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How to Write a Conclusion for Research Papers (with Examples)

The conclusion of a research paper is a crucial section that plays a significant role in the overall impact and effectiveness of your research paper. However, this is also the section that typically receives less attention compared to the introduction and the body of the paper. The conclusion serves to provide a concise summary of the key findings, their significance, their implications, and a sense of closure to the study. Discussing how can the findings be applied in real-world scenarios or inform policy, practice, or decision-making is especially valuable to practitioners and policymakers. The research paper conclusion also provides researchers with clear insights and valuable information for their own work, which they can then build on and contribute to the advancement of knowledge in the field.

The research paper conclusion should explain the significance of your findings within the broader context of your field. It restates how your results contribute to the existing body of knowledge and whether they confirm or challenge existing theories or hypotheses. Also, by identifying unanswered questions or areas requiring further investigation, your awareness of the broader research landscape can be demonstrated.

Remember to tailor the research paper conclusion to the specific needs and interests of your intended audience, which may include researchers, practitioners, policymakers, or a combination of these.

Table of Contents

What is a conclusion in a research paper, summarizing conclusion, editorial conclusion, externalizing conclusion, importance of a good research paper conclusion, how to write a conclusion for your research paper, research paper conclusion examples.

• How to write a research paper conclusion with Paperpal? 

Frequently Asked Questions

A conclusion in a research paper is the final section where you summarize and wrap up your research, presenting the key findings and insights derived from your study. The research paper conclusion is not the place to introduce new information or data that was not discussed in the main body of the paper. When working on how to conclude a research paper, remember to stick to summarizing and interpreting existing content. The research paper conclusion serves the following purposes: 1

• Warn readers of the possible consequences of not attending to the problem.
• Recommend specific course(s) of action.
• Restate key ideas to drive home the ultimate point of your research paper.
• Provide a “take-home” message that you want the readers to remember about your study.

Types of conclusions for research papers

In research papers, the conclusion provides closure to the reader. The type of research paper conclusion you choose depends on the nature of your study, your goals, and your target audience. I provide you with three common types of conclusions:

A summarizing conclusion is the most common type of conclusion in research papers. It involves summarizing the main points, reiterating the research question, and restating the significance of the findings. This common type of research paper conclusion is used across different disciplines.

An editorial conclusion is less common but can be used in research papers that are focused on proposing or advocating for a particular viewpoint or policy. It involves presenting a strong editorial or opinion based on the research findings and offering recommendations or calls to action.

An externalizing conclusion is a type of conclusion that extends the research beyond the scope of the paper by suggesting potential future research directions or discussing the broader implications of the findings. This type of conclusion is often used in more theoretical or exploratory research papers.

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The conclusion in a research paper serves several important purposes:

• Offers Implications and Recommendations : Your research paper conclusion is an excellent place to discuss the broader implications of your research and suggest potential areas for further study. It’s also an opportunity to offer practical recommendations based on your findings.
• Provides Closure : A good research paper conclusion provides a sense of closure to your paper. It should leave the reader with a feeling that they have reached the end of a well-structured and thought-provoking research project.
• Leaves a Lasting Impression : Writing a well-crafted research paper conclusion leaves a lasting impression on your readers. It’s your final opportunity to leave them with a new idea, a call to action, or a memorable quote.

Writing a strong conclusion for your research paper is essential to leave a lasting impression on your readers. Here’s a step-by-step process to help you create and know what to put in the conclusion of a research paper: 2

• Research Statement : Begin your research paper conclusion by restating your research statement. This reminds the reader of the main point you’ve been trying to prove throughout your paper. Keep it concise and clear.
• Key Points : Summarize the main arguments and key points you’ve made in your paper. Avoid introducing new information in the research paper conclusion. Instead, provide a concise overview of what you’ve discussed in the body of your paper.
• Address the Research Questions : If your research paper is based on specific research questions or hypotheses, briefly address whether you’ve answered them or achieved your research goals. Discuss the significance of your findings in this context.
• Significance : Highlight the importance of your research and its relevance in the broader context. Explain why your findings matter and how they contribute to the existing knowledge in your field.
• Implications : Explore the practical or theoretical implications of your research. How might your findings impact future research, policy, or real-world applications? Consider the “so what?” question.
• Future Research : Offer suggestions for future research in your area. What questions or aspects remain unanswered or warrant further investigation? This shows that your work opens the door for future exploration.
• Closing Thought : Conclude your research paper conclusion with a thought-provoking or memorable statement. This can leave a lasting impression on your readers and wrap up your paper effectively. Avoid introducing new information or arguments here.
• Proofread and Revise : Carefully proofread your conclusion for grammar, spelling, and clarity. Ensure that your ideas flow smoothly and that your conclusion is coherent and well-structured.

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Remember that a well-crafted research paper conclusion is a reflection of the strength of your research and your ability to communicate its significance effectively. It should leave a lasting impression on your readers and tie together all the threads of your paper. Now you know how to start the conclusion of a research paper and what elements to include to make it impactful, let’s look at a research paper conclusion sample.

How to write a research paper conclusion with Paperpal?

A research paper conclusion is not just a summary of your study, but a synthesis of the key findings that ties the research together and places it in a broader context. A research paper conclusion should be concise, typically around one paragraph in length. However, some complex topics may require a longer conclusion to ensure the reader is left with a clear understanding of the study’s significance. Paperpal, an AI writing assistant trusted by over 800,000 academics globally, can help you write a well-structured conclusion for your research paper. 

• Sign Up or Log In: Create a new Paperpal account or login with your details.  
• Navigate to Features : Once logged in, head over to the features’ side navigation pane. Click on Templates and you’ll find a suite of generative AI features to help you write better, faster.  
• Generate an outline: Under Templates, select ‘Outlines’. Choose ‘Research article’ as your document type.  
• Select your section: Since you’re focusing on the conclusion, select this section when prompted.  
• Choose your field of study: Identifying your field of study allows Paperpal to provide more targeted suggestions, ensuring the relevance of your conclusion to your specific area of research. 
• Provide a brief description of your study: Enter details about your research topic and findings. This information helps Paperpal generate a tailored outline that aligns with your paper’s content. 
• Generate the conclusion outline: After entering all necessary details, click on ‘generate’. Paperpal will then create a structured outline for your conclusion, to help you start writing and build upon the outline.  
• Write your conclusion: Use the generated outline to build your conclusion. The outline serves as a guide, ensuring you cover all critical aspects of a strong conclusion, from summarizing key findings to highlighting the research’s implications. 
• Refine and enhance: Paperpal’s ‘Make Academic’ feature can be particularly useful in the final stages. Select any paragraph of your conclusion and use this feature to elevate the academic tone, ensuring your writing is aligned to the academic journal standards. 

By following these steps, Paperpal not only simplifies the process of writing a research paper conclusion but also ensures it is impactful, concise, and aligned with academic standards. Sign up with Paperpal today and write your research paper conclusion 2x faster .  

The research paper conclusion is a crucial part of your paper as it provides the final opportunity to leave a strong impression on your readers. In the research paper conclusion, summarize the main points of your research paper by restating your research statement, highlighting the most important findings, addressing the research questions or objectives, explaining the broader context of the study, discussing the significance of your findings, providing recommendations if applicable, and emphasizing the takeaway message. The main purpose of the conclusion is to remind the reader of the main point or argument of your paper and to provide a clear and concise summary of the key findings and their implications. All these elements should feature on your list of what to put in the conclusion of a research paper to create a strong final statement for your work.

