solution and conclusion in research

How to Write a Conclusion for Research Papers (with Examples)

The conclusion of a research paper is a crucial section that plays a significant role in the overall impact and effectiveness of your research paper. However, this is also the section that typically receives less attention compared to the introduction and the body of the paper. The conclusion serves to provide a concise summary of the key findings, their significance, their implications, and a sense of closure to the study. Discussing how can the findings be applied in real-world scenarios or inform policy, practice, or decision-making is especially valuable to practitioners and policymakers. The research paper conclusion also provides researchers with clear insights and valuable information for their own work, which they can then build on and contribute to the advancement of knowledge in the field.

The research paper conclusion should explain the significance of your findings within the broader context of your field. It restates how your results contribute to the existing body of knowledge and whether they confirm or challenge existing theories or hypotheses. Also, by identifying unanswered questions or areas requiring further investigation, your awareness of the broader research landscape can be demonstrated.

Remember to tailor the research paper conclusion to the specific needs and interests of your intended audience, which may include researchers, practitioners, policymakers, or a combination of these.

Table of Contents

What is a conclusion in a research paper, summarizing conclusion, editorial conclusion, externalizing conclusion, importance of a good research paper conclusion, how to write a conclusion for your research paper, research paper conclusion examples.

• How to write a research paper conclusion with Paperpal? 

Frequently Asked Questions

A conclusion in a research paper is the final section where you summarize and wrap up your research, presenting the key findings and insights derived from your study. The research paper conclusion is not the place to introduce new information or data that was not discussed in the main body of the paper. When working on how to conclude a research paper, remember to stick to summarizing and interpreting existing content. The research paper conclusion serves the following purposes: 1

• Warn readers of the possible consequences of not attending to the problem.
• Recommend specific course(s) of action.
• Restate key ideas to drive home the ultimate point of your research paper.
• Provide a “take-home” message that you want the readers to remember about your study.

Types of conclusions for research papers

In research papers, the conclusion provides closure to the reader. The type of research paper conclusion you choose depends on the nature of your study, your goals, and your target audience. I provide you with three common types of conclusions:

A summarizing conclusion is the most common type of conclusion in research papers. It involves summarizing the main points, reiterating the research question, and restating the significance of the findings. This common type of research paper conclusion is used across different disciplines.

An editorial conclusion is less common but can be used in research papers that are focused on proposing or advocating for a particular viewpoint or policy. It involves presenting a strong editorial or opinion based on the research findings and offering recommendations or calls to action.

An externalizing conclusion is a type of conclusion that extends the research beyond the scope of the paper by suggesting potential future research directions or discussing the broader implications of the findings. This type of conclusion is often used in more theoretical or exploratory research papers.

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The conclusion in a research paper serves several important purposes:

• Offers Implications and Recommendations : Your research paper conclusion is an excellent place to discuss the broader implications of your research and suggest potential areas for further study. It’s also an opportunity to offer practical recommendations based on your findings.
• Provides Closure : A good research paper conclusion provides a sense of closure to your paper. It should leave the reader with a feeling that they have reached the end of a well-structured and thought-provoking research project.
• Leaves a Lasting Impression : Writing a well-crafted research paper conclusion leaves a lasting impression on your readers. It’s your final opportunity to leave them with a new idea, a call to action, or a memorable quote.

Writing a strong conclusion for your research paper is essential to leave a lasting impression on your readers. Here’s a step-by-step process to help you create and know what to put in the conclusion of a research paper: 2

• Research Statement : Begin your research paper conclusion by restating your research statement. This reminds the reader of the main point you’ve been trying to prove throughout your paper. Keep it concise and clear.
• Key Points : Summarize the main arguments and key points you’ve made in your paper. Avoid introducing new information in the research paper conclusion. Instead, provide a concise overview of what you’ve discussed in the body of your paper.
• Address the Research Questions : If your research paper is based on specific research questions or hypotheses, briefly address whether you’ve answered them or achieved your research goals. Discuss the significance of your findings in this context.
• Significance : Highlight the importance of your research and its relevance in the broader context. Explain why your findings matter and how they contribute to the existing knowledge in your field.
• Implications : Explore the practical or theoretical implications of your research. How might your findings impact future research, policy, or real-world applications? Consider the “so what?” question.
• Future Research : Offer suggestions for future research in your area. What questions or aspects remain unanswered or warrant further investigation? This shows that your work opens the door for future exploration.
• Closing Thought : Conclude your research paper conclusion with a thought-provoking or memorable statement. This can leave a lasting impression on your readers and wrap up your paper effectively. Avoid introducing new information or arguments here.
• Proofread and Revise : Carefully proofread your conclusion for grammar, spelling, and clarity. Ensure that your ideas flow smoothly and that your conclusion is coherent and well-structured.

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Remember that a well-crafted research paper conclusion is a reflection of the strength of your research and your ability to communicate its significance effectively. It should leave a lasting impression on your readers and tie together all the threads of your paper. Now you know how to start the conclusion of a research paper and what elements to include to make it impactful, let’s look at a research paper conclusion sample.

How to write a research paper conclusion with Paperpal?

A research paper conclusion is not just a summary of your study, but a synthesis of the key findings that ties the research together and places it in a broader context. A research paper conclusion should be concise, typically around one paragraph in length. However, some complex topics may require a longer conclusion to ensure the reader is left with a clear understanding of the study’s significance. Paperpal, an AI writing assistant trusted by over 800,000 academics globally, can help you write a well-structured conclusion for your research paper. 

• Sign Up or Log In: Create a new Paperpal account or login with your details.  
• Navigate to Features : Once logged in, head over to the features’ side navigation pane. Click on Templates and you’ll find a suite of generative AI features to help you write better, faster.  
• Generate an outline: Under Templates, select ‘Outlines’. Choose ‘Research article’ as your document type.  
• Select your section: Since you’re focusing on the conclusion, select this section when prompted.  
• Choose your field of study: Identifying your field of study allows Paperpal to provide more targeted suggestions, ensuring the relevance of your conclusion to your specific area of research. 
• Provide a brief description of your study: Enter details about your research topic and findings. This information helps Paperpal generate a tailored outline that aligns with your paper’s content. 
• Generate the conclusion outline: After entering all necessary details, click on ‘generate’. Paperpal will then create a structured outline for your conclusion, to help you start writing and build upon the outline.  
• Write your conclusion: Use the generated outline to build your conclusion. The outline serves as a guide, ensuring you cover all critical aspects of a strong conclusion, from summarizing key findings to highlighting the research’s implications. 
• Refine and enhance: Paperpal’s ‘Make Academic’ feature can be particularly useful in the final stages. Select any paragraph of your conclusion and use this feature to elevate the academic tone, ensuring your writing is aligned to the academic journal standards. 

By following these steps, Paperpal not only simplifies the process of writing a research paper conclusion but also ensures it is impactful, concise, and aligned with academic standards. Sign up with Paperpal today and write your research paper conclusion 2x faster .  

The research paper conclusion is a crucial part of your paper as it provides the final opportunity to leave a strong impression on your readers. In the research paper conclusion, summarize the main points of your research paper by restating your research statement, highlighting the most important findings, addressing the research questions or objectives, explaining the broader context of the study, discussing the significance of your findings, providing recommendations if applicable, and emphasizing the takeaway message. The main purpose of the conclusion is to remind the reader of the main point or argument of your paper and to provide a clear and concise summary of the key findings and their implications. All these elements should feature on your list of what to put in the conclusion of a research paper to create a strong final statement for your work.

A strong conclusion is a critical component of a research paper, as it provides an opportunity to wrap up your arguments, reiterate your main points, and leave a lasting impression on your readers. Here are the key elements of a strong research paper conclusion: 1. Conciseness : A research paper conclusion should be concise and to the point. It should not introduce new information or ideas that were not discussed in the body of the paper. 2. Summarization : The research paper conclusion should be comprehensive enough to give the reader a clear understanding of the research’s main contributions. 3 . Relevance : Ensure that the information included in the research paper conclusion is directly relevant to the research paper’s main topic and objectives; avoid unnecessary details. 4 . Connection to the Introduction : A well-structured research paper conclusion often revisits the key points made in the introduction and shows how the research has addressed the initial questions or objectives. 5. Emphasis : Highlight the significance and implications of your research. Why is your study important? What are the broader implications or applications of your findings? 6 . Call to Action : Include a call to action or a recommendation for future research or action based on your findings.

The length of a research paper conclusion can vary depending on several factors, including the overall length of the paper, the complexity of the research, and the specific journal requirements. While there is no strict rule for the length of a conclusion, but it’s generally advisable to keep it relatively short. A typical research paper conclusion might be around 5-10% of the paper’s total length. For example, if your paper is 10 pages long, the conclusion might be roughly half a page to one page in length.

In general, you do not need to include citations in the research paper conclusion. Citations are typically reserved for the body of the paper to support your arguments and provide evidence for your claims. However, there may be some exceptions to this rule: 1. If you are drawing a direct quote or paraphrasing a specific source in your research paper conclusion, you should include a citation to give proper credit to the original author. 2. If your conclusion refers to or discusses specific research, data, or sources that are crucial to the overall argument, citations can be included to reinforce your conclusion’s validity.

The conclusion of a research paper serves several important purposes: 1. Summarize the Key Points 2. Reinforce the Main Argument 3. Provide Closure 4. Offer Insights or Implications 5. Engage the Reader. 6. Reflect on Limitations

Remember that the primary purpose of the research paper conclusion is to leave a lasting impression on the reader, reinforcing the key points and providing closure to your research. It’s often the last part of the paper that the reader will see, so it should be strong and well-crafted.

• Makar, G., Foltz, C., Lendner, M., & Vaccaro, A. R. (2018). How to write effective discussion and conclusion sections. Clinical spine surgery, 31(8), 345-346.
• Bunton, D. (2005). The structure of PhD conclusion chapters.  Journal of English for academic purposes ,  4 (3), 207-224.

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How to write a strong conclusion for your research paper

Last updated

17 February 2024

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Writing a research paper is a chance to share your knowledge and hypothesis. It's an opportunity to demonstrate your many hours of research and prove your ability to write convincingly.

Ideally, by the end of your research paper, you'll have brought your readers on a journey to reach the conclusions you've pre-determined. However, if you don't stick the landing with a good conclusion, you'll risk losing your reader’s trust.

Writing a strong conclusion for your research paper involves a few important steps, including restating the thesis and summing up everything properly.

Find out what to include and what to avoid, so you can effectively demonstrate your understanding of the topic and prove your expertise.

• Why is a good conclusion important?

A good conclusion can cement your paper in the reader’s mind. Making a strong impression in your introduction can draw your readers in, but it's the conclusion that will inspire them.

• What to include in a research paper conclusion

There are a few specifics you should include in your research paper conclusion. Offer your readers some sense of urgency or consequence by pointing out why they should care about the topic you have covered. Discuss any common problems associated with your topic and provide suggestions as to how these problems can be solved or addressed.

The conclusion should include a restatement of your initial thesis. Thesis statements are strengthened after you’ve presented supporting evidence (as you will have done in the paper), so make a point to reintroduce it at the end.

Finally, recap the main points of your research paper, highlighting the key takeaways you want readers to remember. If you've made multiple points throughout the paper, refer to the ones with the strongest supporting evidence.

• Steps for writing a research paper conclusion

Many writers find the conclusion the most challenging part of any research project . By following these three steps, you'll be prepared to write a conclusion that is effective and concise.

• Step 1: Restate the problem

Always begin by restating the research problem in the conclusion of a research paper. This serves to remind the reader of your hypothesis and refresh them on the main point of the paper. 

When restating the problem, take care to avoid using exactly the same words you employed earlier in the paper.

• Step 2: Sum up the paper

After you've restated the problem, sum up the paper by revealing your overall findings. The method for this differs slightly, depending on whether you're crafting an argumentative paper or an empirical paper.

Argumentative paper: Restate your thesis and arguments

Argumentative papers involve introducing a thesis statement early on. In crafting the conclusion for an argumentative paper, always restate the thesis, outlining the way you've developed it throughout the entire paper.

It might be appropriate to mention any counterarguments in the conclusion, so you can demonstrate how your thesis is correct or how the data best supports your main points.

Empirical paper: Summarize research findings

Empirical papers break down a series of research questions. In your conclusion, discuss the findings your research revealed, including any information that surprised you.

Be clear about the conclusions you reached, and explain whether or not you expected to arrive at these particular ones.

• Step 3: Discuss the implications of your research

Argumentative papers and empirical papers also differ in this part of a research paper conclusion. Here are some tips on crafting conclusions for argumentative and empirical papers.

Argumentative paper: Powerful closing statement

In an argumentative paper, you'll have spent a great deal of time expressing the opinions you formed after doing a significant amount of research. Make a strong closing statement in your argumentative paper's conclusion to share the significance of your work.

You can outline the next steps through a bold call to action, or restate how powerful your ideas turned out to be.

Empirical paper: Directions for future research

Empirical papers are broader in scope. They usually cover a variety of aspects and can include several points of view.

To write a good conclusion for an empirical paper, suggest the type of research that could be done in the future, including methods for further investigation or outlining ways other researchers might proceed.

If you feel your research had any limitations, even if they were outside your control, you could mention these in your conclusion.

After you finish outlining your conclusion, ask someone to read it and offer feedback. In any research project you're especially close to, it can be hard to identify problem areas. Having a close friend or someone whose opinion you value read the research paper and provide honest feedback can be invaluable. Take note of any suggested edits and consider incorporating them into your paper if they make sense.

• Things to avoid in a research paper conclusion

Keep these aspects to avoid in mind as you're writing your conclusion and refer to them after you've created an outline.

Dry summary

Writing a memorable, succinct conclusion is arguably more important than a strong introduction. Take care to avoid just rephrasing your main points, and don't fall into the trap of repeating dry facts or citations.

You can provide a new perspective for your readers to think about or contextualize your research. Either way, make the conclusion vibrant and interesting, rather than a rote recitation of your research paper’s highlights.

Clichéd or generic phrasing

Your research paper conclusion should feel fresh and inspiring. Avoid generic phrases like "to sum up" or "in conclusion." These phrases tend to be overused, especially in an academic context and might turn your readers off.

The conclusion also isn't the time to introduce colloquial phrases or informal language. Retain a professional, confident tone consistent throughout your paper’s conclusion so it feels exciting and bold.

New data or evidence

While you should present strong data throughout your paper, the conclusion isn't the place to introduce new evidence. This is because readers are engaged in actively learning as they read through the body of your paper.

By the time they reach the conclusion, they will have formed an opinion one way or the other (hopefully in your favor!). Introducing new evidence in the conclusion will only serve to surprise or frustrate your reader.

Ignoring contradictory evidence

If your research reveals contradictory evidence, don't ignore it in the conclusion. This will damage your credibility as an expert and might even serve to highlight the contradictions.

Be as transparent as possible and admit to any shortcomings in your research, but don't dwell on them for too long.

Ambiguous or unclear resolutions

The point of a research paper conclusion is to provide closure and bring all your ideas together. You should wrap up any arguments you introduced in the paper and tie up any loose ends, while demonstrating why your research and data are strong.

Use direct language in your conclusion and avoid ambiguity. Even if some of the data and sources you cite are inconclusive or contradictory, note this in your conclusion to come across as confident and trustworthy.

• Examples of research paper conclusions

Your research paper should provide a compelling close to the paper as a whole, highlighting your research and hard work. While the conclusion should represent your unique style, these examples offer a starting point:

Ultimately, the data we examined all point to the same conclusion: Encouraging a good work-life balance improves employee productivity and benefits the company overall. The research suggests that when employees feel their personal lives are valued and respected by their employers, they are more likely to be productive when at work. In addition, company turnover tends to be reduced when employees have a balance between their personal and professional lives. While additional research is required to establish ways companies can support employees in creating a stronger work-life balance, it's clear the need is there.

Social media is a primary method of communication among young people. As we've seen in the data presented, most young people in high school use a variety of social media applications at least every hour, including Instagram and Facebook. While social media is an avenue for connection with peers, research increasingly suggests that social media use correlates with body image issues. Young girls with lower self-esteem tend to use social media more often than those who don't log onto social media apps every day. As new applications continue to gain popularity, and as more high school students are given smartphones, more research will be required to measure the effects of prolonged social media use.

What are the different kinds of research paper conclusions?

There are no formal types of research paper conclusions. Ultimately, the conclusion depends on the outline of your paper and the type of research you’re presenting. While some experts note that research papers can end with a new perspective or commentary, most papers should conclude with a combination of both. The most important aspect of a good research paper conclusion is that it accurately represents the body of the paper.

Can I present new arguments in my research paper conclusion?

Research paper conclusions are not the place to introduce new data or arguments. The body of your paper is where you should share research and insights, where the reader is actively absorbing the content. By the time a reader reaches the conclusion of the research paper, they should have formed their opinion. Introducing new arguments in the conclusion can take a reader by surprise, and not in a positive way. It might also serve to frustrate readers.

How long should a research paper conclusion be?

There's no set length for a research paper conclusion. However, it's a good idea not to run on too long, since conclusions are supposed to be succinct. A good rule of thumb is to keep your conclusion around 5 to 10 percent of the paper's total length. If your paper is 10 pages, try to keep your conclusion under one page.

What should I include in a research paper conclusion?

A good research paper conclusion should always include a sense of urgency, so the reader can see how and why the topic should matter to them. You can also note some recommended actions to help fix the problem and some obstacles they might encounter. A conclusion should also remind the reader of the thesis statement, along with the main points you covered in the paper. At the end of the conclusion, add a powerful closing statement that helps cement the paper in the mind of the reader.

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• USC Libraries
• Research Guides

Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper

• 9. The Conclusion
• Purpose of Guide
• Design Flaws to Avoid
• Independent and Dependent Variables
• Glossary of Research Terms
• Reading Research Effectively
• Narrowing a Topic Idea
• Broadening a Topic Idea
• Extending the Timeliness of a Topic Idea
• Academic Writing Style
• Applying Critical Thinking
• Choosing a Title
• Making an Outline
• Paragraph Development
• Research Process Video Series
• Executive Summary
• The C.A.R.S. Model
• Background Information
• The Research Problem/Question
• Theoretical Framework
• Citation Tracking
• Content Alert Services
• Evaluating Sources
• Primary Sources
• Secondary Sources
• Tiertiary Sources
• Scholarly vs. Popular Publications
• Qualitative Methods
• Quantitative Methods
• Insiderness
• Using Non-Textual Elements
• Limitations of the Study
• Common Grammar Mistakes
• Writing Concisely
• Avoiding Plagiarism
• Footnotes or Endnotes?
• Further Readings
• Generative AI and Writing
• USC Libraries Tutorials and Other Guides
• Bibliography

The conclusion is intended to help the reader understand why your research should matter to them after they have finished reading the paper. A conclusion is not merely a summary of the main topics covered or a re-statement of your research problem, but a synthesis of key points derived from the findings of your study and, if applicable based on your analysis, explain new areas for future research. For most college-level research papers, two or three well-developed paragraphs is sufficient for a conclusion, although in some cases, more paragraphs may be required in describing the key findings and highlighting their significance.

Conclusions. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Conclusions. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University.

Importance of a Good Conclusion

A well-written conclusion provides important opportunities to demonstrate to the reader your understanding of the research problem. These include:

• Presenting the last word on the issues you raised in your paper . Just as the introduction gives a first impression to your reader, the conclusion offers a chance to leave a lasting impression. Do this, for example, by highlighting key findings in your analysis that advance new understanding about the research problem, that are unusual or unexpected, or that have important implications applied to practice.
• Summarizing your thoughts and conveying the larger significance of your study . The conclusion is an opportunity to succinctly re-emphasize  your answer to the "So What?" question by placing the study within the context of how your research advances past studies about the topic.
• Identifying how a gap in the literature has been addressed . The conclusion can be where you describe how a previously identified gap in the literature [first identified in your literature review section] has been addressed by your research and why this contribution is significant.
• Demonstrating the importance of your ideas . Don't be shy. The conclusion offers an opportunity to elaborate on the impact and significance of your findings. This is particularly important if your study approached examining the research problem from an unusual or innovative perspective.
• Introducing possible new or expanded ways of thinking about the research problem . This does not refer to introducing new information [which should be avoided], but to offer new insight and creative approaches for framing or contextualizing the research problem based on the results of your study.

Bunton, David. “The Structure of PhD Conclusion Chapters.” Journal of English for Academic Purposes 4 (July 2005): 207–224; Conclusions. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Kretchmer, Paul. Twelve Steps to Writing an Effective Conclusion. San Francisco Edit, 2003-2008; Conclusions. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Assan, Joseph. "Writing the Conclusion Chapter: The Good, the Bad and the Missing." Liverpool: Development Studies Association (2009): 1-8.

Structure and Writing Style

I.  General Rules

The general function of your paper's conclusion is to restate the main argument . It reminds the reader of your main argument(s) strengths and reiterates the most important evidence supporting those argument(s). Do this by clearly summarizing the context, background, and the necessity of examining the research problem in relation to an issue, controversy, or a gap found in the literature. However, make sure that your conclusion is not simply a repetitive summary of the findings. This reduces the impact of the argument(s) you have developed in your paper.

When writing the conclusion to your paper, follow these general rules:

• Present your conclusions in clear, concise language. Re-state the purpose of your study, then describe how your findings differ or support those of other studies and why [i.e., describe what were the unique, new, or crucial contributions your study made to the overall research about your topic].
• Do not simply reiterate your findings or the discussion of your results. Provide a synthesis of arguments presented in the paper to show how these converge to address the research problem and the overall objectives of your study.
• Indicate opportunities for future research if you haven't already done so in the discussion section of your paper. Highlighting the need for further research provides the reader with evidence that you have an in-depth awareness of the research problem but that further analysis should take place beyond the scope of your investigation.

Consider the following points to help ensure your conclusion is presented well:

• If the argument or purpose of your paper is complex, you may need to summarize the argument for your reader.
• If, prior to your conclusion, you have not yet explained the significance of your findings or if you are proceeding inductively, use the end of your paper to describe your main points and explain their significance.
• Move from a detailed to a general level of consideration that returns the topic to the context provided by the introduction or within a new context that emerges from the data [this is opposite of the introduction, which begins with general discussion of the context and ends with a detailed description of the research problem]. 

The conclusion also provides a place for you to persuasively and succinctly restate the research problem, given that the reader has now been presented with all the information about the topic . Depending on the discipline you are writing in, the concluding paragraph may contain your reflections on the evidence presented. However, the nature of being introspective about the research you have conducted will depend on the topic and whether your professor wants you to express your observations in this way. If asked to think introspectively about the topic, do not delve into idle speculation. Being introspective means looking within yourself as an author to try and understand an issue more deeply, not to guess at possible outcomes or make up scenarios not supported by the evidence.

II.  Developing a Compelling Conclusion

Although an effective conclusion needs to be clear and succinct, it does not need to be written passively or lack a compelling narrative. Strategies to help you move beyond merely summarizing the key points of your research paper may include any of the following:

• If your paper addresses a critical, contemporary problem, warn readers of the possible consequences of not attending to the problem proactively based on the evidence presented in your study.
• Recommend a specific course or courses of action that, if adopted, could address a specific problem in practice or in the development of new knowledge leading to positive change.
• Cite a relevant quotation or expert opinion already noted in your paper in order to lend authority and support to the conclusion(s) you have reached [a good source would be from a source cited in your literature review].
• Explain the consequences of your research in a way that elicits action or demonstrates urgency in seeking change.
• Restate a key statistic, fact, or visual image to emphasize the most important finding of your paper.
• If your discipline encourages personal reflection, illustrate your concluding point by drawing from your own life experiences.
• Return to an anecdote, an example, or a quotation that you presented in your introduction, but add further insight derived from the findings of your study; use your interpretation of results from your study to recast it in new or important ways.
• Provide a "take-home" message in the form of a succinct, declarative statement that you want the reader to remember about your study.

III. Problems to Avoid

Failure to be concise Your conclusion section should be concise and to the point. Conclusions that are too lengthy often have unnecessary information in them. The conclusion is not the place for details about your methodology or results. Although you should give a summary of what was learned from your research, this summary should be relatively brief, since the emphasis in the conclusion is on the implications, evaluations, insights, and other forms of analysis that you make. Strategies for writing concisely can be found here .

