A memorable ending: Writing the summary or conclusion

Nurse Author & Editor, Fall 2001 by Johnson, Suzanne Hall

The ending to a manuscript is as important, if not more important, than the beginning. Because the ending is the last section that the reader completes, it influences the reader's final impression and it is this last thought the reader is most likely to remember.

Reviewers and editors find they need to edit the final sections of many manuscripts. Even some excellent, accepted manuscripts have had weak endings that needed to be revised before publication.

Why do most authors have difficulty with the final part of the manuscript? Precisely because it is at the end. Writing a good ending requires a lot of thought to synthesize the most important points, yet by the end most writers are already tired from writing the main parts of their manuscripts. In fact, graduate students often complain of feeling numb from rewriting by the time they finish their theses.

Contributing to the problem of poorly written endings is the lack of emphasis and guidance in most style manuals. They usually have sections on writing the abstract and the introduction, yet rarely on writing the summary or conclusion.

So, how do you learn how to write a memorable ending section? By following some basic guidelines, reading and studying published endings, and then writing and rewriting yours. The guidelines and examples in this article will assist you to develop a strong ending for your manuscript.

The ending section is important for a chapter or book and even more so for an article. For an article, a strong ending and positive lasting impression can influence the reviewer's decision toward acceptance of your manuscript.

Link to the Start

The ending content should be closely related to the introduction. When the ending is a summary, the main point represented in the title and the introduction should be the same as that in the summary. When the ending is a conclusion, the title and introduction should present a related problem or topic upon which the conclusion builds.

One tip for reviewers, editorial board members, editors, and even readers is to read the introduction and ending sections of an article or book chapter before reading the main text. This gives you an overview of the topic and where it is heading, and thus provides an early framework on which to place the ideas as they are presented in the manuscript.

Distinguish Between Summary and Conclusion

A summary and a conclusion are not the same. The summary is just that, a summary of the main points in the manuscript. No new points appear in a summary. In contrast, a conclusion does present a new point; however, the new idea must be clearly based on the previous content in the main body of the manuscript.

A summary and a conclusion are not the same.

For example, an article on new findings in cardiac health for women that describes current research findings could have either type of ending. A summary would emphasize the key points from the current research, while a conclusion would describe key directions for the future based on the current studies.

Unfortunately, some authors write an excellent summary or conclusion, but label it incorrectly. If you look carefully, you will even see some summaries or conclusions masquerading as.the opposite in published articles. Be consistent by including the appropriate heading for the ending you write.

Writing a Summary

Don't add a new idea to the summary. An example of this problem is a manuscript that covered four management styles in text, but referred to a fifth one in the summary. I suspect that this point was one that the author thought of after writing the main text. Fortunately, with word processors, it is very easy for authors to cut and paste to move this to its proper location in the text.

Some authors say they were told, usually long ago, to avoid repetitions. Thus they try to add a new point at the end of the manuscript. For example, one author described cardiac arrhythmias in the text, but in the summary she called them dysrhythmias.

A summary is exactly where you want to be repetitious. Change the phrasing around a bit for a new view on the main idea, but stick to the same key points and concepts. The summary is not the place to surprise the reader with new concepts or words.

The summary is not the place to surprise the reader.

Writing a Conclusion

Writing a conclusion takes even more thought and requires more revisions than a summary. The conclusion should be short, yet well founded on the information in the article. Stick to one main conclusion to end your manuscript. If there are several minor conclusions, consider adding a discussion section before the ending where these can be covered without cluttering up the manuscript's final section.

The conclusion for a research report is related to the discussion and usually links both the study findings and previous studies on which it was based. The conclusion often emphasizes the state of the art in that particular field and may identify the next studies needed in that field. Sometimes the conclusion is in a separate "Conclusion" section, while other times it is the final paragraph in the "Discussion" section.