A strong conclusion is a critical component of a research paper, as it provides an opportunity to wrap up your arguments, reiterate your main points, and leave a lasting impression on your readers. Here are the key elements of a strong research paper conclusion: 1. Conciseness : A research paper conclusion should be concise and to the point. It should not introduce new information or ideas that were not discussed in the body of the paper. 2. Summarization : The research paper conclusion should be comprehensive enough to give the reader a clear understanding of the research’s main contributions. 3 . Relevance : Ensure that the information included in the research paper conclusion is directly relevant to the research paper’s main topic and objectives; avoid unnecessary details. 4 . Connection to the Introduction : A well-structured research paper conclusion often revisits the key points made in the introduction and shows how the research has addressed the initial questions or objectives. 5. Emphasis : Highlight the significance and implications of your research. Why is your study important? What are the broader implications or applications of your findings? 6 . Call to Action : Include a call to action or a recommendation for future research or action based on your findings.

The length of a research paper conclusion can vary depending on several factors, including the overall length of the paper, the complexity of the research, and the specific journal requirements. While there is no strict rule for the length of a conclusion, but it’s generally advisable to keep it relatively short. A typical research paper conclusion might be around 5-10% of the paper’s total length. For example, if your paper is 10 pages long, the conclusion might be roughly half a page to one page in length.

In general, you do not need to include citations in the research paper conclusion. Citations are typically reserved for the body of the paper to support your arguments and provide evidence for your claims. However, there may be some exceptions to this rule: 1. If you are drawing a direct quote or paraphrasing a specific source in your research paper conclusion, you should include a citation to give proper credit to the original author. 2. If your conclusion refers to or discusses specific research, data, or sources that are crucial to the overall argument, citations can be included to reinforce your conclusion’s validity.

The conclusion of a research paper serves several important purposes: 1. Summarize the Key Points 2. Reinforce the Main Argument 3. Provide Closure 4. Offer Insights or Implications 5. Engage the Reader. 6. Reflect on Limitations

Remember that the primary purpose of the research paper conclusion is to leave a lasting impression on the reader, reinforcing the key points and providing closure to your research. It’s often the last part of the paper that the reader will see, so it should be strong and well-crafted.

• Makar, G., Foltz, C., Lendner, M., & Vaccaro, A. R. (2018). How to write effective discussion and conclusion sections. Clinical spine surgery, 31(8), 345-346.
• Bunton, D. (2005). The structure of PhD conclusion chapters.  Journal of English for academic purposes ,  4 (3), 207-224.

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Home » Research Paper Conclusion – Writing Guide and Examples

Research Paper Conclusion – Writing Guide and Examples

Table of Contents

Research Paper Conclusion

Definition:

A research paper conclusion is the final section of a research paper that summarizes the key findings, significance, and implications of the research. It is the writer’s opportunity to synthesize the information presented in the paper, draw conclusions, and make recommendations for future research or actions.

The conclusion should provide a clear and concise summary of the research paper, reiterating the research question or problem, the main results, and the significance of the findings. It should also discuss the limitations of the study and suggest areas for further research.

Parts of Research Paper Conclusion

The parts of a research paper conclusion typically include:

Restatement of the Thesis

The conclusion should begin by restating the thesis statement from the introduction in a different way. This helps to remind the reader of the main argument or purpose of the research.

Summary of Key Findings

The conclusion should summarize the main findings of the research, highlighting the most important results and conclusions. This section should be brief and to the point.

Implications and Significance

In this section, the researcher should explain the implications and significance of the research findings. This may include discussing the potential impact on the field or industry, highlighting new insights or knowledge gained, or pointing out areas for future research.

Limitations and Recommendations

It is important to acknowledge any limitations or weaknesses of the research and to make recommendations for how these could be addressed in future studies. This shows that the researcher is aware of the potential limitations of their work and is committed to improving the quality of research in their field.

Concluding Statement

The conclusion should end with a strong concluding statement that leaves a lasting impression on the reader. This could be a call to action, a recommendation for further research, or a final thought on the topic.

How to Write Research Paper Conclusion

Here are some steps you can follow to write an effective research paper conclusion:

• Restate the research problem or question: Begin by restating the research problem or question that you aimed to answer in your research. This will remind the reader of the purpose of your study.
• Summarize the main points: Summarize the key findings and results of your research. This can be done by highlighting the most important aspects of your research and the evidence that supports them.
• Discuss the implications: Discuss the implications of your findings for the research area and any potential applications of your research. You should also mention any limitations of your research that may affect the interpretation of your findings.
• Provide a conclusion : Provide a concise conclusion that summarizes the main points of your paper and emphasizes the significance of your research. This should be a strong and clear statement that leaves a lasting impression on the reader.
• Offer suggestions for future research: Lastly, offer suggestions for future research that could build on your findings and contribute to further advancements in the field.

Remember that the conclusion should be brief and to the point, while still effectively summarizing the key findings and implications of your research.

Example of Research Paper Conclusion

Here’s an example of a research paper conclusion:

Conclusion :

In conclusion, our study aimed to investigate the relationship between social media use and mental health among college students. Our findings suggest that there is a significant association between social media use and increased levels of anxiety and depression among college students. This highlights the need for increased awareness and education about the potential negative effects of social media use on mental health, particularly among college students.

Despite the limitations of our study, such as the small sample size and self-reported data, our findings have important implications for future research and practice. Future studies should aim to replicate our findings in larger, more diverse samples, and investigate the potential mechanisms underlying the association between social media use and mental health. In addition, interventions should be developed to promote healthy social media use among college students, such as mindfulness-based approaches and social media detox programs.

Overall, our study contributes to the growing body of research on the impact of social media on mental health, and highlights the importance of addressing this issue in the context of higher education. By raising awareness and promoting healthy social media use among college students, we can help to reduce the negative impact of social media on mental health and improve the well-being of young adults.

Purpose of Research Paper Conclusion

The purpose of a research paper conclusion is to provide a summary and synthesis of the key findings, significance, and implications of the research presented in the paper. The conclusion serves as the final opportunity for the writer to convey their message and leave a lasting impression on the reader.

The conclusion should restate the research problem or question, summarize the main results of the research, and explain their significance. It should also acknowledge the limitations of the study and suggest areas for future research or action.

Overall, the purpose of the conclusion is to provide a sense of closure to the research paper and to emphasize the importance of the research and its potential impact. It should leave the reader with a clear understanding of the main findings and why they matter. The conclusion serves as the writer’s opportunity to showcase their contribution to the field and to inspire further research and action.

When to Write Research Paper Conclusion

The conclusion of a research paper should be written after the body of the paper has been completed. It should not be written until the writer has thoroughly analyzed and interpreted their findings and has written a complete and cohesive discussion of the research.

Before writing the conclusion, the writer should review their research paper and consider the key points that they want to convey to the reader. They should also review the research question, hypotheses, and methodology to ensure that they have addressed all of the necessary components of the research.

Once the writer has a clear understanding of the main findings and their significance, they can begin writing the conclusion. The conclusion should be written in a clear and concise manner, and should reiterate the main points of the research while also providing insights and recommendations for future research or action.

