Your dissertation conclusion is the last thing you will write, and it’s important to make sure that everything in your paper has been addressed. The conclusion should summarize what was written in the introduction and then discuss how this research expands on previous studies or can be used for future applications. You’ll want to provide a brief overview of all of your findings before concluding with a final statement about the significance of these findings.
What is a Dissertation?
A dissertation is a written work that typically explores an original research question and then presents the author’s findings. The process of writing a dissertation starts by expressing what you want to study with your paper in terms of both its significance and methodology. You’ll also need to determine how much time you can devote to conducting this research and decide on an appropriate scope for the project (a narrow or broad focus). After deciding on these aspects, it may be useful to draft out some ideas about possible chapters or sections to know where your thoughts are headed before starting.
What are the Steps Involved?
There are ten basic steps involved in completing a doctoral-level dissertation: identify topic; develop thesis statement; do literature review; design methodology; do research; compile data; analyze and interpret data; draft first chapter or section of the dissertation; revise thesis statement and other chapters/sections as needed, with supervisor’s help if necessary.
What is Included?
When you write a dissertation, your paper must make an original contribution to the field by providing novel information about your topic. With this in mind, some things that should be included are discussion of the significance of previous studies on the same subject matter (comparing them to yours), how they inform new findings, future directions for research (both those specific to your study and more broadly), conclusions based on what was found out from studying these related topics.
Structure of a Dissertation
Title page:
This includes the title of your dissertation, name, and institution of the author, supervisor’s name (if you’re using one), a running head of no more than 50 characters (including spaces) or less.
Abstract:
This gives an overview of the paper that anyone can read without perusing the entire work. It should state what was done in the research (i.e., methods used, techniques applied and findings obtained), why it was designed this way, and how its originality is significant; introduction: briefly explains background information necessary to understand the significance of the study based on previous work as well as the importance of thesis statement;
Literature review:
Summarize findings from previously published studies related to the topic to consider these results in formulating new ones.
Methodology:
Explains the methods used for this study (e.g., sample size, theoretical framework, variables chosen) and how they were employed; data collection: describes in detail just what was involved in collecting all of your information.
Analysis:
Provides statistical and other analytical details about how you analyzed the information gathered.
Results section:
Presents findings from analysis as well as conclusions derived from them that support the originality of the thesis statement
Discussion/conclusion:
Summarizes how the dissertation contributes to the existing body of work on the topic and states whether or not the originality of results proved the significance of the new contribution to knowledge.
What Is a Dissertation Conclusion?
A dissertation conclusion summarizes what was done in your research and explains how it all contributes to expanding the state of knowledge on your topic. It makes a final statement about what you concluded from studying your subject matter, which could be related to the area being studied or something tangentially connected to it (but that still expands upon previous findings). Also discussed is whether or not future studies will be needed for this to be further researched.
Tips for Writing a Dissertation Conclusion
Make sure you’ve stated your thesis and relevant to the broader discussion of research in this area. Bring up any limitations of your research, including factors you did not consider or perhaps didn’t have the time or resources to investigate. Address any other shortcomings that might be present. However, please don’t make them seem like they would make further work useless; instead, try to focus on how these could be improved upon for strengthening findings.
Show why your dissertation should be considered an original contribution. You do this by providing examples from your study that support this idea and how it breaks new ground on existing knowledge related to the topic being studied when compared with previous studies done on it during the literature review section of the paper (don’t simply summarize what was done in others’ research).
Outline your next steps if you decide to pursue this area of study further, as the results and conclusions from your dissertation suggest. This could include another project or some other type of work that will further build on current knowledge about the topic being studied.
Emphasize why results and conclusions are important to the field by describing how they contribute to knowledge, e.g., what new information it gives researchers/practitioners and implications for future work related to the thesis statement.
Close by reiterating main points made throughout the dissertation, such as the significance of findings in relation to the aspect of the study being examined.
How These Tips Can Help You with Your Dissertation Conclusion
- Show that you have a solid grasp of your topic by including information from the literature review section of the paper. This is especially important if you cite and discuss other people’s work in this part, so make sure you do it correctly (if necessary, ask your professor for help to avoid any mistakes).
- Know which factors can be limiting or strengthening regarding results and conclusions that have been made about these findings. For example, limitations might not necessarily weaken the study or prevent further research if they were just something that couldn’t be controlled due to time constraints. Instead, they could enhance writing by showing thorough approach and research on subject matter since steps were taken to compensate for them whenever possible.
- Make a final statement about how your dissertation adds to what is already known or clarifies understanding of the topic being investigated.
- Focus on the next steps that could be taken to further build upon the work you’ve completed, if possible, and reasons why it would be important for future researchers and practitioners in the field of study to consider doing so. Also, state how findings from your research make an impact on this idea.
- Try not to repeat any information found in the introduction of earlier sections of the dissertation; however, remember to summarize the main points here since the conclusion closes the paper by reiterating them (again).
Do You Need Help Writing Your Dissertation Conclusion?
If you’ve read the tips above and still feel like you can’t get your heading for this part of the paper right, then it might be time to seek some professional assistance. There is no shame in doing so if that means getting better grades or completing the dissertation on time!
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