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Write Chapter 5 in Report�

Dr Muhammad Izzad bin Ramli

Adapted from:

Associate Professor Ts Dr Nur Atiqah Sia Abdullah
Associate Professor Ts Dr Nurazzah Abd Rahman
Associate Professor Ts Dr Norizan Mat Diah

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Learning Outcomes

Understand what is the purpose and content of the Chapter 5

Guidelines in writing Conclusion

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Purpose of Conclusion

To give a summary of

What was learned
What remains to be learned (future research)
The shortcomings of what was done (evaluation)
The benefits, advantages, applications, evaluation, and recommendations

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Importance of Conclusion

Writing a conclusion is an important part of thesis writing.
Ideally, a good conclusion should be able to provide a good picture of what the thesis is about.
The conclusion should also give a clear impression that the purpose of the thesis has been achieved
Is not just a summary – it is statement based on your reasoning on the evidence you have accumulated
It is important to connect this chapter with your introductory chapter, showing how you achieved what you set out to do.

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Good Conclusion

The conclusion is generally the place to explore the implications of your topic or argument.

Tie together, integrate, and synthesize the various issues raised in the discussion sections, while reflecting the introductory thesis statement(s) or objectives
Provide answers to the thesis research question(s)
Identify the theoretical and policy implications of the study with respect to the overall study area

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Good Conclusion

Attempts to carry the examiner or reader to a new level of perception about the thesis
Highlight the study limitations
Recommend direction and areas for future research

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Common Problems

Too long.

The conclusion section should be short. Often the conclusion section is as little as 2.5% of an entire piece of published research.

Too much detail.

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 learnt from your research, this summary should be short, since the emphasis in the conclusions section is on the implications, evaluations, etc. that you make.

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Common Problems

Failure to comment on larger, more significant issues.

Whereas in the introduction your task was to move from general (your field) to specific (your research), in the concluding section your task is to move from specific (your research) back to general (your field, how your research will affect the world). In other words, in the conclusion you should put your research in context.

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Common Problems

Failure to reveal the complexities of a conclusion or situation.

Negative aspects of your research should not be ignored.
Problems, drawbacks etc. can be included in summary in your conclusion section as a way of qualifying your conclusions (i.e. pointing out the negative aspects, even if they are outweighed by the positive aspects).

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Common Problems

Lack of a concise summary of what was learned.

In order to be able to discuss how your research fits back into your field of study (and the world at large) you need to summarize it very briefly. Often the summary is only a few sentences.

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Common Problems

Failure to match the objectives of the research.

Often research objectives change while the research is being carried out.
This is not a problem unless you forget to go back and rewrite your original objectives in your introduction so that they accurately reflect what you were trying to accomplish in your research (not what you thought you might accomplish when you began). .

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Mismatch of objective and conclusion

Objective: The main objective of this study was to assess the impact of road-building on villages on rural communities.

Conclusion: The model produced in this study can accurately predict the social and economic impact of road-building on villages in Pahang.

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How to fix it??

If we rewrite the objective to match what we actually did (we developed a model), it will fit the conclusion.

Rewritten objective: The main objective of this study was to develop a model to predict the social and economic impact of road-building on rural communities.

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Guidelines to write Conclusion

You can conclude according to your objectives.
Remember to include the drawbacks in your study.
Put your summary in context (from specific to general).
Give qualified conclusion. Take into consideration of its drawbacks, re-emphasis that your method is still one of the best methods in solving your problem.
End with recommendations. Try to cover up the future works of your study.

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