✍️ Writing Conclusions

Here's some ✏️ tips on writing conclusions from Academic Phrasebank.

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 the significance of the findings and on recommendations for future work. In some research papers, the conclusion is not presented separately from the discussion section; the two sections may be combined. However, separate conclusions are nearly always expected for
dissertations and essays.

Referring back to the purpose of the paper or study

• This study set out to …
• This paper has argued that …
• This essay has discussed the reasons for ...
• In this investigation, the aim was to assess ...
• The aim of the present research was to examine ...

Summarizing the main research findings

• X, Y and Z emerged as reliable predictors of …
• Multiple regression analysis revealed that the ...
• The most obvious finding to emerge from this study is that ...
• The relevance of X is clearly supported by the current findings ...
• One of the more significant findings to emerge from this study is that ...

Suggesting implications for the field of knowledge

• Taken together, these findings suggest a role for X in promoting Y.
• The findings of this investigation complement those of earlier studies ...
• These findings have significant implications for the understanding of how...
• Although this study focuses on X, the findings may well have a bearing on ...
• These findings raised important theoretical issues that have a bearing on the  ...

🔍Want to see some examples? Go to the Learner Support Page and Check the Academic Phrasebank resource under Academic Writing. Check Pages 71 - 80.

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