Task 1 – conclusions

Is a conclusion necessary?

This will depend to some extent on how you have written the report. It is quite possible that you do not need a conclusion if

1. You have written a strong introduction and identified the main patterns/trends of the chart/graph in the introduction, so you don’t need to repeat yourself in the conclusion.

2. You have written very clear “topic” sentences in your main paragraphs and the main points are already clear and cannot easily be summarised

3. You have 2/3 charts/graphs and there is no one conclusion

If, however, you have not used a strong introduction and if you only have one main paragraph, then it is sensible to include a conclusion

Length

You don’t have to write too much. A sentence is enough. It can even be quite a short sentence. It can be a mistake to include too much detail in the conclusion as the examiner will cross it out if it is simply copied from the main body of your report.

Ideas

The danger is you put your own ideas into the conclusion as this is one of the things that you do in academic essays. This is a reporting/summarising task though, so it is a mistake to do this or to interpret the data.

Content

The usual rule is that you should not put any new detail into a conclusion, but only summarise your main content paragraphs. This means in practice that you pick out the main details of the chart/graph you have been looking at. This will be typically the main trends or patterns in the chart/graph.

How to do it

Here’s the trick. When you write the conclusion, don’t look at the graph or what you have already written. If you do that, you may write too much or write something too complex. The conclusion should be simple.

Try this. Look away. See what you remember about the graph. There should be 2 or 3 main points. These are the points you include in your conclusion.