Strategies for Writing a Conclusion

Conclusions are often the most difficult part of an essay to write, and many writers feel
that they have nothing left to say after having written the paper. A writer needs to keep in
mind that the conclusion is often what a reader remembers best. Your conclusion should
be the best part of your paper.

A conclusion should

stress the importance of the thesis statement,

give the essay a sense of completeness, and
leave a final impression on the reader.

Writing a Conclusion

Purpose
Content
A typical conclusion
Analysis of the conclusion

The Purpose of a Conclusion

The purpose of a conclusion is to tie together, or integrate the various issues,

research, etc., covered in the body of the paper, and to make comments upon the
meaning of all of it. This includes noting any implications resulting from your
discussion of the topic, as well as recommendations, forecasting future trends, and
the need for further research.

The conclusion should:

be a logical ending to what has been previously been discussed. It must pull
together all of the parts of your argument and refer the reader back to the focus
you have outlined in your introduction and to the central topic. This gives your
essay a sense of unity.
never contain any new information.
usually be only a paragraph in length, but in an extended essay (3000+ words) it
may be better to have two or three paragraphs to pull together the different parts
of the essay.
add to the overall quality and impact of the essay. This is your final statement
about this topic; thus it can make a great impact on the reader.
The conclusion should not:

just sum up
end with a long quotation
focus merely on a minor point in your argument
introduce new material

The content of the conclusion

The conclusion may include:

a summary of the arguments presented in the body and how these relate to the
essay question
a restatement of the main point of view presented in the introduction in response
to the topic
the implications of this view or what might happen as a result.

The structure of the conclusion

Like introductions, it is best to keep to a simple structure.

Begin with a sentence that refers to the main subject that was discussed in the body
in the essay. Make sure that this sentence also links to the preceding paragraph, or
uses words such as In conclusion to signal that these are your final words on the
subject.

Then, you may give a brief summary of your argument and identify the main
reasons/causes/factors that relate to the question you have been asked to address.
If there are two or more parts to the question, be sure to include responses to each
part in your conclusion.

Finally, it is a good idea to add a sentence or two to reinforce the thesis statement
which was used in your introduction. This shows the reader that you have done
what you said you would do and gives a sense of unity the essay.

Additional elements that may be added include recommendations for future

action and speculations on future trends. Generally, although a short pithy quote
can sometimes be used to spice up your conclusion, the conclusion should be in
your own words. Try to avoid direct quotations, or references to other sources.

Summary of structure

Link to previous paragraph: In conclusion

Brief summary
Identify main reasons/causes/factors
Reinforce the thesis statement (see Introductions)
 Recommendations/speculation on future action

A Typical Conclusion

Question: Workplace diversity is now recognised as an important feature in

organisations, especially in multicultural nations like Australia. What
communication problems might arise in a culturally diverse workplace, and how
can managers best deal with them? (2000 word essay)

*******

It is clear, therefore, that not only do employees have to be trained for working in
the Australian multicultural workplace, but managers also need to be trained.
Managers must ensure that effective in-house training programs are provided for
migrant workers, so that they become more familiar with the English language,
Australian communication norms and the Australian work culture. In addition,
Australian native English speakers need to be made aware of the differing cultural
values of their workmates; particularly the different forms of non-verbal
communication used by other cultures. Furthermore, all employees must be
provided with clear and detailed guidelines about company expectations. The
interviews with managers and staff reveal that a majority of managers must also
have training in cross cultural communication and in managing a culturally diverse
workplace. Above all, in order to minimise communication problems and to
maintain an atmosphere of tolerance, understanding and cooperation in the
multicultural workplace, managers need to have an effective knowledge about
their employees, to understand how their social conditioning affects their beliefs
about work and to have the communication skills to develop confidence and self-
esteem among diverse work groups. The culturally diverse Australian workplace
may never be completely free of communication problems, however, further
studies to identify potential problems and solutions, as well as better training in
cross cultural communication for managers and employees, should result in a
much more understanding and cooperative environment. (230 words)

Here is an analysis of the example given above:

1. It is clear, therefore, that not only do employees This sentence provides a link to the
have to be trained for working in the Australian previous paragraph and refers to the
multicultural workplace, but managers also need to main subject that was discussed in
be trained. the body in the essay. It uses
keywords such as 'managers' and
'multicultural workplace'.

2. Managers must ensure that effective in-house These sentences refer back to the
training programs are provided for migrant particular problem areas
workers, so that they become more familiar with foreshadowed in the introduction
the English language, Australian communication and identify solutions.
norms and the Australian work culture. In
addition, Australian native English speakers need to
be made aware of the differing cultural values of
their workmates; particularly the different forms of
non-verbal communication used by other cultures.
Furthermore, all employees must be provided with
clear and detailed guidelines about company
expectations.