Characteristics of Research Paper Conclusion

The characteristics of a research paper conclusion include:

• Clear and concise: The conclusion should be written in a clear and concise manner, summarizing the key findings and their significance.
• Comprehensive: The conclusion should address all of the main points of the research paper, including the research question or problem, the methodology, the main results, and their implications.
• Future-oriented : The conclusion should provide insights and recommendations for future research or action, based on the findings of the research.
• Impressive : The conclusion should leave a lasting impression on the reader, emphasizing the importance of the research and its potential impact.
• Objective : The conclusion should be based on the evidence presented in the research paper, and should avoid personal biases or opinions.
• Unique : The conclusion should be unique to the research paper and should not simply repeat information from the introduction or body of the paper.

Advantages of Research Paper Conclusion

The advantages of a research paper conclusion include:

• Summarizing the key findings : The conclusion provides a summary of the main findings of the research, making it easier for the reader to understand the key points of the study.
• Emphasizing the significance of the research: The conclusion emphasizes the importance of the research and its potential impact, making it more likely that readers will take the research seriously and consider its implications.
• Providing recommendations for future research or action : The conclusion suggests practical recommendations for future research or action, based on the findings of the study.
• Providing closure to the research paper : The conclusion provides a sense of closure to the research paper, tying together the different sections of the paper and leaving a lasting impression on the reader.
• Demonstrating the writer’s contribution to the field : The conclusion provides the writer with an opportunity to showcase their contribution to the field and to inspire further research and action.

Limitations of Research Paper Conclusion

While the conclusion of a research paper has many advantages, it also has some limitations that should be considered, including:

• I nability to address all aspects of the research: Due to the limited space available in the conclusion, it may not be possible to address all aspects of the research in detail.
• Subjectivity : While the conclusion should be objective, it may be influenced by the writer’s personal biases or opinions.
• Lack of new information: The conclusion should not introduce new information that has not been discussed in the body of the research paper.
• Lack of generalizability: The conclusions drawn from the research may not be applicable to other contexts or populations, limiting the generalizability of the study.
• Misinterpretation by the reader: The reader may misinterpret the conclusions drawn from the research, leading to a misunderstanding of the findings.

About the author

Muhammad Hassan

Researcher, Academic Writer, Web developer

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Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper

• 9. The Conclusion
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The conclusion is intended to help the reader understand why your research should matter to them after they have finished reading the paper. A conclusion is not merely a summary of the main topics covered or a re-statement of your research problem, but a synthesis of key points derived from the findings of your study and, if applicable, where you recommend new areas for future research. For most college-level research papers, two or three well-developed paragraphs is sufficient for a conclusion, although in some cases, more paragraphs may be required in describing the key findings and their significance.

Conclusions. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Conclusions. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University.

Importance of a Good Conclusion

A well-written conclusion provides you with important opportunities to demonstrate to the reader your understanding of the research problem. These include:

• Presenting the last word on the issues you raised in your paper . Just as the introduction gives a first impression to your reader, the conclusion offers a chance to leave a lasting impression. Do this, for example, by highlighting key findings in your analysis that advance new understanding about the research problem, that are unusual or unexpected, or that have important implications applied to practice.
• Summarizing your thoughts and conveying the larger significance of your study . The conclusion is an opportunity to succinctly re-emphasize  your answer to the "So What?" question by placing the study within the context of how your research advances past research about the topic.
• Identifying how a gap in the literature has been addressed . The conclusion can be where you describe how a previously identified gap in the literature [first identified in your literature review section] has been addressed by your research and why this contribution is significant.
• Demonstrating the importance of your ideas . Don't be shy. The conclusion offers an opportunity to elaborate on the impact and significance of your findings. This is particularly important if your study approached examining the research problem from an unusual or innovative perspective.
• Introducing possible new or expanded ways of thinking about the research problem . This does not refer to introducing new information [which should be avoided], but to offer new insight and creative approaches for framing or contextualizing the research problem based on the results of your study.

Bunton, David. “The Structure of PhD Conclusion Chapters.” Journal of English for Academic Purposes 4 (July 2005): 207–224; Conclusions. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Kretchmer, Paul. Twelve Steps to Writing an Effective Conclusion. San Francisco Edit, 2003-2008; Conclusions. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Assan, Joseph. "Writing the Conclusion Chapter: The Good, the Bad and the Missing." Liverpool: Development Studies Association (2009): 1-8.

Structure and Writing Style

I.  General Rules

The general function of your paper's conclusion is to restate the main argument . It reminds the reader of the strengths of your main argument(s) and reiterates the most important evidence supporting those argument(s). Do this by clearly summarizing the context, background, and necessity of pursuing the research problem you investigated in relation to an issue, controversy, or a gap found in the literature. However, make sure that your conclusion is not simply a repetitive summary of the findings. This reduces the impact of the argument(s) you have developed in your paper.

When writing the conclusion to your paper, follow these general rules:

• Present your conclusions in clear, concise language. Re-state the purpose of your study, then describe how your findings differ or support those of other studies and why [i.e., what were the unique, new, or crucial contributions your study made to the overall research about your topic?].
• Do not simply reiterate your findings or the discussion of your results. Provide a synthesis of arguments presented in the paper to show how these converge to address the research problem and the overall objectives of your study.
• Indicate opportunities for future research if you haven't already done so in the discussion section of your paper. Highlighting the need for further research provides the reader with evidence that you have an in-depth awareness of the research problem but that further investigations should take place beyond the scope of your investigation.

Consider the following points to help ensure your conclusion is presented well:

• If the argument or purpose of your paper is complex, you may need to summarize the argument for your reader.
• If, prior to your conclusion, you have not yet explained the significance of your findings or if you are proceeding inductively, use the end of your paper to describe your main points and explain their significance.
• Move from a detailed to a general level of consideration that returns the topic to the context provided by the introduction or within a new context that emerges from the data [this is opposite of the introduction, which begins with general discussion of the context and ends with a detailed description of the research problem]. 

The conclusion also provides a place for you to persuasively and succinctly restate the research problem, given that the reader has now been presented with all the information about the topic . Depending on the discipline you are writing in, the concluding paragraph may contain your reflections on the evidence presented. However, the nature of being introspective about the research you have conducted will depend on the topic and whether your professor wants you to express your observations in this way. If asked to think introspectively about the topics, do not delve into idle speculation. Being introspective means looking within yourself as an author to try and understand an issue more deeply, not to guess at possible outcomes or make up scenarios not supported by the evidence.

II.  Developing a Compelling Conclusion

Although an effective conclusion needs to be clear and succinct, it does not need to be written passively or lack a compelling narrative. Strategies to help you move beyond merely summarizing the key points of your research paper may include any of the following:

• If your essay deals with a critical, contemporary problem, warn readers of the possible consequences of not attending to the problem proactively.
• Recommend a specific course or courses of action that, if adopted, could address a specific problem in practice or in the development of new knowledge leading to positive change.
• Cite a relevant quotation or expert opinion already noted in your paper in order to lend authority and support to the conclusion(s) you have reached [a good source would be from your literature review].
• Explain the consequences of your research in a way that elicits action or demonstrates urgency in seeking change.
• Restate a key statistic, fact, or visual image to emphasize the most important finding of your paper.
• If your discipline encourages personal reflection, illustrate your concluding point by drawing from your own life experiences.
• Return to an anecdote, an example, or a quotation that you presented in your introduction, but add further insight derived from the findings of your study; use your interpretation of results from your study to recast it in new or important ways.
• Provide a "take-home" message in the form of a succinct, declarative statement that you want the reader to remember about your study.