Failure to comment on larger, more significant issues In the introduction, your task was to move from the general [topic studied within the field of study] to the specific [the research problem]. However, in the conclusion, your task is to move the discussion from specific [your research problem] back to a general discussion framed around the implications and significance of your findings [i.e., how your research contributes new understanding or fills an important gap in the literature]. In short, the conclusion is where you should place your research within a larger context [visualize the structure of your paper as an hourglass--start with a broad introduction and review of the literature, move to the specific method of analysis and the discussion, conclude with a broad summary of the study's implications and significance].

Failure to reveal problems and negative results Negative aspects of the research process should never be ignored. These are problems, deficiencies, or challenges encountered during your study. They should be summarized as a way of qualifying your overall conclusions. If you encountered negative or unintended results [i.e., findings that are validated outside the research context in which they were generated], you must report them in the results section and discuss their implications in the discussion section of your paper. In the conclusion, use negative or surprising results as an opportunity to explain their possible significance and/or how they may form the basis for future research.

Failure to provide a clear summary of what was learned In order to discuss how your research fits within your field of study [and possibly the world at large], you need to summarize briefly and succinctly how it contributes to new knowledge or a new understanding about the research problem. This element of your conclusion may be only a few sentences long, but it often represents the key takeaway for your reader.

Failure to match the objectives of your research Often research objectives in the social and behavioral sciences change while the research is being carried out due to unforeseen factors or unanticipated variables. This is not a problem unless you forget to go back and refine the original objectives in your introduction. As these changes emerge they must be documented so that they accurately reflect what you were trying to accomplish in your research [not what you thought you might accomplish when you began].

Resist the urge to apologize If you've immersed yourself in studying the research problem, you presumably should know a good deal about it [perhaps even more than your professor!]. Nevertheless, by the time you have finished writing, you may be having some doubts about what you have produced. Repress those doubts! Don't undermine your authority as a researcher by saying something like, "This is just one approach to examining this problem; there may be other, much better approaches that...." The overall tone of your conclusion should convey confidence to the reader concerning the validity and realiability of your research.

Assan, Joseph. "Writing the Conclusion Chapter: The Good, the Bad and the Missing." Liverpool: Development Studies Association (2009): 1-8; Concluding Paragraphs. College Writing Center at Meramec. St. Louis Community College; Conclusions. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Conclusions. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Freedman, Leora  and Jerry Plotnick. Introductions and Conclusions. The Lab Report. University College Writing Centre. University of Toronto; Leibensperger, Summer. Draft Your Conclusion. Academic Center, the University of Houston-Victoria, 2003; Make Your Last Words Count. The Writer’s Handbook. Writing Center. University of Wisconsin Madison; Miquel, Fuster-Marquez and Carmen Gregori-Signes. “Chapter Six: ‘Last but Not Least:’ Writing the Conclusion of Your Paper.” In Writing an Applied Linguistics Thesis or Dissertation: A Guide to Presenting Empirical Research . John Bitchener, editor. (Basingstoke,UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), pp. 93-105; Tips for Writing a Good Conclusion. Writing@CSU. Colorado State University; Kretchmer, Paul. Twelve Steps to Writing an Effective Conclusion. San Francisco Edit, 2003-2008; Writing Conclusions. Writing Tutorial Services, Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning. Indiana University; Writing: Considering Structure and Organization. Institute for Writing Rhetoric. Dartmouth College.

Writing Tip

Don't Belabor the Obvious!

Avoid phrases like "in conclusion...," "in summary...," or "in closing...." These phrases can be useful, even welcome, in oral presentations. But readers can see by the tell-tale section heading and number of pages remaining that they are reaching the end of your paper. You'll irritate your readers if you belabor the obvious.

Assan, Joseph. "Writing the Conclusion Chapter: The Good, the Bad and the Missing." Liverpool: Development Studies Association (2009): 1-8.

Another Writing Tip

New Insight, Not New Information!

Don't surprise the reader with new information in your conclusion that was never referenced anywhere else in the paper. This is why the conclusion rarely has citations to sources that haven't been referenced elsewhere in your paper. If you have new information to present, add it to the discussion or other appropriate section of the paper. Note that, although no new information is introduced, the conclusion, along with the discussion section, is where you offer your most "original" contributions in the paper; the conclusion is where you describe the value of your research, demonstrate that you understand the material that you have presented, and position your findings within the larger context of scholarship on the topic, including describing how your research contributes new insights to that scholarship.

Assan, Joseph. "Writing the Conclusion Chapter: The Good, the Bad and the Missing." Liverpool: Development Studies Association (2009): 1-8; Conclusions. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina.

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Writing An Accurate Conclusion In A Research Study: 5 Step-By-Step Guide

Introduction.

When conducting a research study, it is crucial to provide a well-written and accurate conclusion. The conclusion serves as the final piece of the puzzle, summarizing the main findings, interpreting the results, addressing limitations, providing recommendations, and reiterating the importance of the study. A well-crafted conclusion in a research study not only helps to solidify the research study but also allows readers to understand the significance of the findings and their implications.

In this step-by-step guide, we will walk you through the process of writing an accurate conclusion in a research study. By following these steps, you will be able to effectively summarize your findings, analyze the results, acknowledge any limitations, offer recommendations, and emphasize the importance of your study. So let’s dive in and learn how to write the most accurate conclusion in a research study.

Understanding the Role of a Conclusion In A Research Study

The conclusion of a research study plays a crucial role in summarizing the main findings and providing closure to the study. It is not simply a restatement of the research problem or a summary of the main topics covered. Instead, it is a synthesis of the key points derived from the study. The purpose of a conclusion is to leave a lasting impression on the reader and prompt reflection and contemplation. A well-crafted conclusion goes beyond summarizing the findings; it emphasizes the importance of the study and provides recommendations for future research or action. In essence, the conclusion serves as the final opportunity to convey the significance of the research and its contribution to the field.

Step 1: Summarize the Main Findings

The first step in writing an accurate conclusion for a research study is to summarize the main findings. This is an essential part of the conclusion as it allows the reader to quickly understand the key results of the study. To summarize the main findings, you should revisit the research statement or question that guided your study. Identify the key points or outcomes that answer the research question or support the research statement. In this step, you should avoid introducing new information or discussing any implications or recommendations. The focus should solely be on summarizing the main findings of the study.

It is important to be concise and clear in your summary. Use clear and straightforward language to communicate the main findings without unnecessary jargon or technical terms. By summarizing the main findings in this step, you provide a foundation for the rest of the conclusion, allowing the reader to understand the key results before delving into the interpretation, limitations, and recommendations.

Step 2: Interpret the Results

After summarizing the main findings, the next step in writing an accurate conclusion in a research study is to interpret the results. Interpreting the results involves analyzing the data collected during the study and drawing meaningful conclusions from it. To interpret the results effectively, it is important to consider the research question or hypothesis and compare the findings with existing literature reviews or previous studies. This step allows researchers to determine the significance of their findings and understand the implications of the results. It is essential to provide a clear and concise interpretation of the results, avoiding any biased or subjective opinions. Researchers should objectively analyze the data and present the findings in an unbiased manner.

Additionally, it is important to discuss any unexpected or contradictory results and provide possible explanations for them. By interpreting the results accurately, researchers can provide a comprehensive understanding of the study’s outcomes and contribute to the existing body of knowledge in the field.

Step 3: Address Limitations

Identify the limitations of your research study and describe them in detail. Explain why these limitations exist and how they may have affected the results. Assess the impact of each limitation in relation to the overall findings and conclusions of your study. If appropriate, suggest ways to overcome these limitations in future research.

Step 4: Provide Recommendations

After interpreting the results of your research study, it is important to provide recommendations based on your findings. When providing recommendations, it is crucial to be specific and relevant to the evidence you have uncovered. Your recommendations should stem directly from your work and address any gaps or limitations identified in your study.

Consider recommending a specific course of action or suggesting changes that can be implemented based on your research findings. This could include proposing new strategies, interventions, or policies that can improve the current situation or address the research problem . To lend authority to your recommendations, you can cite relevant quotations or expert opinions that support the conclusions you have reached. This helps to strengthen the validity and credibility of your recommendations.

Additionally, you can also make recommendations for future research. Identify areas that require further investigation or suggest new research questions that can build upon your study. This demonstrates the significance and potential impact of your research in advancing knowledge in the field. Remember to present your recommendations in clear and concise language. Avoid simply restating your findings or the discussion of your results. Instead, provide actionable and practical suggestions that can be implemented based on your research findings.

By providing well-thought-out recommendations, you not only contribute to the existing body of knowledge but also provide guidance for future researchers and practitioners in the field.

Step 5: Reiterate the Importance of the Study

The final step in writing an accurate conclusion in a research study is to reiterate the importance of the study. This step is crucial as it reminds the readers of the significance and relevance of the research. To reiterate the importance of the study, you can start by summarizing the main findings and their implications. Highlight the key contributions and insights that your research has provided to the field. Emphasize how your study has addressed a gap in the existing knowledge and how it has advanced the understanding of the topic.

Furthermore, discuss the practical implications of your research. Explain how the findings can be applied in real-world scenarios or how they can contribute to decision-making processes. This will demonstrate the practical value of your study and its potential impact on various stakeholders.

Additionally, consider discussing the theoretical implications of your research. Explain how your findings have contributed to existing theories or have opened up new avenues for further research. This will highlight the academic significance of your study and its potential to shape future research in the field.

Finally, conclude by emphasizing the overall importance of your study in the broader context. Discuss how your research has added to the body of knowledge and how it has the potential to influence future research, policies, or practices. This will leave a lasting impression on the readers and reinforce the significance of your study.

By reiterating the importance of the study in the conclusion, you provide a strong and compelling ending to your research paper . Including this in the conclusion of a research study helps readers understand the value of your research and its implications, leaving them with a clear sense of its significance and relevance.

In conclusion, writing an accurate conclusion in a research study is crucial for summarizing the main findings, interpreting the results, addressing limitations, providing recommendations, and reiterating the importance of the study. By following the step-by-step guide outlined in this article, researchers can ensure that their conclusions are comprehensive, concise, and impactful.

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Home » Research Paper Conclusion – Writing Guide and Examples

Research Paper Conclusion – Writing Guide and Examples

Table of Contents

Research Paper Conclusion

Definition:

A research paper conclusion is the final section of a research paper that summarizes the key findings, significance, and implications of the research. It is the writer’s opportunity to synthesize the information presented in the paper, draw conclusions, and make recommendations for future research or actions.

The conclusion should provide a clear and concise summary of the research paper, reiterating the research question or problem, the main results, and the significance of the findings. It should also discuss the limitations of the study and suggest areas for further research.

Parts of Research Paper Conclusion

The parts of a research paper conclusion typically include:

Restatement of the Thesis

The conclusion should begin by restating the thesis statement from the introduction in a different way. This helps to remind the reader of the main argument or purpose of the research.

Summary of Key Findings

The conclusion should summarize the main findings of the research, highlighting the most important results and conclusions. This section should be brief and to the point.

Implications and Significance

In this section, the researcher should explain the implications and significance of the research findings. This may include discussing the potential impact on the field or industry, highlighting new insights or knowledge gained, or pointing out areas for future research.

Limitations and Recommendations

It is important to acknowledge any limitations or weaknesses of the research and to make recommendations for how these could be addressed in future studies. This shows that the researcher is aware of the potential limitations of their work and is committed to improving the quality of research in their field.

Concluding Statement

The conclusion should end with a strong concluding statement that leaves a lasting impression on the reader. This could be a call to action, a recommendation for further research, or a final thought on the topic.

How to Write Research Paper Conclusion

Here are some steps you can follow to write an effective research paper conclusion:

• Restate the research problem or question: Begin by restating the research problem or question that you aimed to answer in your research. This will remind the reader of the purpose of your study.
• Summarize the main points: Summarize the key findings and results of your research. This can be done by highlighting the most important aspects of your research and the evidence that supports them.
• Discuss the implications: Discuss the implications of your findings for the research area and any potential applications of your research. You should also mention any limitations of your research that may affect the interpretation of your findings.
• Provide a conclusion : Provide a concise conclusion that summarizes the main points of your paper and emphasizes the significance of your research. This should be a strong and clear statement that leaves a lasting impression on the reader.
• Offer suggestions for future research: Lastly, offer suggestions for future research that could build on your findings and contribute to further advancements in the field.

Remember that the conclusion should be brief and to the point, while still effectively summarizing the key findings and implications of your research.

Example of Research Paper Conclusion

Here’s an example of a research paper conclusion:

Conclusion :

In conclusion, our study aimed to investigate the relationship between social media use and mental health among college students. Our findings suggest that there is a significant association between social media use and increased levels of anxiety and depression among college students. This highlights the need for increased awareness and education about the potential negative effects of social media use on mental health, particularly among college students.

Despite the limitations of our study, such as the small sample size and self-reported data, our findings have important implications for future research and practice. Future studies should aim to replicate our findings in larger, more diverse samples, and investigate the potential mechanisms underlying the association between social media use and mental health. In addition, interventions should be developed to promote healthy social media use among college students, such as mindfulness-based approaches and social media detox programs.

Overall, our study contributes to the growing body of research on the impact of social media on mental health, and highlights the importance of addressing this issue in the context of higher education. By raising awareness and promoting healthy social media use among college students, we can help to reduce the negative impact of social media on mental health and improve the well-being of young adults.

Purpose of Research Paper Conclusion

The purpose of a research paper conclusion is to provide a summary and synthesis of the key findings, significance, and implications of the research presented in the paper. The conclusion serves as the final opportunity for the writer to convey their message and leave a lasting impression on the reader.

The conclusion should restate the research problem or question, summarize the main results of the research, and explain their significance. It should also acknowledge the limitations of the study and suggest areas for future research or action.

Overall, the purpose of the conclusion is to provide a sense of closure to the research paper and to emphasize the importance of the research and its potential impact. It should leave the reader with a clear understanding of the main findings and why they matter. The conclusion serves as the writer’s opportunity to showcase their contribution to the field and to inspire further research and action.

When to Write Research Paper Conclusion

The conclusion of a research paper should be written after the body of the paper has been completed. It should not be written until the writer has thoroughly analyzed and interpreted their findings and has written a complete and cohesive discussion of the research.

Before writing the conclusion, the writer should review their research paper and consider the key points that they want to convey to the reader. They should also review the research question, hypotheses, and methodology to ensure that they have addressed all of the necessary components of the research.

Once the writer has a clear understanding of the main findings and their significance, they can begin writing the conclusion. The conclusion should be written in a clear and concise manner, and should reiterate the main points of the research while also providing insights and recommendations for future research or action.

Characteristics of Research Paper Conclusion

The characteristics of a research paper conclusion include:

• Clear and concise: The conclusion should be written in a clear and concise manner, summarizing the key findings and their significance.
• Comprehensive: The conclusion should address all of the main points of the research paper, including the research question or problem, the methodology, the main results, and their implications.
• Future-oriented : The conclusion should provide insights and recommendations for future research or action, based on the findings of the research.
• Impressive : The conclusion should leave a lasting impression on the reader, emphasizing the importance of the research and its potential impact.
• Objective : The conclusion should be based on the evidence presented in the research paper, and should avoid personal biases or opinions.
• Unique : The conclusion should be unique to the research paper and should not simply repeat information from the introduction or body of the paper.

Advantages of Research Paper Conclusion

The advantages of a research paper conclusion include:

• Summarizing the key findings : The conclusion provides a summary of the main findings of the research, making it easier for the reader to understand the key points of the study.
• Emphasizing the significance of the research: The conclusion emphasizes the importance of the research and its potential impact, making it more likely that readers will take the research seriously and consider its implications.
• Providing recommendations for future research or action : The conclusion suggests practical recommendations for future research or action, based on the findings of the study.
• Providing closure to the research paper : The conclusion provides a sense of closure to the research paper, tying together the different sections of the paper and leaving a lasting impression on the reader.
• Demonstrating the writer’s contribution to the field : The conclusion provides the writer with an opportunity to showcase their contribution to the field and to inspire further research and action.

Limitations of Research Paper Conclusion

While the conclusion of a research paper has many advantages, it also has some limitations that should be considered, including:

• I nability to address all aspects of the research: Due to the limited space available in the conclusion, it may not be possible to address all aspects of the research in detail.
• Subjectivity : While the conclusion should be objective, it may be influenced by the writer’s personal biases or opinions.
• Lack of new information: The conclusion should not introduce new information that has not been discussed in the body of the research paper.
• Lack of generalizability: The conclusions drawn from the research may not be applicable to other contexts or populations, limiting the generalizability of the study.
• Misinterpretation by the reader: The reader may misinterpret the conclusions drawn from the research, leading to a misunderstanding of the findings.

About the author

Muhammad Hassan

Researcher, Academic Writer, Web developer

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Writing Effective Conclusions and Recommendations in a Thesis

Table of Contents

Have you ever experienced the triumphant moment of finishing a jigsaw puzzle , only to find that the final piece doesn’t quite fit? Such is the challenge when writing the conclusion and recommendations in your thesis . This final section isn’t just an endnote; it’s your opportunity to make your research resonate. Let’s explore how to craft a compelling conclusion that not only summarizes your findings but also sets the stage for future inquiry.

Understanding the weight of conclusions and recommendations

In the grand scheme of your thesis, the conclusion is your final act, your closing argument. It is here that you revisit your research objectives to demonstrate how your findings address them. But it’s not just a rehash of your research; it’s your chance to interpret the implications of your work and persuade your audience of its significance.

The art of summarizing findings

Begin by revisiting the questions you posed at the start of your journey. Summarize the answers you’ve uncovered, concisely distilling the essence of your research. This isn’t a place for exhaustive detail—that’s what the body of your thesis is for. Instead, think of it as the highlight reel, showcasing the most significant insights.

Drawing insightful conclusions

Conclusions are the thoughtful deductions you’ve drawn from your research. Linking back to your objectives, ask yourself: What have I learned? How have my findings contributed to the field? This is where you can shine a light on the larger implications of your work, the ‘so what?’ of your thesis.

Outlining clear and actionable recommendations

Your recommendations are your legacy, the path you lay for future research ers or practitioners. They should be clear, specific, and grounded in your findings. Think of them as a call to action—what should be done in light of your research? Whether it’s suggesting areas for further study or recommending changes to practice, your recommendations should inspire action.

Linking conclusions to research objectives

To ensure your conclusions are meaningful, they must be tethered to your research objectives. This alignment reinforces the relevance of your work and ensures you’re answering the questions you set out to explore.

Reflecting on research questions

Revisit your research questions or hypotheses . How have your findings addressed them? This reflection ensures your conclusions are directly tied to your initial inquiry, creating a cohesive narrative from start to finish.

Emphasizing the impact of your findings

Highlight the impact of your research. Have you filled a gap in knowledge? Challenged existing theories? Applied your findings to practice? Your conclusions should underscore the value of your work and its ripple effect in your field.

Formulating recommendations with purpose

Recommendations should never be an afterthought. They are your opportunity to influence the future, to suggest how the knowledge you’ve generated can be used to better understand or improve upon a particular issue.

Grounding recommendations in evidence

Ensure your recommendations are evidence-based . They should flow naturally from the conclusions you’ve drawn, each one supported by the data you’ve collected.

Keeping recommendations achievable

Make your recommendations achievable. Pie-in-the-sky ideas might be inspirational, but they’re less helpful than practical, attainable suggestions that can be realistically implemented.

Setting the stage for future research

Use your recommendations to set the stage for future research. What questions have emerged from your study? Where are the knowledge gaps ? Propel the academic conversation forward by identifying the next steps.

Writing with clarity and conviction

The best conclusions and recommendations are those written with clarity and conviction. You’ve spent countless hours on your research—now’s the time to confidently present your findings and their implications.

Using precise language

Be precise in your language. Avoid ambiguity and make every word count. This precision not only makes your writing clearer but also reinforces the authority of your conclusions and recommendations.

Ensuring cohesiveness

Your conclusion should feel like a natural culmination of your thesis, not a separate entity. Ensure that it flows logically from the body of your work, with each part reinforcing the other.

Engaging the reader’s imagination

Engage your reader’s imagination by painting a picture of what could be. Use your recommendations to inspire visions of future possibilities, grounded in the solid foundation of your research.

In conclusion, remember that the final sections of your thesis are not mere formalities but the bridge between your research and its potential impact on the world. The conclusions and recommendations you write are your scholarly legacy , a testament to the hard work you’ve poured into your research. Approach them with the same rigor , creativity, and dedication as the rest of your thesis, and you’ll leave a lasting mark on your field.

What do you think? How do you approach writing conclusions and recommendations, and what strategies do you find most effective? Are there particular challenges you’ve faced in this part of the thesis-writing process?

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Research Methodology

1 Introduction to Research in General

• Research in General
• Research Circle
• Tools of Research
• Methods: Quantitative or Qualitative
• The Product: Research Report or Papers

2 Original Unity of Philosophy and Science

• Myth Philosophy and Science: Original Unity
• The Myth: A Spiritual Metaphor
• Myth Philosophy and Science
• The Greek Quest for Unity
• The Ionian School
• Towards a Grand Unification Theory or Theory of Everything
• Einstein’s Perennial Quest for Unity

3 Evolution of the Distinct Methods of Science

• Definition of Scientific Method
• The Evolution of Scientific Methods
• Theory-Dependence of Observation
• Scope of Science and Scientific Methods
• Prevalent Mistakes in Applying the Scientific Method

4 Relation of Scientific and Philosophical Methods

• Definitions of Scientific and Philosophical method
• Philosophical method
• Scientific method
• The relation
• The Importance of Philosophical and scientific methods

5 Dialectical Method

• Introduction and a Brief Survey of the Method
• Types of Dialectics
• Dialectics in Classical Philosophy
• Dialectics in Modern Philosophy
• Critique of Dialectical Method

6 Rational Method

• Understanding Rationalism
• Rational Method of Investigation
• Descartes’ Rational Method
• Leibniz’ Aim of Philosophy
• Spinoza’ Aim of Philosophy

7 Empirical Method

• Common Features of Philosophical Method
• Empirical Method
• Exposition of Empiricism
• Locke’s Empirical Method
• Berkeley’s Empirical Method
• David Hume’s Empirical Method

8 Critical Method

• Basic Features of Critical Theory
• On Instrumental Reason
• Conception of Society
• Human History as Dialectic of Enlightenment
• Substantive Reason
• Habermasian Critical Theory
• Habermas’ Theory of Society
• Habermas’ Critique of Scientism
• Theory of Communicative Action
• Discourse Ethics of Habermas

9 Phenomenological Method (Western and Indian)

• Phenomenology in Philosophy
• Phenomenology as a Method
• Phenomenological Analysis of Knowledge
• Phenomenological Reduction
• Husserl’s Triad: Ego Cogito Cogitata
• Intentionality
• Understanding ‘Consciousness’
• Phenomenological Method in Indian Tradition
• Phenomenological Method in Religion

10 Analytical Method (Western and Indian)

• Analysis in History of Philosophy
• Conceptual Analysis
• Analysis as a Method
• Analysis in Logical Atomism and Logical Positivism
• Analytic Method in Ethics
• Language Analysis
• Quine’s Analytical Method
• Analysis in Indian Traditions

11 Hermeneutical Method (Western and Indian)

• The Power (Sakti) to Convey Meaning
• Three Meanings
• Pre-understanding
• The Semantic Autonomy of the Text
• Towards a Fusion of Horizons
• The Hermeneutical Circle
• The True Scandal of the Text
• Literary Forms

12 Deconstructive Method

• The Seminal Idea of Deconstruction in Heidegger
• Deconstruction in Derrida
• Structuralism and Post-structuralism
• Sign Signifier and Signified
• Writing and Trace
• Deconstruction as a Strategic Reading
• The Logic of Supplement
• No Outside-text

13 Method of Bibliography

• Preparing to Write
• Writing a Paper
• The Main Divisions of a Paper
• Writing Bibliography in Turabian and APA
• Sample Bibliography

14 Method of Footnotes

• Citations and Notes
• General Hints for Footnotes
• Writing Footnotes
• Examples of Footnote or Endnote
• Example of a Research Article

15 Method of Notes Taking

• Methods of Note-taking
• Note Book Style
• Note taking in a Computer
• Types of Note-taking
• Notes from Field Research
• Errors to be Avoided

16 Method of Thesis Proposal and Presentation

• Preliminary Section
• Presenting the Problem of the Thesis
• Design of the Study
• Main Body of the Thesis
• Conclusion Summary and Recommendations
• Reference Material

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• Writing Tips

How to Write a Conclusion for a Research Paper

• 3-minute read
• 29th August 2023

If you’re writing a research paper, the conclusion is your opportunity to summarize your findings and leave a lasting impression on your readers. In this post, we’ll take you through how to write an effective conclusion for a research paper and how you can:

·   Reword your thesis statement

·   Highlight the significance of your research

·   Discuss limitations

·   Connect to the introduction

·   End with a thought-provoking statement

Rewording Your Thesis Statement

Begin your conclusion by restating your thesis statement in a way that is slightly different from the wording used in the introduction. Avoid presenting new information or evidence in your conclusion. Just summarize the main points and arguments of your essay and keep this part as concise as possible. Remember that you’ve already covered the in-depth analyses and investigations in the main body paragraphs of your essay, so it’s not necessary to restate these details in the conclusion.

