20. Conclusions

Finish your report on a high note!

After working your way through the introduction, literature review, methodology, results and discussion, you can now start looking at the final touch: the conclusion. This is the end of your report, and for most readers (except the technical person, as highlighted in the target audiences of reports), it will be the last thing they reader, and most likely to keep in mind. This justifies the need for a carefully written conclusion.

A mistake made very frequently is to bring new material or thoughts into the conclusion: this section is means to summarise and refresh everything you covered in the report. It is too late to add new material or ideas; those should have been incorporated into the discussion. 

For an efficient conclusion, you should brief, and straight to the point, highlighting the key parts of your report, from the motivations behind your work to the results and their interpretations. A comprehensive list of your finds and achievements should also be features. While this to be redacted for certain fields of study or work (such a literature or philosophy), technical and engineering disciplines can (though not necessary) use a series of bullet points to emphasis the main findings.

Finally, your conclusion should be a stand-alone section, upon which any reader should have a good idea of the work and findings. Very often, conclusions are read as a way to recall the detailed information in a report read a while ago. Do keep this in mind when writing it, and ensure it is fit for purpose.