writing conclusions – getting the stuff sorted

Conclusions are hard. It might seem that all you have to do is go back to your research question and simply provide an answer. But the reality is that much more is needed. Much more. And that much more comes at the end of your research project, and when you are likely to be at your most tired.

Hey Ho. You have to summon up enough energy to do the last bit. Whether you are working on a funded research project or a doctoral thesis, the very last part of the text you are writing still needs your time and some clever thinking. After all, it’s what readers are likely to most remember.

One way to kick off conclusion thinking is via some planning. Just like any other piece of your writing, your conclusion can benefit from some pre-composition work. I say work because the most important part of conclusion planning is getting the relevant material and ideas together. It’s just like cooking a meal, you prepare your ingredients beforehand.

And to get your conclusion ingredients together, it really helps to have some categories to work with. Here’s one way to understand the various components of the usual academic conclusion.

Results. Theses, papers and research reports all have results. (Sometimes called findings.) Your research text argues, supported by analysis and explanation, for particular results. Your text leads logically to well reasoned and evidenced conclusions. These research results are whatever your particular research project establishes/ shows/ demonstrates/suggests/points to/indicates.

Claims. On the back of these results, the researcher – you – can make some claims. The claims are what you can say arises from the results. Because you and the audience for the research know more about x than they did before, you and they can now for example – say more about the practices in this field, what’s likely to be the case in these kinds of circumstances – perhaps now assume that a particular policy doesn’t do exactly as is claimed by policymakers because these research results show something else – can suggest likely consequences of particular actions. And so on.

Contribution. And on the back of your results the researcher – that’s you- can also claim a contribution to knowledge. Or more than one. The results – adds to the body of literatures on topic x more about y – raises questions about the continued assumption in the literatures that… – offers a new take on the literatures which argue… – critiques the research tradition which… – offers a new way to investigate topic x viz…

However none of this is a claim for significance. But results and claims are what you need to get to something significant.

Significance. Significance is about why knowing these results, and the claims that can be made on the back of them, matter. Yes, why it matters not just at all, but a lot.

The usual way of starting to think about significance is to ask the questions, So What? Who cares? Why?

Locating the answers to these questions means going back to the wider context for the research The researcher – you – is likely to have spelled your rationale out at the very start of the project, in the proposal, and probably at the beginning of the introduction to a text which reports the results of the research. So you need to go back to where you argued your research was important. The warrant for your research at the textual start connects with its significance at the end.

Implications But you also need to think about who will find this research interesting and useful. At the end of the research the researcher and the field know more about something which is a piece of a much bigger and important issue. Everyone is less ignorant about an aspect of x and knowing this could mean something important for research, policy or practice. So ask yourself, Who will be surprised by these results? Who might take them up and build on them – and how? The answers to these questions leads to the implications of the research – what might happen because of it. Or what we usually call the Now What question.

OK. All well and good. So what might someone who is writing a conclusion do now, I hear you ask?

Well, it’s helpful when planning your conclusion to slow down. Use the headings above to make some notes. You could organise the notes as a table. Or a list. Or a set of powerpoint slides. Or a visual of some kind. Whatever suits your way of working. Think of them as your chapter ingredients.

It’s likely that sorting out your work into these ingredient piles will take a bit of time. But putting the time in ahead of composing and drafting the conclusion will mean that when you come to writing, the text is likely to flow more easily. And yes of course you may well think of more things under each heading as you are writing, or you may find them in discussion with your research team or supervisor, if you are working with others. But as you think of additions, your headings are all ready to accommodate any changes.

All’s well that ends well.