Writing Conclusions
In the conclusion writers stand back from their work in order to view it in the wider context of the discipline as a whole or the real-world situation. Thus the purpose of the conclusion is in direct contrast to that of the introduction: it leads out from the narrow thesis topic to more general concerns.
Academic writing from various disciplines may use similar moves and steps in the end sections of theses or dissertations. However, there can be some variety in how these moves are sectioned and titled.
Below is the content that is typically included in a conclusion, as well as the expected order of this content.
Model for Academic Conclusions
Move 1: Summary of the Research
1.1 Re-state and address aims, hypotheses and research questions
1.2 Re-state methods
1.3 Re-state work carried out.
1.4 Highlight key points established throughout
Move 2: (In applied fields only) Practical Applications of the Research
2.1 Indicate how the research may be used to deal with problems or issues in the real world.
2.2 Offer specific detailed recommendations to policy-makers, industries or companies.
Move 3: Evaluation* of the Research (Assesses the extent to which the aims of the thesis have been achieved.)
Step 3.1. Detail the implications of the findings key points and/or the contribution of the thesis to the field
Step 3.2 Indicate what the writer considers to be the most valuable aspects of the research.
Step 3.3 State the limitations of the thesis by setting out any issues not addressed or not successfully addressed.
Move 4: Suggestions* for Future Work
Offer suggestions to address the limitations (the gaps or problems) set up in Move 3.3
*In these moves, writers will often need to use modal verbs to express their position. See some examples of this here.
Analysis
Are Conclusions Presented the Same Way in Every Discipline?
The short answer is: no! Different disciplines follow different conventions in terms of the placement, length and composition of the conclusion. In the Humanities and some Social Sciences the conclusion would often be a stand-alone chapter and incorporate all of the moves and steps outlined above. In other disciplines - for instance the Medical Sciences - many of the traditional conclusion moves would feature in the 'Discussion' chapter, leaving the conclusion chapter itself to be quite short (sometimes only one or two paragraphs). It is also not uncommon in scientific departments for the Discussion and Conclusion chapter to be amalgamated into a chapter called 'Discussion & Conclusion'. Please consider these example table of contents to see how conclusions can be presented in different departments:
It is therefore important that you spend some time familiarising yourself with the conventions surrounding conclusions, and conclusion moves, in your field of study. As always, we recommend ORA as a valuable resource for examining disciplinary writing your field.
Oxford Conclusion Examples
Post Graduate: Social Science Example
Consider below the abridged conclusion and analysis to an Oxford dissertation in the Social Sciences.
Dissertation Title: Crossing New Boundaries: Refugee Regimes and Gender Persecution
Conclusion
This thesis has been a study of the interplay between ideas, law and politics. It has sought to reveal how these factors have led to the emergence of a new norm in the international refugee regime…
The introduction to this thesis set out a dual research agenda which can now be reviewed. On the one hand, this study is intended to fit within the relatively new field of gender studies in international relations. Thus, the first chapter undertook an analysis of the role of gender in the legal construction of the refugee. It revealed gender bias in both the international definition of a refugee itself and its application by national refugee determination systems. A second objective was to undertake a case study of the emergence of a new norm in international relations. Chapters two and three were in effect such a study which revealed the importance of principled ideas and their connection to a broader normative framework…
What is the significance of the emergence of a new norm? It suggests that even within the constraints of the existing international system, change is possible… As to how new norms in refugee regimes emerge, this study suggests that ideas and law matter, not in a directly coercive sense, but by shaping the identities and interests of actors within the regime… The observations from this case study of the emergence of a new norm suggest the possibility for further research examining similar processes of normative development in different international issue-areas. Examining how norms emerge in different contexts could lead to greater understanding of the genesis and effects of norms in international relations.
