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Writing a Research Paper Conclusion | Step-by-Step Guide

Published on October 30, 2022 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on April 13, 2023.

• Restate the problem statement addressed in the paper
• Summarize your overall arguments or findings
• Suggest the key takeaways from your paper

The content of the conclusion varies depending on whether your paper presents the results of original empirical research or constructs an argument through engagement with sources .

Table of contents

Step 1: restate the problem, step 2: sum up the paper, step 3: discuss the implications, research paper conclusion examples, frequently asked questions about research paper conclusions.

The first task of your conclusion is to remind the reader of your research problem . You will have discussed this problem in depth throughout the body, but now the point is to zoom back out from the details to the bigger picture.

While you are restating a problem you’ve already introduced, you should avoid phrasing it identically to how it appeared in the introduction . Ideally, you’ll find a novel way to circle back to the problem from the more detailed ideas discussed in the body.

For example, an argumentative paper advocating new measures to reduce the environmental impact of agriculture might restate its problem as follows:

Meanwhile, an empirical paper studying the relationship of Instagram use with body image issues might present its problem like this:

“In conclusion …”

Avoid starting your conclusion with phrases like “In conclusion” or “To conclude,” as this can come across as too obvious and make your writing seem unsophisticated. The content and placement of your conclusion should make its function clear without the need for additional signposting.

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Having zoomed back in on the problem, it’s time to summarize how the body of the paper went about addressing it, and what conclusions this approach led to.

Depending on the nature of your research paper, this might mean restating your thesis and arguments, or summarizing your overall findings.

Argumentative paper: Restate your thesis and arguments

In an argumentative paper, you will have presented a thesis statement in your introduction, expressing the overall claim your paper argues for. In the conclusion, you should restate the thesis and show how it has been developed through the body of the paper.

Briefly summarize the key arguments made in the body, showing how each of them contributes to proving your thesis. You may also mention any counterarguments you addressed, emphasizing why your thesis holds up against them, particularly if your argument is a controversial one.

Don’t go into the details of your evidence or present new ideas; focus on outlining in broad strokes the argument you have made.

Empirical paper: Summarize your findings

In an empirical paper, this is the time to summarize your key findings. Don’t go into great detail here (you will have presented your in-depth results and discussion already), but do clearly express the answers to the research questions you investigated.

Describe your main findings, even if they weren’t necessarily the ones you expected or hoped for, and explain the overall conclusion they led you to.

Having summed up your key arguments or findings, the conclusion ends by considering the broader implications of your research. This means expressing the key takeaways, practical or theoretical, from your paper—often in the form of a call for action or suggestions for future research.

Argumentative paper: Strong closing statement

An argumentative paper generally ends with a strong closing statement. In the case of a practical argument, make a call for action: What actions do you think should be taken by the people or organizations concerned in response to your argument?

If your topic is more theoretical and unsuitable for a call for action, your closing statement should express the significance of your argument—for example, in proposing a new understanding of a topic or laying the groundwork for future research.

Empirical paper: Future research directions

In a more empirical paper, you can close by either making recommendations for practice (for example, in clinical or policy papers), or suggesting directions for future research.

Whatever the scope of your own research, there will always be room for further investigation of related topics, and you’ll often discover new questions and problems during the research process .

Finish your paper on a forward-looking note by suggesting how you or other researchers might build on this topic in the future and address any limitations of the current paper.

Full examples of research paper conclusions are shown in the tabs below: one for an argumentative paper, the other for an empirical paper.

• Argumentative paper
• Empirical paper

While the role of cattle in climate change is by now common knowledge, countries like the Netherlands continually fail to confront this issue with the urgency it deserves. The evidence is clear: To create a truly futureproof agricultural sector, Dutch farmers must be incentivized to transition from livestock farming to sustainable vegetable farming. As well as dramatically lowering emissions, plant-based agriculture, if approached in the right way, can produce more food with less land, providing opportunities for nature regeneration areas that will themselves contribute to climate targets. Although this approach would have economic ramifications, from a long-term perspective, it would represent a significant step towards a more sustainable and resilient national economy. Transitioning to sustainable vegetable farming will make the Netherlands greener and healthier, setting an example for other European governments. Farmers, policymakers, and consumers must focus on the future, not just on their own short-term interests, and work to implement this transition now.

As social media becomes increasingly central to young people’s everyday lives, it is important to understand how different platforms affect their developing self-conception. By testing the effect of daily Instagram use among teenage girls, this study established that highly visual social media does indeed have a significant effect on body image concerns, with a strong correlation between the amount of time spent on the platform and participants’ self-reported dissatisfaction with their appearance. However, the strength of this effect was moderated by pre-test self-esteem ratings: Participants with higher self-esteem were less likely to experience an increase in body image concerns after using Instagram. This suggests that, while Instagram does impact body image, it is also important to consider the wider social and psychological context in which this usage occurs: Teenagers who are already predisposed to self-esteem issues may be at greater risk of experiencing negative effects. Future research into Instagram and other highly visual social media should focus on establishing a clearer picture of how self-esteem and related constructs influence young people’s experiences of these platforms. Furthermore, while this experiment measured Instagram usage in terms of time spent on the platform, observational studies are required to gain more insight into different patterns of usage—to investigate, for instance, whether active posting is associated with different effects than passive consumption of social media content.

If you’re unsure about the conclusion, it can be helpful to ask a friend or fellow student to read your conclusion and summarize the main takeaways.

• Do they understand from your conclusion what your research was about?
• Are they able to summarize the implications of your findings?
• Can they answer your research question based on your conclusion?

You can also get an expert to proofread and feedback your paper with a paper editing service .

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The conclusion of a research paper has several key elements you should make sure to include:

• A restatement of the research problem
• A summary of your key arguments and/or findings
• A short discussion of the implications of your research

No, it’s not appropriate to present new arguments or evidence in the conclusion . While you might be tempted to save a striking argument for last, research papers follow a more formal structure than this.

All your findings and arguments should be presented in the body of the text (more specifically in the results and discussion sections if you are following a scientific structure). The conclusion is meant to summarize and reflect on the evidence and arguments you have already presented, not introduce new ones.

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Organizing Academic Research Papers: 9. The Conclusion

• Purpose of Guide
• Design Flaws to Avoid
• Glossary of Research Terms
• Narrowing a Topic Idea
• Broadening a Topic Idea
• Extending the Timeliness of a Topic Idea
• Academic Writing Style
• Choosing a Title
• Making an Outline
• Paragraph Development
• Executive Summary
• Background Information
• The Research Problem/Question
• Theoretical Framework
• Citation Tracking
• Content Alert Services
• Evaluating Sources
• Primary Sources
• Secondary Sources
• Tertiary Sources
• What Is Scholarly vs. Popular?
• Qualitative Methods
• Quantitative Methods
• Using Non-Textual Elements
• Limitations of the Study
• Common Grammar Mistakes
• Avoiding Plagiarism
• Footnotes or Endnotes?
• Further Readings
• Annotated Bibliography
• Dealing with Nervousness
• Using Visual Aids
• Grading Someone Else's Paper
• How to Manage Group Projects
• Multiple Book Review Essay
• Reviewing Collected Essays
• About Informed Consent
• Writing Field Notes
• Writing a Policy Memo
• Writing a Research Proposal
• Acknowledgements

The conclusion is intended to help the reader understand why your research should matter to them after they have finished reading the paper. A conclusion is not merely a summary of your points or a re-statement of your research problem but a synthesis of key points. For most essays, one well-developed paragraph is sufficient for a conclusion, although in some cases, a two-or-three paragraph conclusion may be required.

