Dissertation Conclusion

The conclusion states what you have discovered and what you have concluded from it. You should not be presenting new ideas or new sources in the conclusion.

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The conclusion summarises the results of a dissertation and contains the final deductions you have made from your research. Your dissertation conclusion should contain a concise and clear description of the results of the conducted research.

The conclusion should be written after the main body of the paper has been finished, and the dissertation question has been dealt with entirely by you, the writer. It does not contain any additional or new information or material - it is a summary of what you have found and the main points you have made.

"Writing is a lonely job, unless you're a drinker, in which case you always have a friend within reach". (Emilio Estevez)

Writing your dissertation conclusion

The main chapters of your dissertation will have focused on particular topics or issues. For example, each chapter may have focused discussion on a particular text. Alternatively, you may have structured your work so that each chapter is devoted to discussion of a particular aspect of your overall topic.

The conclusion offers the opportunity to review your work as a whole, to identify the points of comparison and contrast the various texts you have examined, and to show that, in the process of your study, you have developed a more precise, critical understanding of the way they deal with your topic. This is also an appropriate place for you to point to the limitations of small-scale research of this kind and to indicate possible avenues for researchers to address the issues in the future.

Remember - the conclusion DOES NOT contain new issues not explored elsewhere or new material. It is there to conclude and draw together what you have discovered, not to add to it.

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