The final chapter of the paper contains a summary of the main statements of the work and possible conclusions derived from them. For a conclusion, you revisit the research question, answer it succinctly, and provide a final assessment. You can also comment on the hypotheses you formulated at the beginning of your paper.

What belongs in a conclusion?

• Recommendations for practice
• Placing the problem in a wider context
• Personal conclusions, if they are meaningful for your type of paper
• If applicable, an outlook on research gaps arising from your own scientific work
• Summarized answers to the questions posed in the introduction

The title of the final chapter corresponds to the points you address and is therefore, for example, “Summary and Conclusion,” “Recommendations for Practice,” or “Outlook.”

A good conclusion is brief and written in a neutral tone, despite its evaluative nature.

What does not belong in a conclusion?

• You do not address new content in the final chapter.
• In the final chapter, you do not present your personal opinion (based on gut feeling) but your justified evaluation, which is based on the preceding discussion and your conclusions. If applicable, you may also provide recommendations for action.

The conclusion is a mandatory part of the structure of a scientific paper.

Frequently asked questions

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Different test variants

This part of any development is so important that there is an entire development model based on it: Test-Driven Development.

The following test variants are possible:

• Mockup tests for early validation of an idea
• Unit tests to check absolutely certain properties (invariants)
• Usability tests
• Practical tests
• In some cases: compatibility tests

In a full development process, all variants would be carried out – in a thesis, this is usually too time-consuming. Therefore, perform one or two variants and discuss the rest only briefly.

Clarify with your supervisors in advance what is expected of you.

Scope

The scope of this chapter will vary greatly depending on the thesis.

For theses focusing on usability, the test section may be the most important part of the work. In this case, do not present the findings of the tests individually, but summarize them, and for larger sample sizes, determine statistical measures such as means and standard deviations.

Note that you will probably not be able to collect enough data to make statistically significant statements.

This is why a written evaluation and analysis is important.

Extensive tables and figures should be placed in an appendix.

Objective: It should be clear that the validation of the resulting system was taken seriously, and one can assume that there are only few errors.

Common mistakes

• Expecting to be able to create error-free hardware or software.
• Providing a detailed presentation of all responses from usability tests – it is better to place these in the appendix or on a CD.
• Neglecting the topic of “testing.”

This section is, depending on the thesis, a mandatory part of The Structure of a Thesis in Engineering and Natural Sciences.

Frequently asked questions

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