Writing the parts of scientific reports
22 Writing the conclusion & recommendations
General
There are probably some overlaps between the Conclusion and the Discussion section. Nevertheless, this section gives you the opportunity to highlight the most important points in your report, and is sometimes the only section read. Think about what your research/ study has achieved, and the most important findings and ideas you want the reader to know. As all studies have limitations also think about what you were not able to cover (this shows that you are able to evaluate your own work objectively).
Possible structure of this section:
| Summary of the findings | Restate briefly the work carried out, the aims and hypotheses or research questions. Highlight the most important findings. |
| Evaluation of the study
|
State what you consider to be the achievements and limitations of your work. Assess how far the aims of your research have been satisfied. Here you can include a personal assessment of what you have learnt (if you are asked to provide it) |
| Suggestions for future research | Suggest how your work reported in this paper opens new research possibilities. |
| Implications of the study | Place the study in a wider context of research in the discipline and/ or a situation in the real world. |
| (positive) Applications of the research | Indicate how the research may be practically useful in real-world situations |
| Recommendations | Give specific suggestions for real-world actions to be taken on the basis of the research. |
Language focus
Use present perfect to sum up/ evaluate:
This study has explored/ has attempted…
Use past tense to state what your aim was and to refer to actions you carried out:
- This study was intended to analyse …
- The aim of this study was to …
Use present tense to evaluate your study and to state the generalizations and implications that you draw from your findings.
- The results add to the knowledge of …
- These findings suggest that …
You can either use present tense or past tense to summarize your results.
- The findings reveal …
- It was found that …
Language focus when making an evaluation of your work
Achievements of this study (positive)
- This study provides evidence that …
- This work has contributed to a number of key issues in the field such as …
Limitations of the study (negative)
- Several limitations should be noted. First …
Combine positive and negative remarks to give a balanced assessment:
- Although this research is somewhat limited in scope, its findings can provide a basis for future studies.
- Despite the limitations, findings from the present study can help us understand …
Language focus when giving suggestions for future resarch
Use more cautious language (modal verbs may, can, could)
- There are a number of possible extensions of this research …
- The findings suggest the possibility for future research on …
- These results may be important for future studies on …
- Examining a wider context could/ would lead …
Or indicate that future research is needed
- There is still a need for future research to determine …
- Further studies should be undertaken to discover…
- It would be worthwhile to investigate …
For useful phrases to lead your reader through the conclusion section, go to the Academic Phrasebank, Writing Conclusions.