Importance of a Good Conclusion

A well-written conclusion provides you with several important opportunities to demonstrate your overall understanding of the research problem to the reader. These include:

• Presenting the last word on the issues you raised in your paper . Just as the introduction gives a first impression to your reader, the conclusion offers a chance to leave a lasting impression. Do this, for example, by highlighting key points in your analysis or findings.
• Summarizing your thoughts and conveying the larger implications of your study . The conclusion is an opportunity to succinctly answer the "so what?" question by placing the study within the context of past research about the topic you've investigated.
• Demonstrating the importance of your ideas . Don't be shy. The conclusion offers you a chance to elaborate on the significance of your findings.
• Introducing possible new or expanded ways of thinking about the research problem . This does not refer to introducing new information [which should be avoided], but to offer new insight and creative approaches for framing/contextualizing the research problem based on the results of your study.

Conclusions . The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Kretchmer, Paul. Twelve Steps to Writing an Effective Conclusion . San Francisco Edit, 2003-2008.

Structure and Writing Style

https://writing.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/535/2018/07/conclusions_uwmadison_writingcenter_aug2012.pdf I.  General Rules

When writing the conclusion to your paper, follow these general rules:

• State your conclusions in clear, simple language.
• Do not simply reiterate your results or the discussion.
• Indicate opportunities for future research, as long as you haven't already done so in the discussion section of your paper.

The function of your paper's conclusion is to restate the main argument . It reminds the reader of the strengths of your main argument(s) and reiterates the most important evidence supporting those argument(s). Make sure, however, that your conclusion is not simply a repetitive summary of the findings because this reduces the impact of the argument(s) you have developed in your essay.

Consider the following points to help ensure your conclusion is appropriate:

• If the argument or point of your paper is complex, you may need to summarize the argument for your reader.
• If, prior to your conclusion, you have not yet explained the significance of your findings or if you are proceeding inductively, use the end of your paper to describe your main points and explain their significance.
• Move from a detailed to a general level of consideration that returns the topic to the context provided by the introduction or within a new context that emerges from the data.

The conclusion also provides a place for you to persuasively and succinctly restate your research problem, given that the reader has now been presented with all the information about the topic . Depending on the discipline you are writing in, the concluding paragraph may contain your reflections on the evidence presented, or on the essay's central research problem. However, the nature of being introspective about the research you have done will depend on the topic and whether your professor wants you to express your observations in this way.

NOTE : Don't delve into idle speculation. Being introspective means looking within yourself as an author to try and understand an issue more deeply not to guess at possible outcomes.

II.  Developing a Compelling Conclusion

Strategies to help you move beyond merely summarizing the key points of your research paper may include any of the following.

• If your essay deals with a contemporary problem, warn readers of the possible consequences of not attending to the problem.
• Recommend a specific course or courses of action.
• Cite a relevant quotation or expert opinion to lend authority to the conclusion you have reached [a good place to look is research from your literature review].
• Restate a key statistic, fact, or visual image to drive home the ultimate point of your paper.
• If your discipline encourages personal reflection, illustrate your concluding point with a relevant narrative drawn from your own life experiences.
• Return to an anecdote, an example, or a quotation that you introduced in your introduction, but add further insight that is derived from the findings of your study; use your interpretation of results to reframe it in new ways.
• Provide a "take-home" message in the form of a strong, succient statement that you want the reader to remember about your study.

III. Problems to Avoid Failure to be concise The conclusion section should be concise and to the point. Conclusions that are too long often have unnecessary detail. The conclusion section is not the place for details about your methodology or results. Although you should give a summary of what was learned from your research, this summary should be relatively brief, since the emphasis in the conclusion is on the implications, evaluations, insights, etc. that you make. Failure to comment on larger, more significant issues In the introduction, your task was to move from general [the field of study] to specific [your research problem]. However, in the conclusion, your task is to move from specific [your research problem] back to general [your field, i.e., how your research contributes new understanding or fills an important gap in the literature]. In other words, the conclusion is where you place your research within a larger context. Failure to reveal problems and negative results Negative aspects of the research process should never be ignored. Problems, drawbacks, and challenges encountered during your study should be included as a way of qualifying your overall conclusions. If you encountered negative results [findings that are validated outside the research context in which they were generated], you must report them in the results section of your paper. In the conclusion, use the negative results as an opportunity to explain how they provide information on which future research can be based. Failure to provide a clear summary of what was learned In order to be able to discuss how your research fits back into your field of study [and possibly the world at large], you need to summarize it briefly and directly. Often this element of your conclusion is only a few sentences long. Failure to match the objectives of your research Often research objectives change while the research is being carried out. This is not a problem unless you forget to go back and refine your original objectives in your introduction, as these changes emerge they must be documented so that they accurately reflect what you were trying to accomplish in your research [not what you thought you might accomplish when you began].

Resist the urge to apologize If you've immersed yourself in studying the research problem, you now know a good deal about it, perhaps even more than your professor! Nevertheless, by the time you have finished writing, you may be having some doubts about what you have produced. Repress those doubts!  Don't undermine your authority by saying something like, "This is just one approach to examining this problem; there may be other, much better approaches...."

Concluding Paragraphs. College Writing Center at Meramec. St. Louis Community College; Conclusions . The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Conclusions . The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Freedman, Leora  and Jerry Plotnick. Introductions and Conclusions . The Lab Report. University College Writing Centre. University of Toronto; Leibensperger, Summer. Draft Your Conclusion. Academic Center, the University of Houston-Victoria, 2003; Make Your Last Words Count . The Writer’s Handbook. Writing Center. University of Wisconsin, Madison; Tips for Writing a Good Conclusion . Writing@CSU. Colorado State University; Kretchmer, Paul. Twelve Steps to Writing an Effective Conclusion . San Francisco Edit, 2003-2008; Writing Conclusions . Writing Tutorial Services, Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning. Indiana University; Writing: Considering Structure and Organization . Institute for Writing Rhetoric. Dartmouth College.

Writing Tip

Don't Belabor the Obvious!

Avoid phrases like "in conclusion...," "in summary...," or "in closing...." These phrases can be useful, even welcome, in oral presentations. But readers can see by the tell-tale section heading and number of pages remaining to read, when an essay is about to end. You'll irritate your readers if you belabor the obvious.

Another Writing Tip

New Insight, Not New Information!

Don't surprise the reader with new information in your Conclusion that was never referenced anywhere else in the paper. If you have new information to present, add it to the Discussion or other appropriate section of the paper.  Note that, although no actual new information is introduced, the conclusion is where you offer your most "original" contributions in the paper; it's where you describe the value of your research, demonstrate your understanding of the material that you’ve presented, and locate your findings within the larger context of scholarship on the topic.