3. The interviews with managers and staff reveal This sentence refers back to the
that a majority of managers must also have training thesis statement in the introduction
in cross cultural communication and in managing a and identifies a key finding of the
culturally diverse workplace. study.

4. Above all, in order to minimise communication This sentence makes a definitive

problems and to maintain an atmosphere of statement about what the writer
tolerance, understanding and cooperation in the considers to be the most important
multicultural workplace, managers need to have an recommendation.
effective knowledge about their employees, to
understand how their social conditioning affects
their beliefs about work and to have the
communication skills to develop confidence and
self-esteem among diverse work groups.

5.The culturally diverse Australian workplace may The final sentence suggests future
never be completely free of communication trends and makes a final
problems, however, further studies to identify recommendation
potential problems and solution, as well as better
training in cross cultural communication for
managers and employees, should result in a much
more understanding and cooperative environment.

http://www.canberra.edu.au/studyskills/writing/conclusions
Writing Conclusions

Conclusions are shorter sections of academic texts which usually serve two
functions. The first is to summarise and bring together the main areas covered in
the writing, which might be called "looking back"; and the second is to give a final
comment or judgement on this. The final comment may also include making
suggestions for improvement and speculating on future directions.

In dissertations and research papers, conclusions tend to be more complex and will
also include sections on significance of the findings and recommendations for
future work. Conclusions may be optional in research articles where consolidation
of the study and general implications are covered in the Discussion section.
However, they are usually expected in dissertations and essays.

Summarising the content

This paper has given an account of and the reasons for the widespread use of X ......
This essay has argued that X is the best instrument to ......
This assignment has explained the central importance of X in Y.
This dissertation has investigated ......

Restatement of aims (research)

This study set out to determine ......

The present study was designed to determine the effect of .......
In this investigation, the aim was to assess ......
The purpose of the current study was to determine ......
This project was undertaken to design ...... and evaluate .....
Returning to the hypothesis/question posed at the beginning of this study, it is
now possible to state that .....

Summarising the findings (research)

This study has shown that ......

These findings suggest that in general ......

One of the more significant findings to emerge from this study is that .....
It was also shown that......
This study has found that generally .......
The following conclusions can be drawn from the present study ......
The relevance of X is clearly supported by the current findings.
This study/research has shown that ......
The second major finding was that ........
The results of this investigation show that .......
The most obvious finding to emerge from this study is that ......
X, Y and Z emerged as reliable predictors of ......
Multiple regression analysis revealed that the ......

Suggesting implications

The evidence from this study suggests that ......

The results of this study indicate that ......
The results of this research support the idea that .......
In general, therefore, it seems that ......
Taken together, these results suggest that ......
An implication of this is the possibility that ......
The findings of this study suggest that ......

Significance of the findings (research contribution)

The X that we have identified therefore assists in our understanding of the role of
......
These findings enhance our understanding of ......
This research will serve as a base for future studies and ......
The current findings add substantially to our understanding of ......
The current findings add to a growing body of literature on ......
The study has gone some way towards enhancing our understanding of ......
The methods used for this X may be applied to other Xs elsewhere in the world.
The present study, however, makes several noteworthy contributions to......
The empirical findings in this study provide a new understanding of
The findings from this study make several contributions to the current literature.
First,
The present study provides additional evidence with respect to
Taken together, these findings suggest a role for X in promoting Y.
The present study confirms previous findings and contributes additional evidence
that suggests .... .
Whilst this study did not confirm X, it did partially substantiate .......

Limitations of the current study (research)

Finally, a number of important limitations need to be considered. First, ......

A number of caveats need to be noted regarding the present study.
The most important limitation lies in the fact that ......
The current investigation was limited by ......
The current study was unable to analyse these variables.
The current research was not specifically designed to evaluate factors related to ......
The current study has only examined ......
The project was limited in several ways. First, the project used a convenience
sample that ......
However, with a small sample size, caution must be applied, as the findings might
not be transferable to ......
The sample was nationally representative of X but would tend to miss people who
were ......
A limitation of this study is that the numbers of patients and controls were
relatively small.
Thirdly, the study did not evaluate the use of ......
However, these findings are limited by the use of a cross sectional design.
Our findings in this report are subject to at least three limitations. First, these data
apply only to ..
An issue that was not addressed in this study was whether..
One source of weakness in this study which could hare affected the measurements
of was that
Several limitations to this pilot study need to be acknowledged. The sample size is
......
The main weakness of this study was the paucity of

Recommendations for further work (research)

This research has thrown up many questions in need of further investigation.

