.

“I think Kwame would be a great addition to the organization,” Kepcher says to Trump, who winces while his head bobs around in reaction to what he is hearing and clearly resisting.

“Why didn’t he just fire her?” Trump asks, referring to Omarosa. It’s a reasonable question. Given that this the first time we’ve ever been in this situation, none of this is something we expected.

“That’s not his job,” Bienstock says to Trump. “That’s yours.” Trump’s head continues to bob.

“I don’t think he knew he had the ability to do that,” Kepcher says. Trump winces again.

“Yeah,” he says to no one in particular, “but, I mean, would America buy a n— winning?”

Kepcher’s pale skin goes bright red. I turn my gaze toward Trump. He continues to wince. He is serious, and he is adamant about not hiring Jackson.

Bienstock does a half cough, half laugh, and swiftly changes the topic or throws to Ross for his assessment. What happens next I don’t entirely recall. I am still processing what I have just heard. We all are. Only Bienstock knows well enough to keep the train moving. None of us thinks to walk out the door and never return. I still wish I had. (Bienstock and Kepcher didn’t respond to requests for comment.)

Afterward, we film the final meeting in the boardroom, where Jackson and Rancic are scrutinized by Trump, who, we already know, favors Rancic. Then we wrap production, pack up, and head home. There is no discussion about what Trump said in the boardroom, about how the damning evidence was caught on tape. Nothing happens.

We go home and face the next phase of our assignment, the editing. In stitching the footage together, the swindle we are now involved in ascends to new levels.

Editing in a reality TV show is what script writing is to a narrative series. A lot of effort goes into the storytelling because, basically, in every single unscripted series—whether it’s a daytime talk show, an adventure documentary, or a shiny floor dance-off—there are three versions: There’s what happens, there’s what gets filmed, and there’s what gets cut down into 43 minutes squeezed between commercial breaks. Especially for a competition series, it’s important that the third version represent the first as much as possible. A defeated contestant could show up in the press and cry foul if they’re misrepresented. Best to let people fail of their own accord. That said, we look after our prized possessions in how we edit the series, and some people fare better than others.

We attend to our thesis that only the best and brightest deserve a job working for Donald Trump. Luckily, the winner, Bill Rancic, and his rival, Kwame Jackson, come off as capable and confident throughout the season. If for some reason they had not, we would have conveniently left their shortcomings on the cutting room floor. In actuality, both men did deserve to win.

Without a doubt, the hardest decisions we faced in postproduction were how to edit together sequences involving Trump. We needed him to sound sharp, dignified, and clear on what he was looking for and not as if he was yelling at people. You see him today: When he reads from a teleprompter, he comes off as loud and stoic. Go to one of his rallies and he’s the off-the-cuff rambler rousing his followers into a frenzy. While filming, he struggled to convey even the most basic items. But as he became more comfortable with filming, Trump made raucous comments he found funny or amusing—some of them misogynistic as well as racist. We cut those comments. Go to one of his rallies today and you can hear many of them.

If you listen carefully, especially to that first episode, you will notice clearly altered dialogue from Trump in both the task delivery and the boardroom. Trump was overwhelmed with remembering the contestants’ names, the way they would ride the elevator back upstairs or down to the street, the mechanics of what he needed to convey. Bienstock instigated additional dialogue recording that came late in the edit phase. We set Trump up in the soundproof boardroom set and fed him lines he would read into a microphone with Bienstock on the phone, directing from L.A. And suddenly Trump knows the names of every one of the contestants and says them while the camera cuts to each of their faces. Wow , you think, how does he remember everyone’s name? While on location, he could barely put a sentence together regarding how a task would work. Listen now, and he speaks directly to what needs to happen while the camera conveniently cuts away to the contestants, who are listening and nodding. He sounds articulate and concise through some editing sleight of hand.

Then comes the note from NBC about the fact that after Trump delivers the task assignment to the contestants, he disappears from the episode after the first act and doesn’t show up again until the next-to-last. That’s too long for the (high-priced) star of the show to be absent.

There is a convenient solution. At the top of the second act, right after the task has been assigned but right before the teams embark on their assignment, we insert a sequence with Trump, seated inside his gilded apartment, dispensing a carefully crafted bit of wisdom. He speaks to whatever the theme of each episode is—why someone gets fired or what would lead to a win. The net effect is not only that Trump appears once more in each episode but that he also now seems prophetic in how he just knows the way things will go right or wrong with each individual task. He comes off as all-seeing and all-knowing. We are led to believe that Donald Trump is a natural-born leader.

