The conclusion of a dissertation is the part in which the reader is offered a closure, that is, in which the project ends. This means that there is no more content to come. In addition, there are the final findings of the project, the interpretation of the results of the thesis, in the light of the specialized context to which it belongs.
In simpler terms, the conclusions offer the reader the point of view of the author of the dissertation, having realized it and understanding what went well, what went wrong and what it all means.
Therefore, the conclusions are a final reflection on the project, rather than a summary of the results.
Conclusions and introduction, ideally, should have some kind of dialogue, like opening and closing the project.
How to organize and write a conclusion?
Conclusions should begin to be thought through and written up when all the work is ready and developed. Once you've reached such a point of knowledge about the project, the conclusions allow you to look at everything in retrospect, highlight what went well, what didn't work, for what reasons.
So, to write a good conclusion, it is important to follow the following points:
1. As in the case of the introduction to the dissertation, the ideal is that the conclusion starts from a set of questions or premises that the dissertation itself brings to light, and for that it is possible to question it, that is, asking questions such as:
- What did we learn after completing the brief? How has our understanding of the subject changed?
- Have our suspicions about the outcome been confirmed? Are the results obtained valid, revealing or suggestive?
- What aspects were weak and how could they be corrected in the future?
- After observing the result of the dissertation, what new projects and subjects of study could we undertake?
2. Once the relevant questions have been obtained, we must organize them according to their importance, to obtain a textual order which we will then fill with information, until we obtain a text.
3. It is possible to structure them according to the subtitles, addressing a different aspect of the same in each section.
In summary, it is recommended when writing a conclusion to take the following points as a reference:
- Report the results obtained;
- Show how the results were achieved;
- Write the product of the general conclusion of the proof or rejection of the hypothesis;
- Draw partial conclusions from the achievements in the development and advancement of the survey;
- Highlight the contributions to the specific field of research, analysis, questioning...
- Also underline what could not really be demonstrated in order to open up and broaden the subject.
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