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• Next: Appendices >>
• Last Updated: Jul 18, 2023 11:58 AM
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• Research Guides

Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper

• 9. The Conclusion
• Purpose of Guide
• Design Flaws to Avoid
• Independent and Dependent Variables
• Glossary of Research Terms
• Reading Research Effectively
• Narrowing a Topic Idea
• Broadening a Topic Idea
• Extending the Timeliness of a Topic Idea
• Academic Writing Style
• Choosing a Title
• Making an Outline
• Paragraph Development
• Research Process Video Series
• Executive Summary
• The C.A.R.S. Model
• Background Information
• The Research Problem/Question
• Theoretical Framework
• Citation Tracking
• Content Alert Services
• Evaluating Sources
• Primary Sources
• Secondary Sources
• Tiertiary Sources
• Scholarly vs. Popular Publications
• Qualitative Methods
• Quantitative Methods
• Insiderness
• Using Non-Textual Elements
• Limitations of the Study
• Common Grammar Mistakes
• Writing Concisely
• Avoiding Plagiarism
• Footnotes or Endnotes?
• Further Readings
• Generative AI and Writing
• USC Libraries Tutorials and Other Guides
• Bibliography

The conclusion is intended to help the reader understand why your research should matter to them after they have finished reading the paper. A conclusion is not merely a summary of the main topics covered or a re-statement of your research problem, but a synthesis of key points and, if applicable, where you recommend new areas for future research. For most college-level research papers, one or two well-developed paragraphs is sufficient for a conclusion, although in some cases, more paragraphs may be required in summarizing key findings and their significance.

Conclusions. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Conclusions. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University.

Importance of a Good Conclusion

A well-written conclusion provides you with important opportunities to demonstrate to the reader your understanding of the research problem. These include:

• Presenting the last word on the issues you raised in your paper . Just as the introduction gives a first impression to your reader, the conclusion offers a chance to leave a lasting impression. Do this, for example, by highlighting key findings in your analysis that advance new understanding about the research problem, that are unusual or unexpected, or that have important implications applied to practice.
• Summarizing your thoughts and conveying the larger significance of your study . The conclusion is an opportunity to succinctly re-emphasize  the "So What?" question by placing the study within the context of how your research advances past research about the topic.
• Identifying how a gap in the literature has been addressed . The conclusion can be where you describe how a previously identified gap in the literature [described in your literature review section] has been filled by your research.
• Demonstrating the importance of your ideas . Don't be shy. The conclusion offers you the opportunity to elaborate on the impact and significance of your findings. This is particularly important if your study approached examining the research problem from an unusual or innovative perspective.
• Introducing possible new or expanded ways of thinking about the research problem . This does not refer to introducing new information [which should be avoided], but to offer new insight and creative approaches for framing or contextualizing the research problem based on the results of your study.

Bunton, David. “The Structure of PhD Conclusion Chapters.” Journal of English for Academic Purposes 4 (July 2005): 207–224; Conclusions. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Kretchmer, Paul. Twelve Steps to Writing an Effective Conclusion. San Francisco Edit, 2003-2008; Conclusions. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Assan, Joseph. "Writing the Conclusion Chapter: The Good, the Bad and the Missing." Liverpool: Development Studies Association (2009): 1-8.

Structure and Writing Style

I.  General Rules

The function of your paper's conclusion is to restate the main argument . It reminds the reader of the strengths of your main argument(s) and reiterates the most important evidence supporting those argument(s). Do this by stating clearly the context, background, and necessity of pursuing the research problem you investigated in relation to an issue, controversy, or a gap found in the literature. Make sure, however, that your conclusion is not simply a repetitive summary of the findings. This reduces the impact of the argument(s) you have developed in your essay.

When writing the conclusion to your paper, follow these general rules:

• Present your conclusions in clear, simple language. Re-state the purpose of your study, then describe how your findings differ or support those of other studies and why [i.e., what were the unique or new contributions your study made to the overall research about your topic?].
• Do not simply reiterate your findings or the discussion of your results. Provide a synthesis of arguments presented in the paper to show how these converge to address the research problem and the overall objectives of your study.
• Indicate opportunities for future research if you haven't already done so in the discussion section of your paper. Highlighting the need for further research provides the reader with evidence that you have an in-depth awareness of the research problem and that further investigations should take place.

Consider the following points to help ensure your conclusion is presented well:

• If the argument or purpose of your paper is complex, you may need to summarize the argument for your reader.
• If, prior to your conclusion, you have not yet explained the significance of your findings or if you are proceeding inductively, use the end of your paper to describe your main points and explain their significance.
• Move from a detailed to a general level of consideration that returns the topic to the context provided by the introduction or within a new context that emerges from the data. 

The conclusion also provides a place for you to persuasively and succinctly restate the research problem, given that the reader has now been presented with all the information about the topic . Depending on the discipline you are writing in, the concluding paragraph may contain your reflections on the evidence presented. However, the nature of being introspective about the research you have conducted will depend on the topic and whether your professor wants you to express your observations in this way.

NOTE : If asked to think introspectively about the topics, do not delve into idle speculation. Being introspective means looking within yourself as an author to try and understand an issue more deeply, not to guess at possible outcomes or make up scenarios not supported by the evidence.

II.  Developing a Compelling Conclusion

Although an effective conclusion needs to be clear and succinct, it does not need to be written passively or lack a compelling narrative. Strategies to help you move beyond merely summarizing the key points of your research paper may include any of the following strategies:

• If your essay deals with a critical, contemporary problem, warn readers of the possible consequences of not attending to the problem proactively.
• Recommend a specific course or courses of action that, if adopted, could address a specific problem in practice or in the development of new knowledge.
• Cite a relevant quotation or expert opinion already noted in your paper in order to lend authority and support to the conclusion(s) you have reached [a good place to look is research from your literature review].
• Explain the consequences of your research in a way that elicits action or demonstrates urgency in seeking change.
• Restate a key statistic, fact, or visual image to emphasize the most important finding of your paper.
• If your discipline encourages personal reflection, illustrate your concluding point by drawing from your own life experiences.
• Return to an anecdote, an example, or a quotation that you presented in your introduction, but add further insight derived from the findings of your study; use your interpretation of results to recast it in new or important ways.
• Provide a "take-home" message in the form of a succinct, declarative statement that you want the reader to remember about your study.

III. Problems to Avoid

Failure to be concise Your conclusion section should be concise and to the point. Conclusions that are too lengthy often have unnecessary information in them. The conclusion is not the place for details about your methodology or results. Although you should give a summary of what was learned from your research, this summary should be relatively brief, since the emphasis in the conclusion is on the implications, evaluations, insights, and other forms of analysis that you make. Strategies for writing concisely can be found here .

Failure to comment on larger, more significant issues In the introduction, your task was to move from the general [the field of study] to the specific [the research problem]. However, in the conclusion, your task is to move from a specific discussion [your research problem] back to a general discussion [i.e., how your research contributes new understanding or fills an important gap in the literature]. In short, the conclusion is where you should place your research within a larger context [visualize your paper as an hourglass--start with a broad introduction and review of the literature, move to the specific analysis and discussion, conclude with a broad summary of the study's implications and significance].