Through the editorial nudge we provide him, Trump prevails. So much so that NBC asks for more time in the boardroom to appear at the end of all the remaining episodes. (NBC declined to comment for this article.)

When it comes to the long con, the cherry on top is the prologue to the premiere. It’s a five-minute-long soliloquy delivered by Trump at the beginning of the first episode, the one titled “Meet the Billionaire.” Over a rousing score, it features Trump pulling out all the stops, calling New York “ my city” and confessing to crawling out from under “billions of dollars in debt.” There’s Trump in the back of limousines. Trump arriving before throngs of cheering crowds outside Trump Tower. Trump in his very own helicopter as it banks over midtown—the same helicopter with the Trump logo that, just like the airplane, is actually for sale to the highest bidder. The truth is, almost nothing was how we made it seem.

So, we scammed. We swindled. Nobody heard the racist and misogynistic comments or saw the alleged cheating, the bluffing, or his hair taking off in the wind. Those tapes, I’ve come to believe, will never be found.

No one lost their retirement fund or fell on hard times from watching The Apprentice . But Trump rose in stature to the point where he could finally eye a run for the White House, something he had intended to do all the way back in 1998. Along the way, he could now feed his appetite for defrauding the public with various shady practices.

In 2005 thousands of students enrolled in what was called Trump University, hoping to gain insight from the Donald and his “handpicked” professors. Each paid as much as $35,000 to listen to some huckster trade on Trump’s name. In a sworn affidavit, salesman Ronald Schnackenberg testified that Trump University was “fraudulent.” The scam swiftly went from online videoconferencing courses to live events held by high-pressure sales professionals whose only job was to persuade attendees to sign up for the course. The sales were for the course “tuition” and had nothing whatsoever to do with real estate investments. A class action suit was filed against Trump.

That same year, Trump was caught bragging to Access Hollywood co-host Billy Bush that he likes to grab married women “by the pussy,” adding, “When you’re a star, they let you do it.” He later tried to recruit porn actor Stormy Daniels for The Apprentice despite her profession and, according to Daniels, had sex with her right after his last son was born. (His alleged attempt to pay off Daniels is, of course, the subject of his recent trial.)

In October 2016—a month before the election—the Access Hollywood tapes were released and written off as “locker room banter.” Trump paid Daniels to keep silent about their alleged affair. He paid $25 million to settle the Trump University lawsuit and make it go away.

He went on to become the first elected president to possess neither public service nor military experience. And although he lost the popular vote, Trump beat out Hillary Clinton in the Electoral College, winning in the Rust Belt by just 80,000 votes.

Trump has been called the “reality TV president,” and not just because of The Apprentice . The Situation Room, where top advisers gathered, became a place for photo-ops, a bigger, better boardroom. Trump swaggered and cajoled, just as he had on the show. Whom would he listen to? Whom would he fire? Stay tuned. Trump even has his own spinoff, called the House of Representatives, where women hurl racist taunts and body-shame one another with impunity. The State of the Union is basically a cage fight. The demands of public office now include blowhard buffoonery.

I reached out to Apollo, the Vegas perceptions expert, to discuss all of this. He reminded me how if a person wants to manipulate the signal, they simply turn up the noise. “In a world that is so uncertain,” he said, “a confidence man comes along and fills in the blanks. The more confident they are, the more we’re inclined to go along with what they suggest.”

A reality TV show gave rise to an avaricious hustler, and a deal was made: Subvert the facts, look past the deficiencies, deceive where necessary, and prevail in the name of television ratings and good, clean fun.

Trump is making another run at the White House and is leading in certain polls. People I know enthusiastically support him and expect he’ll return to office. It’s not just hats, sneakers, a fragrance, or Bibles. Donald Trump is selling his vision of the world, and people are buying it.

Knowing all they know, how could these people still think he’s capable of being president of the United States?

Perhaps they watched our show and were conned by the pig in the poke.

Destiny 2 The Final Shape will be down for 25 hours before launch

And it requires up to 300GB of free HDD space for installation.

Destiny 2 will go offline for 25 hours ahead of the launch of its final expansion, The Final Shape.

The downtime – which is scheduled to kick off at 5pm UK time on 3rd June (that's 9am PT, 12pm ET) and end at 7pm on 4th June – is required to prep for the new expansion, which is estimated to take up at least 129GB of free space on every platform, and almost 300GB on Steam.

As detailed in the latest This Week in Destiny update , players can pre-download update 8.0.0.2 from 6pm UK time (10am PT, 1pm ET) on 1st June on PS3, while PC and Xbox players have to wait until the same time on 3rd June.

