Depending on the focus of your project, a good dissertation conclusion example would also include a fairly large sub-section detailing practical recommendations. One tip is to provide each recommendation with suggestions on how exactly its results could be measured.
Another approach to writing this part is to consider the costs and limitations of each recommendation and weigh these caveats against the proposed benefits. To avoid introducing anything new, you would need to explicitly link each recommendation to your findings or major works in your topic area.
The concluding section is one of the key determinants of how a PhD thesis is perceived by supervisors and academic peers. Use our professional help to finalise your doctoral project and impress the academic field with unique and valuable findings.
It needs to go elsewhere. The conclusion will certainly talk back to your literature review or empirical data, in the sense that it will seek to fulfil certain objectives and address a gap in the literature. The point is that you need to state your objectives and discuss the gap in the literature earlier in the thesis. You use the conclusion to relate the empirical findings to those objectives and to that gap. The literature review and theory framework lay out the objectives and aims of the research, whereas the conclusion discusses how you have met those objectives and aims.
It will neither lay out new objectives or aims using new literature , nor will it do the job of fulfilling those aims by presenting new empirical data. It will merely explain in clear terms how you have done those things elsewhere in the text. Remember earlier when we discussed not owning your research and speaking as an authority?
One way to fail at this is to over-generalise or to pretend that your thesis does more than it actually does. There is no shame in focusing in on a very specific contribution. Instead, refer back to your literature review and relate it to other discussions and the gaps that you identified.
Did you run out of time? Did you struggle to recruit participants because of language barriers? These kinds of personal reflections are important, as they show humility and that you are aware of avenues for growth. A conclusion that fails to explain the contribution, that fails to recap and that fails to focus on the entire thesis rather than the detail will leave the reader unsatisfied. The conclusion needs to wrap up the research.
It needs to clearly state the answers to the research questions and lay out in clear, undisputed terms the contribution that you are making. Learn everything your supervisor should have taught you about planning and completing a PhD. Now half price. Join hundreds of other students and become a better thesis writer, or your money back.
Your email address will not be published. I have seen many conclusions like this in postgraduate, postdoctoral and early career writing. But, unfortunately, at these levels conclusions that merely summarise a paper the reader has just read are not adequate, or suitable.
A shift is needed. As Pat Thomson usefully argues in this post about writing a thesis conclusion, the conclusion to a thesis or journal article is not a summary of the whole. The summary part of a thesis conclusion should ideally be quite brief, and used rather as a springboard to the real work of the conclusion: using the preceding writing and research to show how the study has addressed the research questions, and in so doing, how it has made a valid, and useful, contribution to knowledge.
It answers your research questions, succinctly and clearly, so that your readers understand the overall claims of your study, the focus of your argument, the basis upon which you have advanced your argument, and the significance, meaning or value of that argument to your their field. It discusses — argues — for the place of your research within your field, and the contribution it is making. There are also a few guidelines to consider in writing this vital part of your thesis.
To begin with, you do need to bring your reader up to speed with the thesis thus far. Examiners and other readers are unlikely to read your whole PhD in one go, so ending each chapter with a brief summary, and starting the next one with a short section that connects the present chapter to the previous one is a good idea for creating coherent connections between chapters, and is helpful for your readers.
Thus, you should begin your conclusion with an overview, or brief summary, of the argument thus far. Then, consider your research questions : what did you set out to do in this project or study? Your research questions could make useful sub-headings here, at least in a first draft, to help you organise your thoughts.
No new information : just an analytical discussion of selected aspects of your findings that are useful for answering your research questions, and further consolidating your argument. You could include a section on these, discussing a step further the possible implications of your research in relation to your field. How to give Support students Kambri scholars.
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Student life Accommodation Scholarships Program admin Academic skills. New students. Students with a disability. Higher Degree Research candidates. Indigenous students. You are here » Current students » Academic skills » Research writing » Conclusions. What do I consider most important about my findings in general and why?
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