Failure to reveal problems and negative results Negative aspects of the research process should never be ignored. These are problems, deficiencies, or challenges encountered during your study should be summarized as a way of qualifying your overall conclusions. If you encountered negative or unintended results [i.e., findings that are validated outside the research context in which they were generated], you must report them in the results section and discuss their implications in the discussion section of your paper. In the conclusion, use your summary of the negative results as an opportunity to explain their possible significance and/or how they may form the basis for future research.

Failure to provide a clear summary of what was learned In order to be able to discuss how your research fits within your field of study [and possibly the world at large], you need to summarize briefly and succinctly how it contributes to new knowledge or a new understanding about the research problem. This element of your conclusion may be only a few sentences long.

Failure to match the objectives of your research Often research objectives in the social sciences change while the research is being carried out. This is not a problem unless you forget to go back and refine the original objectives in your introduction. As these changes emerge they must be documented so that they accurately reflect what you were trying to accomplish in your research [not what you thought you might accomplish when you began].

Resist the urge to apologize If you've immersed yourself in studying the research problem, you presumably should know a good deal about it [perhaps even more than your professor!]. Nevertheless, by the time you have finished writing, you may be having some doubts about what you have produced. Repress those doubts! Don't undermine your authority by saying something like, "This is just one approach to examining this problem; there may be other, much better approaches that...." The overall tone of your conclusion should convey confidence to the reader.

Assan, Joseph. "Writing the Conclusion Chapter: The Good, the Bad and the Missing." Liverpool: Development Studies Association (2009): 1-8; Concluding Paragraphs. College Writing Center at Meramec. St. Louis Community College; Conclusions. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Conclusions. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Freedman, Leora  and Jerry Plotnick. Introductions and Conclusions. The Lab Report. University College Writing Centre. University of Toronto; Leibensperger, Summer. Draft Your Conclusion. Academic Center, the University of Houston-Victoria, 2003; Make Your Last Words Count. The Writer’s Handbook. Writing Center. University of Wisconsin Madison; Miquel, Fuster-Marquez and Carmen Gregori-Signes. “Chapter Six: ‘Last but Not Least:’ Writing the Conclusion of Your Paper.” In Writing an Applied Linguistics Thesis or Dissertation: A Guide to Presenting Empirical Research . John Bitchener, editor. (Basingstoke,UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), pp. 93-105; Tips for Writing a Good Conclusion. Writing@CSU. Colorado State University; Kretchmer, Paul. Twelve Steps to Writing an Effective Conclusion. San Francisco Edit, 2003-2008; Writing Conclusions. Writing Tutorial Services, Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning. Indiana University; Writing: Considering Structure and Organization. Institute for Writing Rhetoric. Dartmouth College.

Writing Tip

Don't Belabor the Obvious!

Avoid phrases like "in conclusion...," "in summary...," or "in closing...." These phrases can be useful, even welcome, in oral presentations. But readers can see by the tell-tale section heading and number of pages remaining to read, when an essay is about to end. You'll irritate your readers if you belabor the obvious.

Assan, Joseph. "Writing the Conclusion Chapter: The Good, the Bad and the Missing." Liverpool: Development Studies Association (2009): 1-8.

Another Writing Tip

New Insight, Not New Information!

Don't surprise the reader with new information in your conclusion that was never referenced anywhere else in the paper and, as such, the conclusion rarely has citations to sources. If you have new information to present, add it to the discussion or other appropriate section of the paper. Note that, although no actual new information is introduced, the conclusion, along with the discussion section, is where you offer your most "original" contributions in the paper; the conclusion is where you describe the value of your research, demonstrate that you understand the material that you’ve presented, and locate your findings within the larger context of scholarship on the topic, including describing how your research contributes new insights or valuable insight to that scholarship.

Assan, Joseph. "Writing the Conclusion Chapter: The Good, the Bad and the Missing." Liverpool: Development Studies Association (2009): 1-8; Conclusions. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina.

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• Next: Appendices >>
• Last Updated: Oct 10, 2023 1:30 PM
• URL: https://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide

• Open access
• Published: 05 November 2019

Identification of essential attributes in conclusions of student reports

• Aurelio López-López   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-8832-3880 1 ,
• Samuel González-López 2 &
• Jesús Miguel García-Gorrostieta 1  

Smart Learning Environments volume  6 , Article number:  11 ( 2019 ) Cite this article

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This work seeks to help students in improving their first research reports, based on natural language processing techniques. We present a Conclusion model that includes three schemes: Goal Connectedness, Judgment and Speculation. These subsystems try to account for the main expected attributes in conclusions, specifically the Connectedness with the general objective of the research, the evidence of value Judgments, and the presence of Future work as a result of the student reflection after the inquiry. The article details the schemes, a validation of the approach in an annotated corpus, and a pilot test with undergraduate students. Results of a prior validation indicate that student writings indeed adhere to such attributes, especially at graduate level. Statistical results of the pilot test showed that undergraduate students in an experimental group achieved improved conclusion content when compared with the control group.

Introduction

A student report is a document describing the student’s research and main findings on a topic. Often such report is further developed into a larger student thesis. Such document requires usually the guidance of an advisor. One study focused on the perceptions of students concerning difficulties when writing the discussion section of reports (Bitchener and Basturkmen 2006 ). The study used in-depth interviews with supervisors and students (including L2) and found that pupils mentioned the uncertainty about what content to include and how discussion sections should be organized. This was surprising, considering the time and feedback that students received from supervisors.

This paper focuses on evaluating the conclusion section of student reports and perform a pilot test with undergraduate students. These are parts of a larger project that aims to help students to evaluate their early drafts and facilitate the review process for the academic advisor. Besides, the review time can be reduced improving the quality of feedback provided by the instructor, through allowing the reviewer focusing on the conclusions content (Debuse et al. 2008 ).

In a conclusion section, a discussion of the results is expected, and students are required to reflect on the whole research work. A good conclusion section should include: an analysis of compliance with the research objectives, a global response to the problem statement, a contrast between the results and the theoretical framework, areas for further research, and an acceptance or rejection of the established hypothesis (Allen 1973 ). A pattern that summarizes what is expected in a conclusion section is provided by the Teaching and Learning Centre at University of New England, Australia (UNE). The pattern goes from the specific to the general, and begins with a reformulation of the problem, followed by key findings, and ending with recommendations and future work. The guide pattern is similar to the conclusion of a scientific article, but more extensive.

In the conclusion pattern, the conclusion starts by pointing to the problem solved. In the five-paragraph essay paradigm (Davis and Liss 2006 ), the introduction and conclusion share the main topic, namely, the subject matter of the essay. The approach is like the conclusions section, as the conclusion should be related to the general objective (considering methodological guides), in its first paragraph. In the intermediate paragraphs, the student must express his thoughts and opinions, avoiding a list of results. The Online Writing Lab at Purdue University provides an outline for writing conclusion sections, emphasizing that the conclusion must contain well-argued viewpoints and avoid inclusion of additional items that are not contained within the thesis (P.O.W Lab: Purdue Online Writing Lab 2018 ). Future work and recommendations included in the conclusion evidence that the student has gone beyond solving the immediate problem and can identify possible expansion and implications of the work. Currently, our work focuses on quantitative thesis in the area of computer science and nearby disciplines.