III. Problems to Avoid

Failure to be concise Your conclusion section should be concise and to the point. Conclusions that are too lengthy often have unnecessary information in them. The conclusion is not the place for details about your methodology or results. Although you should give a summary of what was learned from your research, this summary should be relatively brief, since the emphasis in the conclusion is on the implications, evaluations, insights, and other forms of analysis that you make. Strategies for writing concisely can be found here .

Failure to comment on larger, more significant issues In the introduction, your task was to move from the general [the field of study] to the specific [the research problem]. However, in the conclusion, your task is to move from a specific discussion [your research problem] back to a general discussion framed around the implications and significance of your findings [i.e., how your research contributes new understanding or fills an important gap in the literature]. In short, the conclusion is where you should place your research within a larger context [visualize your paper as an hourglass--start with a broad introduction and review of the literature, move to the specific analysis and discussion, conclude with a broad summary of the study's implications and significance].

Failure to reveal problems and negative results Negative aspects of the research process should never be ignored. These are problems, deficiencies, or challenges encountered during your study. They should be summarized as a way of qualifying your overall conclusions. If you encountered negative or unintended results [i.e., findings that are validated outside the research context in which they were generated], you must report them in the results section and discuss their implications in the discussion section of your paper. In the conclusion, use negative results as an opportunity to explain their possible significance and/or how they may form the basis for future research.

Failure to provide a clear summary of what was learned In order to be able to discuss how your research fits within your field of study [and possibly the world at large], you need to summarize briefly and succinctly how it contributes to new knowledge or a new understanding about the research problem. This element of your conclusion may be only a few sentences long.

Failure to match the objectives of your research Often research objectives in the social and behavioral sciences change while the research is being carried out. This is not a problem unless you forget to go back and refine the original objectives in your introduction. As these changes emerge they must be documented so that they accurately reflect what you were trying to accomplish in your research [not what you thought you might accomplish when you began].

Resist the urge to apologize If you've immersed yourself in studying the research problem, you presumably should know a good deal about it [perhaps even more than your professor!]. Nevertheless, by the time you have finished writing, you may be having some doubts about what you have produced. Repress those doubts! Don't undermine your authority as a researcher by saying something like, "This is just one approach to examining this problem; there may be other, much better approaches that...." The overall tone of your conclusion should convey confidence to the reader about the study's validity and realiability.

Assan, Joseph. "Writing the Conclusion Chapter: The Good, the Bad and the Missing." Liverpool: Development Studies Association (2009): 1-8; Concluding Paragraphs. College Writing Center at Meramec. St. Louis Community College; Conclusions. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Conclusions. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Freedman, Leora  and Jerry Plotnick. Introductions and Conclusions. The Lab Report. University College Writing Centre. University of Toronto; Leibensperger, Summer. Draft Your Conclusion. Academic Center, the University of Houston-Victoria, 2003; Make Your Last Words Count. The Writer’s Handbook. Writing Center. University of Wisconsin Madison; Miquel, Fuster-Marquez and Carmen Gregori-Signes. “Chapter Six: ‘Last but Not Least:’ Writing the Conclusion of Your Paper.” In Writing an Applied Linguistics Thesis or Dissertation: A Guide to Presenting Empirical Research . John Bitchener, editor. (Basingstoke,UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), pp. 93-105; Tips for Writing a Good Conclusion. Writing@CSU. Colorado State University; Kretchmer, Paul. Twelve Steps to Writing an Effective Conclusion. San Francisco Edit, 2003-2008; Writing Conclusions. Writing Tutorial Services, Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning. Indiana University; Writing: Considering Structure and Organization. Institute for Writing Rhetoric. Dartmouth College.

Writing Tip

Don't Belabor the Obvious!

Avoid phrases like "in conclusion...," "in summary...," or "in closing...." These phrases can be useful, even welcome, in oral presentations. But readers can see by the tell-tale section heading and number of pages remaining that they are reaching the end of your paper. You'll irritate your readers if you belabor the obvious.

Assan, Joseph. "Writing the Conclusion Chapter: The Good, the Bad and the Missing." Liverpool: Development Studies Association (2009): 1-8.

Another Writing Tip

New Insight, Not New Information!

Don't surprise the reader with new information in your conclusion that was never referenced anywhere else in the paper. This why the conclusion rarely has citations to sources. If you have new information to present, add it to the discussion or other appropriate section of the paper. Note that, although no new information is introduced, the conclusion, along with the discussion section, is where you offer your most "original" contributions in the paper; the conclusion is where you describe the value of your research, demonstrate that you understand the material that you’ve presented, and position your findings within the larger context of scholarship on the topic, including describing how your research contributes new insights to that scholarship.

Assan, Joseph. "Writing the Conclusion Chapter: The Good, the Bad and the Missing." Liverpool: Development Studies Association (2009): 1-8; Conclusions. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina.

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In a short paper—even a research paper—you don’t need to provide an exhaustive summary as part of your conclusion. But you do need to make some kind of transition between your final body paragraph and your concluding paragraph. This may come in the form of a few sentences of summary. Or it may come in the form of a sentence that brings your readers back to your thesis or main idea and reminds your readers where you began and how far you have traveled.

So, for example, in a paper about the relationship between ADHD and rejection sensitivity, Vanessa Roser begins by introducing readers to the fact that researchers have studied the relationship between the two conditions and then provides her explanation of that relationship. Here’s her thesis: “While socialization may indeed be an important factor in RS, I argue that individuals with ADHD may also possess a neurological predisposition to RS that is exacerbated by the differing executive and emotional regulation characteristic of ADHD.”

In her final paragraph, Roser reminds us of where she started by echoing her thesis: “This literature demonstrates that, as with many other conditions, ADHD and RS share a delicately intertwined pattern of neurological similarities that is rooted in the innate biology of an individual’s mind, a connection that cannot be explained in full by the behavioral mediation hypothesis.”  

Highlight the “so what”  

At the beginning of your paper, you explain to your readers what’s at stake—why they should care about the argument you’re making. In your conclusion, you can bring readers back to those stakes by reminding them why your argument is important in the first place. You can also draft a few sentences that put those stakes into a new or broader context.

In the conclusion to her paper about ADHD and RS, Roser echoes the stakes she established in her introduction—that research into connections between ADHD and RS has led to contradictory results, raising questions about the “behavioral mediation hypothesis.”

She writes, “as with many other conditions, ADHD and RS share a delicately intertwined pattern of neurological similarities that is rooted in the innate biology of an individual’s mind, a connection that cannot be explained in full by the behavioral mediation hypothesis.”  

Leave your readers with the “now what”  

After the “what” and the “so what,” you should leave your reader with some final thoughts. If you have written a strong introduction, your readers will know why you have been arguing what you have been arguing—and why they should care. And if you’ve made a good case for your thesis, then your readers should be in a position to see things in a new way, understand new questions, or be ready for something that they weren’t ready for before they read your paper.

In her conclusion, Roser offers two “now what” statements. First, she explains that it is important to recognize that the flawed behavioral mediation hypothesis “seems to place a degree of fault on the individual. It implies that individuals with ADHD must have elicited such frequent or intense rejection by virtue of their inadequate social skills, erasing the possibility that they may simply possess a natural sensitivity to emotion.” She then highlights the broader implications for treatment of people with ADHD, noting that recognizing the actual connection between rejection sensitivity and ADHD “has profound implications for understanding how individuals with ADHD might best be treated in educational settings, by counselors, family, peers, or even society as a whole.”