What has not been fully revealed in this analysis is the extent to which normative developments in refugee regimes have tangible consequences. Of course, one would expect practices to follow policy changes, but the rate, scope and depth of their implementation is difficult to ascertain. A review of published refugee case law gives an initial indication that the introduction of gender sensitive refugee policy is encouraging the practice of accepting gender-related persecution as a basis for refugee status. There certainly is room for further research on the issue of this norm’s effect on practice, which would involve a significant empirical study of the outcomes of gender-related persecution claims in a number of national refugee determination systems.
Analysis
This example follows the conventional inverted funnel pattern introduced earlier. It begins by summarising the work carried out and concludes with recommendations for future research. In particular, the first half (paragraphs 1 & 2) restates the aims/objectives of the study and summarise the work carried out. The conclusion then moves (in paragraphs 3 & 4) to consider the implications, contributions and limitations of the research, before concluding by helpfully proposing potential areas future research. It is worth noting the relationship between the limitations and suggestions for future research. Often times, these 'moves' are closely linked, as the writer may find it helpful to frame any shortcomings in the current research in terms of fruitful areas of future study.
Post Graduate: Humanities Example
Consider below the abridged conclusion and analysis to an Oxford dissertation in the Humanities.
Dissertation Title: The Doctor-Patient Relationship and Encounter in the Nineteenth-Century French Novel
Conclusion
In this thesis, I have argued that the doctor-patient relationship and encounter are central elements to how the nineteenth-century French novel depicts contemporary medical science and practice. I have examined the mechanisms by which the doctor-patient relationship and encounter allow the nineteenth century French novel to narrativize medicine. By differentiating between the doctor-patient relationship and encounter, as well as demonstrating their reliance on one another, I have analysed an important theme in the literary depiction of medicine in the nineteenth century. The doctor is ostensibly in a position of omniscience, and potentially one of omnipotence, when negotiating the doctor-patient relationship, just as the author is in relation to their characters; but the patient in fact often escapes the doctor’s direct control. By combining a Foucauldian methodology with the Medical Humanities’ concretization of the doctor-patient relationship, supplemented by a historicist approach, I have argued that a hybrid approach to doctor-patient relationships and encounters is important for understanding these themes. Focusing on the doctor-patient relationship has illuminated certain aesethetic aspects of the nineteenth-century novel, particularly regarding idealism since we have seen how medicine engages with attempts to improve the world. However, the doctor-patient encounter often provides an important counterpoint to the idealization of the medical relationship, pointing towards how the patient can resist or repel the doctor. By looking at literary idealizations of the doctor-patient relationship alongside bedside encounters, this thesis has highlighted that novels are interested in both medical discourse and the patient’s resistance to it. Overall, I have argued that by looking at the peripheral elements to a novel’s plot, in this case through the medical episodes most often located at the patient’s bedside, it is possible to understand how medicine is narrativized by the nineteenth-century French novel. ... (Several paragraphs of chapter-by-chapter recapping and key point discussion follow).
This thesis has shown that medicine was not straightforwardly integrated into the nineteenth-century French novel via the quasi-scientific regard médical. Instead, medicine’s vagaries, ambivalences, and negotiations were also assimilated. Even Zola’s Naturalism, his self-declared scientific-novelistic experiment, is influenced by the humanistic and holistic aspects of medicine which we can perceive through the doctor-patient relationship. The Medical Humanities argues that illness generates its own plot in the form of illness narratives: but this thesis has argued that, in the nineteenth-century French novel, the doctor-patient relationship narrativizes it; and, very often, the doctor-patient encounter resists the trope of the doctor’s domination of the medical relationship. The patient’s bedside, rather than the Foucauldian setting of France’s new hospitals, has recurred incessantly as the key site for these relationships and encounters. Finally, the doctor-patient relationship and encounter allow a reaffirmation of the patient’s experience of medicine. The doctor-patient relationship and encounter indicate the extent to which novelists of the period were interested in incorporating medicine into the novel and, by doing so, documented the patient’s experience of the practice of medicine. Overall, the doctor patient relationship and encounter are two ways in which nineteenth-century French novelists sought to understand the practice of medicine within contemporary medical discourse.