Based on the previous pattern and mentioned desirable attributes, we proposed the use of an automatic analysis of conclusions intended to obtain a first diagnostic of frequent problems in student’s conclusion writings. Our first goal is the design of a model, including a methodology to evaluate the conclusion, for this purpose, we formulate this analysis in terms of three main subcomponents (schemes) that identify the following attributes of conclusions: Goal Connectedness, Judgment, and Speculation. Due to the complexity of the task, this work only focuses on the conclusions section, besides of being a key section in a thesis or project report.

A system is proposed with a central Conclusion Model, integrating the three schemes, and taking advantage of a corpus to acquire the reference knowledge, to obtain the best features and set score thresholds. After evaluation of a conclusion supplied for analysis, our system will send the result to the student, with the goal of showing him the diagnosed level reached by the conclusion. The student will be able then to improve his conclusion based on the diagnosis, before submission to the advisor.

We report the use of the three attributes to assess a corpus tagged by annotators, to validate them, once they have been implemented in a computational tool. The implementation of the model in an online application to validate the model in a real environment is the second objective of this work. The third goal is providing statistical information of correlation between the three features considered in this research. The results of a pilot test with undergraduate students of engineering are included, revealing a correlation between Goal Connectedness and Judgment characteristics. Such outcome provides evidence that students are indeed connecting their value judgments with the general objective.

Related work

Automated Writing Evaluation (AWE) of student texts, also called Automated Essay Scoring (AES), refers to the process of evaluating and scoring written text using a computer system. Such a system builds a scoring model by extracting linguistic features (lexical, syntactic or semantic) on a specific corpus that has been annotated by humans. For this task, the researchers have been using artificial intelligence techniques such as natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning. The system can be used to directly assign a score or a quality level to a student text (Gierl et al. 2014 ). The use of AWE systems offers students ways to improve their writing in an automated manner, and helps to reduce review time required by academic advisors and is a complementary tool to their work.

Currently, the advances in AWE systems include the use of natural language processing technologies to perform the evaluation of texts and provide feedback to students. In this context, the system Writing Pal (WPal) offers strategy instruction and game-based practice in the writing process for developing writers. WPal assesses essay quality using a combination of computational linguistics and statistical modelling. Different linguistic properties were selected as predictors (Crossley et al. 2013 ). Similarly, our work seeks to assess the text attributes focusing on the conclusion section of a research report, considering three schemes to evaluate it.

In (McNamara et al. 2010 ), the aim was to distinguish differences between low and high scoring essays of undergraduate students. They used the Coh-Metrix tool and found that essays with a higher score reflected more sophisticated language and text complexity. In addition, using a holistic approach of quality text in (Crossley et al. 2016 ), the authors conducted an analysis of four features that together evidence the presence of the construct “idea generation” in student essays. Fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration were the elements analyzed. The corpus consists of essays written in 25 min by first-year undergrad students, without using external references. The essay assessment was done by different AWE tools such as Writing Assessment Tool, and Tool for the Automatic Assessment of Cohesion. The obtained results indicate that essays with many original ideas (flexible and elaborated) got a high evaluation and were significant features for determining the quality of essay. In our work, we evaluate elements of a conclusion, as those described in the pattern, with the aim to help students improve their writings. Similarly, as the work described previously, our research identified that the conclusions of graduate level obtained high values of connection to the objective, these being more extensive than those of undergrad level.

In a collected corpus of research proposals and theses, we found that conclusions that obtained high values (Goal Connectedness/Judgment/Speculation) after the evaluation corresponded to graduate students. These results suggest that graduate students with better writing skills (lexical richness) (González-López and López-López 2015 ) also achieved satisfactory results in the attributes examined in conclusions. Hence, the students who successfully completed a master or doctoral degree seem to possess better writing skills than students of college level. In addition, the result of a pilot test supported the conclusion that the students of the experimental group obtained better results than those in control group, when guided in the conclusions preparation.

Methodology and corpus

The first step of our study was the creation of a subcorpus of the Coltypi ( http://coltypi.org/ ) collection which contains student theses, project and research reports. The collection includes documents of Graduate level: Master (MA) and Doctoral (PhD) degree; and Undergraduate level: Bachelor (BA) and Advanced College-level Technician (TSU) (a two-year technical study program offered in some countries). The corpus domain is computing and information technologies. Each item of the collected corpus is a document (in Spanish) evaluated previously by a committee.

For each conclusion of the collection, the associated general objective was gathered. In total, 312 conclusions-objectives pairs (see Table  1 ) were obtained. Also, we can notice that on average, the conclusions of graduate level are longer than those of undergraduate level. However, the objective section tends to be shorter than conclusions section. To validate our model, 30 conclusions were selected with their corresponding objectives, 15 of bachelor and 15 of TSU level. Each conclusion was manually reviewed for the three elements by annotators.

The annotation process included two annotators, marking the text that reveals the presence of Goal Connectedness, Judgment and Speculation. Each of our annotators had experience in theses review. Table  2 includes an undergraduate objective-conclusion example tagged by the annotators, where S1 denotes Sentence 1. The annotators consider the objective (S1) as the pivot sentence, and then the annotators identify the connection between both sections.

Below, some sentences of undergraduate objective-conclusion pairs tagged by the annotators are provided.

Goal Connectedness (GC) text marked by annotators in a conclusion section:

S3: As we noted earlier, each driver manufacturer has a different method of accessing the internal information, therefore for this reason, the software designed should be adapted to the driver manufacturer, considering slight changes in the routing of the items (variables) located within the controller memory.

S4: The graphical interface designed is a clear example of the scope that has Visual Basic for design automation technologies and hence their wide use by international designers. Speculative text marked by annotators in conclusion (SsP):

S6: Furthermore, as recommendation observe that the GUI can be modified at any time with the right software, with the use of the OPC library (open technology).

For Judgment Model the annotators only write: Yes or Not presence of Judgment The annotator task is complex since each academic reviewer has his own criteria for tagging, adding a certain level of subjectivity to the task.

The Kappa agreement between annotators for Goal Connectedness was 0.923 which corresponded to “almost perfect” (Landis and Koch 1977 ). For Speculation was 0.650 which corresponded to “substantial”. Finally, for Judgment, the agreement was 0.72 (also “substantial”).

Model overview

The second step was the construction and model evaluation for the conclusion section. Our Model has a Conclusion Analyzer, which contains three main schemes (see Fig.  1 ) and seeks to help students with little or partial experience in drafting conclusions, to assess the elements that academic advisors deem important. In addition to the Conclusion Analyzer displayed on our model, we also include student feedback and recommendations. The suggestions are provided to the student, depending on the level reached in each of the attributes evaluated. Each of the recommendations was formulated by our annotators, which are higher education instructors with experience in research report and thesis review.