To find your own “now what” for your essay’s conclusion, try asking yourself these questions:

• What can my readers now understand, see in a new light, or grapple with that they would not have understood in the same way before reading my paper? Are we a step closer to understanding a larger phenomenon or to understanding why what was at stake is so important?  
• What questions can I now raise that would not have made sense at the beginning of my paper? Questions for further research? Other ways that this topic could be approached?  
• Are there other applications for my research? Could my questions be asked about different data in a different context? Could I use my methods to answer a different question?  
• What action should be taken in light of this argument? What action do I predict will be taken or could lead to a solution?  
• What larger context might my argument be a part of?  

What to avoid in your conclusion  

• a complete restatement of all that you have said in your paper.  
• a substantial counterargument that you do not have space to refute; you should introduce counterarguments before your conclusion.  
• an apology for what you have not said. If you need to explain the scope of your paper, you should do this sooner—but don’t apologize for what you have not discussed in your paper.  
• fake transitions like “in conclusion” that are followed by sentences that aren’t actually conclusions. (“In conclusion, I have now demonstrated that my thesis is correct.”)
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Writing a Paper: Conclusions

Writing a conclusion.

A conclusion is an important part of the paper; it provides closure for the reader while reminding the reader of the contents and importance of the paper. It accomplishes this by stepping back from the specifics in order to view the bigger picture of the document. In other words, it is reminding the reader of the main argument. For most course papers, it is usually one paragraph that simply and succinctly restates the main ideas and arguments, pulling everything together to help clarify the thesis of the paper. A conclusion does not introduce new ideas; instead, it should clarify the intent and importance of the paper. It can also suggest possible future research on the topic.

An Easy Checklist for Writing a Conclusion

It is important to remind the reader of the thesis of the paper so he is reminded of the argument and solutions you proposed.

Think of the main points as puzzle pieces, and the conclusion is where they all fit together to create a bigger picture. The reader should walk away with the bigger picture in mind.

Make sure that the paper places its findings in the context of real social change.

Make sure the reader has a distinct sense that the paper has come to an end. It is important to not leave the reader hanging. (You don’t want her to have flip-the-page syndrome, where the reader turns the page, expecting the paper to continue. The paper should naturally come to an end.)

No new ideas should be introduced in the conclusion. It is simply a review of the material that is already present in the paper. The only new idea would be the suggesting of a direction for future research.

Conclusion Example

As addressed in my analysis of recent research, the advantages of a later starting time for high school students significantly outweigh the disadvantages. A later starting time would allow teens more time to sleep--something that is important for their physical and mental health--and ultimately improve their academic performance and behavior. The added transportation costs that result from this change can be absorbed through energy savings. The beneficial effects on the students’ academic performance and behavior validate this decision, but its effect on student motivation is still unknown. I would encourage an in-depth look at the reactions of students to such a change. This sort of study would help determine the actual effects of a later start time on the time management and sleep habits of students.

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• How to Write Discussions and Conclusions

The discussion section contains the results and outcomes of a study. An effective discussion informs readers what can be learned from your experiment and provides context for the results.

What makes an effective discussion?

When you’re ready to write your discussion, you’ve already introduced the purpose of your study and provided an in-depth description of the methodology. The discussion informs readers about the larger implications of your study based on the results. Highlighting these implications while not overstating the findings can be challenging, especially when you’re submitting to a journal that selects articles based on novelty or potential impact. Regardless of what journal you are submitting to, the discussion section always serves the same purpose: concluding what your study results actually mean.

A successful discussion section puts your findings in context. It should include:

• the results of your research,
• a discussion of related research, and
• a comparison between your results and initial hypothesis.

Tip: Not all journals share the same naming conventions.

You can apply the advice in this article to the conclusion, results or discussion sections of your manuscript.

Our Early Career Researcher community tells us that the conclusion is often considered the most difficult aspect of a manuscript to write. To help, this guide provides questions to ask yourself, a basic structure to model your discussion off of and examples from published manuscripts. 

Questions to ask yourself:

• Was my hypothesis correct?
• If my hypothesis is partially correct or entirely different, what can be learned from the results? 
• How do the conclusions reshape or add onto the existing knowledge in the field? What does previous research say about the topic? 
• Why are the results important or relevant to your audience? Do they add further evidence to a scientific consensus or disprove prior studies? 
• How can future research build on these observations? What are the key experiments that must be done? 
• What is the “take-home” message you want your reader to leave with?

How to structure a discussion

Trying to fit a complete discussion into a single paragraph can add unnecessary stress to the writing process. If possible, you’ll want to give yourself two or three paragraphs to give the reader a comprehensive understanding of your study as a whole. Here’s one way to structure an effective discussion:

Writing Tips

While the above sections can help you brainstorm and structure your discussion, there are many common mistakes that writers revert to when having difficulties with their paper. Writing a discussion can be a delicate balance between summarizing your results, providing proper context for your research and avoiding introducing new information. Remember that your paper should be both confident and honest about the results! 

• Read the journal’s guidelines on the discussion and conclusion sections. If possible, learn about the guidelines before writing the discussion to ensure you’re writing to meet their expectations. 
• Begin with a clear statement of the principal findings. This will reinforce the main take-away for the reader and set up the rest of the discussion. 
• Explain why the outcomes of your study are important to the reader. Discuss the implications of your findings realistically based on previous literature, highlighting both the strengths and limitations of the research. 
• State whether the results prove or disprove your hypothesis. If your hypothesis was disproved, what might be the reasons? 
• Introduce new or expanded ways to think about the research question. Indicate what next steps can be taken to further pursue any unresolved questions. 
• If dealing with a contemporary or ongoing problem, such as climate change, discuss possible consequences if the problem is avoided. 
• Be concise. Adding unnecessary detail can distract from the main findings. 

Don’t

• Rewrite your abstract. Statements with “we investigated” or “we studied” generally do not belong in the discussion. 
• Include new arguments or evidence not previously discussed. Necessary information and evidence should be introduced in the main body of the paper. 
• Apologize. Even if your research contains significant limitations, don’t undermine your authority by including statements that doubt your methodology or execution. 
• Shy away from speaking on limitations or negative results. Including limitations and negative results will give readers a complete understanding of the presented research. Potential limitations include sources of potential bias, threats to internal or external validity, barriers to implementing an intervention and other issues inherent to the study design. 
• Overstate the importance of your findings. Making grand statements about how a study will fully resolve large questions can lead readers to doubt the success of the research. 

Snippets of Effective Discussions:

Consumer-based actions to reduce plastic pollution in rivers: A multi-criteria decision analysis approach

Identifying reliable indicators of fitness in polar bears

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Conclusions

What this handout is about.

This handout will explain the functions of conclusions, offer strategies for writing effective ones, help you evaluate conclusions you’ve drafted, and suggest approaches to avoid.

About conclusions

Introductions and conclusions can be difficult to write, but they’re worth investing time in. They can have a significant influence on a reader’s experience of your paper.

Just as your introduction acts as a bridge that transports your readers from their own lives into the “place” of your analysis, your conclusion can provide a bridge to help your readers make the transition back to their daily lives. Such a conclusion will help them see why all your analysis and information should matter to them after they put the paper down.