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Highlighting the Significance of Your Research

The conclusion is a good place to emphasize the implications of your research . Avoid ambiguous or vague language such as “I think” or “maybe,” which could weaken your position. Clearly explain why your research is significant and how it contributes to the broader field of study.

Here’s an example from a (fictional) study on the impact of social media on mental health:

Discussing Limitations

Although it’s important to emphasize the significance of your study, you can also use the conclusion to briefly address any limitations you discovered while conducting your research, such as time constraints or a shortage of resources. Doing this demonstrates a balanced and honest approach to your research.

Connecting to the Introduction

In your conclusion, you can circle back to your introduction , perhaps by referring to a quote or anecdote you discussed earlier. If you end your paper on a similar note to how you began it, you will create a sense of cohesion for the reader and remind them of the meaning and significance of your research.

Ending With a Thought-Provoking Statement

Consider ending your paper with a thought-provoking and memorable statement that relates to the impact of your research questions or hypothesis. This statement can be a call to action, a philosophical question, or a prediction for the future (positive or negative). Here’s an example that uses the same topic as above (social media and mental health):

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Ensure that your essay ends on a high note by having our experts proofread your research paper. Our team has experience with a wide variety of academic fields and subjects and can help make your paper stand out from the crowd – get started today and see the difference it can make in your work.

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How to Write a Conclusion for a Research Paper

By the time you write the conclusion, you should have pointed out in the body of your research paper why your topic is important to the reader, and you should have presented the reader with all your arguments. It is critical that you do not introduce new information or ideas in your conclusion. If you find that you have not yet made the arguments you wished to make or pointed out evidence you feel is crucial to your reader’s understanding of your subject, you are not yet ready to write the conclusion; add another body paragraph before writing the conclusion.

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Your research paper should have a strong, succinct concluding section, where you draw together your findings. Think of it as a conclusion, not a summary. The difference is that you are reaching overall judgments about your topic, not summarizing everything you wrote about it. How to write a conclusion for a research paper? The focus should be on:

• Saying what your research has found, what the findings mean, and how well they support the argument of your thesis statement.
• Establishing the limits of your argument: How widely does it apply? What are the strengths and weaknesses of your method? How clear-cut are your findings?
• Explaining how your findings and argument fit into your field, relating them to answers others have given and to the existing literature.

You may also want to add some concise comments about possible future developments or what kind of research should come next, but don’t lay it on too thick. The place of honor goes to your own explanation. Don’t spend too much of your final section criticizing others. Don’t introduce any big new topics or ideas. You certainly don’t expect to see new characters in the last scene of a movie. For the same reasons, you shouldn’t find any big new topics being introduced in the last paragraphs of a research paper.

Your concluding statement should focus on what your findings mean. How do you interpret them? Are they just as easily explained by alternative theories or other perspectives? Here, you are returning to the questions that first animated you and answering them, based on your research. You not only want to give the answers; you also want to explain their significance. What do they mean for policy, theory, literary interpretation, moral action, or whatever? You are answering the old, hard question: “So what?”

Be wary of overreaching. You really need to do two things at the same time: explain the significance of your findings and stake out their limits. You may have a hunch that your findings apply widely but, as a social scientist, you need to assess whether you can say so confidently, based on your current research. Your reader needs to know: “Do these findings apply to all college students, to all adults, or only to white mice?” White mice don’t come up much in the humanities, but the reader still wants to know how far your approach reaches. Does your analysis apply only to this novel or this writer, or could it apply to a whole literary genre?

Make it a priority to discuss these conclusions with your professor or adviser. The main danger here is that students finally reach this final section with only a week or two left before the due date. They don’t have enough time to work through their conclusions and revise them. That leaves the research paper weakest at the end, precisely where it should be strongest, nailing down the most significant points.

Begin discussing your major findings with your adviser while you are still writing the heart of the research paper. Of course, your conclusions will be tentative at that stage, but it helps to begin talking about them. As always, a little writing helps. You could simply list your main findings or write out a few paragraphs about them. Either would serve as a launching pad for meetings with your adviser. You will find these discussions also shed light on the research that leads to these findings. That, in turn, will strengthen your middle sections. Later, when you draft the conclusion, review your notes on these talks and the short documents you wrote for them. They will serve as prewriting for the final section.

The opening sentence of the conclusion should flow smoothly and logically from the transition sentence in the previous paragraph and lead the reader to reflect on your thesis. A good conclusion however, does not simply restate the thesis. You want to remind the reader of the thesis in your conclusion but reword it in a stronger fashion so that it is interesting and memorable to your audience.After reminding the reader of the thesis, the conclusion should then reflect on the topics in the body of the paper and summarize the key findings of your research. If you are writing a persuasive paper, it should summarize your key arguments and logically point your readers to the conclusion you wish them to reach.

Phrases for Conclusions of Research Papers

• All this requires us to (propose the next action or an alternative idea).
• Altogether, these findings indicate (point out the logical result).
• Finally, it is important to note (make your strongest point and follow with a recommendation).
• In conclusion (restate your thesis with greater emphasis).
• It is evident that (point out the logical result or obvious next action).
• In light of the evidence, (restate your thesis with greater emphasis).
• In short, (summarize your findings).
• It should be evident that we need to (propose the next action or an alternative idea).
• In summary, (summarize your findings).
• Looking ahead, it is obvious that (propose the next action or an alternative idea).
• My conclusion is (restate your thesis with greater emphasis).
• One last word must be said. (Follow with your opinion and propose a next action.)
• One concludes that (give your opinion).
• Overall, (summarize your findings).
• Reflecting on these facts,we can see that …
• The evidence presented above shows that (give your opinion).
• The reader can conclude (make the point you wish to make).
• These facts and observations support the idea that (offer a theory).
• This analysis reveals (state your findings).
• To conclude, (give an opinion based on the findings presented in the paper).
• To sum up this discussion, (summarize your findings).
• To summarize, (summarize your findings).
• We arrive at the following conclusion: (give an opinion based on the findings presented in the paper).
• We cannot ignore the fact that (state an important concern and follow with a call to action).
• We can postulate (give your opinion or offer a theory).
• We come to the conclusion that (give your opinion or offer a theory).
• We can now present the theory that (give your opinion or offer a theory).

Examples of Strong Conclusions

As an example of how to end your research paper, let’s turn again to John Dower’s splendid book on postwar Japan, Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II . In the final pages, Dower pulls together his findings on war-ravaged Japan and its efforts to rebuild. He then judges the legacies of that period: its continuing impact on the country’s social, political, and economic life. Some insights are unexpected, at least to me. He argues that Japan has pursued trade protection as the only acceptable avenue for its persistent nationalism. America’s overwhelming power and Japan’s self-imposed restraints—the intertwined subjects of the book—blocked any political or military expression of Japan’s nationalist sentiment. Those avenues were simply too dangerous, he says, while economic nationalism was not. Dower ends with these paragraphs:

The Japanese economists and bureaucrats who drafted the informal 1946 blueprint for a planned economy were admirably clear on these objectives [of “demilitarization and democratization”]. They sought rapid recovery and maximum economic growth, of course—but they were just as concerned with achieving economic demilitarization and economic democracy. . . . Japan became wealthy. The standard of living rose impressively at every level of society. Income distribution was far more equitable than in the United States. Job security was assured. Growth was achieved without inordinate dependence on a military-industrial complex or a thriving trade in armaments. These are hardly trivial ideas, but they are now being discarded along with all the deservedly bankrupt aspects of the postwar system. The lessons and legacies of defeat have been many and varied indeed; and their end is not yet in sight. (John W. Dower, Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II . New York: W. W. Norton, 1999, pp. 563–64)

Remember the anecdotal opening of Herbert’s book Impressionism: Art, Leisure, and Parisian Society , with Henry Tuckerman’s 1867 arrival in a much-changed Paris? (see research paper introduction examples) Herbert strikes a completely different tone in his conclusion. It synthesizes the art history he has presented, offers a large judgment about where Impressionism fits among art movements, and suggests why exhibitions of Monet, Manet, and Renoir are still so popular. He manages to do all that in a few well-crafted sentences:

Although we credit [Impressionism] with being the gateway to modern art, we also treat it as the last of the great Western styles based upon a perception of harmony with natural vision. That harmony, long since lost to us in this century of urbanization, industrialization, and world wars, remains a longed-for idea, so we look back to Impressionism as the painting of a golden era. We flock into exhibitions of paintings that represent cafes, boating, promenading, and peaceful landscapes precisely because of our yearning for less troubled times. The only history that we feel deeply is the kind that is useful to us. Impressionism still looms large at the end of the twentieth century because we use its leisure-time subjects and its brilliantly colored surfaces to construct a desirable history. (Herbert, Impressionism , p. 306)

Robert Dallek offers similarly accessible, powerful judgments in his conclusion to Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1961–1973 :

[Johnson’s] presidency was a story of great achievement and terrible failure, of lasting gains and unforgettable losses. . . . In a not so distant future, when coming generations have no direct experience of the man and the passions of the sixties are muted, Johnson will probably be remembered as a President who faithfully reflected the country’s greatness and limitations—a man notable for his successes and failures, for his triumphs and tragedy. Only one thing seems certain: Lyndon Johnson will not join the many obscure—almost nameless, faceless—Presidents whose terms of office register on most Americans as blank slates. He will not be forgotten. (Robert Dallek, Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1961–1973 . New York: Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 628)

Some writers not only synthesize their findings or compare them to others; they use the conclusion to say what their work means for appropriate methods or subject matter in their field. That is what Robert Bruegmann does in his final statement in The Architects and the City: Holabird & Roche of Chicago, 1880–1918 . His conclusion goes beyond saying that this was a great architectural firm or that it designed buildings of lasting importance. Bruegmann tells us that Holabird & Roche helped shape modern Chicago and that its work, properly studied, helps us understand “the city as the ultimate human artifact”:

Traditional architectural history has tended to see the city less as a process than as a product, a collection of high art architectural objects in a setting dominated by mundane buildings of little interest. This tended to perpetuate a destructive and divisive attitude about the built environment, suggesting that only a few buildings are worthy of careful study and preservation while all others are mere backdrop. I hope that these explorations in the work of Holabird & Roche have shed light on parts of the city rarely visited by the architectural historian and on some little explored aspects of its history. If so, perhaps it has achieved its most basic goal: providing an insight into the city as the ultimate human artifact, our most complex and prodigious social creation, and the most tangible result of the actions over time of all its citizens. (Robert Bruegmann, The Architects and the City: Holabird & Roche of Chicago, 1880–1918 . Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997, p. 443)

These are powerful conclusions, ending major works of scholarship on a high note. What concluding paragraphs should never do is gaze off into the sunset, offer vague homilies, or claim you have found the meaning of human existence. Be concrete. Stick to your topic. Make sure your research paper conclusions stand on solid ground. Avoid vague platitudes in your conclusion. Your goal should be reaching strong, sound judgments, firmly grounded in your readings and research. Better to claim too little than too much. Best of all, claim what you’ve earned the right to say: what your research really means.

Having finished the main parts of a research paper you can write an abstract.

Back to  How To Write A Research Paper .

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Conclusions

What this handout is about.

This handout will explain the functions of conclusions, offer strategies for writing effective ones, help you evaluate conclusions you’ve drafted, and suggest approaches to avoid.

About conclusions

Introductions and conclusions can be difficult to write, but they’re worth investing time in. They can have a significant influence on a reader’s experience of your paper.

Just as your introduction acts as a bridge that transports your readers from their own lives into the “place” of your analysis, your conclusion can provide a bridge to help your readers make the transition back to their daily lives. Such a conclusion will help them see why all your analysis and information should matter to them after they put the paper down.

Your conclusion is your chance to have the last word on the subject. The conclusion allows you to have the final say on the issues you have raised in your paper, to synthesize your thoughts, to demonstrate the importance of your ideas, and to propel your reader to a new view of the subject. It is also your opportunity to make a good final impression and to end on a positive note.

Your conclusion can go beyond the confines of the assignment. The conclusion pushes beyond the boundaries of the prompt and allows you to consider broader issues, make new connections, and elaborate on the significance of your findings.

Your conclusion should make your readers glad they read your paper. Your conclusion gives your reader something to take away that will help them see things differently or appreciate your topic in personally relevant ways. It can suggest broader implications that will not only interest your reader, but also enrich your reader’s life in some way. It is your gift to the reader.

Strategies for writing an effective conclusion

One or more of the following strategies may help you write an effective conclusion:

• Play the “So What” Game. If you’re stuck and feel like your conclusion isn’t saying anything new or interesting, ask a friend to read it with you. Whenever you make a statement from your conclusion, ask the friend to say, “So what?” or “Why should anybody care?” Then ponder that question and answer it. Here’s how it might go: You: Basically, I’m just saying that education was important to Douglass. Friend: So what? You: Well, it was important because it was a key to him feeling like a free and equal citizen. Friend: Why should anybody care? You: That’s important because plantation owners tried to keep slaves from being educated so that they could maintain control. When Douglass obtained an education, he undermined that control personally. You can also use this strategy on your own, asking yourself “So What?” as you develop your ideas or your draft.
• Return to the theme or themes in the introduction. This strategy brings the reader full circle. For example, if you begin by describing a scenario, you can end with the same scenario as proof that your essay is helpful in creating a new understanding. You may also refer to the introductory paragraph by using key words or parallel concepts and images that you also used in the introduction.
• Synthesize, don’t summarize. Include a brief summary of the paper’s main points, but don’t simply repeat things that were in your paper. Instead, show your reader how the points you made and the support and examples you used fit together. Pull it all together.
• Include a provocative insight or quotation from the research or reading you did for your paper.
• Propose a course of action, a solution to an issue, or questions for further study. This can redirect your reader’s thought process and help them to apply your info and ideas to their own life or to see the broader implications.
• Point to broader implications. For example, if your paper examines the Greensboro sit-ins or another event in the Civil Rights Movement, you could point out its impact on the Civil Rights Movement as a whole. A paper about the style of writer Virginia Woolf could point to her influence on other writers or on later feminists.

Strategies to avoid

• Beginning with an unnecessary, overused phrase such as “in conclusion,” “in summary,” or “in closing.” Although these phrases can work in speeches, they come across as wooden and trite in writing.
• Stating the thesis for the very first time in the conclusion.
• Introducing a new idea or subtopic in your conclusion.
• Ending with a rephrased thesis statement without any substantive changes.
• Making sentimental, emotional appeals that are out of character with the rest of an analytical paper.
• Including evidence (quotations, statistics, etc.) that should be in the body of the paper.

Four kinds of ineffective conclusions

• The “That’s My Story and I’m Sticking to It” Conclusion. This conclusion just restates the thesis and is usually painfully short. It does not push the ideas forward. People write this kind of conclusion when they can’t think of anything else to say. Example: In conclusion, Frederick Douglass was, as we have seen, a pioneer in American education, proving that education was a major force for social change with regard to slavery.
• The “Sherlock Holmes” Conclusion. Sometimes writers will state the thesis for the very first time in the conclusion. You might be tempted to use this strategy if you don’t want to give everything away too early in your paper. You may think it would be more dramatic to keep the reader in the dark until the end and then “wow” them with your main idea, as in a Sherlock Holmes mystery. The reader, however, does not expect a mystery, but an analytical discussion of your topic in an academic style, with the main argument (thesis) stated up front. Example: (After a paper that lists numerous incidents from the book but never says what these incidents reveal about Douglass and his views on education): So, as the evidence above demonstrates, Douglass saw education as a way to undermine the slaveholders’ power and also an important step toward freedom.
• The “America the Beautiful”/”I Am Woman”/”We Shall Overcome” Conclusion. This kind of conclusion usually draws on emotion to make its appeal, but while this emotion and even sentimentality may be very heartfelt, it is usually out of character with the rest of an analytical paper. A more sophisticated commentary, rather than emotional praise, would be a more fitting tribute to the topic. Example: Because of the efforts of fine Americans like Frederick Douglass, countless others have seen the shining beacon of light that is education. His example was a torch that lit the way for others. Frederick Douglass was truly an American hero.
• The “Grab Bag” Conclusion. This kind of conclusion includes extra information that the writer found or thought of but couldn’t integrate into the main paper. You may find it hard to leave out details that you discovered after hours of research and thought, but adding random facts and bits of evidence at the end of an otherwise-well-organized essay can just create confusion. Example: In addition to being an educational pioneer, Frederick Douglass provides an interesting case study for masculinity in the American South. He also offers historians an interesting glimpse into slave resistance when he confronts Covey, the overseer. His relationships with female relatives reveal the importance of family in the slave community.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Douglass, Frederick. 1995. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself. New York: Dover.

Hamilton College. n.d. “Conclusions.” Writing Center. Accessed June 14, 2019. https://www.hamilton.edu//academics/centers/writing/writing-resources/conclusions .

Holewa, Randa. 2004. “Strategies for Writing a Conclusion.” LEO: Literacy Education Online. Last updated February 19, 2004. https://leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/conclude.html.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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How to Write a Conclusion for a Research Paper

Last Updated: July 8, 2024 Approved

This article was co-authored by Christopher Taylor, PhD . Christopher Taylor is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Austin Community College in Texas. He received his PhD in English Literature and Medieval Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2014. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. This article received 43 testimonials and 83% of readers who voted found it helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 2,264,273 times.

The conclusion of a research paper needs to summarize the content and purpose of the paper without seeming too wooden or dry. Every basic conclusion must share several key elements, but there are also several tactics you can play around with to craft a more effective conclusion and several you should avoid to prevent yourself from weakening your paper's conclusion. Here are some writing tips to keep in mind when creating a conclusion for your next research paper.

Sample Conclusions

Writing a basic conclusion.

• Do not spend a great amount of time or space restating your topic.
• A good research paper will make the importance of your topic apparent, so you do not need to write an elaborate defense of your topic in the conclusion.
• Usually a single sentence is all you need to restate your topic.
• An example would be if you were writing a paper on the epidemiology of infectious disease, you might say something like "Tuberculosis is a widespread infectious disease that affects millions of people worldwide every year."
• Yet another example from the humanities would be a paper about the Italian Renaissance: "The Italian Renaissance was an explosion of art and ideas centered around artists, writers, and thinkers in Florence."

• A thesis is a narrowed, focused view on the topic at hand.
• This statement should be rephrased from the thesis you included in your introduction. It should not be identical or too similar to the sentence you originally used.
• Try re-wording your thesis statement in a way that complements your summary of the topic of your paper in your first sentence of your conclusion.
• An example of a good thesis statement, going back to the paper on tuberculosis, would be "Tuberculosis is a widespread disease that affects millions of people worldwide every year. Due to the alarming rate of the spread of tuberculosis, particularly in poor countries, medical professionals are implementing new strategies for the diagnosis, treatment, and containment of this disease ."

• A good way to go about this is to re-read the topic sentence of each major paragraph or section in the body of your paper.
• Find a way to briefly restate each point mentioned in each topic sentence in your conclusion. Do not repeat any of the supporting details used within your body paragraphs.
• Under most circumstances, you should avoid writing new information in your conclusion. This is especially true if the information is vital to the argument or research presented in your paper.
• For example, in the TB paper you could summarize the information. "Tuberculosis is a widespread disease that affects millions of people worldwide. Due to the alarming rate of the spread of tuberculosis, particularly in poor countries, medical professionals are implementing new strategies for the diagnosis, treatment, and containment of this disease. In developing countries, such as those in Africa and Southeast Asia, the rate of TB infections is soaring. Crowded conditions, poor sanitation, and lack of access to medical care are all compounding factors in the spread of the disease. Medical experts, such as those from the World Health Organization are now starting campaigns to go into communities in developing countries and provide diagnostic testing and treatments. However, the treatments for TB are very harsh and have many side effects. This leads to patient non-compliance and spread of multi-drug resistant strains of the disease."

• Note that this is not needed for all research papers.
• If you already fully explained what the points in your paper mean or why they are significant, you do not need to go into them in much detail in your conclusion. Simply restating your thesis or the significance of your topic should suffice.
• It is always best practice to address important issues and fully explain your points in the body of your paper. The point of a conclusion to a research paper is to summarize your argument for the reader and, perhaps, to call the reader to action if needed.

• Note that a call for action is not essential to all conclusions. A research paper on literary criticism, for instance, is less likely to need a call for action than a paper on the effect that television has on toddlers and young children.
• A paper that is more likely to call readers to action is one that addresses a public or scientific need. Let's go back to our example of tuberculosis. This is a very serious disease that is spreading quickly and with antibiotic-resistant forms.
• A call to action in this research paper would be a follow-up statement that might be along the lines of "Despite new efforts to diagnose and contain the disease, more research is needed to develop new antibiotics that will treat the most resistant strains of tuberculosis and ease the side effects of current treatments."

• For example, if you are writing a history paper, then you might discuss how the historical topic you discussed matters today. If you are writing about a foreign country, then you might use the conclusion to discuss how the information you shared may help readers understand their own country.

Making Your Conclusion as Effective as Possible

• Since this sort of conclusion is so basic, you must aim to synthesize the information rather than merely summarizing it.
• Instead of merely repeating things you already said, rephrase your thesis and supporting points in a way that ties them all together.
• By doing so, you make your research paper seem like a "complete thought" rather than a collection of random and vaguely related ideas.

• Ask a question in your introduction. In your conclusion, restate the question and provide a direct answer.
• Write an anecdote or story in your introduction but do not share the ending. Instead, write the conclusion to the anecdote in the conclusion of your paper.
• For example, if you wanted to get more creative and put a more humanistic spin on a paper on tuberculosis, you might start your introduction with a story about a person with the disease, and refer to that story in your conclusion. For example, you could say something like this before you re-state your thesis in your conclusion: "Patient X was unable to complete the treatment for tuberculosis due to severe side effects and unfortunately succumbed to the disease."
• Use the same concepts and images introduced in your introduction in your conclusion. The images may or may not appear at other points throughout the research paper.

• Include enough information about your topic to back the statement up but do not get too carried away with excess detail.
• If your research did not provide you with a clear-cut answer to a question posed in your thesis, do not be afraid to indicate as much.
• Restate your initial hypothesis and indicate whether you still believe it or if the research you performed has begun swaying your opinion.
• Indicate that an answer may still exist and that further research could shed more light on the topic at hand.

• This may not be appropriate for all types of research papers. Most research papers, such as one on effective treatment for diseases, will have the information to make the case for a particular argument already in the paper.
• A good example of a paper that might ask a question of the reader in the ending is one about a social issue, such as poverty or government policy.
• Ask a question that will directly get at the heart or purpose of the paper. This question is often the same question, or some version of it, that you may have started with when you began your research.
• Make sure that the question can be answered by the evidence presented in your paper.
• If desired you can briefly summarize the answer after stating the question. You could also leave the question hanging for the reader to answer, though.

• Even without a call to action, you can still make a recommendation to your reader.
• For instance, if you are writing about a topic like third-world poverty, you can various ways for the reader to assist in the problem without necessarily calling for more research.
• Another example would be, in a paper about treatment for drug-resistant tuberculosis, you could suggest donating to the World Health Organization or research foundations that are developing new treatments for the disease.

