The theatrical strategy for drafting a conclusion

A recent discussion about concluding a thesis led to agreement about how difficult it can be to approach the final chapter, then to possible ways of conceptualising and solving the problem. Here - with thanks to Ewan and Mollie - is one way of looking at the task, based on similar approaches that have proved helpful to blocked thesis-writers!

One of the difficulties with drafting the concluding chapter is that it needs to be approached quite differently from the preceding chapters. All the way through you have been embedded in detail - making sure that everything is referenced, that the methodology is researched, developed and defended, that every claim for the results is backed up and demonstrated by facts and quotations. At the end, faced with writing the conclusion, one tends to be so bogged down by the sheer quantity of information that the necessary succinctness and clarity of view are hard to find.

Why is the conclusion so important?
While there are many academically impeccable reasons for writing a good final chapter, in hard pragmatic terms its importance is that many examiners read the conclusion first. Their impression of the whole thesis, therefore, is coloured by the impression of the final chapter. Even if the chapter is read last, it leaves its mark just before the examiner's report is written. With this in mind, it could be argued that the purpose of the concluding chapter is to hammer home a clear message:

This is a well-constructed, well-carried out and
well-reported piece of research that results in
an identifiable and significant contribution to
the sum of knowledge.

All the thesis is a stage / And all the research subjects merely players?
While it would be foolish to pretend that this is the answer to all problems, here is one approach to writing a concluding chapter. If you have done most of the writing-up in one place (usually in front of the computer!) it may also help to sketch out the final chapter somewhere completely different - in the park, or in a café - to help achieve a different viewpoint.

Try to forget the literature review, the methodology and the data; they are, temporarily, irrelevant. Separate yourself from the details by imagining you are watching a play, as a theatre critic. On stage are your subjects, behaving in the ways that your research has shown they do. Note down what you observe, as a critical, analytical outsider, and compile the outline of your review.

• Start with a summary of the 'plot' as an introduction (that is, the main findings of what your subjects do)
• write a section on each of the 'plot threads' (or findings), and describe and discuss each one
• add a short section on the shortcomings of the study/play/production. End this with a statement that reiterates the validity and reliability of the findings (avoid giving the impression that the play is a complete flop!)
• suggest elements for possible future research to expand your own work and make it even more useful
• end with a paragraph saying why this (in theatrical terms) is a fabulous, groundbreaking production that everyone should see. In academic terms, state the importance and significance of your research; this is the short, snappy version that is going to be quoted in the play's publicity ("overturns the accepted view of ... ", "reveals that the attitudes of ... are instrumental in ...").
• Leave the auditorium and, in the best drama critic's tradition, have a stiff drink. You've earned one - after all, you still have to write the chapter, but you may now have the start of an outline!