Further work needs to be done to establish whether ......
It is recommended that further research be undertaken in the following areas:
Further experimental investigations are needed to estimate ......
What is now needed is a cross-national study involving ......
More broadly, research is also needed to determine .....
It is suggested that the association of these factors is investigated in future studies.
Further research might explore/investigate ......
Further research in this field/regarding the role of X would be of great help in .......
Further investigation and experimentation into X is strongly recommended.
A number of possible future studies using the same experimental set up are
apparent.
It would be interesting to assess the effects of ......
More information on X would help us to establish a greater degree of accuracy on
this matter.
If the debate is to be moved forward, a better understanding of ...... needs to be
developed.
I suggest that before X is introduced, a study similar to this one should be carried
out on .....
These findings provide the following insights for future research: .....
Considerably more work will need to be done to determine ......
Future trials should assess a full selective decontamination regimen including
More research is needed to better understand when implementation ends and .......
It would be interesting to compare experiences of individuals within the same
group.
A further study could assess ...
A future study investigating ... would be very interesting.
The issue of X is an intriguing one which could be usefully explored in further
research.
Future research should therefore concentrate on the investigation of ...
Large randomised controlled trials could provide more definitive evidence.

Implications/recommendations for practice or policy

These findings suggest several courses of action for ......

An implication of these findings is that both X and Y should be taken into account
when ......
The findings of this study have a number of important implications for future
practice.
There is, therefore, a definite need for ......
There are a number of important changes which need to be made.
Another important practical implication is that ......
Moreover, more X should be made available to ......
Other types of X could include : a), b). ......
Unless governments adopt X, Y will not be attained.
This information can be used to develop targetted interventions aimed at ......
A reasonable approach to tackle this issue could be to ......
Taken together, these findings do not support strong recommendations to ......

http://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/conclusions.htm
How to Write a Summary

How to Write a Summary in 8 Easy Steps

Writing a good summary demonstrates that you clearly understand a text...and that you
can communicate that understanding to your readers. A summary can be tricky to write
at first because its tempting to include too much or too little information. But by
following our easy 8-step method, you will be able to summarize texts quickly and
successfully for any class or subject.

1) Divideand conquer. First off, skim the text you are going to summarize and divide it
into sections. Focus on any headings and subheadings. Also look at any bold-faced terms
and make sure you understand them before you read.

2) Read. Now that youve prepared, go ahead and read the selection. Read straight
through. At this point, you dont need to stop to look up anything that gives you
troublejust get a feel for the authors tone, style, and main idea.

3) Reread. Rereading should be active reading. Underline topic sentences and key facts.
Label areas that you want to refer to as you write your summary. Also label areas that
should be avoided because the detailsthough they may be interestingare too specific.
Identify areas that you do not understand and try to clarify those points.

4) One sentence at a time. You should now have a firm grasp on the text you will be
summarizing. In steps 13, you divided the piece into sections and located the authors
main ideas and points. Now write down the main idea of each section in one well-
developed sentence. Make sure that what you include in your sentences are key points,
not minor details.

5) Write a thesis statement. This is the key to any well-written summary. Review the
sentences you wrote in step 4. From them, you should be able to create a thesis statement
that clearly communicates what the entire text was trying to achieve. If you find that you
are not able to do this step, then you should go back and make sure your sentences
actually addressed key points.

6) Ready to write. At this point, your first draft is virtually done. You can use the thesis
statement as the introductory sentence of your summary, and your other sentences can
make up the body. Make sure that they are in order. Add some transition words (then,
however, also, moreover) that help with the overall structure and flow of the summary.
And once you are actually putting pen to paper (or fingers to keys!), remember these tips:

Write in the present tense.

Make sure to include the author and title of the work.
Be concise: a summary should not be equal in length to the original text.
If you must use the words of the author, cite them.
Don't put your own opinions, ideas, or interpretations into the summary. The
purpose of writing a summary is to accurately represent what the author wanted to
say, not to provide a critique.
7) Check for accuracy. Reread your summary and make certain that you have accurately
represented the authors ideas and key points. Make sure that you have correctly cited
anything directly quoted from the text. Also check to make sure that your text does not
contain your own commentary on the piece.

8) Revise. Once you are certain that your summary is accurate, you should (as with any
piece of writing) revise it for style, grammar, and punctuation. If you have time, give your
summary to someone else to read. This person should be able to understand the main text
based on your summary alone. If he or she does not, you may have focused too much on
one area of the piece and not enough on the authors main idea.

http://www.enotes.com/topics/how-write-summary