This thesis has, in part, tried to recreate the medical discursive landscape in which nineteenth-century novels were conceived. In order to do so, the modern reader must, amongst other things, unlearn what they think they know about the scientific aspects of science, and appreciate the fluidity of these ideas in the period. Revalorizing the complexities of nineteenth-century medicine allows us to be more aware of our own tendency to simplify the practice of medicine. When we think of modern medicine, for example, we may think of miracle cures and technologies rather than the ongoing importance of the doctor-patient relationship and encounter. Defibrillation often brings a patient back to life in a sudden, violent jerk when shown on television; in reality, defibrillators are never used on a ‘flat-line’ ECG rhythm, never produce such an extreme movement in the patient’s body, and have a much lower success rate than television would suggest. And yet the defibrillation myth persists. Why? Because it simplifies the complexities of the doctor-patient encounter and relationship, rendering medical professionals the mere vehicles of magiclike technology? Because it makes death seem surmountable? Or, because it is a simple way for writers and directors to heighten the emotional tension of a given scene? This thesis has argued that, by looking beyond the idea of medicine’s progressive modernization and scientization in the nineteenth century, readers can understand the importance of doctor-patient relationships and encounters to the literary depiction of medicine. What understanding of television programmes such as ER would emerge if we foregrounded doctor-patient interactions, rather than a narrative of medical and technological progress? In some ways we may think that the modern medicine is pushing the doctor-patient relationship into unchartered territory; when we look at nineteenth-century French literature, we may see that it has always been at the forefront of how medicine is practiced, experienced, and narrativized
Analysis
This example follows somewhat the conventional inverted funnel pattern. The first paragraph of the conclusion summarises the key arguments and foci of the thesis (Moves 1.1 and 1.3) ("I have argued ...", "I have examined..."). The writer then offers a more detailed chapter-by-chapter review and a final discussion of the key arguments (not shown here). In the next paragraph shown here, the writer signals their self-evaluation (Move 3.1) with the confident verb "shown" and goes on to offer confident, unhedged claims ("very often, the doctor-patient encounter resists the trope of the doctor’s domination of the medical relationship"). Finally, the author seems to signal some uncertainty (Move3.3) ([t]his thesis has, in part, tried to ...) before hinting at future work with a series of rhetorical questions (Move 4) ("[w]hat understanding of television programmes such as ER would emerge if we foregrounded doctor-patient interactions?".)
Post Graduate: Medical Science Example
Consider below the abridged conclusion and analysis to an Oxford dissertation in the Social Sciences.
Post Graduate: MPSL Example
Consider below the abridged conclusion and analysis to an Oxford dissertation in MPLS.
Dissertation Title: Nanostructured Graphene Electrodes for Energy Applications
Conclusions and Future Work
7.1 Conclusions
In this thesis, several aspects of the usage of graphene in fuel cell applications were explored; the thermal synthesis of Pt crystals on plasma treated CVD graphene foam, the synthesis of novel 3D carbon structures via thermal annealing and the synthesis and testing of Pt particles on these materials, and the synthesis of graphene shells on a commercial Pt/C catalyst.
CVD graphene foams were successfully synthesised. Defects were induced via oxygen plasma, which were found to act as nucleation sites for Pt crystals. The results suggest that this method can be used to control the synthesis of thermally produced nanomaterials on the graphene foam surface. However it was also found that the characterisation techniques that were utilised, such as electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy, cannot alone build a full picture of the structural changes induced by the plasma treatments, nor can they give a proper description of the effect of heat treatments on the plasma induced functional groups. It was found that while areas of well distributed crystals could be found on each sample, the folds in the graphene foam produced areas of highly aggregated platinum, highlighting a weakness of combining thermal annealing Pt synthesis with graphene foam substrates.
