In general a short summarizing paragraph will do, and under no circumstances
should the paragraph simply repeat material from the Abstract or Introduction. In some
cases it's possible to now make the original claims more concrete, e.g., by referring to
quantitative performance results. ''
''Jennifer Widow.

Conclusions

Conclusions are often the most difficult part to write, and many writers feel they have nothing left to say after having written the paper. However, you need to keep in mind that most readers read the abstract and conclusion first. A conclusion is where you summarize the paper’s findings and generalize their importance, discuss ambiguous data, and recommend further research. An effective conclusion should provide closure for a paper, leaving the reader feeling satisfied that the concepts have been fully explained.

1. Be sure to read the journal’s guidelines regarding Conclusions. Always be mindful that different types of scientific papers will require different types of conclusions. For example, some journals require the Conclusions to be part of the Discussion and others, to be a separate section. It is also beneficial to read Conclusions of published articles in the journal you are targeting.

2. Begin with a clear statement of the principal findings. Authors commonly make the mistake of hiding this message deep within the Conclusions.

3. Open with a statement that conveys enough information to cause the reader to carry on reading. The next few sentences should elaborate, if necessary, on the opening statement.

4. State your conclusions clearly and concisely. Be brief and stick to the point.

5. Explain why your study is important to the reader. You should instill in the reader a sense of relevance.

6. Prove to the reader, and the scientific community, that your findings are worthy of note. This means setting your paper in the context of previous work. The implications of your findings should be discussed within a realistic framework.

7. Strive for accuracy and originality in your conclusion. If your hypothesis is similar to previous papers, you must establish why your study and your results are original.

8. Conclude with how your testing supports or disproves your hypothesis. By the time you reach the end of your conclusion, there should be no question in the reader's mind as to the validity of your claims.

9. Do not rewrite the abstract. Statements with “investigated” or “studied” are not conclusions.

10. Do not introduce new arguments, evidence, new ideas, or information unrelated to the topic.

11. Do not apologize for doing a poor job of presenting the material.

12. Do not include evidence (quotations, statistics, etc.) that should be in the body of the paper.

If the journal requires a statement regarding the need for further research, it should be used to point out any important shortcomings of your work, which could be addressed by further research, or to indicate directions further work could take.

Discussion

The purpose of the Discussion is to state your interpretations and opinions, explain the implications of your findings, and make suggestions for future research. Its main function is to answer the questions posed in the Introduction, explain how the results support the answers and, how the answers fit in with existing knowledge on the topic. The Discussion is considered the heart of the paper and usually requires several writing attempts.

The organization of the Discussion is important. Before beginning you should try to develop an outline to organize your thoughts in a logical form. You can use a cluster map, an issue tree, numbering, or some other organizational structure. The steps listed below are intended to help you organize your thoughts.

To make your message clear, the discussion should be kept as short as possible while clearly and fully stating, supporting, explaining, and defending your answers and discussing other important and directly relevant issues. Care must be taken to provide a commentary and not a reiteration of the results. Side issues should not be included, as these tend to obscure the message. No paper is perfect; the key is to help the reader determine what can be positively learned and what is more speculative.

1. Organize the Discussion from the specific to the general: your findings to the literature, to theory, to practice.

2. Use the same key terms, the same verb tense (present tense), and the same point of view that you used when posing the questions in the Introduction.

3. Begin by re-stating the hypothesis you were testing and answering the questions posed in the introduction.

4. Support the answers with the results. Explain how your results relate to expectations and to the literature, clearly stating why they are acceptable and how they are consistent or fit in with previously published knowledge on the topic.

5. Address all the results relating to the questions, regardless of whether or not the findings were statistically significant.

6. Describe the patterns, principles, and relationships shown by each major finding/result and put them in perspective. The sequencing of providing this information is important; first state the answer, then the relevant results, then cite the work of others. If necessary, point the reader to a figure or table to enhance the “story”.

7. Defend your answers, if necessary, by explaining both why your answer is satisfactory and why others are not. Only by giving both sides to the argument can you make your explanation convincing.

8. Discuss and evaluate conflicting explanations of the results. This is the sign of a good discussion.

9. Discuss any unexpected findings. When discussing an unexpected finding, begin the paragraph with the finding and then describe it.

10. Identify potential limitations and weaknesses and comment on the relative importance of these to your interpretation of the results and how they may affect the validity of the findings. When identifying limitations and weaknesses, avoid using an apologetic tone.

11. Summarize concisely the principal implications of the findings, regardless of statistical significance.

12. Provide recommendations (no more than two) for further research. Do not offer suggestions which could have been easily addressed within the study, as this shows there has been inadequate examination and interpretation of the data.

13. Explain how the results and conclusions of this study are important and how they influence our knowledge or understanding of the problem being examined.

14. In your writing of the Discussion, discuss everything, but be concise, brief, and specific.