Your conclusion is your chance to have the last word on the subject. The conclusion allows you to have the final say on the issues you have raised in your paper, to synthesize your thoughts, to demonstrate the importance of your ideas, and to propel your reader to a new view of the subject. It is also your opportunity to make a good final impression and to end on a positive note.

Your conclusion can go beyond the confines of the assignment. The conclusion pushes beyond the boundaries of the prompt and allows you to consider broader issues, make new connections, and elaborate on the significance of your findings.

Your conclusion should make your readers glad they read your paper. Your conclusion gives your reader something to take away that will help them see things differently or appreciate your topic in personally relevant ways. It can suggest broader implications that will not only interest your reader, but also enrich your reader’s life in some way. It is your gift to the reader.

Strategies for writing an effective conclusion

One or more of the following strategies may help you write an effective conclusion:

• Play the “So What” Game. If you’re stuck and feel like your conclusion isn’t saying anything new or interesting, ask a friend to read it with you. Whenever you make a statement from your conclusion, ask the friend to say, “So what?” or “Why should anybody care?” Then ponder that question and answer it. Here’s how it might go: You: Basically, I’m just saying that education was important to Douglass. Friend: So what? You: Well, it was important because it was a key to him feeling like a free and equal citizen. Friend: Why should anybody care? You: That’s important because plantation owners tried to keep slaves from being educated so that they could maintain control. When Douglass obtained an education, he undermined that control personally. You can also use this strategy on your own, asking yourself “So What?” as you develop your ideas or your draft.
• Return to the theme or themes in the introduction. This strategy brings the reader full circle. For example, if you begin by describing a scenario, you can end with the same scenario as proof that your essay is helpful in creating a new understanding. You may also refer to the introductory paragraph by using key words or parallel concepts and images that you also used in the introduction.
• Synthesize, don’t summarize. Include a brief summary of the paper’s main points, but don’t simply repeat things that were in your paper. Instead, show your reader how the points you made and the support and examples you used fit together. Pull it all together.
• Include a provocative insight or quotation from the research or reading you did for your paper.
• Propose a course of action, a solution to an issue, or questions for further study. This can redirect your reader’s thought process and help them to apply your info and ideas to their own life or to see the broader implications.
• Point to broader implications. For example, if your paper examines the Greensboro sit-ins or another event in the Civil Rights Movement, you could point out its impact on the Civil Rights Movement as a whole. A paper about the style of writer Virginia Woolf could point to her influence on other writers or on later feminists.

Strategies to avoid

• Beginning with an unnecessary, overused phrase such as “in conclusion,” “in summary,” or “in closing.” Although these phrases can work in speeches, they come across as wooden and trite in writing.
• Stating the thesis for the very first time in the conclusion.
• Introducing a new idea or subtopic in your conclusion.
• Ending with a rephrased thesis statement without any substantive changes.
• Making sentimental, emotional appeals that are out of character with the rest of an analytical paper.
• Including evidence (quotations, statistics, etc.) that should be in the body of the paper.

Four kinds of ineffective conclusions

• The “That’s My Story and I’m Sticking to It” Conclusion. This conclusion just restates the thesis and is usually painfully short. It does not push the ideas forward. People write this kind of conclusion when they can’t think of anything else to say. Example: In conclusion, Frederick Douglass was, as we have seen, a pioneer in American education, proving that education was a major force for social change with regard to slavery.
• The “Sherlock Holmes” Conclusion. Sometimes writers will state the thesis for the very first time in the conclusion. You might be tempted to use this strategy if you don’t want to give everything away too early in your paper. You may think it would be more dramatic to keep the reader in the dark until the end and then “wow” them with your main idea, as in a Sherlock Holmes mystery. The reader, however, does not expect a mystery, but an analytical discussion of your topic in an academic style, with the main argument (thesis) stated up front. Example: (After a paper that lists numerous incidents from the book but never says what these incidents reveal about Douglass and his views on education): So, as the evidence above demonstrates, Douglass saw education as a way to undermine the slaveholders’ power and also an important step toward freedom.
• The “America the Beautiful”/”I Am Woman”/”We Shall Overcome” Conclusion. This kind of conclusion usually draws on emotion to make its appeal, but while this emotion and even sentimentality may be very heartfelt, it is usually out of character with the rest of an analytical paper. A more sophisticated commentary, rather than emotional praise, would be a more fitting tribute to the topic. Example: Because of the efforts of fine Americans like Frederick Douglass, countless others have seen the shining beacon of light that is education. His example was a torch that lit the way for others. Frederick Douglass was truly an American hero.
• The “Grab Bag” Conclusion. This kind of conclusion includes extra information that the writer found or thought of but couldn’t integrate into the main paper. You may find it hard to leave out details that you discovered after hours of research and thought, but adding random facts and bits of evidence at the end of an otherwise-well-organized essay can just create confusion. Example: In addition to being an educational pioneer, Frederick Douglass provides an interesting case study for masculinity in the American South. He also offers historians an interesting glimpse into slave resistance when he confronts Covey, the overseer. His relationships with female relatives reveal the importance of family in the slave community.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Douglass, Frederick. 1995. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself. New York: Dover.

Hamilton College. n.d. “Conclusions.” Writing Center. Accessed June 14, 2019. https://www.hamilton.edu//academics/centers/writing/writing-resources/conclusions .

Holewa, Randa. 2004. “Strategies for Writing a Conclusion.” LEO: Literacy Education Online. Last updated February 19, 2004. https://leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/conclude.html.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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• Writing Tips

How to Write a Conclusion for a Research Paper

3-minute read

• 29th August 2023

If you’re writing a research paper, the conclusion is your opportunity to summarize your findings and leave a lasting impression on your readers. In this post, we’ll take you through how to write an effective conclusion for a research paper and how you can:

·   Reword your thesis statement

·   Highlight the significance of your research

·   Discuss limitations

·   Connect to the introduction

·   End with a thought-provoking statement

Rewording Your Thesis Statement

Begin your conclusion by restating your thesis statement in a way that is slightly different from the wording used in the introduction. Avoid presenting new information or evidence in your conclusion. Just summarize the main points and arguments of your essay and keep this part as concise as possible. Remember that you’ve already covered the in-depth analyses and investigations in the main body paragraphs of your essay, so it’s not necessary to restate these details in the conclusion.

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Highlighting the Significance of Your Research

The conclusion is a good place to emphasize the implications of your research . Avoid ambiguous or vague language such as “I think” or “maybe,” which could weaken your position. Clearly explain why your research is significant and how it contributes to the broader field of study.

Here’s an example from a (fictional) study on the impact of social media on mental health:

Discussing Limitations

Although it’s important to emphasize the significance of your study, you can also use the conclusion to briefly address any limitations you discovered while conducting your research, such as time constraints or a shortage of resources. Doing this demonstrates a balanced and honest approach to your research.

Connecting to the Introduction

In your conclusion, you can circle back to your introduction , perhaps by referring to a quote or anecdote you discussed earlier. If you end your paper on a similar note to how you began it, you will create a sense of cohesion for the reader and remind them of the meaning and significance of your research.