Model for Conclusion Assessment

Goal connectedness scheme (GC)

This scheme seeks to identify whether the conclusion shows some connection with the general objective. The expected results are that some sentences display this relation, especially those at the beginning. So, the target such relations looking for the sentence that best cover the objective. In the first step, we remove function words in input documents, i.e., in conclusion section and general objective. Function words, also called stop words, include prepositions, conjunctions, articles, and pronouns. Also, each term was stemmed with FreeLing ( nlp.lsi.upc.edu /freeling), a library of automatic multilingual processing functions, that provides analysis and linguistic text tagging. For the conclusion section, a group of sentences were employed, while in the objective section the full text was used, i.e. we consider an objective as one sentence. For computing the Connectedness attribute, this is done in terms of coverage, applying the expression in Table  3 . To evaluate the GC, each of the objective-conclusion were processed in pairs with the Goal Connectedness scheme and the result was placed in a scale. To build the scale, the graduate texts were used as a reference, i.e., each objective-conclusion pair was processed, and after that, the average of all results was computed. However, to smooth out the scale, a group of 50 elements of undergrad level was included (selected at random).

Finally, to validate the scale, the corpus tagged by annotators was employed. After evaluation of the annotated corpus (30 objective-conclusions), the Fleiss Kappa between our analyzer and annotators was computed, obtaining a 0.799 value, corresponding to a “substantial” agreement. Below we present an example of the objective and conclusion of a thesis analyzed by the GC schema embedded in our tool. In these examples, the coincident words are underlined.

Design an intelligent agent capable of interacting with a person verbally and in writing in Spanish that helps the vocational guidance process.

Conclusion segment: ... as a finished product an intelligent agent that simulates a vocational counselor in an interview capable of interacting verbally and in writing in the Spanish language.

Judgment scheme (JS)

The goal of this scheme is to identify whether the conclusion section shows evidence of opinions, as the following conclusion: It was demonstrated that the use of conceptual graphs and general semantic representations in text mining is feasible, especially beneficial for improving the descriptive level results.

To consider terms that reflect an opinion or value judgments, we turned to SentiWordNet 3.0 since there is no such extensive resource for Spanish. The tool is a lexical resource for English, which aggregates an opinion score to each term (e.g. noun, adjective) depending of the sense. The sense has three numerical scores for objectivity, subjectivity and neutrality. The range of values is between 0 and 1. Each conclusion was translated to English employing Google Translator (A study of four services using Spanish to English translation showed that Google was superior (Aiken et al. 2009 )). After translation, empty words were removed and the value for each sentence was computed. To obtain the measure of each sentence, each term was searched in SentiWordNet. To evaluate the JS, we took again the graduate level texts as reference to define a scale. However, in this case, the smooth was not applied, as there are three levels of opinion. For this attribute, the conclusions must reach the average level of review, this will give evidence that the student is expressing judgments and opinions in the conclusion paragraphs. Fleiss Kappa was computed between the results of our analyzer and annotators (30 objective-conclusions pairs), reaching 0.65, a “substantial” level.

Speculation scheme (SpS)

The model aims to identify evidence of sentences that describe future work or derivations of the research.

For this purpose, two lists of speculative terms were employed. The first list has lexical features provided by (Kilicoglu and Bergler 2008 ), that includes modal auxiliaries, epistemic verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and nouns (see Table  4 ). The second list was obtained from the “Bioscope corpus”, consisting of three parts, namely medical free texts (radiology reports), biological full papers, and biological scientific abstracts. Both lists are independent of our corpus. The dataset contains annotations at the token level for negative and speculative keywords (Vincze et al. 2008 ). The corpus was tagged by two independent linguists following guidelines. After extraction of speculative terms, the two lists were combined, with the goal of gathering a more exhaustive list. Each term of the merged list was translated, producing a list of 227 speculative terms.

Next, a conclusion segment is provided, including an example of speculation in the phrase “could be” that is underlined: One of the applications in which this methodology could be used is the search for images using the image itself as a search parameter.

To evaluate the Speculative attribute, each of the conclusions was processed counting the speculative terms in each sentence. Only the coincidence level between the text marked by the annotator and the sentence with maximum number of Speculation terms was described. After analyzing the annotated pairs using the criterion described, the Fleiss Kappa was computed between the results of our analyzer and the annotators (30 pairs), obtaining a result of 0.887, i.e. “almost perfect” agreement.

Academic level analysis

An exploration of the three selected attributes was done, as a way of validating the conclusion pattern. The whole corpus was explored, identifying the position of the attributes Goal Connectedness, Judgment and Speculation, for the different academic levels. According to the Conclusions pattern, the Connectedness is located at the beginning, the Judgment at the center and future work (Speculation) at the end of the conclusion.

The percentages found for Goal Connectedness-Judgment and Judgment-Speculation are presented (see Table  5 ). The percentage (Found) represents the number of conclusions where comparisons were done, i.e. the similarity between the conclusions and the conclusion pattern was identified, otherwise included as (Not found). In Table 5 , we note that the graduate level has a higher percentage than undergraduate level, i.e., postgraduate students wrote the conclusion section adhering to a structure. The structure tends to relax in undergraduate (BA and TSU) writings.

The Pearson correlation coefficient between Goal Connectedness and Judgment was of 0.65. The correlation value between Goal Connectedness and Speculation was 0.17. Between Judgment and Speculation, the correlation was 0.28. This level of positive correlation suggests that the presence of Goal Connectedness, and Judgment attributes is common in the conclusions.

The higher connection level of the objective with the conclusions section increases the level of judgments or opinions. One can infer that the two elements are relevant to the student when writing the conclusion. However, the Speculation attribute will not necessarily appear in the conclusions as some students write future work in separate sections.

Conclusion analysis in practice

After the corpus exploration and evaluation of methods to assess conclusions, an online system was developed with the goal of validating the models and identifying if the tool could help students to improve their writings. The computational tool [anonymized n.d. ] (In Spanish: Tutor Revisor de Tesis) is hosted at tutor.turet.com.mx . Any student can register and use the system. In addition, [anonymized n.d. ] has a section that explains its use and provides support material for the student. The support material gives the student an explanation of the elements evaluated by the system.

Figure  2 shows the main interface of the system where the student submits the objective and conclusion of his/her report. Subsequently, the system sends the results of the analysis back to the student indicating if the score reached is acceptable. The student can repeat the analysis and each attempt is recorded. For instance, in case of no evidence of Judgment, the system provides the following text “Opinion is very important in a conclusion, to achieve an acceptable level of judgment, improve the conclusion by incorporating sentences that contain your value judgments”. In case of Goal Connectedness was strong, the system sends the message “The connection value is strong between your objective and your conclusion. Congratulations, you have achieved an excellent score”. The system was created with Django, Python, and libraries for text analysis.

System Interface of Analyzer (In Spanish)

We designed and performed a pilot test to assess the impact/benefit of using an online application focused on Goal Connectedness, Judgment and Speculation in a conclusion section of a research report. The experiment involved undergraduate engineering students. Also, two randomly selected groups were considered, one experimental, and other for control, each with 15 students. The two groups received instructions on how to write a conclusion section. Students were informed of each essential attribute, using the triangle pattern of conclusion section. The control group had a traditional monitor, that is, an academic advisor reviewing their documents, while the experimental group had access to the intelligent tutor 24 h a day.

All documents produced by both groups were evaluated with [anonymized n.d. ] to compare the results among them. The foremost hypothesis to be validated in this pilot test was: “The use of an online application, allow students in the experimental group generate documents with better parameters, in terms of Goal Connectedness, Judgment and Speculation”. Table  6 depicts the measures obtained in the pilot test for the two groups.

