Chapter 13 / 13

Conclusion of your Master's thesis

The conclusion is the final part of your Master's thesis, in which you summarize the most important results. It offers the opportunity to answer your central research question and provide a final overview.

Why is the conclusion important?

The conclusion forms the last part of your Master's thesis and summarizes your research results concisely. It answers the central research question and ensures that your readers can understand the main benefit of your work. A good conclusion leaves a lasting impression and provides a clear overview of what you have achieved.

Components of a successful conclusion

Summary of the most important results: Present the key results of your research briefly and concisely without going into detail.
Answering the research question: The conclusion should provide a clear answer to the question formulated in the introduction research question.
No new findings: Avoid including new information, data or interpretations in the conclusion.
Avoid examples and quotes: The conclusion is a summary, so no new examples or quotes from other authors should be included.

The correct tense in the conclusion

When writing the conclusion, you should mainly use the Present tense to formulate general statements and conclusions. However, when you look back at the research you have carried out, you use the Simple past tense.

Example: "The analysis shows that digital marketing strategies have a significant impact on brand awareness" (present tense). "This study analyzed how different marketing approaches on social media affect brand loyalty" (simple past tense).

Structure of the conclusion

A well-structured conclusion should address the central findings and conclusively answer the research question. A typical structure could look like this:

Repetition of the research question
Summary of the central results
Answering the research question:
Outlook on possible future research

Example: "The research question of this work was: 'How do agile working methods influence efficiency in IT projects?' The results have shown that agile methods, especially Scrum, significantly increase team productivity and flexibility. Future research could focus on how different agile methods can be applied in different industries."

The difference between conclusion and discussion

The conclusion and the discussion are often confused with each other, because they both refer to the results of the work. In the Discussion you analyze and interpret the results in detail, while the Conclusion is only a summary and answers the research question.

Example: In the discussion, you could explain the relationship between the high satisfaction of the respondents and the flexible working hours. In the conclusion, you would only briefly summarize this finding and relate it back to the central research question.