Ending With a Thought-Provoking Statement

Consider ending your paper with a thought-provoking and memorable statement that relates to the impact of your research questions or hypothesis. This statement can be a call to action, a philosophical question, or a prediction for the future (positive or negative). Here’s an example that uses the same topic as above (social media and mental health):

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How to Write a Conclusion for a Research Paper

Last Updated: May 8, 2024 Approved

This article was co-authored by Christopher Taylor, PhD . Christopher Taylor is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Austin Community College in Texas. He received his PhD in English Literature and Medieval Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2014. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. This article received 42 testimonials and 82% of readers who voted found it helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 2,259,026 times.

The conclusion of a research paper needs to summarize the content and purpose of the paper without seeming too wooden or dry. Every basic conclusion must share several key elements, but there are also several tactics you can play around with to craft a more effective conclusion and several you should avoid to prevent yourself from weakening your paper's conclusion. Here are some writing tips to keep in mind when creating a conclusion for your next research paper.

Sample Conclusions

Writing a basic conclusion.

• Do not spend a great amount of time or space restating your topic.
• A good research paper will make the importance of your topic apparent, so you do not need to write an elaborate defense of your topic in the conclusion.
• Usually a single sentence is all you need to restate your topic.
• An example would be if you were writing a paper on the epidemiology of infectious disease, you might say something like "Tuberculosis is a widespread infectious disease that affects millions of people worldwide every year."
• Yet another example from the humanities would be a paper about the Italian Renaissance: "The Italian Renaissance was an explosion of art and ideas centered around artists, writers, and thinkers in Florence."

• A thesis is a narrowed, focused view on the topic at hand.
• This statement should be rephrased from the thesis you included in your introduction. It should not be identical or too similar to the sentence you originally used.
• Try re-wording your thesis statement in a way that complements your summary of the topic of your paper in your first sentence of your conclusion.
• An example of a good thesis statement, going back to the paper on tuberculosis, would be "Tuberculosis is a widespread disease that affects millions of people worldwide every year. Due to the alarming rate of the spread of tuberculosis, particularly in poor countries, medical professionals are implementing new strategies for the diagnosis, treatment, and containment of this disease ."

• A good way to go about this is to re-read the topic sentence of each major paragraph or section in the body of your paper.
• Find a way to briefly restate each point mentioned in each topic sentence in your conclusion. Do not repeat any of the supporting details used within your body paragraphs.
• Under most circumstances, you should avoid writing new information in your conclusion. This is especially true if the information is vital to the argument or research presented in your paper.
• For example, in the TB paper you could summarize the information. "Tuberculosis is a widespread disease that affects millions of people worldwide. Due to the alarming rate of the spread of tuberculosis, particularly in poor countries, medical professionals are implementing new strategies for the diagnosis, treatment, and containment of this disease. In developing countries, such as those in Africa and Southeast Asia, the rate of TB infections is soaring. Crowded conditions, poor sanitation, and lack of access to medical care are all compounding factors in the spread of the disease. Medical experts, such as those from the World Health Organization are now starting campaigns to go into communities in developing countries and provide diagnostic testing and treatments. However, the treatments for TB are very harsh and have many side effects. This leads to patient non-compliance and spread of multi-drug resistant strains of the disease."

• Note that this is not needed for all research papers.
• If you already fully explained what the points in your paper mean or why they are significant, you do not need to go into them in much detail in your conclusion. Simply restating your thesis or the significance of your topic should suffice.
• It is always best practice to address important issues and fully explain your points in the body of your paper. The point of a conclusion to a research paper is to summarize your argument for the reader and, perhaps, to call the reader to action if needed.

• Note that a call for action is not essential to all conclusions. A research paper on literary criticism, for instance, is less likely to need a call for action than a paper on the effect that television has on toddlers and young children.
• A paper that is more likely to call readers to action is one that addresses a public or scientific need. Let's go back to our example of tuberculosis. This is a very serious disease that is spreading quickly and with antibiotic-resistant forms.
• A call to action in this research paper would be a follow-up statement that might be along the lines of "Despite new efforts to diagnose and contain the disease, more research is needed to develop new antibiotics that will treat the most resistant strains of tuberculosis and ease the side effects of current treatments."

• For example, if you are writing a history paper, then you might discuss how the historical topic you discussed matters today. If you are writing about a foreign country, then you might use the conclusion to discuss how the information you shared may help readers understand their own country.

Making Your Conclusion as Effective as Possible

• Since this sort of conclusion is so basic, you must aim to synthesize the information rather than merely summarizing it.
• Instead of merely repeating things you already said, rephrase your thesis and supporting points in a way that ties them all together.
• By doing so, you make your research paper seem like a "complete thought" rather than a collection of random and vaguely related ideas.

• Ask a question in your introduction. In your conclusion, restate the question and provide a direct answer.
• Write an anecdote or story in your introduction but do not share the ending. Instead, write the conclusion to the anecdote in the conclusion of your paper.
• For example, if you wanted to get more creative and put a more humanistic spin on a paper on tuberculosis, you might start your introduction with a story about a person with the disease, and refer to that story in your conclusion. For example, you could say something like this before you re-state your thesis in your conclusion: "Patient X was unable to complete the treatment for tuberculosis due to severe side effects and unfortunately succumbed to the disease."
• Use the same concepts and images introduced in your introduction in your conclusion. The images may or may not appear at other points throughout the research paper.

• Include enough information about your topic to back the statement up but do not get too carried away with excess detail.
• If your research did not provide you with a clear-cut answer to a question posed in your thesis, do not be afraid to indicate as much.
• Restate your initial hypothesis and indicate whether you still believe it or if the research you performed has begun swaying your opinion.
• Indicate that an answer may still exist and that further research could shed more light on the topic at hand.

• This may not be appropriate for all types of research papers. Most research papers, such as one on effective treatment for diseases, will have the information to make the case for a particular argument already in the paper.
• A good example of a paper that might ask a question of the reader in the ending is one about a social issue, such as poverty or government policy.
• Ask a question that will directly get at the heart or purpose of the paper. This question is often the same question, or some version of it, that you may have started with when you began your research.
• Make sure that the question can be answered by the evidence presented in your paper.
• If desired you can briefly summarize the answer after stating the question. You could also leave the question hanging for the reader to answer, though.

• Even without a call to action, you can still make a recommendation to your reader.
• For instance, if you are writing about a topic like third-world poverty, you can various ways for the reader to assist in the problem without necessarily calling for more research.
• Another example would be, in a paper about treatment for drug-resistant tuberculosis, you could suggest donating to the World Health Organization or research foundations that are developing new treatments for the disease.

Avoiding Common Pitfalls

• These sayings usually sound stiff, unnatural, or trite when used in writing.
• Moreover, using a phrase like "in conclusion" to begin your conclusion is a little too straightforward and tends to lead to a weak conclusion. A strong conclusion can stand on its own without being labeled as such.

• Always state the main argument or thesis in the introduction. A research paper is an analytical discussion of an academic topic, not a mystery novel.
• A good, effective research paper will allow your reader to follow your main argument from start to finish.
• This is why it is best practice to start your paper with an introduction that states your main argument and to end the paper with a conclusion that re-states your thesis for re-iteration.

• All significant information should be introduced in the body of the paper.
• Supporting evidence expands the topic of your paper by making it appear more detailed. A conclusion should narrow the topic to a more general point.
• A conclusion should only summarize what you have already stated in the body of your paper.
• You may suggest further research or a call to action, but you should not bring in any new evidence or facts in the conclusion.

