Example Honours Theses Conclusions

This page gives you a brief overview of the length of a thesis conclusion and the type of information that is included.  The examples are taken from a range of Schools in Engineering and Science, but should be used as a GUIDE ONLY.

Civil And Environmental Engineering

Thesis I: permeable treatment walls

Thesis II: local buckling of concrete-filled steel tubes

Thesis III: the courier industry

Length - No. of pages

1. 2 ½
2. 1
3. 3

Type of Information

1. summary of thesis focus; work in progress; evaluative statement of chosen technology; criticisms of other technologies; problems with chosen technology; advantages of chosen technology; problems with chosen technology; summary of methods; deficiencies of methods and warning; importance of specific results; practical applications of results; practical implications of results?
2. achievement of aims; limitations; further requirements; evaluative statements; future developments
3. summary of introduction; summary of methods; summary of key issues; summary of methods (II); summary of results; summary of evaluation of results; restatement of thesis objectives and achievement of these objectives

Photovoltaic and Solar Energy

Thesis I: Evaluation of Boron Solid Source Diffusion for High-Efficiency Silicon Solar Cells

Length - No. of pages

1. 2

Type of Information

1. restatement of goal; summary of introduction; summary and explanation of results; evaluation of results; recommendations; future work (no future work).

Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering

Thesis I: Design Process within a Small Company Currently Developing a Highly Innovative Product

Thesis II: Exploring Creativity in Engineering and its Implications on Teaching Innovation

Length - No. of pages

1. 1
2. 17

Type of Information

1. restatement of aims; achievement of aims; summary of relevance of research; restatement of results and brief evaluation
2. summary of previous chapters; summary of findings and summary of conclusions; recommendations for future work, including limitations of current study; summary of thesis.

Biotechnology And Biomolecular Science

Thesis I: Genetic Mechanisms and Dissemination of Antibiotic Resistance

Thesis II: Methods for Measuring Hepatitis C Viral Complexity

Length - No. of pages

1. ½ page
2. 1 ½ pages

Type of Information

1. summary of importance of topic; explanation of results; restatement of proof of hypothesis
2. summary of proof of hypothesis; implications of proof of hypothesis; summary of evaluation of results; critique of alternative methodologies; future directions for work including limitations of current study

Geography

Length - No. of pages

4. 2

Type of Information

4. Note this thesis has a combined discussion/conclusion chapter which includes a heading ‘conclusion’. 

   Six main findings mentioned in the section entitled conclusion.

   1. Restatement of main finding+ significance of the finding + further research.
   2. Restatement of finding 2 + significance of the finding + further research needed.
   3. Restatement of main finding 3 + further research+ significance of the finding.
   4. Restatement of main finding 4+ significance of the finding.
   5. Restatement of main finding 5+ significance of the finding.
   6. Reiteration of main finding Final paragraph: overview of directions for future research.