Writing a Conclusions Section

Greetings again. I hope October is starting well for you.

Recently a member of the AuthorAID community requested advice on writing a Conclusions section of a scientific paper. She noted that some journals require this section but that AuthorAID workshops say little about it.

Therefore, here a few words about writing a Conclusions section.

Journals differ among themselves regarding this section. In some journals, no papers have sections called Conclusions. Some other journals use the term “Conclusions” for what most journals call “Discussion”. Yet other journals have Discussion sections in long papers but Conclusions sections in short ones; in that case, the Conclusions section resembles a Discussion section but is shorter and less detailed.

Papers in some journals have a Discussion section and then a Conclusions section. In that case, the Conclusions section tends to resemble the end of a Discussion section that appears alone. In other words, the Conclusions section presents the answer to the research question that the paper addressed. Sometimes, it also states the main implications of that answer, identifies further needed research, or both.

When writing a paper for a journal requiring a Conclusions section, you should see what, if anything, the journal’s Instructions to Authors say about this section. Also look at Conclusions sections of papers in the journal, to see what they’re like. Commonly, the Conclusions section is brief—only 1 or 2 paragraphs.

Some readers look first (or only) at the title of a paper and the Conclusions. Therefore, writing the Conclusions clearly can be especially important.

Wishing everyone a good week— Barbara