One can notice that the experimental group produced higher values on each attribute than control group. These results provide evidence that students of experimental group reach twice the values of measures. It was also observed in the experimental group that on average, the number of attempts of [anonymized n.d. ] use was 8. However, when the standard deviation was observed in the control group, we found that it was lower than the experimental group. This could indicate that the control group is more uniform in performance. It is possible that in the experimental group some students using a technological tool allow them to achieve superior results, while other students have an average performance on the test.

Also, a statistical analysis to validate the results was performed. We applied a hypothesis test for two independent samples with different standard deviation. The confidence level was 95%. The hypothesis test for each measure was carried out. For the three attributes, the null hypothesis was rejected with p -values of 0.046 (Goal Connectedness), 0.020 (Judgment), and 0.024 for Speculation attribute. These statistical results indicate that the null hypothesis is rejected for the three characteristics. The [anonymized n.d. ] system allowed students to achieve higher measures than the students in the control group.

In addition, a correlation analysis was performed among the three characteristics in the two groups. The aim of this analysis is to identify the level with which the three analyzed elements are close, according to the pattern of conclusion described above. In addition, the results between both groups were compared, with the expectation of finding higher correlation in students of the experimental group derived from the use of the computational resource.

In Table  7 , one can observe a correlation of the experimental group which is quite close to the correlation identified in the annotated corpus. The characteristics of Goal Connectedness-Judgment show a positive correlation with significance in the annotated corpus and in the experimental group, i.e. a value of 0.609. The result of Goal Connectedness-Speculation shows that there is no correlation, as is the case of the annotated corpus. We can assert that the students wrote conclusions with a closeness to the pattern of conclusions, since the correlation numbers were close to those of the annotated corpus.

For the students of the control group no correlations were found, which indicates that control students should continue working with the writing of their conclusions, to reach acceptable values.

A satisfaction survey based on Technology Acceptance Model (Tobing et al. 2008 ) was also applied, to assess the opinion of the experimental group on using the online analyzer, in the aspects of usefulness, ease of use, adaptability and intention to use the system. Students answers were based on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (“Strongly disagree”) to 5 (“Strongly agree”). We can observe in Fig.  3 results in terms of averages by aspect of the satisfaction survey, where the preference of the students is above 4 points (“Agree”) for each aspect, so one can conclude that the analyzer was found useful, easy to use, adapted to their level and students have the intention to use it. However, in student comments it was found that some felt the registration was complex, primarily as it had a traditional registry process which requested confirmation via email.

Scores of Control and Experimental Groups

Also, in Fig. 3 , it can be observed that the tool was useful to students; however, the intention to use, despite being above “4”, this can be considered as a weak aspect that can be improved. We can conclude that the analyzer was found useful, easy to use, adapted to their level and students have the intention to use it.

Conclusions

A system has been presented that uses natural language processing techniques. The system is designed to consider specific attributes of writing in a conclusion section suggested by authors of methodology books and institutional guides. In our work, we take advantage of the knowledge in the theses in our corpus, previously reviewed by different academic advisors, when extracting the attributes with distinct proposed models. It was found in the annotated corpus that postgraduate level student texts outperformed those of undergraduate level across the three essential attributes. The behavior provides evidence that students with more practice writing a research reports or thesis (graduate level), possess better skills. Furthermore, our models can help improve the writing of research report by undergraduate students or inexperienced learners, in relation to the attributes of Goal Connectedness and Speculation, since the achieved Kappa levels were substantial or better.

The pilot test with engineering students in the systems area allowed us to bring the developed models to a real environment. We can identify, as a result of the pilot test, that the students of the experimental group showed interest in using the tool and improving their writing. Such interest was observed in the average number of the times that the students used [anonymized n.d. ]. However, it could have also been due to the competition generated amongst the students of the experimental group when using the system, as results can be improved when using the tool. A special case was a student who used [anonymized n.d. ] but with a text very distant from the project he was doing, perhaps only to comply with the use of the tool. In the short term, the tool will be improved regarding its registration process, allowing the use of social networks as access to the system.

One of the constructs that were best evaluated in the satisfaction survey was the usefulness that motivates us to continue with this project. The intention to use construct was the lowest, so strategies to increase this metric were sought, for example, the incorporation of serious games (Long and Aleven 2014 ). We also plan to incorporate a section where the students can check their progress graphically.

The results of the correlation analysis between the two groups (control and experimental) validated to some extent the similarity with the pattern of conclusions detailed in the introduction. One finding was that the Goal Connectedness and Judgment measures showed a positive correlation with significance, such as that found in the annotated corpus, where the documents were theses or research projects reviewed previously by a qualified committee.

Furthermore, there are also plans to include metrics to assess whether a conclusion contains a certain level of originality and elaboration. The working hypothesis is that the conclusions of graduate level contain more original ideas than undergraduate level. For future work, we plan to extend the analysis to consider speculative phrases and include in our reference corpus examples of thesis of social sciences. With the results obtained in this research, the system [anonymized n.d. ] can be a tool that precedes the task of the academic reviewer and helps the student his or her drafting of research reports, theses or scientific documents. In addition, a deep analysis will be performed to identify if the feedback provided by our model has a positive impact on the learner.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author or using the website www.coltypi.org

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Acknowledgements

We want to thank the annotators of the collection: Indelfonso Rodriguez Espinoza and Jesús Raul Cruz Renteria. The third author was supported by the agency Conacyt and the second author was partially supported by SNI-Conacyt.

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ALL and SGL participated in the sequence alignment and drafted the manuscript, SGL and JMGG were involved in the creation and collection of the corpus. All authors participated in the design, implementation and running of the pilot test with students. All authors participated in the design of the study and performed the statistical analysis. SGL and ALL were involved in the study coordination. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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López-López, A., González-López, S. & García-Gorrostieta, J.M. Identification of essential attributes in conclusions of student reports. Smart Learn. Environ. 6 , 11 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40561-019-0090-5

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Home » Research Paper Conclusion – Writing Guide and Examples

Research Paper Conclusion – Writing Guide and Examples

Table of Contents

Research Paper Conclusion

Definition:

A research paper conclusion is the final section of a research paper that summarizes the key findings, significance, and implications of the research. It is the writer’s opportunity to synthesize the information presented in the paper, draw conclusions, and make recommendations for future research or actions.

The conclusion should provide a clear and concise summary of the research paper, reiterating the research question or problem, the main results, and the significance of the findings. It should also discuss the limitations of the study and suggest areas for further research.

Parts of Research Paper Conclusion

The parts of a research paper conclusion typically include:

Restatement of the Thesis

The conclusion should begin by restating the thesis statement from the introduction in a different way. This helps to remind the reader of the main argument or purpose of the research.

Summary of Key Findings

The conclusion should summarize the main findings of the research, highlighting the most important results and conclusions. This section should be brief and to the point.

Implications and Significance

In this section, the researcher should explain the implications and significance of the research findings. This may include discussing the potential impact on the field or industry, highlighting new insights or knowledge gained, or pointing out areas for future research.

Limitations and Recommendations

It is important to acknowledge any limitations or weaknesses of the research and to make recommendations for how these could be addressed in future studies. This shows that the researcher is aware of the potential limitations of their work and is committed to improving the quality of research in their field.