Avoiding Common Pitfalls

• These sayings usually sound stiff, unnatural, or trite when used in writing.
• Moreover, using a phrase like "in conclusion" to begin your conclusion is a little too straightforward and tends to lead to a weak conclusion. A strong conclusion can stand on its own without being labeled as such.

• Always state the main argument or thesis in the introduction. A research paper is an analytical discussion of an academic topic, not a mystery novel.
• A good, effective research paper will allow your reader to follow your main argument from start to finish.
• This is why it is best practice to start your paper with an introduction that states your main argument and to end the paper with a conclusion that re-states your thesis for re-iteration.

• All significant information should be introduced in the body of the paper.
• Supporting evidence expands the topic of your paper by making it appear more detailed. A conclusion should narrow the topic to a more general point.
• A conclusion should only summarize what you have already stated in the body of your paper.
• You may suggest further research or a call to action, but you should not bring in any new evidence or facts in the conclusion.

• Most often, a shift in tone occurs when a research paper with an academic tone gives an emotional or sentimental conclusion.
• Even if the topic of the paper is of personal significance for you, you should not indicate as much in your paper.
• If you want to give your paper a more humanistic slant, you could start and end your paper with a story or anecdote that would give your topic more personal meaning to the reader.
• This tone should be consistent throughout the paper, however.

• Apologetic statements include phrases like "I may not be an expert" or "This is only my opinion."
• Statements like this can usually be avoided by refraining from writing in the first-person.
• Avoid any statements in the first-person. First-person is generally considered to be informal and does not fit with the formal tone of a research paper.

Community Q&A

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• ↑ http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/724/04/
• ↑ http://www.crlsresearchguide.org/18_Writing_Conclusion.asp
• ↑ http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/PlanResearchPaper.html#conclusion
• ↑ http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/conclusions/

About This Article

To write a conclusion for a research paper, start by restating your thesis statement to remind your readers what your main topic is and bring everything full circle. Then, briefly summarize all of the main points you made throughout your paper, which will help remind your readers of everything they learned. You might also want to include a call to action if you think more research or work needs to be done on your topic by writing something like, "Despite efforts to contain the disease, more research is needed to develop antibiotics." Finally, end your conclusion by explaining the broader context of your topic and why your readers should care about it, which will help them understand why your topic is relevant and important. For tips from our Academic co-author, like how to avoid common pitfalls when writing your conclusion, scroll down! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Organizing Academic Research Papers: 9. The Conclusion

• Purpose of Guide
• Design Flaws to Avoid
• Glossary of Research Terms
• Narrowing a Topic Idea
• Broadening a Topic Idea
• Extending the Timeliness of a Topic Idea
• Academic Writing Style
• Choosing a Title
• Making an Outline
• Paragraph Development
• Executive Summary
• Background Information
• The Research Problem/Question
• Theoretical Framework
• Citation Tracking
• Content Alert Services
• Evaluating Sources
• Primary Sources
• Secondary Sources
• Tertiary Sources
• What Is Scholarly vs. Popular?
• Qualitative Methods
• Quantitative Methods
• Using Non-Textual Elements
• Limitations of the Study
• Common Grammar Mistakes
• Avoiding Plagiarism
• Footnotes or Endnotes?
• Further Readings
• Annotated Bibliography
• Dealing with Nervousness
• Using Visual Aids
• Grading Someone Else's Paper
• How to Manage Group Projects
• Multiple Book Review Essay
• Reviewing Collected Essays
• About Informed Consent
• Writing Field Notes
• Writing a Policy Memo
• Writing a Research Proposal
• Acknowledgements

The conclusion is intended to help the reader understand why your research should matter to them after they have finished reading the paper. A conclusion is not merely a summary of your points or a re-statement of your research problem but a synthesis of key points. For most essays, one well-developed paragraph is sufficient for a conclusion, although in some cases, a two-or-three paragraph conclusion may be required.

Importance of a Good Conclusion

A well-written conclusion provides you with several important opportunities to demonstrate your overall understanding of the research problem to the reader. These include:

• Presenting the last word on the issues you raised in your paper . Just as the introduction gives a first impression to your reader, the conclusion offers a chance to leave a lasting impression. Do this, for example, by highlighting key points in your analysis or findings.
• Summarizing your thoughts and conveying the larger implications of your study . The conclusion is an opportunity to succinctly answer the "so what?" question by placing the study within the context of past research about the topic you've investigated.
• Demonstrating the importance of your ideas . Don't be shy. The conclusion offers you a chance to elaborate on the significance of your findings.
• Introducing possible new or expanded ways of thinking about the research problem . This does not refer to introducing new information [which should be avoided], but to offer new insight and creative approaches for framing/contextualizing the research problem based on the results of your study.

Conclusions . The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Kretchmer, Paul. Twelve Steps to Writing an Effective Conclusion . San Francisco Edit, 2003-2008.

Structure and Writing Style

https://writing.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/535/2018/07/conclusions_uwmadison_writingcenter_aug2012.pdf I.  General Rules

When writing the conclusion to your paper, follow these general rules:

• State your conclusions in clear, simple language.
• Do not simply reiterate your results or the discussion.
• Indicate opportunities for future research, as long as you haven't already done so in the discussion section of your paper.

The function of your paper's conclusion is to restate the main argument . It reminds the reader of the strengths of your main argument(s) and reiterates the most important evidence supporting those argument(s). Make sure, however, that your conclusion is not simply a repetitive summary of the findings because this reduces the impact of the argument(s) you have developed in your essay.

Consider the following points to help ensure your conclusion is appropriate:

• If the argument or point of your paper is complex, you may need to summarize the argument for your reader.
• If, prior to your conclusion, you have not yet explained the significance of your findings or if you are proceeding inductively, use the end of your paper to describe your main points and explain their significance.
• Move from a detailed to a general level of consideration that returns the topic to the context provided by the introduction or within a new context that emerges from the data.

The conclusion also provides a place for you to persuasively and succinctly restate your research problem, given that the reader has now been presented with all the information about the topic . Depending on the discipline you are writing in, the concluding paragraph may contain your reflections on the evidence presented, or on the essay's central research problem. However, the nature of being introspective about the research you have done will depend on the topic and whether your professor wants you to express your observations in this way.

NOTE : Don't delve into idle speculation. Being introspective means looking within yourself as an author to try and understand an issue more deeply not to guess at possible outcomes.

II.  Developing a Compelling Conclusion

Strategies to help you move beyond merely summarizing the key points of your research paper may include any of the following.

• If your essay deals with a contemporary problem, warn readers of the possible consequences of not attending to the problem.
• Recommend a specific course or courses of action.
• Cite a relevant quotation or expert opinion to lend authority to the conclusion you have reached [a good place to look is research from your literature review].
• Restate a key statistic, fact, or visual image to drive home the ultimate point of your paper.
• If your discipline encourages personal reflection, illustrate your concluding point with a relevant narrative drawn from your own life experiences.
• Return to an anecdote, an example, or a quotation that you introduced in your introduction, but add further insight that is derived from the findings of your study; use your interpretation of results to reframe it in new ways.
• Provide a "take-home" message in the form of a strong, succient statement that you want the reader to remember about your study.

III. Problems to Avoid Failure to be concise The conclusion section should be concise and to the point. Conclusions that are too long often have unnecessary detail. The conclusion section is not the place for details about your methodology or results. Although you should give a summary of what was learned from your research, this summary should be relatively brief, since the emphasis in the conclusion is on the implications, evaluations, insights, etc. that you make. Failure to comment on larger, more significant issues In the introduction, your task was to move from general [the field of study] to specific [your research problem]. However, in the conclusion, your task is to move from specific [your research problem] back to general [your field, i.e., how your research contributes new understanding or fills an important gap in the literature]. In other words, the conclusion is where you place your research within a larger context. Failure to reveal problems and negative results Negative aspects of the research process should never be ignored. Problems, drawbacks, and challenges encountered during your study should be included as a way of qualifying your overall conclusions. If you encountered negative results [findings that are validated outside the research context in which they were generated], you must report them in the results section of your paper. In the conclusion, use the negative results as an opportunity to explain how they provide information on which future research can be based. Failure to provide a clear summary of what was learned In order to be able to discuss how your research fits back into your field of study [and possibly the world at large], you need to summarize it briefly and directly. Often this element of your conclusion is only a few sentences long. Failure to match the objectives of your research Often research objectives change while the research is being carried out. This is not a problem unless you forget to go back and refine your original objectives in your introduction, as these changes emerge they must be documented so that they accurately reflect what you were trying to accomplish in your research [not what you thought you might accomplish when you began].

Resist the urge to apologize If you've immersed yourself in studying the research problem, you now know a good deal about it, perhaps even more than your professor! Nevertheless, by the time you have finished writing, you may be having some doubts about what you have produced. Repress those doubts!  Don't undermine your authority by saying something like, "This is just one approach to examining this problem; there may be other, much better approaches...."

Concluding Paragraphs. College Writing Center at Meramec. St. Louis Community College; Conclusions . The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Conclusions . The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Freedman, Leora  and Jerry Plotnick. Introductions and Conclusions . The Lab Report. University College Writing Centre. University of Toronto; Leibensperger, Summer. Draft Your Conclusion. Academic Center, the University of Houston-Victoria, 2003; Make Your Last Words Count . The Writer’s Handbook. Writing Center. University of Wisconsin, Madison; Tips for Writing a Good Conclusion . Writing@CSU. Colorado State University; Kretchmer, Paul. Twelve Steps to Writing an Effective Conclusion . San Francisco Edit, 2003-2008; Writing Conclusions . Writing Tutorial Services, Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning. Indiana University; Writing: Considering Structure and Organization . Institute for Writing Rhetoric. Dartmouth College.

Writing Tip

Don't Belabor the Obvious!

Avoid phrases like "in conclusion...," "in summary...," or "in closing...." These phrases can be useful, even welcome, in oral presentations. But readers can see by the tell-tale section heading and number of pages remaining to read, when an essay is about to end. You'll irritate your readers if you belabor the obvious.

Another Writing Tip

New Insight, Not New Information!

Don't surprise the reader with new information in your Conclusion that was never referenced anywhere else in the paper. If you have new information to present, add it to the Discussion or other appropriate section of the paper.  Note that, although no actual new information is introduced, the conclusion is where you offer your most "original" contributions in the paper; it's where you describe the value of your research, demonstrate your understanding of the material that you’ve presented, and locate your findings within the larger context of scholarship on the topic.

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Writing a research paper is tedious, and after all that work, you’d think the conclusion would be the easy part. In reality, this is often one of the most difficult sections of a research paper to write, since you have to neatly tie up pages and pages of research in a short amount of time. To help you with this, we’ve put together some instructions and tips on how to write a research paper conclusion. We’ll also talk about what conclusions are, why they’re important, and different ways you can format them. Key Takeaways Research paper conclusions serve to close the argument the introduction opened and restate the main points of the research paper. There are three research paper conclusion formats: summarization, reflective, and projective. Your research paper conclusion should be concise, straightforward, and accurate. In This Article    Skip to section How To Write A Research Paper Conclusion 6 Tips for Writing a Research Paper Conclusion Different Formats of Research Paper Conclusions What Is the Conclusion of a Research Paper? Why Is Writing a Conclusion Important for a Research Paper? Research Paper Conclusion FAQ Sign Up For More Advice and Jobs Show More How To Write A Research Paper Conclusion

Many students understand that the conclusion is a crucial part of their research paper, but they don’t know how to go about writing one.

Follow the steps below for how to write a research paper conclusion.

Open With The Research Topic. To begin a conclusion paragraph, use the first sentence to reiterate the comprehensive subject matter that your paper covered. Since this is just a sentence-long retelling of your research topic and why it’s important, it doesn’t have to be specific, but it does need clarity.

Dragonflies are a magnificently complex insect whose advanced physical mechanics and vast species differences make them a notable study in the scientific community.

Focus On Your Specific Thesis. Every research paper focuses on targetted intricacies within a larger topic. Now that the more extensive topic of the research paper has been mentioned, the next sentence or two highlights the specific thesis presented.

Don’t merely copy and paste the introduction of your thesis from the first paragraph. Restate it in different words that illicit a more in-depth understanding from the reader .

The overall characteristics found only within the Odonata family unites the dragonfly under a singular title. All species of dragonfly faced the same path towards the modern structure known today, and therefore, they are all similar in one way or another. However, there are also significant differences apparent to the naked eye between a species that shares so much of the same structure.

Summarize And Connect Main Points. Throughout a research paper, the writer presents points to support the initial thesis claim. Very briefly summarize and tie together these points in a way that supports your thesis. This is the place to restate your research findings.

By examining the striped meadowhawk and migrant hawker dragonflies, it is shown that habitat governs many aspects pertaining to that specific species’ lifestyle. It is also proven that color and patterns perceived on this insect serve a greater purpose of individualizing and distinguishing between these two species.

Bring It All Together. It sounds redundant to say you need to conclude your conclusion, but that’s the final step. You’ve done the mini recap of your research paper through the beginning sentences of your essay. Close the conclusion by making a final encouragement for an action, idea, or fact.

The dragonfly is a unique insect with uniting factors and specialization. However, the most attributed aspect to this insect as a whole is the enormity of their differences. The evolved genetic features attributed to various species of dragonflies both individualize them and apply unification to the insect as a whole.

6 Tips for Writing a Research Paper Conclusion

Consider What Conclusion Format To Use Carefully. The way you structure a conclusion has a massive effect on how impactful it will be to a reader.

Some types of writing can work well with a variety of conclusion formats, but others will confuse a paper’s message. For example, using a reflective style conclusion on a scientific research paper comes across as too opinion-based for a topic that’s shrouded in measurable fact.

Don’t Make It Too Complex. It’s best to use plain language when summarizing the information presented in a research paper or making a claim. Many students are tempted to use impressive wording and complex writing in a research paper conclusion to present themselves as experts in the subject , but it only gives the reader a headache.

Conclusions Should Be Concise . Research papers give the writer pages of leeway to make all the drawn-out points that they need, but conclusions don’t offer as much room. An essay’s conclusion needs to be short by definition because it’s merely a last takeaway for the reader. A research paper conclusion is a final paragraph, not the entire page .

Double Check Your Information. There’s nothing worse for a research paper’s validity than confidently making a claim in the conclusion that turns out to be false. It’s fundamental that all the facts and information your detail in a research paper are backed up with credible sources listed neatly on the works cited page.

Empathize With The Reader. Whether you’re submitting a research paper for an introductory university class or publishing a scholarly journal, you still need to keep the reader in mind when writing a conclusion. Think about who you’re communicating with through your research paper and what you’re hoping to accomplish with it.

Do Research . One way to fix the problem if you’re unsure of what makes an essay conclusion compelling is researching the topic. Reading articles (like this one) is helpful because they give you a clear demonstration of how to create a conclusion, but applying this structure to your own work can be difficult. A case of easier said than done.

Different Formats of Research Paper Conclusions

Based on the goal or subject of your research paper, the structure of your conclusion changes. Pick a type of conclusion that will strengthen the point of your essay. Below are examples of different formats to use when writing research paper conclusions.

Summarization. The summarization conclusion is most commonly used for research papers that are presenting a series of concrete facts.

It’s the form of conclusion that most people are familiar with. Using the summary technique requires a succinct compiling of the most critical points you’ve made in an essay.

Summarization Conclusion Formatting Works Best For:

Solution-Based Research

Persuasive Writing

History and Science Studies

Structuring An Argument

Reflective. A conclusion that uses a reflective structure takes the information outlined in the research paper to arrive at a grander insight about the topic at hand. This type of conclusion is popular when you’re attempting to change the reader’s viewpoint with a paper.

Reflective Conclusion Formatting Works Best For:

Persuasive Essays

English and Political Studies

Projective. When using a projective conclusion, the writer applies their work presented earlier in the thesis to eventual outcomes that can arise. It is called a projective conclusion because it is more results-based than summarizing facts or establishing an overarching lesson.

Projective Conclusion Formatting Works Best For:

Research Paper

Expository Essay

Narrative Works (Sometimes)

What Is the Conclusion of a Research Paper?

The conclusion of a research paper ties together all the prior information you’ve covered. It leaves the reader with a final thought about the research paper and the message it’s trying to convey.

Unlike the body paragraphs of a research paper, which aim at specificity and focus on developing a single concept or piece of information, conclusions are broader. The goal is to gloss over what’s already been stated earlier in the essay to solidify it with the reader.

The conclusion also serves a different purpose than the introduction . An introductory paragraph is for establishing what the reader will be learning more about. It opens the metaphorical door towards understanding a research endeavor or topic. The conclusion closes the argument that the introductory paragraph opens.

Why Is Writing a Conclusion Important for a Research Paper?

Including a conclusion is an important part of writing a research paper because it creates an organized summarization of information and outlines inferences about the subject studied. It provides an additional layer of clarity in a short written work.

Research papers are often lengthy and dull, so it’s easy for a reader’s attention to stray. A conclusion brings the reader back and offers them the most critical takeaways from the paper.

Research Paper Conclusion FAQ

How long should a good conclusion be?

A good conclusion should be one paragraph or three to five sentences long. Your research paper conclusion should be concise, which means you don’t need to take up a whole page for just your conclusion. Instead, try to stick to about one paragraph in length.

What are the general rules in crafting conclusions in your research paper?

The general rules for crafting conclusions for your research paper include:

Choose the right conclusion format.

Keep it simple.

Be concise.

Be accurate.

Keep the reader’s needs (or requirements) in mind.

Remind the reader of your thesis.

Summarize and connect main points.

End with a concluding sentence.

What is a better way to say, “In conclusion”?

A better way to say, “In conclusion,” is “Therefore,” “Finally,” or “Lastly.” Other good words include, “As expressed” or “As a result.” You can also simply launch into your concluding paragraph if a transition isn’t needed.

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Sky Ariella is a professional freelance writer, originally from New York. She has been featured on websites and online magazines covering topics in career, travel, and lifestyle. She received her BA in psychology from Hunter College.

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What Does a Conclusion Generally Imply?

If you do not know how to write a conclusion for research paper , you should remember the main thing – it should summarize the key points of the paper. It should also help readers understand the basic information, be memorable, and leave an impression because it is the last thing people read. The conclusion happens to be the best chance for you to both tie all the information together and mention the main points one more time. In general, it is one of the most important parts of a research paper.

In most cases, the conclusions of research papers are one paragraph long. Even though they do not usually introduce new data or information, they tend to offer a new perspective on the topic or reframe the issues.

Why Is It Important to Come Up With a Good Conclusion?

It is important to write an impressive conclusion research paper because it must serve a few critical purposes:

• It offers recommendations and implications . A conclusion happens to be an excellent place to talk about the broader implications of your research and proffer probable areas for further study. This part of your paper is also a great chance to provide practical recommendations based on the data you find.
• It provides closure . An outstanding conclusion delivers a sense of closure to your paper. The thing is that it should leave the audience with a feeling that they have reached the end of a thought-provoking and well-structured research project.
• It should leave a lasting impression . If you manage to come up with a well-crafted research paper conclusion, it will leave a lasting impression on your audience. You should remember that it is your final opportunity to leave readers with a call to action, a new idea, or a memorable quote.

What Types of Research Paper Conclusions Are There?

As mentioned before, a research paper conclusion delivers closure to the reader. When choosing a type, you should consider the goals of your study, its nature, and your target audience. Further, you can see the three common types of conclusions:

• Summarizing conclusion. This is the most common type , which is utilized across various disciplines. It tends to include reiterating the research question, the key points, and mentioning the significance of the findings one more time.
• Editorial conclusion. This type is less common, but you can use it in research papers that are focused on advocating or proposing a certain policy or viewpoint. It includes showing a strong opinion based on the data and offering calls to action or recommendations.
• Externalizing conclusion. It is a kind of conclusion that extends the research beyond the paper`s scope by offering probable future research directions. It may also discuss the wider implications of the findings. They usually use this type of conclusion in more exploratory or theoretical research papers.

Tips on Writing a Conclusion for a Research Paper

If you do not know how to write a conclusion for a research paper , you should consider the following steps:

You should restate your research topic

The first step when writing a conclusion must be to restate your research topic. In most cases, one sentence is enough for this purpose, and you should also explain the importance of your topic. You should bear in mind that this part must be concise and clear and state only the essential information.

Writing Metier experts also recommend avoiding such phrases as “ in summary ”, “ in conclusion ”, and “ in closing ”. This kind of phrases might be helpful in oral presentations , but it can turn out to be unnecessary and too obvious when ending an essay.

You should restate the thesis

This is the next step that can be performed by revising the initial thesis that you introduced in the paper`s introduction. At the same time, you should bear in mind that the thesis statement in your conclusion must be put in different words than those you used in your introduction. It is also possible to write this element effectively in one sentence.

You should summarize the key points of your paper

You can sum up the key points of your paper. The thing is that, it is helpful to read through the text a second time to see only the most important arguments and facts.  At the same time, there is no need to mention any more details than the key facts or arguments that you introduced in your paper.

The goal of summarizing these facts is to remind the audience of how important the research paper topic is.

You should connect the results or significance of the key points

You can introduce the significance of the key points after you discuss them. For example, after stating the key points you made in your argument, you may mention how the impacts of the topic can cause a certain outcome.

You might also introduce the results of studies that may assist you in adding emphasis to how you introduce the significance of your information. At the same time, there is no need to surprise the audience with new data in your conclusion that was not mentioned in your paper.

The conclusion is the part where you describe the value of your research and introduce your understanding of the data you have presented.

You should conclude your thoughts

When finishing your conclusion, you may come up with a call to action or pose an idea that will make your audience think further about your statements. Students can also use this sentence to address any issues that were left unanswered in the paper`s body paragraphs.

Effective Strategies for Writing a Research Paper Conclusion

Your conclusions in a research paper are the opposite of the introduction in terms of both placement and structure. The introduction should generally follow the inverted triangle format with the main statement element on top and the main point of research at the bottom.

The conclusion should follow the inverted introduction format by starting with the highlights of your findings and finishing with a general statement that should encourage the audience to think. It should also challenge the readers to take action based on what they have learned from your paper.

A few studies that performed an analysis of how conclusions are structured found that the bigger part of authors either synthesize the research work or restate and consolidate a research issue. When consolidating the issue, they tend to introduce the solutions or results of research.

The following tips can help you come up with an impressive conclusion:

Synthesize instead of summarizing

Yu already know that a research paper conclusion is not a summary of the content. A summary can be a part of this section, but the conclusion should go beyond simply restating your analyses and ideas.

Instead of mentioning again what you already said in the introduction, abstract, and body, you should show your audience how the main elements in your paper fit together.

Echoing the introduction

This method of writing brings your audience to a full circle by referring to or utilizing the same elements you used in your introduction. A research paper conclusion example of this would be retelling a scenario you presented in your introduction, but this time, you should manage to create a new understanding of the topic based on the study`s results.

Redirect your reader

Your conclusion should act as a bridge for your readers back to the real world after welcoming them into your research through your introduction and showing them your analyses, methodologies , and results. When you redirect your audience, you challenge them to take the data they receive from your paper and use it in real life.

It is also possible to approach this strategy by offering solutions to an existing issue or a course of action for further studies.

Challenge your own conclusion

This one is also known as the “so what” game, and it requires you to challenge your own ideas by asking this question while creating your conclusion. After you finish this part of the research paper, you might ask someone who will go through the content and challenge what you wrote.

For example, you can ask your friend to read it with you and have them ask this question after every viewpoint. Thanks to this strategy, you can find weaknesses in your conclusion and refine it in the process.

Address limitations

This method should also help you find the weak points in your paper, which should involve the aspects where there is a lack of argument. It will also allow you to see whether there are instances where your conclusion may be wrong.

This approach is especially helpful in writing conclusions of scientific research papers.

Show ideas to create a new meaning or picture

You should interpret all the relevant data in appropriate depth. It means that you should explain how the mechanisms or methodologies were utilized to help your audience get to the results of your study.  You should also consider that your study might not bring the results you expected.

In this scenario, you need to explain to your readers why this situation may have happened. If the outcome is what you expected, you should describe your theory supported by your evidence.

