How to write the conclusion to a PhD chapter

We are not going to worry for the moment about style. We are just going to specify which elements are needed in a conclusion and go through some quite mechanical formulations for expressing them. Literary refinements can come later.

The introduction will have specified that you are looking at phenomenon X in geographical area Y during period Z. Therefore, in your conclusion, you need to include a statement like: “This chapter has shown that in respect of phenomenon X in geographical area Y during time period Z, such and such was the case.” This does not simply involve repeating everything you have already told the reader in terms of factual content. Note that there is a difference between what you have shown factually and what you have shown analytically.

You may wish to recapitulate your key factual findings, especially if you have succeeded in demonstrating something that overturns existing understandings. Yet factual findings are only significant if they sustain a wider analytical point. In other words, you need to reflect on why what you have shown factually is important analytically. What do we know now, in light of your research, that we did not know before, and why does that matter?

The issue of why what you have written matters, often referred to as the “So what?” question, is one that students often struggle with. So here is a (non-exhaustive) list of different vectors of analysis:

• Earlier/later: Did the phenomenon you are discussing start earlier than previously believed, or later? Did it end earlier or later than the previous scholarship suggests?

• Bigger/smaller: Was the phenomenon more or less widespread than previously believed?

• Simple/complex: Was the phenomenon simpler or more complex than previous scholars have argued?

• Global/local: Is what was previously thought to be a local phenomenon actually global (or national, or regional), or vice versa?

• Identity/group significance: Was the phenomenon, which has until now been thought to apply to an entire society, in fact something experienced differently by particular groups (e.g. genders, ethnicities, age demographics)?

• Weak/strong: Were the people who had power in this situation different from the group that has conventionally been suggested?

• Continuity/change: Was what has previously been presented as revolutionary actually evolutionary, or vice versa?

Remember also that you will have chosen the chronological period covered by your chapter not randomly, but because it has significance in itself. Therefore, you will likely want to make an argument about the meaning and significance of this exact historical period in relation to the phenomenon you are discussing. A typical way of approaching this is to suggest that the period you are examining represents a turning point - you, of course, need to specify clearly in what way and to what extent.

Those are suggestions for what you should be including in your conclusion. But what about the process of producing a draft? There are different ways of approaching this. To begin with, as you are writing the substantive part of the chapter, you may wish to make notes or bullet points at the end of the chapter when something particularly significant occurs that is likely to be worth mentioning in the conclusion.

Then, when you have finished the substantive section, you can add further bullet points. Just before you embark on writing the conclusion, read what you have already written thoroughly and again make any relevant notes. That is, write down key points in the story you have told. Once you have done that, you may wish to have your list of bullet points in front of you and try to weave them together, or you may simply prefer to sit down and hammer out a few paragraphs. Try to avoid pausing every sentence to look things up or add citations. Go with what comes naturally and check the details later.

Remember that in the conclusion, you should not be introducing substantive new factual material. One or two pertinent pieces of evidence are fine, but you are reaching the point where the reader really wants to finish the chapter. You do not want to distract them with material that really should have been included earlier. Keep it short and sweet. The conclusion should be no more than 5% of the word-count of the entire chapter.

It is particularly difficult to write the final sentence of the conclusion, which should try to encapsulate what you have said while also including at least a hint of a new direction in thinking. An effective way to approach this is to try to express things in terms of a paradox or contrast. For example: “Person A intended to achieve B, but for a variety of [briefly specified] reasons, ended up achieving C instead.”

Now you have a rough draft of your conclusion, which is good news. But the bad news is that you haven’t finished yet, even if you are really satisfied with what you have written. This is because you need to ensure that all the previous parts of the chapter, including the introduction, are consistent with and logically build up to the conclusion itself.

You may find that you have written some excellent sentences that deserve to be prioritised and mentioned in the introduction rather than the conclusion. In that case, you need to ensure that the conclusion does not simply repeat them – though it should reinforce them. This is to say, there is an iterative process by which you are going to try to ensure that the introduction, conclusion, and everything in between really match up. This can involve a process of moving material around and trying out variants.

What you are trying to avoid is a situation where the person reading the chapter - in the first instance, most likely your supervisor - gets to the end, reads your conclusion, and thinks, “Oh, so that’s what they were trying to tell me! Why didn’t they mention it earlier?” Of course, it is your supervisor’s job to help you navigate these thickets, but you should also be trying to minimise the amount of effort they need to put into helping you clarify your key claims and conclusions, so they can focus on addressing the intellectual substance of your contribution.