3D graphene and graphene/CNT hybrid powders were fabricated using the thermal annealing of nickel acetate as the sole precursor. This method proved to be versatile, with different annealing conditions allowing materials of different morphologies and crystallinities to be formed. When these materials were utilised as supports for the thermal annealing of Pt nanocrystals along with commercially available carbon black, it was found that the poorly crystalline supports did not result in well distributed nanocrystals. This was theorised to be a consequence of the formation mechanism.
Finally, the growth of graphene layers on a commercial Pt/C with minimal sintering of the Pt crystals was demonstrated. It was shown that the layer number roughly depended on the synthesis temperature. The CVD processes used did not result in a change in the crystallinity of the carbon black support, nor the Pt weight percentage, as indicated by Raman spectroscopy and TGA respectively, indicating that this CVD method could be used to modify supported catalysts with graphene layers with minimal modification to the graphene support. It was found that the layers led to a decrease in the ECSA, with higher growth temperatures leading to more crystalline and thicker graphene layers, and in turn a Pt surface that was less accessible to the electrolyte. Furthermore, this led to no positive effects on the durability of the Pt crystals.
7.2 Future Work
There are several avenues which could be explored in order to expand on the work carried out in this thesis. With regards to the formation of Pt crystals on 3D graphene foams by thermal annealing, an XPS study would allow a more detailed and less ambiguous understanding of the processes occurring during Pt nanocrystal synthesis to be ascertained.
The synthesis of 3D hybrid graphene structures could be expanded upon by the exploration of different precursors, or the mixing of nickel acetate with other precursors. For example, in order to increase the specific surface area of these materials, nickel acetate could be mixed with a nickel or copper precursor that does not contain carbon, in order to lead to a reduced average layer number for the materials formed. In addition, heteroatom containing precursors such as nickel (II) dimethylglyoxime could be explored to synthesise 3D graphitic materials. In addition to doped graphene providing better binding for Pt atoms, nitrogen doped graphene can also act as a metal-free catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction. The Pt/C materials formed using the nickel acetate derived materials only performed comparatively at best to the commercially available Pt/C catalyst, this is partially due to the thermal Pt synthesis method, which only produces well distributed crystals on some of the novel catalyst supports, and always results in a broad nanoparticle size distribution relative to the solution based synthesis methods used for the commercial catalysts. Therefore it would be useful to be able to use a solution based Pt synthesis method for the novel supports, in order to properly compare them to the commercial catalyst.
The inability of the CVD synthesised graphene shells on the commercial catalyst to increase durability in electrochemical tests was theorised to be caused by the weak interaction between the graphene shells and the carbon black support, in combination with the processes occurring during electrochemical cycling. In order to further the understanding of the role of the graphene shells, polymer could be annealed on the surface of the commercial Pt/C catalyst, forming carbon over the whole surface of the catalyst, not just on the Pt crystals as in the CVD approach. This could confirm the explanations put forward in Chapter 6. In addition, XPS studies could be carried out in order to understand the electronic influence of the graphene shells on the Pt crystal.
Analysis
This example follows loosely the conventional inverted funnel pattern. In a series of short paragraphs, the writer recaps their aims (Move 1.1) (" ... were explored") and highlights there contribution to their field by reminding the reader of their key successes (Move 3.1) ("CVD graphene foams were successfully synthesised"). The writer immediately qualifies many of these successes with the limitations of their work as they see them (Move 3.3) ("the characterisation techniques ... cannot alone build a full picture"). Rather than using a block style of the type Contribution1 Contribution2 Contributionn , Limitation1 Limitation2 Limitationn , the writer uses a parallel style of the type Contribution1-Limitation1, Contribution2-Limitation2, Contributionn-Limitationn .
The writer then gives "Future Work" its own title and makes suggestions to their research community as to the way forward (Move 4) ("XPS studies could be carried out").