Pose questions

Research studies tend to be motivated by questions. Posing questions in a research paper conclusion , either to your audience or in general, might help them get a new point of view on the topic, which they might never have had before diving into your conclusion. It might also help you bring your key points together to come up with a new idea from your study.

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Elements That You Should Never Include in Your Conclusion

If you are willing to figure out how to write conclusions for research papers , you also need to know what things should never be included. So, here is a list of these elements:

• Dry summary . You should always bear in mind that summarizing might be an important part of a conclusion, but it is not the only part. The thing is that your conclusion must be more than just a summary – it should form your reader`s opinion about your topic. That is why you should not just repeat the facts. You need to contextualize them for the audience, offer a step for solving the issue, or suggest a new perspective.
• You should avoid too generic words . It is recommended to avoid cliched or generic phrasing in your conclusion. The reason is that some phrases or words are used too often to the point of becoming trite. If you are willing to come up with well-written and fresh research paper conclusions, you should never use the following phrases:
• In closing;
• In conclusion;
• In summary;
• To wrap up.
• No need to use new evidence or data . Research paper conclusions are the wrong place to present new data or evidence, especially if they are impressive enough to reshape the entire argument. Supporting evidence and significant facts belong to the paper`s body. When the audience is reading this section, they are still learning more about the topic. The reader tends to form their opinion by the conclusion. Therefore, the conclusion is more about retrospection. This implies that presenting unexpected information there can be frustrating to the audience.
• Never ignore negative results . You might want to hide negative results or just ignore them completely, but this action will harm your research paper in the end. The best solution is to own up to shortcomings in your paper and admit them. Thanks to your transparency, you will easily validate your other findings and prevent critics from introducing these shortcomings to damage the outcome.
• You should avoid ambiguous resolutions . Conclusions of research papers are expected to clean up any loose ends and wrap up arguments. If your conclusion happens to be ambiguous, it may seem that your research was inadequate, incomplete, or fundamentally flawed. Therefore, you should write your final words with direct language and take a firm position. Even if the information was inconclusive, you should state clearly that it was inconclusive. Thanks to this, you are going to sound both competent and confident.

Research Paper Conclusion Examples

Your conclusion must be a compelling close to the paper as a whole, which implies that it should highlight your hard work and research. Obviously, your conclusion must represent your unique style, but the following research paper conclusion example texts might be a starting point:

Ultimately, the data we researched all lead to the same conclusion: When encouraging a great work-life balance, we improve employee productivity, which can benefit the company in general. The research states that when workers feel that their personal lives are respected and valued by their employers, they tend to be more productive when at work. Moreover, company turnover is usually reduced when workers have a balance between their professional and personal lives. Even though additional research is necessary to determine ways companies can support employees in establishing a better work-life balance, it is obvious the need is there.

Social media happens to be a primary way of communication among young individuals. As we have seen in the introduced data, the bigger part of young people in high school utilizes a diversity of social media apps at least every hour, including Facebook and Instagram. While social media is a way to connect with peers, research supposes that its use correlates with body image problems. Young girls who have lower self-esteem usually utilize social media more often than those who do not use these apps daily. As the popularity of new applications is increasing and as more students are provided with smartphones, more research will be necessary to estimate the outcome of prolonged social media use.

Allow Writing Metier Experts to Write a RP Conclusion for You

You now have an example of research paper conclusion , and it might help you to come up with an outstanding piece. The importance of an impressive conclusion is obvious, but it is not an easy thing to write. That is why many students ask for help from someone who knows how to create a good conclusion.

Writing Metier has a team of professional research paper writers who are able to cope with any sort of assignments, including research paper conclusions. We can craft an ideal conclusion for your findings, and it will be impressive.

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Using our services, you can also be sure that your content will be plagiarism, and error-free because our professionals check each and every piece before they submit it. They also never use any sort of AI tools, which means that your research paper conclusion will be unique, and no one will blame you for generating this written piece.

There is no need to worry about anything or think about when to get time to write a conclusion. Instead, you can focus on your studies or work and allow expert writers from Writing Metier to do everything for you.

Frequently Asked Questions

What should i introduce in my research paper conclusion.

If you are eager to learn how to write a conclusion of a research paper , you should consider adding a few key elements, such as:

• A restatement of the research issue.
• A brief discussion of your research`s implications.
• A summary of your main arguments or findings.

Do I Need to Introduce New Arguments in my Research Paper Conclusion?

You should not add new arguments in your conclusion. It is a great idea to follow the formal structure of a paper, but new data can confuse your audience.

What Other Sections Should Be Included in My Research Paper?

The important parts of a research paper are usually the following:

• Introduction. This should include an introductory sentence, a thesis sentence with three main points, and a minimum of three supporting sentences.
• Body paragraphs that support each of the points.
• Conclusion. This is where you need to restate the thesis, add a minimum of two sentences that summarize your findings, and end with a suggestion for future research or a declarative statement.

What Is the Goal of a Research Paper Conclusion?

The goal of any conclusion is to sum up the key points of the paper, leave a lasting impression on the audience, and help them contextualize the data.

How Many Pages Should a Research Paper Conclusion Include?

There is no certain length for a conclusion. At the same time, it is a great idea not to make it too long because conclusions are expected to be succinct. Therefore, you should keep this part around 5 to 10 percent of the research paper`s total length. For example, for a paper that is 10 pages long, you should provide a conclusion under one page.

What Different Types of Research Paper Conclusions Are There?

Even though there are no formal types of research paper conclusions, they tend to fall under the categories of summarizing, editorial, and externalizing conclusions. You should bear in mind that these types are not mutually exclusive – the same paper might be both externalizing and summarizing. That is why you should follow the guidelines and requirements of your assignment.

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Laura Orta is an avid author on Writing Metier's blog. Before embarking on her writing career, she practiced media law in one of the local media. Aside from writing, she works as a private tutor to help students with their academic needs. Laura and her husband share their home near the ocean in northern Portugal with two extraordinary boys and a lifetime collection of books.

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Open Access

Peer-reviewed

Research Article

Trust as moral currency: Perspectives of health researchers in sub-Saharan Africa on strategies to promote equitable data sharing

Roles Formal analysis, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliation Department of Medicine, Division for Medical Ethics and Law, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa

Roles Data curation, Investigation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Department of Medicine, Division for Medical Ethics and Law, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa, Business Management, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Writing – review & editing

Roles Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Supervision, Writing – review & editing

• Qunita Brown, 
• Jyothi Chabilall, 
• Nezerith Cengiz, 
• Keymanthri Moodley

• Published: September 27, 2024
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pdig.0000551
• Reader Comments

Groundbreaking data-sharing techniques and quick access to stored research data from the African continent are highly beneficial to create diverse unbiased datasets to inform digital health technologies and artificial intelligence in healthcare. Yet health researchers in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) experience individual and collective challenges that render them cautious and even hesitant to share data despite acknowledging the public health benefits of sharing. This qualitative study reports on the perspectives of health researchers regarding strategies to mitigate these challenges. In-depth interviews were conducted via Microsoft Teams with 16 researchers from 16 different countries across SSA between July 2022 and April 2023. Purposive and snowball sampling techniques were used to invite participants via email. Recorded interviews were transcribed, cleaned, coded and managed through Atlas.ti.22. Thematic Analysis was used to analyse the data. Three recurrent themes and several subthemes emerged around strategies to improve governance of data sharing. The main themes identified were (1) Strategies for change at a policy level: guideline development, (2) Strengthening data governance to improve data quality and (3) Reciprocity: towards equitable data sharing. Building trust is central to the promotion of data sharing amongst researchers on the African continent and with global partners. This can be achieved by enhancing research integrity and strengthening micro and macro level governance. Substantial resources are required from funders and governments to enhance data governance practices, to improve data literacy and to enhance data quality. High quality data from Africa will afford diversity to global data sets, reducing bias in algorithms built for artificial intelligence technologies in healthcare. Engagement with multiple stakeholders including researchers and research communities is necessary to establish an equitable data sharing approach based on reciprocity and mutual benefit.

Author summary

In our study, we explore the challenges and potential solutions for data sharing among health researchers in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). While data sharing can significantly enhance the development of digital health technologies and artificial intelligence by providing diverse and unbiased datasets, many researchers in SSA are cautious about sharing their data. Through in-depth interviews with 16 researchers from different countries in SSA, we identified key strategies to overcome these challenges. Our findings highlight three main areas: the need for policy changes to develop clear guidelines, the importance of strengthening data governance to improve data quality, and the value of reciprocity to ensure equitable data sharing. Trust is a critical component in promoting data sharing, which can be built by enhancing research integrity and governance at both micro and macro levels. High-quality data from Africa can contribute to more diverse global datasets, helping to reduce bias in healthcare algorithms.

Citation: Brown Q, Chabilall J, Cengiz N, Moodley K (2024) Trust as moral currency: Perspectives of health researchers in sub-Saharan Africa on strategies to promote equitable data sharing. PLOS Digit Health 3(9): e0000551. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pdig.0000551

Editor: Miguel Ángel Armengol de la Hoz, Fundación Progreso y Salud: Junta de Andalucia Consejeria de Salud y Familias Fundacion Progreso y Salud, SPAIN

Received: January 25, 2024; Accepted: June 17, 2024; Published: September 27, 2024

Copyright: © 2024 Brown et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: We have requested an exemption regarding the requirement of providing all data to be freely available to other researchers as stated in the PLOS policy. Public deposition would breach compliance with the protocol that was approved by the Health Research Ethics Committee (HREC) at Stellenbosch University, (Ref No: N22/03/028). Consent was obtained to only share anonymised data with journals and sponsors during the publication of results of the study. We did not obtain permission from research participants to share anonymised data with other researchers. The information provided by the research participants will be regarded as sensitive data and this information may lead to breach of anonymity and confidentiality. This may have negative consequences for research participants as their personal views may be held against them. Date requests may be sent to the Health Research Ethics Committee at Stellenbosch University http://www.sun.ac.za/english/faculty/healthsciences/rdsd/Pages/Ethics/Contact-us0715-8777.aspx . Contact person: Ms Charmaine Khumalo Head: Health Research Ethics Tel: (+27) 021 938 9075 E-mail: [email protected] .

Funding: We acknowledge the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) for funding (1UO1MH127704-01). KM (Principal Investigator) is the recipient of the grant. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Recent data sharing and collaborative research in the African region demonstrates a bold move away from the exploitative research processes of the past towards the promotion of more equitable research strategies [ 1 – 3 ]. Researchers, especially within the health sector, are encouraged to engage in data sharing activities once key management processes are in place [ 4 , 5 ].

Data sharing is seen as logical knowledge progression contributing to scientific innovation not only in the primary research field, but also for secondary research when anonymised data is used for further scientific enquiry [ 6 ]. Furthermore, African data is important to contribute to improving the diversity of global databases [ 7 ]. This contribution is essential to avoid algorithmic discrimination that creates bias in machine learning for the development of digital health technologies [ 1 ]. While data sharing may not be a prevailing tradition among SSA researchers—who have been victims of research exploitation for decades—African research itself has not been stymied [ 8 – 11 ]. One of the more recent examples of exploitation in the context of data sharing amongst collaborating research institutions involved the Wellcome Sanger Institute in the UK and some South African universities [ 8 , 12 ]. Allegations were raised around the unconsented use of African genomic data to develop commercial genomic products [ 8 – 12 ]. Recently, researchers in SSA have been advocating for transparency, trust and fairness in the context of dependable collaborations [ 11 , 13 , 14 ].

Africa is constituted of mainly low and middle-income countries (LMICs) many of which still need to develop institutional or national data sharing policies and guidelines [ 3 , 15 ]. Some African countries have developed legislation based on foreign laws such as the European Union General Data Protection Act (EU-GDPR) (2018) [ 16 , 17 ]. South Africa applies the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) (2020) [ 18 ] seeking to achieve impartial stringent governance systems [ 19 , 20 ]. Other research-intensive countries in Africa that provide data protection laws ranging from moderate to strict include Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda [ 21 ]. However, there are some African countries that do not have robust legislation [ 3 ]. This variability in legislation from one country to the next creates a degree of insecurity amongst researchers with respect to the level of protection afforded by laws and guidelines [ 3 , 15 ].

Consequently, African researchers have been apprehensive to share their data if data sharing agreements, acceptable administration and trained support staff are deficient [ 22 ]. Researchers interviewed in SSA countries as part of our parent study identified several challenges associated with sharing their data. There was individual researcher concerns associated with fears regarding data sharing. Academic pressure to publish exacerbated such data sharing fears. Furthermore, structural issues linked to data collection and storage in SSA impacted data quality and sharing [ 23 ]. Researchers indicated that recognition in academia sometimes led to “scooping” of research data [ 23 ]. Ethical challenges experienced by researchers in SSA included concerns around confidentiality and informed consent primarily linked to risk of sharing with others [ 23 ]. Commercialisation and benefit sharing also created ethical dilemmas for researchers [ 23 ]. Finally, legal challenges imply suboptimal governance processes that impacted negatively on willingness to share data [ 23 ]. This paper takes those challenges into account and addresses the research gap resulting from the paucity of literature from the Global South reflecting perspectives of researchers on opportunities and strategies to address the challenges.

In the sections that follow, the study design and sampling, data collection process, analysis, and ethical considerations are outlined. This is followed by the presentation of the study results that illuminate themes and subthemes derived from thematic analysis. The final sections include the discussion, strengths, and limitations. We offer recommendations and concluding thoughts.

Materials and methods

Study design and sampling.

This study is linked to a previous descriptive, cross-sectional, online survey of researchers from SSA countries conducted to provide broad context to issues around data sharing in SSA [ 15 ]. Respondents were invited to anonymously participate through Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap). The findings of the quantitative study are reported and discussed in the paper “Data sharing and data governance in sub-Saharan Africa: Perspectives from researchers and scientists engaged in data-intensive research” authored by Kabanda et al. (2023) [ 15 ]. The sample consisted of 160 researchers and scientists representing 43 sub-Saharan African countries and was conducted between June 2022 to September 2022 [ 15 ]. The study presented and reported on demographic information, data use among respondents, data practices, data management support, data sharing and data protection [ 15 ].

Of those participants from the quantitative study who agreed to be interviewed, anonymised branching logic was used to redirect them from REDCap to a Google Form. At that point, they were able to provide their email addresses in which we used to send consent forms for the qualitative study.

Using a qualitative study design, we further explored researchers’ views on data sharing and its related challenges and opportunities across SSA by conducting 16 online in-depth interviews (IDIs). From a methodological perspective conducting the interviews provided us the opportunity to triangulate the findings from the quantitative aspect of the study.

A mixture of purposive and snowball sampling was used to recruit research participants. More specifically, potential research participants were identified through existing networks of the Division for Medical Ethics and Law. We also conducted some web searches with the aim of recruiting researchers that are working in the data intensive health research sphere. Regarding the snowball sampling, following the completion of the interviews, participants were asked by interviewers if they were prepared to ascertain whether any of their colleagues would be interested in participating in the research. Researchers had to ensure that these new participants were suitable in terms of the study criteria. Interested parties then contacted the interviewer to schedule interviews. Participants were invited to participate in the study in their personal capacity on a voluntary basis.

Data collection

Between July 2022 and April 2023, 16 in-depth interviews were conducted in English via Microsoft Teams. Interviews lasted an average of 45 minutes and consent to record each interview was obtained. The interview guide was developed based on a literature review and expert consultation with colleagues from the School for Data Science and Computational Thinking, Stellenbosch University. The interview guide comprised of five sections which delved into participants’ professional background; their experiences and understanding of data sharing; thoughts on the benefits and challenges of data sharing; knowledge of existing guidelines and frameworks related to data sharing; and recommendations on the development of a data sharing guideline policy ( S1 File ). After 16 interviews, data saturation was reached at a continental level as participants expressed similar challenges and strategies to resolve these.

Data analysis

Audio files were cleaned and transcribed verbatim. In terms of validation, the audio recordings were cross checked with the transcripts to ensure accuracy. Atlas.ti (version 22) was used to manage the data. Transcripts were thematically coded. The thematic method proposed by Braun and Clarke (2006) was used for data analysis [ 24 ]. The six steps of the iterative process are useful in identifying common patterns in qualitative datasets [ 24 ]. Due to the flexible nature of thematic analysis, it has been used to analyse large sets of qualitative data as well as smaller samples of one to two participants [ 24 ].

Each interview was coded independently by one researcher using a combination of inductive and deductive reasoning for theme development. While the deductive analysis traced the themes listed in the interview guide, the inductive analysis allowed for further expansion. Major themes of interest were identified and categorised, followed by an in-depth analysis of the themes through discussion among the team of involved researchers. Adjustments to the final thematic map were made to improve logical cohesion. Intercoder reliability was also established once 20% of randomly selected transcripts were independently coded by two researchers.

Ethical aspects

The in-depth interviews posed minimal risk as the sample included educated and empowered respondents who had full capacity to consent or decline participation. Ethics approval was granted by the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences Health Research Ethics Committee (Reference No: N22/03/028) at Stellenbosch University, South Africa.

A total of 16 researchers from 16 SSA countries participated in the study. Most researchers are actively involved in mixed methods research within the public health sector, they also contribute to teaching and practicing medicine. In terms of experience, there was a mixture of early career, mid-career, and researchers with an extensive background in health research (See Table 1 ).

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pdig.0000551.t001

Countries represented in the sample included Mauritius, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) [ 25 ] and 13 Anglophone countries—Botswana, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe [ 26 , 27 ]. The sample largely comprised Anglophone countries given that the research team is English speaking. The five most research-intensive countries in SSA in the fields of public health, environmental and occupational health are included in the sample -South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia [ 21 ].

The community of researchers working with large data sets in SSA is currently limited and was limited at the time interviews were conducted. This community faces similar challenges and despite borders, the responses were similar as the interviews proceeded. Interviews continued until data saturation was reached. This was validated in the transcriptions and analysis when the quotes were becoming repetitive. The major difference is that some countries have stronger legislation than others. The research-intensive countries tend to have data protection legislation in place as they engaged in collaborative research with high income countries that do have such legislation.

Three salient themes emerged within the context of strategies to promote data sharing. The findings are presented and discussed through the lens of an updated perspective of the ecological systems theory originally developed by Bronfenbrenner in the early 1970’s [ 28 ]. Bronfenbrenner’s theoretical framework has proved to be valuable across different disciplines [ 29 , 30 ] notably in social work practice, where the use of concepts such as micro-, meso- and macro-systems are frequently used [ 31 ]. A multi-level approach to presenting and interpreting the findings was constructively adopted to demonstrate the interrelated relationships between the strategies proposed by the researchers from SSA [ 32 ]. Moreover, we make use of the term micro level in the paper which refers to data management issues and macro level denoting guideline, policy, and legal governance concerns.

The first theme focused on opportunities for change at a policy level specifically regarding the development of a guideline or framework to promote data sharing. Three sub-themes emanated from this theme, namely, three levels of policy implementation, engaging diverse stakeholder groups in policy development and core values in policy development: ethics at the centre. The second theme is referred to as strengthening data governance to improve data quality and includes two subthemes, promoting sound governance practices and developing mechanisms to protect researchers and research participants. Reciprocity towards equitable data sharing is the last theme which comprises two subthemes, equity between countries and data sharing with communities ( Fig 1 ).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pdig.0000551.g001

Theme 1: Strategies for change at a policy level: governance frameworks

1a). three levels of policy implementation (institutional, international, national)..

Lack of regulatory frameworks was recognized as a major barrier to data sharing for health researchers from SSA working in data intensive research [ 23 ]. Respondents thus articulated a need for a comprehensive guideline or framework to encourage data sharing amongst researchers in the SSA region. However, there was much discussion regarding the level of implementation this guideline should prioritize. In the extract below respondent 13 expressed that data sharing should be supervised and regulated by officials based at institutions, national departments, and international bodies.

“ … I think it is very important to all stakeholders including policymakers… we need such guidance at international level, at the national level, at the institutional level …” (IDI 13).

Many respondents believed national laws should be prioritized due to the legally binding nature of a national law over a guideline proposed at an institutional level, with international influence.

“International guidelines are good but what takes precedence is the national guideline because it is binding and in line with local available laws and regulations” (IDI 9). “…I don’t think an institution can put in place a law or legislation—it will not be legally binding …when you look at the National Health Research System , one of the components are laws and legislation on managing data . So , for me countries should take that responsibility ” (IDI 5).

Naturally, this should be the government’s responsibility as this would fall under their mandate, as revealed by the excerpt below:

“I would say it will have to be at a national level, international …could be adapted to our context so that we come up with something at national level and at institutional level… I think government should lead” (IDI 12).

Respondents assigned explicit value to institutional guidelines especially the memorandum of understanding (MOU) in the context of collaborative research. However, respondent five below suggested that institutional and international guidelines should be developed in parallel with national guidelines and should be interpreted as an extension of national guidelines. This will significantly reduce uncertainties for researchers working within a multi-national research project.

“… that research institutions are allowed in the spirit of partnership agreements …if it’s a multi country study to create a window for institutions to pursue by …. MOUs or agreements with other institutions, research institutions and share data within agreed principles. Each institution has that on the MOU—they can report to the National Councils of Science and Technology or National Health research organizations” (IDI 5).

Policymakers should be cognizant of the significance of context when developing a framework for data sharing. Respondents two and nine below expressed similar views where researchers should be aware of existing laws and regulations of countries with whom they are sharing data.

“…make sure that we look at the context of sharing. I mean the issue of consent cannot be overruled…in Ghana there are different rules operating here…the Data Protection Act. It might be different from Nigeria or South Africa or India …we cannot have generalized guidelines. Yes, we have to contextualize it so that in the end it will fit within the broader interest of what actually is happening within the specific country ” (IDI 2). “Whatever happens , the national guideline becomes the reference on what it is . For example , if I developed a guideline for Africa , do you think I will consider the unique aspects of South Africa , Zimbabwe , Uganda , Sudan , Algeria , Egypt , and so it’s very difficult . So , you make it generic , but then the country develops something more specific for its local setting” (ID I9).

In addition, it is essential that policymakers ensure that when adapting a specific international guideline for use in a national context that the adaptation process is sound and considers all the critical contextual information of that specific country.

“ For SSA…we don’t know which regulations apply across the borders. If I want to transmit data from Mauritius to, let’s say, South Africa. I don’t know whether there are the guidelines in South Africa and those that we have in [my country] now might be a generic guideline, but then it has to be adapted by country ( IDI 7).

Lastly all guidelines, should strive to promote the progression of researchers and society in general on the continent as stated below by respondent IDI 15.

“ It must work for all people, in Africa, because this is the home base for where we are conducting the research. So, our rules of engagement must first and foremost work here …for the advancement of people on the African continent” (IDI 15).

1b) Engaging diverse stakeholder groups in policy development.

“You should have a diverse group of people on that committee” (IDI 3).

This subtheme identified stakeholder groups that are essential in contributing to the development of a guideline promoting data sharing in SSA. Most respondents stated that a diverse group of stakeholders ought to form a committee where their input and specific expertise would be indispensable to assist policymakers with critically needed contextual information for a comprehensive and inclusive governmental data sharing guideline or data transfer agreement (DTA).

These various stakeholders include researchers, academic institutions, industries, lawyers, Information Technology (IT) specialists, ethicists, communities, research participants, international organisations, government departments, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), research ethics committees (RECs) and funders.

“Multiple stakeholders—industries, government agencies, academia, research, institutions are involved. Of course, the communities, international key organizations and non-governmental organizations. I think at a policy level, our government-to-government collaborations for example, maybe under the African Union or at least at a level where countries sign up to some code of conduct” (IDI 14). “ …The legal people should also be part of it…because at the end , if it becomes a policy , it has some sort of legal backing” (IDI 2). “ And you should have an ethicist on that committee … you can ensure that the decisions being made by the committee are as ethical as they can be” (IDI 3). “ But also , I will involve the Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board” (IDI 6). “Funders… in my knowledge , it is important to …involve them in this guideline but conflict of interest ? ” (IDI 6). “People with computing background , because they’re the ones who are going to create the platform for sharing data” (IDI 7). “And people from the community , especially those gate keepers and I mean , community engagement is the other issue that should be included in the guideline . CAB members , community advisory boards we have that , in our institute where we recruit representatives from the community who would advise us in research… not only in research but throughout the process” (IDI 8).

