2. identify the components of a conclusion
differentiate between writing an implication
and recommendation
create a conclusion for your research paper
3. The conclusion is where you sum up the main points of
the report.
It should relate to the objectives and results of your
research.
The purpose is to tie together various issues covered in
your research and draw logical deductions based on the
research findings.
4. The conclusions you arrive at are merely opinions based
on your findings of your research.
You should not tell the reader what to do or what
action to take.
Note:
* Save the discussion of future actions in your
recommendations. Therefore, write your conclusion
clearly so that readers could relate the conclusions to
the overall research.
5. 1. Overview of the study.
2. Restatement of the objectives.
3. Review of the findings.
4. Implications of the findings.
5. Limitations of the research.
6. An effective way to start your conclusion is to give a
brief summary of what the research is all about, that is
the why and how you conduct the study in a nutshell.
You may use these phrases or expressions :
This study/research gives/gave an account of and the
reasons for the widespread use of….
This study/research/project has investigated….
7. When you restate the objectives, start with the most
significant one. It should not be exactly the same as the way
they are stated in the introduction of your report.
To avoid this, you can use introductory phrases at the
beginning of the sentence such as :
As mentioned earlier in the introduction, the purpose of this study was to
investigate/ find out/ determine/ evaluate….
To reiterate, this study sets out to investigate/ find out/ determine/
evaluate….
Returning to the research questions at the beginning of this study, it is now
possible to state that….
8. State whether the objectives of your research have
been achieved and whether they are as you have
expected.
You may have several findings to present.
Start with the most important one and proceed to the
less important one.
Another alternative is to review only the most positive
result that you have obtained.
9. Example of phrases to use when reviewing or
summarizing your findings:
This study has shown that….
The findings of this study suggest that in general….
One of the significant findings emerges from this study is that….
The study/research has shown that….
The major finding of the research is that….
The results of the investigation show that….
10. After you have stated your conclusion, move on to
discuss the implications of your findings.
It is important to you to discuss the implications
because they will be the basis for you to make
recommendations on what cause of action to be taken
to solve the identified problems.
Implications must include
11. Examples of language expressions to suggest
implications are :
The results of this study indicates that….
The results of this study support the idea that….
Overall, the findings of the study suggest that….
In general, it seems that….
12. The main implication derived from this
study relates to the two identified categories of
parent involvement predictive models. First, if the
objective of the school intervention is to enhance
parent involvement at home, the findings suggest the
need to work directly with adolescents. That effort
could be taken by…. Our findings also suggest that
parent education programs should enhance parents’
skills and self efficacy.
13. Effective teachers are committed to students, their learning, and
teaching as a career. Further, they view ethical professional
judgment as central to their effectiveness as a teacher. The
teachers also identify that they feel empowered to take action
when they see vulnerable students that need their attention.F1
Staff, administration, and supporting faculty should sustain
their current efforts to recruit exemplary teachers who are
committed to students and to teaching as a career.
Summary of main finding
Implication= Stakeholder & Action
14. Limitations are the weaknesses that you have identified
in your study.
For example: small sample size, inappropriate research
instruments used and limited time factor.
Examples of phrases :
One of the limitations of the research is that….
The present study has only examined….
The present study was limited by….
However, the findings of the research cannot be generalized to other population….
15. Sample Conclusion Elements
CONCLUSION
This research investigated the use of cellular
phones among IIUM students. Primary data
were collected by randomly distributing
questionnaires to 50 students. As mentioned
earlier in the introduction, the purpose of this
study was to investigate students’ preference
with regards to service providers and plans and
the peripherals offered by cellular service
providers.
1. Overview of the study
2. Restating the objectives
16. The following conclusions can be drawn from the
study. To begin with, this study has shown that
Celcom is the top service provider in IIUM due to its
better network coverage compared to other service
provider. In addition, the pre-paid plan is the most
popular choice among students. With regards to
peripherals, SMS is the most popular means of
communication among IIUM students since it was
found to be more economical compared to making
calls. Lastly, MMS holds the biggest potential in
attracting customers from a list of new peripheral
services to be offered by service providers.
3. Review of findings
17. The results of this study indicate that cost
and network coverage are the two important
factors that will influence students’ choice in
selecting hand phone service provider, plan
and peripherals. However, these findings are
only true for IIUM students and cannot be
generalized to other university students. The
same study needs to be conducted with
students from other universities to see if
there are any similarities with the factors that
will influence students’ choice in selecting
hand phone service provider, plan and
peripherals.
4. Implications of the findings
5. Limitations of the study
18. Dos Don’ts
Draw conclusions for each major issues raised
in the study
E.g. It was found that MMS holds the biggest
potential in attracting customers from a list of
new peripheral services to be offered by service
providers.
State the findings and give specific
explanations if necessary
E.g. Celcom proved to be the top service provider
due to its better coverage compared to other
service providers.
Do not introduce new ideas or facts
E.g. Hand phone can also cause brain cancer
(when health issue is not mentioned in the
objectives of the study).
Do not focus on minor results of the study
Do not exaggerate the implications of your
findings.
E.g. Only Celcom provides the best service to its
customers.
Do not generalize the findings
E.g. All university students have hand phone.
19. What is a recommendation?
They should be written in order of importance.
Not all reports require recommendations and sometimes it
is included in the conclusion section.
It should relate to the conclusion of your study and should
not include any new facts or ideas.
Do not present recommendation based on your beliefs or
biases that are not supported by your data.
20. 1. Recommendations to other researchers.
Note:
No matter how complete the study was, there would always be
further research that will be required to shed light on the research
question, particularly if there is an interest in generalizing the
findings beyond the study’s parameters. Furthermore, you will
also find areas within the literature itself that have considerable
gaps that should be addressed in which your study may or may
not have contributed.
21. Phrases for making recommendations for future research
It is recommended that further research be undertaken in the following areas :
….
More studies need to be done to establish whether….
Further research in this area would be beneficial in….
Further research might explore….
22. Recommendations for future research (written in paragraph form)
FUTURE RESEARCH
Since this study had only focus on IIUM students. It is recommended that further study be
carried out on students from other universities to see whether they are any similarities in the
findings. Furthermore, further research could also explore the different types of promotional
strategies used by the service providers to attract customers and the effectiveness of these
strategies. Lastly, although hand phone is a necessity, it might be a good idea to investigate
the effects of using hand phone on people’s health so that the public will be more aware of
the hazards of using it.