The storage requirements are brutal, though. For a PS5, you'll need 144GB free, and 130GB on PS4. Xbox Series X/S players need a hefty 165GB free, whilst Xbox One players 139GB.

It's PC players that really take the brunt of the huge download sizes, though; the Microsoft Store's version requires 156GB, whilst Epic Games Store and Steam require you to have 280GB and 300GB of free space, respectively – or more, depending upon what language you have installed.

Thankfully, the install size will shrink down once everything's installed (the Steam and EGS install size will take up a more modest 155GB and 144GB respectively), but it remains a significant portion of your console's HDD, especially if you play on last-gen systems or the 500GB Xbox Series S, as Destiny 2 will take up a full third of your HDD.

ICYMI, The Final Shape DLC has leaked online after the expansion was temporarily available on PS5 yesterday. Developer Bungie "killed" the servers, but this was not before spoilers about the story, raid, trophies, loot, and more – much, much more – swamped social media.

Bungie later acknowledged spoilers were shared online, and that a "small group of players" were able to access the campaign, Collections, Echoes, and "other reward info". It advised players who don't want the experience spoiled to "be very careful" on social media in the lead up to The Final Shape's release next week, and asked those who have seen the spoilers to "please be considerate of others".

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• Destiny 2: The Final Shape teaser lets us hear Keith David's first lines as Commander Zavala
• Find out more about Destiny 2's The Final Shape next week

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Final day of Trump trial whiplashes from sleepy courtroom to historic verdict

For most of Thursday, there were few signs of life from the jury in Donald Trump’s hush money trial .

That all changed shortly after 4 p.m. when the panel of 12 New Yorkers delivered a note to the judge saying they had reached a verdict in the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president.

Follow live updates here.

The jury foreperson read the verdict aloud just feet from Trump, who has spent more than six weeks in court listening to testimony from 22 witnesses. Moments earlier, Trump and his legal team were in good spirits, with defense attorney Todd Blanche laughing and Trump smiling.

It took the jury less than two days to find Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, guilty on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

Here's what happened on Day 23 — the final day — of Trump's hush money trial:

Reading the tea leaves

Before it resumed deliberations Thursday, the jury re-heard testimony it had requested from former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker and Michael Cohen, Trump’s onetime lawyer and "fixer," who was the star witness for the prosecution.

“The fact that they’re asking those questions is a good sign,” Alina Habba, a legal spokesperson for Trump, told NBC News after the jurors asked to review the testimony. Habba said it could indicate disagreement.

“You don’t want a quick turnaround,” she said, referring to a verdict.

Trump's aides and allies swirled around the courthouse. Inside the courtroom, Trump’s son Eric sat behind his father, flanked by advisers like Boris Epshteyn and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, a top contender to join Trump on the GOP ticket this fall.

The jury had also requested to re-hear part of the instructions state Judge Juan Merchan delivered to them the previous day.

After the morning's courtroom proceedings, the jury resumed its deliberations.

Silence followed by a flurry of activity

In a media overflow room in the courthouse, video monitors showed the date and a ticking clock against a dark blue background.

The video feed was on standby for much of the afternoon. It resumed later in the day, showing prosecutors taking their seats, followed by Trump and his attorneys.

Tension hung over the court as Trump and Blanche sat shoulder to shoulder, clasping their hands over their mouths as they whispered to each other and laughed.

Merchan then delivered what many expected was the last bit of news for the day — the jury would be excused at 4:30 p.m.

Minutes later, however, he read a note: “We, the jury, have a verdict. We would like an extra 30 minutes to fill out the forms if that’d be possible.”

As Merchan made the announcement, Trump sat with his arms crossed, whispering to Blanche. Any levity seemed to dissipate from the defense table quickly. Trump’s attorneys, who were locked in animated conversation moments before, now hardly spoke.

The verdict was read quickly. It followed 9½ hours of deliberations.

Trump was stone-faced as Merchan announced the July 11 sentencing date.

For days, reporters had parsed every yawn and scribble from the jury for clues. Now, the 12 New Yorkers who found Trump guilty on all charges filed out of the room, walking past him and his attorneys. Trump, now the first U.S. president to be criminally convicted, displayed little emotion.

Moments later, Trump strode into the hallway to address the cameras and repeated many of his allegations throughout the trial.

“This was done by the Biden administration in order to wound, to hurt a political opponent,” he said, after he asserted that voters would decide the “real verdict” in the November election.

Katherine Doyle is a White House reporter for NBC News.