1c). Core values in policy development: ethics at the centre.

Respondents consistently identified ethical principles and adherence to certain values within a research context as factors that required consideration when developing a guideline for data sharing. More specifically, values such as fairness, honesty, transparency, and integrity were recognized by researchers to be especially important to strengthen perceived notions of the societal benefits of research that reduce anxieties and fears regarding data sharing.

“ Honesty is important. People should clearly indicate how they obtained the data” (IDI 11). “ Openness and data integrity and integrity of the researchers and transparency” (IDI 7). “I think transparency is also important for data sharing . If you make your data available to a wider audience … it increases trust in the people that we generate data from . The community where we generate our data , they are increasingly demanding transparency” (IDI 14).

It was apparent from respondents’ accounts that acting in an ethical manner was accepted as upholding the core principles of research ethics, such as non-maleficence, beneficence and justice by respecting research participants and their rights to be well informed, providing consent, confidentiality, and anonymity. Placing ethics at the centre of the framework creates an enabling environment for research participants and researchers alike.

“…You should prioritize non-maleficence. You should prioritize justice… and above all, most papers prioritize the overall good to society, but that’s without compromising any of the aforementioned. So, I think in those guidelines… we should look at providing an enabling environment for researchers to share data. Providing an enabling environment for benefits” (IDI 10). “I’ll just speak of the principles of research ethics , where at the end of the day , the respect for persons will need to be integral to those values . I’ve already talked about beneficence , you know , the issues of nonmaleficence , justice , it’s important…the data sharing issues , we cannot really underscore the issues of confidentiality and data protection because data needs to be shared but again , researchers also need to think about the time invested” (IDI 12). “ … at the top should be the protection of research participants…valid informed consent and protecting their confidentiality and , their privacy : the most risk for patients . These are critical issues that should be at the top of every guideline when it comes to health research” (IDI 8).

Theme 2: Strengthening data governance to improve data quality

It is imperative to explore issues at the data level and provide solutions to mitigate data-related challenges that researchers encounter. These challenges stem from fears around data protection, storage, data ownership, data validation, amongst others [ 23 ]. Data sharing will be seen as a viable option only when researchers or data users are encouraged to practice good data governance. Two sub-themes emanated from the second theme: 2a) promoting sound data governance practices and 2b) developing mechanisms ensuring protection for researchers and research participants.

2a). Promoting sound data governance practices.

Respondents underscored the need for researchers to practice good data governance which ensures that data is generated, organized, annotated, cleaned and corroborated in the correct manner. Data management is part of the process of data governance and raises awareness on issues involving data storage, data sharing, data monitoring and data regulations.

“ Of course, you want high quality data. So, I’m making sure that the data is standardized, is cleaned, is validated and also make sure that there are good attributions of the data, making sure that the citations and acknowledgements are [done] properly, so that when it comes to benefit sharing, we know who was involved in generating what data” (IDI 14). “So , by the time data needs to be shared , they would not be required to invest a lot of time to preparing the data for sharing because there is already a practice of proper data management” (IDI 10). “ How long should it be retained ? Who is responsible for archiving it ? Issues around compliance with industry regulations and any other regulations that related to the data that is being generated… And I think some kind of monitoring of those data could also be important so that it’s not just garbage in and garbage out…trying to see how the data is maximally used increases in value while sharing it in an ethical manner” (IDI 14). “So , the data sharing that’s a final component , but let’s talk data management… there’s lots of benefit to the data generator because that requires that you capture all the metadata required so , metadata management . Uh , getting to think about the storage , which means as you apply for grants , you can be able to also apply for grants to support data sharing , data management in itself , right ? So that’s another benefit to them . The fact that you have your data well organized , then it means it will increase your productivity as a researcher” (IDI 2). “ That should include ethical data sharing , consideration for benefit sharing , consideration for protection of human subjects and social harm , individual harm prevention , storage and storage standards and also maybe provide data repository requirements , including possibly having a national data repository… also include data security and privacy . Make sure we obtain informed consent , issues around what should be provided , intellectual property rights . Making sure that they understand the issues around IP registration for any innovation that is shared” (IDI 14).

Good data governance ensures that data quality will increase data value. This in turn stimulates researcher productivity and growth.

A focus on adequate data management and promoting sound data governance practices will significantly contribute to researchers’ willingness to share data.

“There is also a section on data sharing and data sharing agreements, whereby both the local institution and the collaborator, and another country should have equal rights to access that data to use it and to benefit from it” (IDI 9). “OK and if we are to contribute to the guidelines… . For me , the very first thing to do is we need data protection acts to come into play because we don’t have that . Once we have the Act , maybe we are safe in terms of protecting our data…before this guideline can be developed , I want to see the data protection acts (IDI 11).

Respondents nine and 11 further asserted that to practice good data governance, researchers need to be guided by regulations in the form of DTA or data protection acts. Moreover, respondent three mentioned that it would be ideal to have an oversight body or committee to monitor these acts independently, such as the REC.

“…preferably the Ethics Committees or it should be coordinated by independent bodies” (IDI 3).

2b). Developing mechanisms to protect researchers and research participants.

Respondents in the study spoke about their own vulnerability as confirmed in the companion paper [ 23 ]. Fears about scooping, publication pressure, and inadequate reward systems were deemed by researchers to be core factors for their reluctance to participate in data sharing [ 23 ]. To remedy the situation and provide researchers with some assurance, respondents suggested that mechanisms should be developed to protect them and their research participants.

Firstly, it is important to frame data sharing in a way that enhances the benefits to make it more appealing to researchers.

“ I was quite involved in the drafting of our policy within the organization and there the critical component is getting to talk to the scientists and look at it from their perspective to ensure there is a very clear pathway towards data sharing. Framing it in such a way that there is very clear benefit to them” (IDI 10).

Secondly, researchers need to continuously feel in control of their data. This assurance can be facilitated by having researchers as part of the data management process.

“…mechanisms that would allow fair data sharing and one of the key aspects is if someone is going to access and use that data, they would probably get permission from the investigator who conducted the research before they can use it just like we all do for secondary data analysis, we always get back to the investigator and then ask for their approval before that” (IDI 9).

Thirdly, researchers ought to be provided with sufficient time to adequately prepare high quality manuscripts for publication–prior to data sharing. This can be achieved by placing certain types of data under embargo.

“… researchers need to be protected …they need time to really reap the fruit of working on that study and they must publish… the data protection issues are very much important. Let other people access their data once the key investigators think they’ve answered the key questions and let people acknowledge this data” (IDI 12). “We needed those mechanisms in place and then of course we could have probably incentives for this research as well as collect the data to do the work first to utilize their data in publishing and maybe informing policy and probably developing products , before they share it , … maybe two years , maybe three years and after three years then the data can go to the open data source so that other researchers can benefit from it” (IDI 9).

Lastly, researchers, research participants and data collectors should be adequately rewarded for their time and effort.

“And they should definitely acknowledge the patients and the people who have actually collected the data and all that’s very important” (ID I 7).

Constructive steps to obviate researcher and participants’ apprehensions will lead to solutions that ultimately increase data sharing where all parties feel as if they are benefiting from research findings and outputs.

“…. So, I understand that science is a process, and everybody fits into the bigger scheme of things…there should be a bit more respect for the beginning of the pipeline and all the processes, particularly those that are involved with engaging directly with a human subject at the onset of a study. Because I think all of us place a lot more emphasis on, well, what can you do with the data, you know, what can you get out of it but there’s not much appreciation and recognition for the processes at large ” (IDI 15).

Theme 3: Reciprocity: towards equitable data sharing

The last theme that was identified focused largely on an approach that may be instrumental in fostering data sharing amongst researchers in SSA and consists of two subthemes, equity between countries and data sharing with communities. The concepts of benefit sharing, recognition, reward, and capacity building are central to establishing an equitable data sharing approach.

3a) Equity between countries.

Respondent 14 below spoke about the importance of examining existing guidelines such as the Nagoya protocol to guide researchers to develop mechanisms for benefit sharing in their respective countries. This can be crucial in formulating researcher standards needed to ensure equitable data sharing.

“… something like the Nagoya protocol, I would say that people who use data must be cognizant of and acknowledge in concrete ways, the people that have generated the data. I think we need more interventions like the Nagoya Protocol that tries to make concessions for benefit sharing. I think we need to have standards around benefit sharing so that every researcher, similarly to how you do your good clinical practice standards certification. I think we need standards around data sharing, and everyone adheres to good data sharing practices, as the basic minimum for all researchers” (IDI 14).

To advance equitable data sharing respondent 15 articulated that actively striving towards reducing inequities that researchers and research participants face in the global South needs prioritization. The first step toward equitable data sharing for all in SSA will be achieved by recognizing the value of not only the data but all people involved in the research process—thus emphasising research integrity, capacitating researchers, highlighting benefits derived from research and by communicating with research communities.

“When we have published information, we’ve also tried to make it more user friendly for people in the community, particularly the San Council, to have access to that and in one instance, when we had a science paper, we actually went back into the Kalahari on the occasion of Heritage Day and shared the excitement of the publication. Uh, another instance where we got an award for the publication that was monetary, I gave half to the San Council and the other half to the PhD student who did the work” (IDI 15).

3b) Data sharing with communities.

It is imperative that benefit sharing, especially in the context of genomic data, requires strategic planning and negotiations with all the stakeholders involved in a fair and ethical way to facilitate the goal of equitable data sharing on the continent. This was reflected in the extract below.

“… there should be mechanisms for benefit sharing right from the community where the research is done. They should need to be able to share from… how the derivatives are devolved will also talk about consent from the individuals who provided the data, we need to adequately obtain consent and tell them that their data is going to be shared, particularly genomic data. You know, data which may be identified and linked to community” (IDI 9).

Furthermore, respondent nine expressed that in the context of benefit sharing, all parties involved should be consulted. It is vital that communities should not be overlooked in this process as this will hinder any chances of equitable data sharing.

“ Benefit sharing, it’s very, very important, to the community, to our local research settings, and then the international community, because research is done in a collaborative manner, all those different stakeholders need to benefit. We need to adequately share that” (IDI 9).

Questions that need to be addressed at the outset when conducting research in communities within the context of benefit sharing, ought to explicitly specify the role of and benefit to each member. Respondent 15 below spoke about the importance of ethics in community engagement and how it is crucial for the researcher to define boundaries and stand firm in their beliefs to protect research communities to ensure that they ultimately benefit from the data that they have provided.

“What is the investment from each partner and it has to be of mutual benefit. Very often when you’re working on the African continent, you know everybody wants you because they want access to your samples or your data that you’re generating because of the populations and the richness of diversity of genomes on the continent…I value my ethics and the respect of the communities who have given me the privilege to work among them. So, you get different people even among the research community and basically you as an individual need to define the parameters of your operation. And where I was concerned, it was very high and, and that is why I can still keep my head up high that I would never succumb to pressure. I worked with what was available and I made sure that from the very beginning I set the rules of engagement with would be collaborators or research partners ” (IDI 15).

The parent research project sought to determine the perspectives of health researchers in SSA in terms of data sharing management and governance to contribute to the development of data sharing guidelines in SSA. The quantitative survey obtained a broad overview of researchers’ perspectives from SSA countries. Part of the qualitative study focussed on challenges faced by SSA health researchers from 16 different SSA countries working with data intensive research [ 23 ]. This paper has deliberated upon respondents’ comments regarding opportunities to share African research data within regional settings and beyond.

Across the different themes and subthemes, participants were mainly in agreement. More specifically in respect of the first theme, “strategies for change at a policy level: governance framework”, participants agreed that there needs to be a comprehensive framework to encourage data sharing. However, more discussion and variability occurred regarding the level of implementation that this guideline should prioritise. Congruence in terms of responses were observed for subthemes 1b) engaging diverse stakeholder groups in policy development” and 1c) core values in policy development: ethics at the centre. For themes 2 and 3, participants were largely in agreement.

The challenges expressed and the strategies proposed to address them mirror the duality embodied in the concept of data governance as “the exercise of authority and control over the management of data” [ 33 ]. The “exercise of authority” at a macro level is embedded in guidelines, laws and policies to govern data at multiple levels in its lifecycle [ 33 ]. At the same time, data governance at a micro level has the potential to enhance data quality by improving resources for data management and by reducing data related expense and risk [ 33 ]. Abrahams et al (2019) describe six data decision domains that are imperative to consider when focusing on data governance: data quality, data security, data architecture, data lifecycle, metadata and data storage/infrastructure [ 33 ]. Progress has been made to strengthen data management and training on the continent [ 34 ]. More specifically, the Committee on Data international science council (CODATA, 2024, 1) strives to “promote global collaboration to improve the availability and usability of data for all areas of research” [ 35 ]. A strategic priority of CODATA focuses on data skills and building capacity for open science. Hence, CODATA has organised many workshops intended for researchers to develop and strengthen their data skills needed to ensure proper data management practices [ 35 ].

During data collection for this study, it was revealed that researchers from SSA are just as willing and determined to share data via regulated platforms. Their desire to attain high research quality as well as global recognition has instilled in them the importance of organizational structures that control data sharing without stipulating that researchers relinquish control of their own data [ 13 ]. At the core of improving data quality lie significant financial and human resources to manage data at a micro level. Such resources are often lacking in SSA. This is a pre-requisite for data sharing [ 36 , 37 ]. There are current initiatives geared towards data science in Africa for researchers to assist with data management such as the Data Science for health discovery and innovation in Africa (DS-I Africa) [ 38 ]. DS-I Africa is an initiative that strives to support the development of the required expertise among African scientists and to initiate and foster networks of African investigators [ 38 ]. The core vision of the initiative “is to create and support a robust pan continental network of data scientists and technologies that will be equipped to apply advanced data science skills to transform health” (DSI-Africa, 2022) [ 38 ].

Another future programme with a recent funding call is the data governance for Africa Initiative by Wehubit [ 39 ]. More specifically, this initiative “supports projects that use digital technologies in exploring new ways to solve development challenges with human centric economies in Africa working on regulation, cross-data border flows and green digital infrastructure” (Vota, 2023,1) [ 39 ].

SSA researchers in this study were emphatic that stringent repository management [ 15 ] was fundamental to their participation in collaborative health research where any form of data sharing occurred. Respondents conceded that responsible research data sharing can produce fundamental health benefits not only for researchers but also for primary respondents or participants, as well as the relevant institutions and sometimes their countries [ 4 ]. They valued data sharing opportunities for the myriad potential digital health benefits while they also called attention to their concerns in terms of management and governance when African researchers share data.

It was established that respondents were positive about data sharing opportunities if there was access to rigid, meaningful guidelines, completed and signed agreements as well as MOUs specific to that study. Although they emphasized various stipulations including the significance of data protection legislation and DTAs to secure their data or their interests in the data sharing process, the general opinion was that research data sharing is progressive and allowed various stakeholders recognition only if there were honest, trustworthy sharing processes [ 40 , 41 ]. While laws and DTAs are necessary requirements for good governance, they may not be sufficient to promote open data sharing. Research integrity and trust are therefore central to data sharing practices ( Fig 2 ).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pdig.0000551.g002

It is imperative to ensure that trust is built with research participants, researchers, and research communities. The concept of trust and its importance within research, clinical settings and diverse fields has been widely reported [ 42 – 44 ]. Researchers in South Africa have also turned their attention to trust and data sharing within the context of biobanking [ 45 – 47 ]. Literature from the field of biobanking has illustrated that when developing and strengthening trust with diverse stakeholders, it is critical to adhere to strong ethical practices [ 45 , 47 , 48 ]. Researchers in SSA in this study explicitly spoke about the importance of ethics as a contributing factor to fair data sharing practices. Hence, it is important to look at ethical decision-making frameworks that are consistent with philosophical thinking in SSA [ 49 ]. Sambala et al. (2019) explored the merits of looking at public health research and decision- making based on the philosophy of Ubuntu. “Through its emphasis on humanity, compassion, and social responsibility, Ubuntu (“I am because we are”) has the potential to facilitate solutions to and avert conflicts between individual rights and public health” [ 49 ]. By shifting the focus from traditional western notions of moral reasoning and decision-making to a more African approach allows for a deeper understanding of practices and needs of research participants, their communities and researchers in the SSA region [ 49 – 51 ] have illustrated the utility of framing genomics research within the moral theory of Ubuntu and using it as a foundation to address inequity and advance ethical principles such as justice, fairness, solidarity, open sharing, and mutual trust.

Benefit sharing helps to build trust. The respondents interviewed stressed that privacy was just as important to the process of sharing as was making data available to all. They stated that effective decision making during the data sharing process could lead to benefits for all stakeholders either financially or professionally [ 1 ]. Benefit sharing has been recognised [ 2 , 52 ] to be an important mechanism to guarantee a balanced and fair distribution of research derived outputs. While there are recognised guidelines such as the Council for International Organisations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS) [ 53 ] and the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing [ 54 ], the detrimental impact of the vast inequities between countries from the Global North and South and particularly the lack of bargaining power of LMIC stakeholders is often neglected [ 10 , 55 ]. Haelewaters et al., 2021 discuss ten core rules to tackle power imbalances faced by Global South researchers. This includes establishing equal partnerships and mutually beneficial collaborations, actively initiating Global South collaborations, focusing on establishing synergistic collaborations, complying with local written and unwritten rules, acknowledging and embracing differences in working culture, inculcating equitable and collaborative research practices early on, use of local infrastructure, integrating a capacity building element, establishing ethical and fair practices regarding publications and authorship and ensuring research is made accessible through local dissemination [ 10 ].

An example of a successful case of benefit sharing in South Africa is the rooibos benefit sharing agreement between the South African San Council and the South African Department of Environmental affairs (DEA) [ 56 ]. This was a groundbreaking agreement where an indigenous group such as the San were able to take control of their traditional knowledge and derive monetary benefits with possible future requirement of non-monetary benefit sharing as well [ 56 ]. Core principles such as respect, honesty and care were underlined during the agreement process [ 56 ]. This is in line with the communitarian philosophy that Ubuntu embraces [ 49 ].

Similarly, Bedeker et al., (2022) have proposed a framework that focuses on advocating for a more ethical approach to benefit sharing for researchers and stakeholders from LMICs and under resourced areas. The framework is essentially a practical tool to aid users to recognize opportunities for benefit sharing within research programmes and is based on the socioecological model. The framework is divided into two dimensions, the goal of the first dimension is to identify stakeholders, dimension two shifts focus to defining how benefit sharing can be implemented [ 52 ].

Macpherson (2019) argues that in LMIC’s there is a need to strengthen capacity building, and this should be viewed as an extension of benefit sharing. In addition, the role of context and power imbalances has been recognised as playing a crucial role in attempts to level the playing field for researchers from LMICS [ 55 ]. Respondents in the study highlighted that within the policy development sphere, paying attention to context is critical in developing a more ethical approach to data sharing. Moreover, Macpherson (2019) has argued that identifying and addressing disparities between key stakeholders such as the community members, research participants, researchers, the public and institutions is vital in encouraging trusting research relationships [ 55 ]. Funders, such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States, which strongly support data management, sharing and governance in Africa (Data Science for Health Discovery and Innovation in Africa), play a crucial role in this regard [ 38 ]. However, the limitations of the funding landscape should also be considered. Resnik (2018) has argued that while funders have an obligation to distribute health resources based on expectations related to contribution to social value and the public good, the commitments of different funders may differ based on diverse philosophical assumptions or politics [ 57 ].

A study that assessed research data management (RDM) capabilities at a university in Ghana revealed that RDM is still lagging yet there is enormous potential for growth [ 58 ]. Similarly, findings from a study conducted in SA with researchers from 26 public universities revealed low levels of data literacy (DL) training [ 59 ]. Moyo and Bangani (2023) recommended that librarians and research support personnel should play a crucial role in developing training needs and strengthening DL amongst researchers [ 59 ].

Open, transparent researchers as well as ethical data sharing processes and guidelines will inevitably lead to empowering research collaborations. At the same time researchers on either side of the data sharing process are obliged to maintain confidentiality for the duration of the research and during sharing. In conjunction with confidentiality, primary respondent identities and personal characteristics are to remain anonymous to protect them [ 1 – 3 ]. Researchers, especially within the health sector, are encouraged to engage in data sharing. Onus is upon the primary researcher to obtain informed consent to participate in the study and allow for recording and sharing of data. Studies have demonstrated that transformation in healthcare data capturing systems and rapid AI development have resulted in the demand for more proficient data sharing systems in high income countries (HICs) [ 60 – 64 ]. Shah et al. (2022) applied a cross-sectional survey within four countries and advocated for data sharing to be aligned from the initial point of the face-to-face interview with the patient [ 63 ]. However, they emphasize the importance of maintaining equilibrium between privacy factors with the ultimate healthcare system and data sharing benefits. In their study, Li et al. (2022) conducted a systematic review of Electronic Health Records in HICs. They concluded that there was a higher prospect of meticulously captured clinical data evident from these studies where successful systems applied data quality algorithms to avert errors. Hence, such high quality of data completeness and planning generated by HICs increased efficiency of automatic data capturing and sharing; for example, the use of e-fax data [ 60 ]. However, such highly sophisticated systems ensuring de-identification, appear to be the prerogative of HICs. Health information technological advances and AI demand that health data be captured more efficiently electronically within secure network systems [ 61 ]. With the privilege of affordable fully digitized systems, HICs have the advantage over LICs and MICs. Expedient integration of data incentivizes researchers and promotes fair, de-identified data exchange within the health systems and data sharing among researchers. Improved Healthcare Systems, properly regulated data capturing and sharing frameworks and data collection policy modifications may be promoted via leading-edge enlightened political and professional contributions creating proficient collaborative partnerships between healthcare and society [ 61 , 62 , 64 ]. Seastedt, et al. (2022) also verified that with AI and advanced ‘global medical knowledge systems’ came greater interest in data sharing because of improved governance and with it a decrease in re-identification [ 62 ].

Ultimately, research integrity lies at the heart of building trust in research collaborations. Bak et al., (2023) explored the concept of governance of health data in research and has advocated for an approach that prioritizes trust and mutual cooperation between researchers and research participants [ 48 ]. In their paper, the authors argue that while data protection legislation holds obvious benefits, researchers can feel restricted by the laws imposed and can view DTA’s as stifling the scientific process [ 48 ]. To counteract the possibility of harmful consequences of data protection policies, Bak et al., (2023) have proposed practical solutions where trust is the cornerstone of this framework [ 48 ]. More specifically, their conceptual agenda explores three main ideas of trust, namely, trust as a multi-agent belief, encompassing the values of rationality and democracy and viewing trust as a means for priority setting [ 48 ]. This is consistent with findings of our study where researchers have recommended that while it is important to draft laws and regulations that promote data sharing and establishes data security what is equally important is instilling core ethical values as well as developing trust between researchers, research participants and communities to truly harness the benefits of data sharing for all parties involved.

Strengths and Limitations

Although this study yielded rich data on strategies to promote data sharing in SSA, many Francophone and Lusophone countries are not represented. This is due to the research being conducted by an English-speaking team, the lack of French and Portuguese speaking researchers in SA with expertise in data-sharing and the high costs of translation of transcripts from other languages to English. Obtaining 16 IDIs took nine months of concerted effort with challenges related to internet access, lack of responses to email invites and connectivity issues. Thus, aiming for a bigger sample size would require several more months. The aim was not to reach saturation per country but to obtain an overall picture of mitigating challenges experienced by health researchers from different SSA countries. We have completed an in-depth study in one country—South Africa—with a manuscript to be submitted for review shortly. So, data saturation was reached from a continental perspective in that respondents from different countries expressed similar views by interview 16 but country saturation in the wider SSA region was not reached. This is an area for further research in different countries. We have expanded the qualitative enquiry in SA in this manner and the same could be done for other countries. Despite these limitations, the data obtained is valuable and data saturation was reached after sixteen interviews.