Concluding Statement

The conclusion should end with a strong concluding statement that leaves a lasting impression on the reader. This could be a call to action, a recommendation for further research, or a final thought on the topic.

How to Write Research Paper Conclusion

Here are some steps you can follow to write an effective research paper conclusion:

• Restate the research problem or question: Begin by restating the research problem or question that you aimed to answer in your research. This will remind the reader of the purpose of your study.
• Summarize the main points: Summarize the key findings and results of your research. This can be done by highlighting the most important aspects of your research and the evidence that supports them.
• Discuss the implications: Discuss the implications of your findings for the research area and any potential applications of your research. You should also mention any limitations of your research that may affect the interpretation of your findings.
• Provide a conclusion : Provide a concise conclusion that summarizes the main points of your paper and emphasizes the significance of your research. This should be a strong and clear statement that leaves a lasting impression on the reader.
• Offer suggestions for future research: Lastly, offer suggestions for future research that could build on your findings and contribute to further advancements in the field.

Remember that the conclusion should be brief and to the point, while still effectively summarizing the key findings and implications of your research.

Example of Research Paper Conclusion

Here’s an example of a research paper conclusion:

Conclusion :

In conclusion, our study aimed to investigate the relationship between social media use and mental health among college students. Our findings suggest that there is a significant association between social media use and increased levels of anxiety and depression among college students. This highlights the need for increased awareness and education about the potential negative effects of social media use on mental health, particularly among college students.

Despite the limitations of our study, such as the small sample size and self-reported data, our findings have important implications for future research and practice. Future studies should aim to replicate our findings in larger, more diverse samples, and investigate the potential mechanisms underlying the association between social media use and mental health. In addition, interventions should be developed to promote healthy social media use among college students, such as mindfulness-based approaches and social media detox programs.

Overall, our study contributes to the growing body of research on the impact of social media on mental health, and highlights the importance of addressing this issue in the context of higher education. By raising awareness and promoting healthy social media use among college students, we can help to reduce the negative impact of social media on mental health and improve the well-being of young adults.

Purpose of Research Paper Conclusion

The purpose of a research paper conclusion is to provide a summary and synthesis of the key findings, significance, and implications of the research presented in the paper. The conclusion serves as the final opportunity for the writer to convey their message and leave a lasting impression on the reader.

The conclusion should restate the research problem or question, summarize the main results of the research, and explain their significance. It should also acknowledge the limitations of the study and suggest areas for future research or action.

Overall, the purpose of the conclusion is to provide a sense of closure to the research paper and to emphasize the importance of the research and its potential impact. It should leave the reader with a clear understanding of the main findings and why they matter. The conclusion serves as the writer’s opportunity to showcase their contribution to the field and to inspire further research and action.

When to Write Research Paper Conclusion

The conclusion of a research paper should be written after the body of the paper has been completed. It should not be written until the writer has thoroughly analyzed and interpreted their findings and has written a complete and cohesive discussion of the research.

Before writing the conclusion, the writer should review their research paper and consider the key points that they want to convey to the reader. They should also review the research question, hypotheses, and methodology to ensure that they have addressed all of the necessary components of the research.

Once the writer has a clear understanding of the main findings and their significance, they can begin writing the conclusion. The conclusion should be written in a clear and concise manner, and should reiterate the main points of the research while also providing insights and recommendations for future research or action.

Characteristics of Research Paper Conclusion

The characteristics of a research paper conclusion include:

• Clear and concise: The conclusion should be written in a clear and concise manner, summarizing the key findings and their significance.
• Comprehensive: The conclusion should address all of the main points of the research paper, including the research question or problem, the methodology, the main results, and their implications.
• Future-oriented : The conclusion should provide insights and recommendations for future research or action, based on the findings of the research.
• Impressive : The conclusion should leave a lasting impression on the reader, emphasizing the importance of the research and its potential impact.
• Objective : The conclusion should be based on the evidence presented in the research paper, and should avoid personal biases or opinions.
• Unique : The conclusion should be unique to the research paper and should not simply repeat information from the introduction or body of the paper.

Advantages of Research Paper Conclusion

The advantages of a research paper conclusion include:

• Summarizing the key findings : The conclusion provides a summary of the main findings of the research, making it easier for the reader to understand the key points of the study.
• Emphasizing the significance of the research: The conclusion emphasizes the importance of the research and its potential impact, making it more likely that readers will take the research seriously and consider its implications.
• Providing recommendations for future research or action : The conclusion suggests practical recommendations for future research or action, based on the findings of the study.
• Providing closure to the research paper : The conclusion provides a sense of closure to the research paper, tying together the different sections of the paper and leaving a lasting impression on the reader.
• Demonstrating the writer’s contribution to the field : The conclusion provides the writer with an opportunity to showcase their contribution to the field and to inspire further research and action.

Limitations of Research Paper Conclusion

While the conclusion of a research paper has many advantages, it also has some limitations that should be considered, including:

• I nability to address all aspects of the research: Due to the limited space available in the conclusion, it may not be possible to address all aspects of the research in detail.
• Subjectivity : While the conclusion should be objective, it may be influenced by the writer’s personal biases or opinions.
• Lack of new information: The conclusion should not introduce new information that has not been discussed in the body of the research paper.
• Lack of generalizability: The conclusions drawn from the research may not be applicable to other contexts or populations, limiting the generalizability of the study.
• Misinterpretation by the reader: The reader may misinterpret the conclusions drawn from the research, leading to a misunderstanding of the findings.

About the author

Muhammad Hassan

Researcher, Academic Writer, Web developer

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What makes a good Conclusion?

In a conclusion paragraph, you wrap up your written work by summarizing the main idea. It gives the reader a sense of closure on the topic. It also makes for an excellent space to leave the readers with something to think about. Here are some tips that can help you write an effective conclusion.

Keep it Short and Simple

Conclusions are short, consisting of a few sentences. They should be crisp and to the point. Using fluff and filler content can distort the readability. Introducing new ideas can confuse the reader and also affect the quality of the paper. So, stick to the scope of the document and highlight the main ideas from a compelling perspective.

Make It Engaging

A polished conclusion can offer the satisfaction of reading a paper worthy of its content. While you are trying to showcase the main ideas, it is essential not to make it too obvious. You can take a step further and make it thought-provoking.

Include Your Thesis Statement

People often tend to read only the introduction or conclusion before deciding on whether or not to read the rest of the paper. So, if anyone reads only the last section of your work, they should be able to get an idea of the main argument of the content. Hence, it is recommended to showcase the thesis in the Conclusion.

Avoid emphasis on minor details

Although the length of a conclusion isn’t rigid, it is crucial to limit it to certain aspects like the essence of the subject matter, and your final thoughts or suggestions. Anything apart from this will carry very little or no value at all. Remember, a conclusion is not the right place for mentioning the not-so-major points.

Do it with conviction

Your written work is considered as a reflection of your effort and thoughts on the matter. So, when you conclude it, your choice of words must have an authoritative touch. It is vital to assert your opinions to the audience while giving it a neat finish to the main idea.

When a conclusion is not strong enough to drive home the point, it weakens the whole content. So, make sure to brief the main idea, while keeping it concise and real. The word choice should echo your thoughts and leave the readers on a mentally stimulating note.

• good Conclusion

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