Efficient management structures and policies, based on robust legislation, will encourage data sharing in SSA. However, trust in research collaborations and a culture of strong research integrity supersedes the security provided by laws and guidelines. Data sharing practices will be strengthened if ethics is acknowledged as a key contributing factor and by utilizing approaches such as Ubuntu to address instances of inequity or exploitation that plagued researchers in the past and hindered data sharing. Likewise, improving data management at a micro level to enhance data quality is non-negotiable. However, it is important to be cognizant of the role that funders and research support personnel play in strengthening data management. An inclusive approach involving multiple diverse stakeholders is critical in the development of guidelines and tools for data sharing. Benefit sharing was also identified as a key concept in facilitating data sharing. Successful initiatives such as the rooibos benefit sharing agreement provides evidence that reciprocity amongst stakeholders is core to building trust and that an equitable approach to data sharing holds immense utility and benefits for all involved.

Supporting information

S1 file. interview guide..

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pdig.0000551.s001

Acknowledgments

We thank Mrs Siti M. Kabanda for her assistance in conducting the intercoder reliability.

SK coded data for ICR purposes.

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• How to Write Recommendations in Research | Examples & Tips

How to Write Recommendations in Research | Examples & Tips

Published on September 15, 2022 by Tegan George . Revised on July 18, 2023.

Recommendations in research are a crucial component of your discussion section and the conclusion of your thesis , dissertation , or research paper .

As you conduct your research and analyze the data you collected , perhaps there are ideas or results that don’t quite fit the scope of your research topic. Or, maybe your results suggest that there are further implications of your results or the causal relationships between previously-studied variables than covered in extant research.

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What should recommendations look like, building your research recommendation, how should your recommendations be written, recommendation in research example, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about recommendations.

Recommendations for future research should be:

• Concrete and specific
• Supported with a clear rationale
• Directly connected to your research

Overall, strive to highlight ways other researchers can reproduce or replicate your results to draw further conclusions, and suggest different directions that future research can take, if applicable.

Relatedly, when making these recommendations, avoid:

• Undermining your own work, but rather offer suggestions on how future studies can build upon it
• Suggesting recommendations actually needed to complete your argument, but rather ensure that your research stands alone on its own merits
• Using recommendations as a place for self-criticism, but rather as a natural extension point for your work

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There are many different ways to frame recommendations, but the easiest is perhaps to follow the formula of research question   conclusion  recommendation. Here’s an example.

Conclusion An important condition for controlling many social skills is mastering language. If children have a better command of language, they can express themselves better and are better able to understand their peers. Opportunities to practice social skills are thus dependent on the development of language skills.

As a rule of thumb, try to limit yourself to only the most relevant future recommendations: ones that stem directly from your work. While you can have multiple recommendations for each research conclusion, it is also acceptable to have one recommendation that is connected to more than one conclusion.

These recommendations should be targeted at your audience, specifically toward peers or colleagues in your field that work on similar subjects to your paper or dissertation topic . They can flow directly from any limitations you found while conducting your work, offering concrete and actionable possibilities for how future research can build on anything that your own work was unable to address at the time of your writing.

See below for a full research recommendation example that you can use as a template to write your own.

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While it may be tempting to present new arguments or evidence in your thesis or disseration conclusion , especially if you have a particularly striking argument you’d like to finish your analysis with, you shouldn’t. Theses and dissertations follow a more formal structure than this.

All your findings and arguments should be presented in the body of the text (more specifically in the discussion section and results section .) The conclusion is meant to summarize and reflect on the evidence and arguments you have already presented, not introduce new ones.

The conclusion of your thesis or dissertation should include the following:

• A restatement of your research question
• A summary of your key arguments and/or results
• A short discussion of the implications of your research

For a stronger dissertation conclusion , avoid including:

• Important evidence or analysis that wasn’t mentioned in the discussion section and results section
• Generic concluding phrases (e.g. “In conclusion …”)
• Weak statements that undermine your argument (e.g., “There are good points on both sides of this issue.”)

Your conclusion should leave the reader with a strong, decisive impression of your work.

In a thesis or dissertation, the discussion is an in-depth exploration of the results, going into detail about the meaning of your findings and citing relevant sources to put them in context.

The conclusion is more shorter and more general: it concisely answers your main research question and makes recommendations based on your overall findings.

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• Published: 27 September 2024

Poly(methyl methacrylate) functionalized graphene oxide/CuO as nanocomposite for efficient removal of dye pollutants

• Omid Moradi 1 ,
• Masoud Mirzaian 1 &
• Sajjad Sedaghat 1  

Scientific Reports volume  14 , Article number:  22318 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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• Environmental chemistry
• Environmental sciences

In this research, the use of a three-component nanocomposite of graphene oxide-methyl methacrylate and copper(II) oxide (PMMA-GO-CuO) was investigated. The aim of synthesizing this nanocomposite is to removal dye pollutants, specifically methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO), which are commonly used in dyeing industries, through adsorption. The study focuses on creating GO-CuO and PMMA-GO-CuO nanocomposites as effective adsorbents. A simple and quick method led to the development of the PMMA-GO-CuO nanocomposite, which shows enhanced physical and chemical properties. Key materials include graphene oxide, methyl methacrylate, and copper(II) oxide nanoparticles. Characterization techniques such as FT-IR, XRD, SEM, and TGA were used to analyze the nanocomposite. Results indicate that dye adsorption is more effective at lower pH levels, suggesting that the PMMA-GO-CuO nanocomposite can efficiently remove dyes from industrial wastewater. The experimental data showed that the Langmuir isotherm model accurately represented the equilibrium adsorption, with maximum capacities of 285.71 mg g −1 for methylene blue and 256.41 mg g −1 for methyl orange, indicating a single layer of adsorption. The kinetics followed a pseudo-second order model, suggesting that the adsorption process involves chemical bonding. Additionally, thermodynamic parameters (ΔG°, ΔH°, and ΔS°) indicated that the adsorption is spontaneous. The adsorption mechanism involves hydrogen bonding, π-π interactions, and electrostatic interactions. This study investigates how factors like pH, temperature, contact time, and dye concentration affect the adsorption of methyl orange and methylene blue dyes. A PMMA-GO-CuO nanocomposite was used, achieving 84% removal of MB and 35% removal of MO from industrial wastewater. This study highlights the promising potential of PMMA-GO-CuO nanocomposite as an effective material for the removal of dye pollutants from industrial wastewater. The results showed that the graphene oxide in the composite is effective for removing cationic dyes due to its negative charge. Further research will focus on the optimization of the synthesis process with the aim of achieving competitive performance of this nanocomposite on a large scale. These findings not only advance the field of nanocomposite materials but also provide a practical solution to an important environmental issue, demonstrating the innovation of the present study in the literature.

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Introduction.

Excessive use of dyes in the world has caused the formation of dangerous environmental pollution compared to aqueous solutions 1 . Dyes exist as organic pollutants in various industries such as plastic, printing, textile, leather, paper, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals 2 , 3 . According to the reports, about 100 thousand types of commercial dye are used around the world to produce 700 thousand metric tons of different industrial dye every year 4 . However, due to the lack of proof of dye molecules on textile fibers, 15–50% of azo dyes are released into the wastewater of various industries 5 . This includes cases such as the concentration of dyes in the effluents of leather industries, which range between 1024 and 5083 mg L −1 6 , 7 . The development of industries and the use of effective catalysts in the chemical and environmental sectors to reduce environmental pollution and production costs have become significant. Research in nanocatalysis is expected to have an important impact on the development of new catalysts because the precise understanding of the chemistry of nanostructures and the ability to control materials at the nanoscale will lead to the logical and economic development of new and more powerful catalysts for the chemical, energy, and environmental sectors 8 . Different physical, chemical, and biological methods are also widely used for the treatment of wastewater in textile factories. These applied physical and chemical decontamination methods include membrane filtration processes 9 , advanced oxidation 10 , ion exchange 11 , desalination techniques 12 , coagulation/flocculation 13 , electrochemical 14 , and adsorption technologies 15 , 16 , 17 . Researchers have used various modified nanocomposites as optimal adsorbents for wastewater decontamination because of their unique surface properties, which include small size, abundant adsorption sites, available functional groups, surface area, and reported regeneration potential 18 , 19 . Considering that the removal of organic pollutants is very difficult and time-consuming, and also considering that a large percentage of these pollutants are made of organic compounds, the removal of these pollutants is costly. Therefore, new methods should be sought that are effective in removing these pollutants. The use of nanostructure compounds has been highly interesting to researchers due to its high efficiency. In order to effectively remove organic pollutants, it is better to use two or more component nanocomposites to increase the removal efficiency. Poly(methyl methacrylate), commonly known as PMMA, is a synthetic polymer that has been widely studied for its potential applications in adsorption-based dye removal processes from aqueous solutions. PMMA adsorption composites have several advantages 20 , 21 . The use of PMMA and its composites in adsorbing dyes shows their effectiveness in wastewater treatment applications. These studies highlight the importance of polymer composition, crosslinking methods, and the conditions under which adsorption occurs, such as pH and temperature, in optimizing dye removal efficiency. The versatility of these materials shows promising avenues for further research and development in environmental applications. As research in this field continues to progress, PMMA adsorbent composites are expected to play an increasing role in the development of efficient and cost-effective dye removal technologies for wastewater treatment applications 22 , 23 . Graphene oxide (GO) is one of the popular carbon adsorbents, with a specific surface area of 2600 m²/g, high thermal conductivity (3000 Wm/K), and higher mechanical and electrical strength 24 . In addition, carboxyl, hydroxyl, and epoxy groups on graphene oxide can increase the number of binding sites and significantly improve the hydrophilicity and high adsorption rate potential of the modified materials 25 . GO-based nanocomposite adsorbents offer numerous advantages for the adsorption of organic pollutants, especially dyes. As research in this area continues to progress, the application of GO-based composites is likely to expand and provide innovative ways to tackle pollution challenges 26 , 27 . Their high performance potential, rapid kinetics, and environmental compatibility make them promising candidates for effective and sustainable wastewater treatment solutions 28 . On the other hand, copper(II) oxide (CuO) adsorption composites are a promising solution for dye removal from wastewater. Their unique properties and the ability to increase adsorption capacity through composite formation make them a valuable tool in environmental modification. Continued research to optimize these materials will likely lead to more effective and sustainable methods for managing dye pollution 29 , 30 . The cost of nanocomposite production should also be reduced. Therefore, this research intends to determine the ability of a three-component nanocomposite based on graphene oxide, methyl methacrylate, and copper(II) oxide nanoparticles to adsorb various pollutants, including organic compounds 31 . Recently, the adsorption process has been proven effective in removing dyes, heavy metals, metal ions, and pharmaceutical pollutants from aqueous solutions. The methods available for removing dyes from dye industry wastewater include surface adsorption, biodegradation, photocatalysis, ion exchange, Fenton reaction, ozonation, and advanced oxidation 32 . The surface adsorption process is influenced by several factors, including the size of the adsorbent surface, the extent of dye interactions with the adsorbent, the ionic strength of the environment, temperature, the quantity of adsorbent, pH, duration, and initial concentration. The adsorption of dye relies on the interactions between the dye molecule and the adsorbent, which encompass π-π interactions, hydrogen bonds, and electrostatics 33 , 34 . Nanocatalysis is a combination of two developed fields: catalysis and nanotechnology. Catalysts have been one of the initial applications of nanotechnology on an industrial scale. The use of fine particles in heterogeneous catalysis reduces the size of the catalyst and reactor, allowing for optimal utilization of the active component (increased number of surface metal atoms). Therefore, there has always been interest in reducing the particle size in catalysis. Recently, there has been a growing understanding of various aspects of catalysis nanotechnology, and reducing particle size to the nanometer level has other implications, such as changes in particle properties 35 . Dye removal from wastewater is done by various methods, including physicochemical, ultrafiltration, ion exchange, reverse osmosis, activated carbon, clay, and silica gel. Considering the introduction of organic pollutants into the environment (such as insecticides, pesticides, chemical poisons, and organic dyes), serious damage to the environment and humans can occur. Therefore, it is crucial and necessary to develop an effective adsorbent for pollutant adsorption. Giving attention to economic efficiency during the synthesis and preparation of the adsorbent is highly important. This research aims to utilize an adsorbent that can efficiently remove pollutants, has low production costs, and most importantly, does not contribute to environmental pollution. Table  1 presents the characteristics of methyl orange and methylene blue dyes.

Nanocomposites are a subset of composites with nanometer dimensions in the range of 1–100 nm and have unique properties. They also exhibit improved mechanical, thermal, and chemical properties 36 . In recent years, graphene oxide has received special attention due to its economic efficiency and high adsorption capacity. Mechanisms affecting the removal of pollutants were studied with the Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm models. In 2020, Das et al. succeeded in making a nanocomposite of gadolinium oxide and bismuth oxide decorated on graphene oxide. They used the synthesized nanocomposite to adsorb methyl orange dye in aqueous solutions 37 . In 2022, Shi et al. prepared a graphene oxide-chitosan airgel composite for the removal of methyl orange and methylene blue dyes. They concluded that the GCA composite has a high adsorption capacity, reusability, and pH-responsive capability, making it promising for future applications. The composite is also effective in removing mixed dyes and selectively recovering dye components from water. Kinetic studies revealed that the adsorption process is multi-stage, and the maximum adsorption values of MO (Methyl Orange) and MB (Methylene Blue) were calculated using the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. Additionally, thermodynamic analyses showed that the adsorption process of MO is spontaneous and exothermic, resulting in a loss of disorder 38 . In another study, Foroughnia et al., investigated the removal of methyl orange dye by a Schiff-based 3-ethoxy-4-hydroxybenzylidene chitosan nanocomposite. Based on the reports, the prepared compounds performed well in removing methyl orange from the solution. They showed promise as cheap, biocompatible, and biodegradable natural adsorbents. The maximum adsorption of methyl orange occurred after 60 min, and the maximum adsorption capacity reached 18 mg g −1 39 . In a research by Lei et al., it was reported that the modification of ZIF-8 with PEI, which has abundant amino groups, resulted in a good adsorption performance for removing the anionic dye methyl orange using the imidazoline-8@polyethyleneimine-cyanuric chloride framework zeolite adsorbent. Additionally, the adsorption isotherm experiments indicated that the desired adsorbent is more consistent with the Langmuir model, and the adsorption kinetics follows the pseudo-second order model 40 . Based on research conducted by Azam et al., the synthesis of MMAC, MAC, and AC adsorbents was easily done using the sol-gel method, and the magnetic behavior was obtained by impregnating magnetite using the moisture impregnation method. The chemical regeneration of MMAC was formed and applied for 4 cycles of adsorption-desorption for aqueous solutions of methyl blue and methyl orange, and MMAC showed greater adsorption in an acidic environment compared to adsorption in neutral and basic environments. Compared to synthesized AC and MAC, MMAC showed a higher adsorption capacity for methyl blue and methyl orange dyes, while the surface area of MMAC was lower than that of MAC. In addition, MMAC, MAC, and AC adsorbents showed high removal efficiency for methylene blue at different pH levels 41 . In this research, a three-phase graphene oxide-methyl methacrylate nanocomposite and copper(II) oxide nanoparticles were used to remove the anionic dye methyl orange and the cationic dye methylene blue. In addition, the factors that affect the adsorption process of MB and MO dyes have been investigated. These factors include solution pH, adsorbent dose, analyte temperature, initial dye concentration, and contact time. FT-IR (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy), XRD (X-ray diffraction analysis), SEM (scanning electron microscope), and TGA (thermogravimetric) analyses were used to identify and characterize the synthesized materials. Methyl orange dye is a chemical compound and a pH indicator. The dye of this material is red in an acidic environment and yellow in a basic environment, and it is soluble in water due to the presence of the SO 3 group. The increasing prevalence of dye pollutants in aquatic systems poses significant environmental challenges and necessitates the development of efficient remediation technologies. This research paper presents a novel approach by synthesizing a PMMA-GO-CuO nanocomposite with the aim of enhancing the removal of dye pollutants from aqueous solutions.

Experimental

Graphene oxide (GO) with a molecular mass of 124.91 g mol −1 and copper(II) oxide nanoparticles (CuO) with a molecular mass of 79.545 g mol −1 were obtained from the USNANO company in the United States. Methyl methacrylate (MMA) and hydrazine (N 2 H 4 ) with a molecular mass of 100.121 g mol −1 and 32.0452 g mol −1 were purchased from MERCK, Germany, and finally, azobisisobutyronitil (AIBN) with a chemical formula of C 8 H 12 N 4 and a molecular mass of 164.21 g mol −1 was purchased and prepared from Aldrich.

Analysis devices

A Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR), model Perkinelmer Spectrum 100 from the USA, was utilized to analyze the functional groups in synthesized nanocomposite materials, covering the wave number range of 4000–400 cm −1 . The crystallinity of the polymer/nanoparticle nanocomposite was examined using an X-ray diffraction (XRD) machine, model X Pert Pro from England. To assess particle shape and size, a scanning electron microscope (SEM), model MIRA3 from England, was employed. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was conducted to evaluate thermal properties, while energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) was used for elemental analysis. Finally, a visible-ultraviolet spectrophotometer (UV–Vis) analyzed the dye solution for optical adsorption.

Synthesis of two-component nanocomposite (GO-CuO)

Synthesis of a two-component nanocomposite of graphene oxide and copper(II) oxide was carried out according to previous research 42 . First, weigh 0.2 g of graphene oxide and pour it into a 250 ml beaker. Add 50 ml of deionized water to the beaker. Next, place the solution on the magnet to allow it to dissolve well without heat. After 10 min, weigh 0.2 g of copper(II) oxide and add it to the solution. It should be noted that graphene oxide is slightly soluble in water and its molecules are dispersed. To achieve a homogeneous solution with distributed solvent molecules and solutes, the mixture of graphene oxide and water needs continuous stirring. For this, a high-speed magnet is used to stir continuously and evenly until the mixture reaches uniformity and consistency. On the other hand, place the obtained solution inside the ultrasonic device for 15 min to homogenize the nanoparticles well. In the next step, pour the solution into a two-hole flask and reflux it for 8 h at a temperature of 65–70 °C. After the reflux is complete, filter the solution containing the two-part nanocomposite using micro filter papers made from cellulose with an average diameter of 0.2 micrometers. Place the filtered solution in an oven at 70 °C for 24 h. It should be noted that due to the chemical bond between GO and CuO molecules, stirring should be continued for a long time. This period is usually mentioned in the literature between 5 and 6 h. But due to the high heat that causes the decomposition of GO, it is necessary to increase the reaction time while controlling the temperature of the reaction environment. Based on the authors’ experience, the optimal time for this study is 8 h.

Synthesis of three-component nanocomposite (PMMA-GO-CuO)

In this step, first, 0.3 g of a two-component nanocomposite (graphene oxide-copper (II) oxide) were weighed and poured into a 250 ml beaker, and 50 ml of deionized water was added to it. The solution was placed in an ultrasonic device for 20 min to ensure that the particles are well dispersed in the solution. Then, a few drops of ethanol (EtOH) were added to the solution to prevent it from becoming colloidal. The obtained solution was placed in a magnetic stirrer at 70 °C for 30 min. On the other hand, 5 ml of methyl Methacrylate and 0.1 g of AIBN were added to the solution and stirred for 25 min by a magnetic stirrer, and then refluxed for 6 h at 75 °C. Finally, it was dried in an oven for 72 h at 70 °C.

Adsorption experiments

Dye pollutants have a diazo structure and react with metal, resulting in the destruction of their structure. The fabricated copper(II) oxide nanocomposite is effective in degrading dyes. A dye solution containing methyl orange and methylene blue was prepared. It should also be stated that dye solutions were prepared separately and finally added to adsorbent solutions. Then, 0.01 g of adsorbent (PMMA-GO-CuO) was added to the dye solution, which was placed on a magnetic stirrer for 2 h (in 2 steps of one hour each), and Eq. ( 1 ) represents this process. Methyl orange was removed by 35% and 61% in the first hour and the second hour, respectively, and methylene blue was removed by 84% and 97% in the first hour and the second hour, as obtained through Eq. ( 2 ). The absorbance of the solution was measured using a UV-Vis spectrophotometer, and the λ max peaks for MB and MO dyes were found at 663 nm and 464 nm, respectively. In all experiments, the adsorbent dosage was 0.05 g L −1 . Adsorption for each of the results obtained from MB and MO dyes was measured separately using a UV–Vis spectrophotometer. Each experiment was repeated three times, and the average was considered at the end.

where C 0 and C t are the initial concentrations of MB and MO dyes at zero time and time t, respectively. These concentrations are measured in mol L −1 . Additionally, v (L) represents the volume of the solution, and m (g) represents the mass of the PMMA-GO-CuO nanocomposite. The adsorption capacities of the samples were also calculated. The experiments were conducted to examine the effects of solution pH, adsorbent dose, and contact time on the adsorption capacity of the nanocomposite for MB and MO dyes in the absence of light.

Results and discussion

Characterization of the synthesized samples, ft-ir analysis.

FT-IR spectrum (Fig.  1 ) was used to confirm the presence of all components and to identify the functional groups of the synthesized nanocomposite materials by providing information about the interactions among them. Infrared spectroscopy is a useful method for identifying organic compounds and their functional groups. This method is used to determine the different wavelengths of light of chemical bonds. In Fig.  1 a, the FT-IR spectrum of graphene oxide-copper(II) oxide is shown in the range of 4000–400 cm −1 wave numbers. The absorption bands observed in the range of 3000–3500 cm −1 are related to stretching vibrations of O–H groups. The peaks belonging to the stretching vibrations of C=O and C–O ester functional groups appear at 1711 and 1040 cm −1 , respectively. The index peak in the range of 400–600 cm −1 is related to the connection of copper metal with graphene oxide. In Fig.  1 b, the infrared spectroscopy of the ternary graphene oxide/copper(II) oxide/methyl methacrylate (PMMA-GO-CuO) nanocomposite is shown. The peak in the range of 3400 cm −1 is related to the stretching vibrations of O–H groups. C–O–C and C–OH groups are seen in the 1394 and 1042 regions. The peak in the region of 1600 is the stretching of the C=C group of the aromatic ring, and the peaks at 885 and 852 indicate the bending of the ring. PMMA peaks in the 2940 and 1380 regions are related to C–H bending vibrations in methylene and methyl groups. The peak in the region of 600 cm −1 is related to the connection of copper metal with graphene oxide 43 .

( a ) FT-IR Spectrum of GO-CuO and ( b ) FT-IR Spectrum of PMMA-GO-CuO.

X-ray diffraction study

One of the most important analyses in the characterization of nanocomposites is X-ray diffraction analysis. X-ray is a very suitable technique to confirm the presence and placement of polymer chains between silicate layers. The crystal structures of the synthesized graphene oxide/copper(II) oxide/methyl methacrylate samples were investigated by X-ray diffraction in Fig.  2 , which is in accordance with previous research 44 . As seen in Fig.  2 , the peaks of 14.9°, 17.9°, 23.2°, and 28.6° correspond to graphene oxide, while the peaks at 2.35°, 1.37°, and 52.5° confirm the presence of copper(II) oxide nanoparticles in the adsorber’s structure. The shorter peaks compared to graphene oxide indicate the strong bonding of copper(II) oxide nanoparticles to them. The sharp peak at 2θ around 11° is attributed to graphene oxide crystal sheets, according to the findings. There is a wide area around 25°, which is a result of the chemical exposure of copper(II) oxide nanoparticles on the surface of graphene oxide. This wide area indicates the presence of several incompatible phases, which is caused by the formation of a nanocomposite 45 .

XRD pattern of PMMA-GO-CuO nanocomposite.

Scanning electron microscope (SEM)

SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) analysis is a visual method for studying the morphology and particle size of nanocomposites. Few devices can compare to the Scanning electron microscope in terms of its scope of application for studying solid materials. Sample preparation for this method is often easily done. The structural and morphological features of the synthesized graphene oxide/copper(II) oxide/methyl methacrylate nanocomposite were investigated using a SEM. In Fig.  3 , the appropriate distribution of copper(II) oxide nanoparticles is shown, with graphene oxide nanosheets present on the surface. Additionally, the scanning electron microscope images reveal the simultaneous presence of copper(II) oxide and graphene oxide. The findings indicate that the graphene oxide sheets have formed large particles with a small thickness (approximately nanometers) and a folded structure. Furthermore, due to the low percentage of methyl methacrylate nanoparticles in the sample, these nanoparticles cannot be distinguished from copper(II) oxide.

SEM image of synthesized nanocomposite of PMMA-GO-CuO.

Elemental analysis (EDX)

This technique is a method to determine the elemental composition of a sample or part of a sample. EDX is not used alone, but is a system that is used together with the transmission electron microscope (TEM) and is actually a part of this microscope. Energy dispersive X-ray analysis was used to synthesize the sample PMMA-GO-CuO and study the position and properties of different elements on the surface of various species in detail, as shown in Fig.  4 . It is evident from this figure that carbon (C), oxygen (O), and copper (Cu) are present on the surface of the nanocomposite PMMA-GO-CuO with varying weight percentages. The results of the EDX analysis of the synthesized PMMA-GO-CuO nanocomposite sample are shown in Table  2 . According to the results obtained from the EDX analysis, there are approximately 57.28% by weight of carbon atoms, 37.71% by weight of oxygen atoms, and 5.01% by weight of copper(II) oxide in the prepared PMMA-GO-CuO nanocomposite, which also confirms the presence of copper in the composition. As it is evident from Table  2 , the elemental analysis results of the graphene oxide/copper(II) oxide/methyl methacrylate sample confirm the presence of methyl methacrylate. However, the decrease in the amount of methacrylate in the three-component nanocomposite of graphene oxide/copper(II) oxide/methyl methacrylate is due to the presence of copper(II) oxide and sample coating, which the device is unable to detect.

EDX surface chemical analysis of the synthesized sample PMMA-GO-CuO nanocomposite.

Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA)

Thermal properties are determined by conventional methods of thermal analysis such as gravimetry, differential and subtraction. The thermal result of the nanocomposite was obtained after the baking process and its results can be seen in Fig.  5 . During the thermal analysis of the polymer structure, as the temperature and energy increase, the polymer structure breaks along the length of the polymer chain, particularly the weaker links that have a longer length. In Fig.  5 , the thermal decomposition of the graphene oxide/methyl methacrylate and copper(II) oxide nanocomposite is shown. To assess the thermal stability of the polymer/nanoparticle nanocomposite, TGA analysis was conducted in the temperature range of 0–800 °C. In Fig.  6 , the TGA and DSC charts demonstrate the thermal stability of the synthesized PMMA-GO-CuO nanocomposite from 25 to 800 °C. This indicates that the synthesized nanocomposite exhibits good thermal stability, as it can withstand temperatures up to 300 °C with less than 10% degradation of the analyzed sample. Initially, in the temperature range of 25–300 °C, CO 2 is released, and after 300 °C, the slope of the graph steepens, indicating the complete destruction of the polymer nanocomposite (removal of the carboxylic group). However, in the desired nanocomposite, high thermal stability is attributed to the coating of copper (II) oxide layers on the surface of graphene oxide and methyl methacrylate.

Thermo gravimetric analysis of the studied nanocomposite adsorbent.

TGA and DSC diagram of PMMA-GO-CuO nanocomposite.

Dye adsorption study

Initial concentration effect.

The speed of adsorption depends on the initial concentration of the pollutant because it is an important factor in the dyeing process. The effect of initial dye concentration on the adsorption efficiency of MB and MO dyes was investigated with synthesized adsorbents in the range of 10, 15, 20, and 25 ppm, and the results are shown in the diagram of the initial concentration of MB and MO dyes with polymethyl-based nanocomposite. Methacrylate-graphene oxide-copper(II) oxide is presented in Fig.  7 The results show that by increasing the initial concentration of the dye from 10 to 25 ppm, the removal percentage of MB and MO dyes using PMMA-GO-CuO adsorbent decreased. Because at low concentrations, there are more active and empty sites, therefore, at higher concentrations, most of the adsorption sites may be occupied by dye molecules 46 . Therefore, the initial concentration of MB and MO dyes was determined to be the optimal initial concentration of 15 ppm.

The effect of initial dye concentration on efficiency of adsorption of MB and MO dyes under conditions of: pH = 7.2, contact time = 120 min and temperature 25 °C.

Effect of pH solution

The pH of the solution is one of the main factors in the adsorption process, which can affect the amount of ionization, the surface charge of the adsorbents, and the separation of functional groups in the active adsorption sites of the adsorbent. In order to keep the pH constant, a buffer solution has been used. HCl 0.1 M or NaOH 0.1 M was used. So that it is added drop by drop to the dye solution separately to obtain the desired pH. The adsorption of MB and MO dyes on different adsorbents is significantly affected by the pH of the solution. Therefore, it is very important to investigate the effect of the pH value of the solution on the dye removal process. The results of the experiment show that with the increase in the pH of the solution, it increased from 4.2 to 8.2 for both dyes MB and MO. So, for MB, it has increased from 13.2 to 18.9, and for MO, from 11.5 to 17.9. The adsorption of MB and MO dyes occurred in the pH range of 4.2–8.2, and the results are shown in Fig.  8 . According to the results, there was no significant change in the adsorption percentage of the dyes as the pH increased. The increase of H + ions affects the degree of ionization of dye molecules and the surface charge of the adsorbent. By decreasing the adsorption amount of MB and MO dyes at acidic pH levels, hydrogen ions compete more with dye cations for adsorption sites. This issue is also present in the research presented by Moradi et al. in 2022. For two cationic and anionic dyes, MB and MO, respectively, they observed that the pH increased with increasing temperature and remained almost constant after a certain temperature, indicating that adsorption was more effective in the optimal playing environment. In other words, by reducing the number of positively charged groups on the adsorbent surface, the amount of dye adsorption reaches its maximum at pH = 6.5. Therefore, an effective pH of 6.5 is considered 47 . On the other hand, at higher pH levels, the adsorbent surface becomes predominantly negatively charged, leading to greater dye adsorption through electrostatic interactions 48 . Therefore, the highest adsorption efficiency was obtained at pH 7.2. Understanding this relationship is very important to optimize the removal of these pollutants from wastewater. Here, we take a closer look at how solution pH affects the adsorption processes of MB and MO dyes.

Effect of solution pH on removal rate ( a ) and removal percentage ( b ) of MB and MO separately: initial concentration = 15 ppm, contact time = 120 min, temperature = 25 °C.

In optimizing solution pH for the adsorption of MB and MO dyes, a slightly alkaline MO dye (about 7–9) is often optimal to maximize adsorption, and for MB dye, maintaining a low pH (about 4–6) is generally optimal to increase adsorption efficiency. Accordingly, the choice of adsorbent is important because materials with different surface charges can significantly affect the adsorption capacity based on the pH of the solution 49 . By adjusting the pH, the removal of these dyes from the wastewater is optimized, and the efficiency of different adsorbents increases. Understanding these interactions not only helps in environmental management but also in the development of more efficient wastewater treatment processes 50 . By determining more research solutions, investigating the effects of various variables, including temperature, ionic strength, and pH, is essential. According to the studies, the discovery of novel adsorbents can maintain a high adsorption capacity over a wide range of pH levels.

The effect of contact time effect

The effect of contact time on the removal of methyl orange and methylene blue dye was investigated in time intervals (10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, and 120 min). The results of this study are shown in Fig.  9 . With the increase of contact time in different time intervals, the removal efficiency of methyl orange and methylene blue dyes for PMMA-GO-CuO adsorbent, as well as the separate removal of MB and MO dyes, decreased. In the initial contact times, the increase in the amount of adsorption productivity with increasing time can be due to the availability of adsorption sites on the adsorbent surface. As the contact time increases, the adsorption sites are occupied by dyes and then the surface of the adsorbent becomes saturated, which causes the adsorption efficiency to decrease 51 . The trend of changes in terms of time can be attributed to the gradual saturation of the adsorbent sites of dye molecules. Therefore, the contact time of 120 min was chosen as the optimal contact time for the adsorption of dyes by PMMA-GO-CuO for MB and MO dyes.

The effect of contact time on the efficiency of adsorption MB and MO dyes in the conditions of: pH = 7.2, dye concentration = 15 ppm and temperature 25 °C.

Effect of temperature

The effect of temperature on the efficiency of adsorption of methyl orange and methylene blue dyes was investigated in the temperature range of 20–35 °C, and the results are presented in Fig.  10 . According to the results, it can be seen that with increasing temperature from 20 to 35 °C in the PMMA-GO-CuO adsorbed, the removal percentage of methyl orange and methylene blue dyes, as well as their separate adsorption percentage, gradually decreased. This trend shows that the adsorption process is exothermic and mostly occurs spontaneously. With the increase in dye adsorption efficiency at high temperatures, it may be due to the strength of adsorption forces between dye molecules and functional groups on the adsorbent surface during the process of surface adsorption 52 . As a result, the highest adsorption efficiency was obtained at a temperature of 25 °C (298 K).

The effect of temperature on the efficiency of adsorption of MB and MO dyes under conditions of: pH = 7.2, dye concentration = 15 ppm, contact time = 120 min.

Adsorption isotherms

Adsorption isotherms express the equilibrium amount of adsorbed material on the surface of the adsorbent in physical or chemical form. It is also used to determine the maximum adsorption capacity of the adsorbent and define the interaction between composites, which plays an important role in the design of adsorption systems 53 . Adsorption isotherm relationships describe the distribution of adsorbed substances between two solid and liquid phases after reaching the equilibrium point 54 . In this research study, the adsorption mechanism has been investigated in order to study and understand it. The adsorption isotherms have been analyzed using Langmuir, Freundlich, Dubinin–Radeshkovich, and Temkin models, as shown in Fig.  11  and Table  3 .

Langmuir isotherms are used to describe equilibrium adsorption with monolayer adsorption on a surface with a certain number of active adsorption sites that have equal energy. In the Langmuir model, it is assumed that the adsorption on the active sites is carried out uniformly and is a single layer. From Eq. ( 3 ), the linear model of the Langmuir isotherm is described.

where the equilibrium concentration of C e (mg L −1 ), the equilibrium adsorption capacity is q e (mg g −1 ), and the maximum adsorption capacity is q m (mg g −1 ). The Langmuir adsorption constant K L (L mg −1 ) is related to the adsorption, where R L is the separation characteristic of the Langmuir adsorption isotherm model, which is defined using the relation ( 4 ).

where R L shows is the degree of attraction of the adsorbent to the surface adsorbent. If R L = 0, adsorption is irreversible, if 0 < R L < 1, adsorption efficiency is favorable, if R L = 1, adsorption is linear, and if R L > 1, adsorption is unfavorable. The Freundlich isotherm is an empirical equation that characterizes heterogeneous surfaces with reversible adsorption. It is suitable for multi-layer adsorption and accounts for interaction between the adsorbed molecules 55 and Eq. ( 5 ) is defined as:

where K F and 1/n are the Freundlich constants, representing the maximum adsorption value and the homogeneity factor, respectively. The values obtained by drawing the ln q e graph are reported in terms of ln C e 56 . Value of 1/n is reported to determine the optimal conditions of the adsorption process. If 1/ n  = 0, the adsorption process is irreversible and if 0 < 1/ n  < 1, the adsorption process is favorable. Finally, if 1/ n  > 1, the adsorption process is unfavorable 57 .

The Dubinin–Radushkevich isotherm model is used to determine the physicochemical adsorption with Gaussian energy diffusion on a heterogeneous surface 58 . The D–R isotherm model is expressed as Eq. ( 6 ):

where the equilibrium value of the adsorbed mass per unit mass of adsorbent is q e (mg g −1 ), the maximum adsorption capacity is q m (mg g −1 ), the constant related to the adsorption energy (mol 2 /kJ 2 ) is β, and the Polanyi coefficient related to the adsorption potential ε is (kJ mol −1 ) 59 . ε is calculated from the Eq. ( 7 ):

where the global constant of gases is R (8.314 J mol K −1 ), temperature T (K), and equilibrium concentration of C e (mg L −1 ). E, the average free energy of the process for each adsorbent molecule, is calculated by the Eq. ( 8 ):

If the obtained E value is less than 8 kJ mol −1 , the adsorption process is physical, and if its value is 8–16 kJ mol −1 , it indicates the chemical adsorption process 60 . In Temkin’s isotherm model, the heat of adsorption of all molecules in the surface layer with the coating that is created as a result of the interaction between the adsorbents mainly decreases linearly. The general shape of the compliance isotherm is linear and is determined by Eq. ( 9 ):

Therefore, the constant value of b depends on the heat of adsorption. K T is also the binding constant of the equilibrium or the constant of the Temkin isotherm (m 3  kg −1 ). By drawing the graph q e in terms of lnC e , the constants b and K T are obtained from the slope and width from the origin of the graph, respectively 58 .

Linear relationship of adsorption isotherms. ( a ) Langmuir model. ( b ) Freundlich model and ( c ) Dubinin–Radushkevich model. ( d ) Temkin model on adsorption of MB and MO dyes.

Kinetic study

Adsorption studies are typically reviewed to gain a deeper understanding of the adsorption mechanism. For this reason, pseudo-first order, pseudo-second order, intraparticle diffusion, and Elovich kinetic models have been used to evaluate adsorption data and adsorption kinetics in this research. The pseudo-first order kinetic model follows Eq. ( 10 ).

where q e and q t (mg g −1 ) are the equilibrium adsorption amounts, t (min) is the time, and k 1 is the pseudo-first order kinetic constant 61 .

Pseudo-quadratic kinetics is one of the most widely used kinetic models in determining the kinetic behavior of the adsorption of pollutants from aqueous solutions. According to Eq. ( 11 ), the linear form of the pseudo-quadratic kinetic equation is as follows:

where q e is the equilibrium adsorption capacity and k 2 (min −1 ) is the quasi-quadratic kinetic constant. The q e and k 2 values of the slope and width are obtained from the origin of drawing the graph t/q e in terms of t 62 . The intraparticle diffusion model presents the different steps of the adsorption process as well as the rate determination step, which is in the form of Eq. ( 12 ).

where ki is the penetration rate constant inside the particle, which is obtained by plotting q t in terms of t 1/2 curve with three separate points 63 .

C is a constant related to the thickness of the boundary layer. The higher k, is greater the probability of penetration into the adsorbent. Additionally, as the value of C increases, the performance of the boundary layer on adsorption increases 64 . The values of C and k i are obtained from the origin width and the slope of the graph. If the curve is a straight line, the adsorption process involves intraparticle diffusion. If the line passes through the origin, intraparticle diffusion only involves the rate-limiting step 65 .

The Elovich relation gives the chemical adsorption on the adsorbent surface and the activation energy. Elovich’s kinetic model is used, assuming that real solid surfaces are energetically homogeneous. However, this equation cannot provide a specific mechanism of interaction between the adsorbent and the adsorbed surface, as shown by Eq. ( 13 ) 66 .

where α (mg g min −1 ) is the initial adsorption value and β (g (mg) −1 ) is the desorption constant 67 .

In this study, the pseudo-first order, pseudo-second order, intraparticle diffusion, and Elovich kinetic models were studied, and the results obtained are shown in Fig.  12 and Table  4 . According to the results, the discontinuous experimental data of MB and MO dye adsorption follows the pseudo-second order kinetic model. This conclusion was made by comparing the value of R 2 with the kinetic models. As reported in the results of the literature related to the subject under study, the value of the correlation coefficient (R 2 ) in the kinetic data of the adsorption of dyes is in the range of 0.9321 to 0.9990 68 , 69 . In this study, the value of R 2 with pseudo-second order kinetics and the value 0.999 was best described as indicating chemisorption at this stage. Additionally, the amount of adsorption capacity obtained by the pseudo-second order kinetic model is higher compared to the pseudo-first order kinetic model for the adsorption of methyl orange and methylene blue dyes using a three-component adsorbent. Therefore, it can be concluded that the second-order pseudo-kinetic model is more capable of describing the kinetic behavior of the mentioned cationic and anionic dyes adsorption process using the desired adsorbent. In Elovich’s kinetic model, the α parameter value for the adsorbent was determined to be higher than the β parameter. This indicates that cationic and anionic dyes are more adsorbed on the adsorbent surface and also have more adsorption compared to desorption 70 . Also, the investigation of the intraparticle diffusion model shows that the adsorption of anionic and cationic dyes, similar to the adsorption process of methyl orange and methylene blue dyes, has three separate steps 71 .

Kinetic models of ( a ) pseudo-first order, ( b ) pseudo-second order, ( c ) intraparticle diffusion, and ( d ) Elovich on the adsorption of MB and MO dyes.

Thermodynamic calculations

Thermodynamic parameters ΔH° and ΔS° are calculated using Van’t Hoff relations and relations ( 14 )–( 16 ) 72 :

where the equilibrium constant k d , the equilibrium adsorption capacity q e (mg g −1 ), the equilibrium constant C e (mg L −1 ), the global gas constant R (8.314 J mol −1  K −1 ), and the temperature T (K) are. The values of ∆H° and ∆S° are calculated from the slope and width from the origin of drawing the graph of ln k d against 1/T.

In order to investigate the thermodynamics of the adsorption process of methyl orange and methylene blue dyes, the thermodynamic parameters ΔH° and ΔS° are determined from the slope and width respectively from the origin of plotting ln k d against 1/T, which is shown in Fig.  13 . The calculated thermodynamic characteristics are also reported in Table  5 . According to the reported results, the amount of Gibbs free energy for both methyl orange and methylene blue dyes was calculated to be negative, which indicates the spontaneous and exothermic nature of the adsorption process. Due to the chemical modification of the GO surface by Poly(methyl methacrylate) and CuO nanoparticles, it can be used to remove cationic and anionic dyes. Regarding cationic dyes, they can bind with sulfur atoms and oxygen atoms in CuO nanoparticles. For anionic dyes, oxygen atoms can bind with copper ions in copper oxide nanoparticles. In both cases, the type of connection is electrostatic interactions. Additionally, due to the presence of benzene rings, both dyes can be removed by GO and PMMA polymer through the π–π interactions mechanism. The enthalpy of MB and MO dyes was determined to be − 17.252 and − 8.517 kJ mol −1 , respectively. The small value of enthalpy indicates the weak interactions of cationic and anionic dyes between the adsorbent surfaces, which indicate that the adsorption process is usually physical. Due to the small nature of the enthalpy value, this range in the heat of 40–50 kJ shows the physical enthalpy, and the heat above 50 kJ mol −1 shows the chemical enthalpy 73 . The entropy value for methyl orange and methylene blue dyes is − 15.440 and − 45.345 J mol −1 K −1 , respectively. The negative value of entropy means that the random collisions between the adsorbent and the surface of the solution during the process of surface adsorption should be reduced and the dye ions tend to separate from the surface of the adsorbent and enter the aqueous solution 74 .

Linear relationship between ln k d and 1/T in order to determine the thermodynamic parameters of the adsorption of methyl orange and methylene blue dyes.

Adsorption mechanisms

The study investigated the possible performance of MB and MO adsorption on the surface of PMMA-GO-CuO nanocomposite. Analysis of solution pH was identified as the most important factor in MB and MO dyes adsorption. The successful adsorption mechanism of MB and MO includes electrostatic interactions, hydrogen bonding, and π–π interactions, which was confirmed by the PMMA-GO-CuO adsorbent. Methylene blue dye is in a cationic solution, which interacts favorably with the acidic surface of PMMA-GO-CuO nanocomposite through electrostatic interactions. The FT-IR spectrum is used to investigate the interactions involved in the adsorption of MB and MO. By examining the adsorption mechanism, it was concluded that the electrostatic interactions between the anionic methyl orange dye with CuO, and also between the cationic methylene blue dye with CuO, and also between COOH and Cu + is the key force for adsorption. Benzene, OH, and COO rings on the surface of graphene oxide interacted with amines and quaternary ammonium through π–π interactions, hydrogen bonding, and electrostatic interactions. The π–π interactions between benzene rings in cationic methylene blue dye with Poly(methyl methacrylate) and anionic methyl orange dye with Poly(methyl methacrylate) and graphene oxide was determined. Finally, N–H hydrogen bonding between cationic methylene blue dye and Poly(methyl methacrylate) was observed. Hydrogen bonding may act as a dominant interaction in the band, which may result from aromatic or aliphatic amines 75 . In the FT-IR spectrum of the PMMA-GO-CuO nanocomposite, it is observed that it can be easily protonated and readily interacts with N atoms in MB and MO dye. The results indicate that the dominant mechanism for MB removal using the PMMA-GO-CuO nanocomposite is chemisorption. XRD and FT-IR analysis were performed on the materials before and after MO adsorption to determine the mechanism of MO adsorption. The XRD patterns show that all the peak features of PMMA-GO-CuO are in the same positions as before and after MO adsorption. Methyl orange is an anionic dye, so it increases the probability of its adsorption on the positively charged adsorbent surface through electrostatic interactions. Also, methyl orange has an adsorption band at wavenumbers 624 cm −1 and between 1205 and 1367 cm −1 due to the C–S stretching vibration and the sulfonate stretching vibration S=O, respectively 76 . The π–π interactions may also occur between MO and PMMA-GO-CuO, as both have an aromatic ring, thus exhibiting negligible change in FT-IR adsorption. In many cases, the adsorption of dyes on graphene oxide adsorbents is carried out with the involvement of π–π interactions, electrostatic interactions, and hydrogen bonding. In Fig.  14 , the involvement of these interactions on the PMMA-GO-CuO adsorbent studied using cationic and anionic.

Schematic illustration of the adsorption mechanisms of MB and MO dyes by the PMMA-GO-CuO nanocomposite.

Comparison of results with other research studies

The comparison of the maximum adsorption capacity of the adsorbent synthesized in this study with the maximum adsorption capacity q max (mg g −1 ) of other adsorbents is shown in Table  6 . This comparison states that the adsorption capacity of the used three-component adsorbent is higher than the adsorption capacity of other adsorbents, even for the adsorption of independent dyes. In this study, the maximum adsorption capacity of the PMMA-GO-CuO adsorbent for the adsorption of methyl orange and methylene blue dyes is 256.41 and 285.71 mg g −1 , respectively. While the adsorption capacity values of the adsorbents compared in the table were much lower for the removal of independent dyes. Based on the obtained information, the simultaneous presence of dyes in an aqueous solution reduces the adsorption rate of each dye by the adsorbent compared to their independent state, which is due to competition between dyes in the adsorption process. Therefore, it can be concluded that the three-component PMMA-GO-CuO adsorbent used in this research is an efficient and promising adsorbent for removing methyl orange and methylene blue dyes from aqueous solutions.

In this study, graphene oxide-methyl methacrylate-copper(II) oxide (PMMA-GO-CuO) nanoparticles were successfully synthesized from a ternary nanocomposite in the presence of basic aqueous solutions. MB and MO dyes were determined from aqueous solution using PMMA-GO-CuO discontinuous adsorption mode through FT-IR, XRD, SEM, EDX, and TGA analyses. In order to determine the most optimal state of the adsorption process, the effect of the effective factors on the adsorption process was investigated: pH = 7.2, initial dye concentration = 15 mg L −1 , temperature = 298 K and contact time = 120 min. The PMMA-GO-CuO nanocomposite is effective in removing dyes, particularly showing a higher adsorption for MB dye compared to MO dye. Kinetic studies indicate that the pseudo-second order model best describes the adsorption process. The nanocomposite has maximum adsorption capacities (q max ) of 285.71 mg g −1 for MB and 256.41 mg g −1 for MO at 298 K. Under optimal conditions, the adsorption percentages reached 84% for MB and 35% for MO, highlighting its potential for dye removal applications. The study explored how a three-component nanocomposite, made of PMMA, GO, and CuO, interacts with dye molecules, specifically methyl orange (MO) and methylene blue (MB). The experimental data demonstrated that the adsorption of these dyes followed the Langmuir isotherm model, indicating a strong fit (R 2  = 0.999) across different temperatures. The analysis revealed that the adsorption process is both spontaneous and exothermic, which means it occurs naturally and releases heat. Overall, the PMMA-GO-CuO nanocomposite proves to be an effective material for removing both anionic and cationic dyes from water. In this study, a pioneering approach for the removal of dye pollutants using PMMA-GO-CuO nanocomposite is presented. Innovative materials design, synergistic mechanisms, enhanced removal efficiency, and environmentally friendly synthesis methods generally contribute to the novelty of this study.

Data availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.

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Moradi, O., Mirzaian, M. & Sedaghat, S. Poly(methyl methacrylate) functionalized graphene oxide/CuO as nanocomposite for efficient removal of dye pollutants. Sci Rep 14 , 22318 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-72937-4

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-72937-4

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