• Most often, a shift in tone occurs when a research paper with an academic tone gives an emotional or sentimental conclusion.
• Even if the topic of the paper is of personal significance for you, you should not indicate as much in your paper.
• If you want to give your paper a more humanistic slant, you could start and end your paper with a story or anecdote that would give your topic more personal meaning to the reader.
• This tone should be consistent throughout the paper, however.

• Apologetic statements include phrases like "I may not be an expert" or "This is only my opinion."
• Statements like this can usually be avoided by refraining from writing in the first-person.
• Avoid any statements in the first-person. First-person is generally considered to be informal and does not fit with the formal tone of a research paper.

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• ↑ http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/724/04/
• ↑ http://www.crlsresearchguide.org/18_Writing_Conclusion.asp
• ↑ http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/PlanResearchPaper.html#conclusion
• ↑ http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/conclusions/
• ↑ http://writing2.richmond.edu/writing/wweb/conclude.html

About This Article

To write a conclusion for a research paper, start by restating your thesis statement to remind your readers what your main topic is and bring everything full circle. Then, briefly summarize all of the main points you made throughout your paper, which will help remind your readers of everything they learned. You might also want to include a call to action if you think more research or work needs to be done on your topic by writing something like, "Despite efforts to contain the disease, more research is needed to develop antibiotics." Finally, end your conclusion by explaining the broader context of your topic and why your readers should care about it, which will help them understand why your topic is relevant and important. For tips from our Academic co-author, like how to avoid common pitfalls when writing your conclusion, scroll down! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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How to write a strong conclusion for your research paper

Last updated

17 February 2024

Reviewed by

Writing a research paper is a chance to share your knowledge and hypothesis. It's an opportunity to demonstrate your many hours of research and prove your ability to write convincingly.

Ideally, by the end of your research paper, you'll have brought your readers on a journey to reach the conclusions you've pre-determined. However, if you don't stick the landing with a good conclusion, you'll risk losing your reader’s trust.

Writing a strong conclusion for your research paper involves a few important steps, including restating the thesis and summing up everything properly.

Find out what to include and what to avoid, so you can effectively demonstrate your understanding of the topic and prove your expertise.

• Why is a good conclusion important?

A good conclusion can cement your paper in the reader’s mind. Making a strong impression in your introduction can draw your readers in, but it's the conclusion that will inspire them.

• What to include in a research paper conclusion

There are a few specifics you should include in your research paper conclusion. Offer your readers some sense of urgency or consequence by pointing out why they should care about the topic you have covered. Discuss any common problems associated with your topic and provide suggestions as to how these problems can be solved or addressed.

The conclusion should include a restatement of your initial thesis. Thesis statements are strengthened after you’ve presented supporting evidence (as you will have done in the paper), so make a point to reintroduce it at the end.

Finally, recap the main points of your research paper, highlighting the key takeaways you want readers to remember. If you've made multiple points throughout the paper, refer to the ones with the strongest supporting evidence.

• Steps for writing a research paper conclusion

Many writers find the conclusion the most challenging part of any research project . By following these three steps, you'll be prepared to write a conclusion that is effective and concise.

• Step 1: Restate the problem

Always begin by restating the research problem in the conclusion of a research paper. This serves to remind the reader of your hypothesis and refresh them on the main point of the paper. 

When restating the problem, take care to avoid using exactly the same words you employed earlier in the paper.

• Step 2: Sum up the paper

After you've restated the problem, sum up the paper by revealing your overall findings. The method for this differs slightly, depending on whether you're crafting an argumentative paper or an empirical paper.

Argumentative paper: Restate your thesis and arguments

Argumentative papers involve introducing a thesis statement early on. In crafting the conclusion for an argumentative paper, always restate the thesis, outlining the way you've developed it throughout the entire paper.

It might be appropriate to mention any counterarguments in the conclusion, so you can demonstrate how your thesis is correct or how the data best supports your main points.

Empirical paper: Summarize research findings

Empirical papers break down a series of research questions. In your conclusion, discuss the findings your research revealed, including any information that surprised you.

Be clear about the conclusions you reached, and explain whether or not you expected to arrive at these particular ones.

• Step 3: Discuss the implications of your research

Argumentative papers and empirical papers also differ in this part of a research paper conclusion. Here are some tips on crafting conclusions for argumentative and empirical papers.

Argumentative paper: Powerful closing statement

In an argumentative paper, you'll have spent a great deal of time expressing the opinions you formed after doing a significant amount of research. Make a strong closing statement in your argumentative paper's conclusion to share the significance of your work.

You can outline the next steps through a bold call to action, or restate how powerful your ideas turned out to be.

Empirical paper: Directions for future research

Empirical papers are broader in scope. They usually cover a variety of aspects and can include several points of view.

To write a good conclusion for an empirical paper, suggest the type of research that could be done in the future, including methods for further investigation or outlining ways other researchers might proceed.

If you feel your research had any limitations, even if they were outside your control, you could mention these in your conclusion.

After you finish outlining your conclusion, ask someone to read it and offer feedback. In any research project you're especially close to, it can be hard to identify problem areas. Having a close friend or someone whose opinion you value read the research paper and provide honest feedback can be invaluable. Take note of any suggested edits and consider incorporating them into your paper if they make sense.

• Things to avoid in a research paper conclusion

Keep these aspects to avoid in mind as you're writing your conclusion and refer to them after you've created an outline.

Dry summary

Writing a memorable, succinct conclusion is arguably more important than a strong introduction. Take care to avoid just rephrasing your main points, and don't fall into the trap of repeating dry facts or citations.

You can provide a new perspective for your readers to think about or contextualize your research. Either way, make the conclusion vibrant and interesting, rather than a rote recitation of your research paper’s highlights.

Clichéd or generic phrasing

Your research paper conclusion should feel fresh and inspiring. Avoid generic phrases like "to sum up" or "in conclusion." These phrases tend to be overused, especially in an academic context and might turn your readers off.

The conclusion also isn't the time to introduce colloquial phrases or informal language. Retain a professional, confident tone consistent throughout your paper’s conclusion so it feels exciting and bold.

New data or evidence

While you should present strong data throughout your paper, the conclusion isn't the place to introduce new evidence. This is because readers are engaged in actively learning as they read through the body of your paper.

By the time they reach the conclusion, they will have formed an opinion one way or the other (hopefully in your favor!). Introducing new evidence in the conclusion will only serve to surprise or frustrate your reader.

Ignoring contradictory evidence

If your research reveals contradictory evidence, don't ignore it in the conclusion. This will damage your credibility as an expert and might even serve to highlight the contradictions.

Be as transparent as possible and admit to any shortcomings in your research, but don't dwell on them for too long.

Ambiguous or unclear resolutions

The point of a research paper conclusion is to provide closure and bring all your ideas together. You should wrap up any arguments you introduced in the paper and tie up any loose ends, while demonstrating why your research and data are strong.

Use direct language in your conclusion and avoid ambiguity. Even if some of the data and sources you cite are inconclusive or contradictory, note this in your conclusion to come across as confident and trustworthy.

• Examples of research paper conclusions

Your research paper should provide a compelling close to the paper as a whole, highlighting your research and hard work. While the conclusion should represent your unique style, these examples offer a starting point:

Ultimately, the data we examined all point to the same conclusion: Encouraging a good work-life balance improves employee productivity and benefits the company overall. The research suggests that when employees feel their personal lives are valued and respected by their employers, they are more likely to be productive when at work. In addition, company turnover tends to be reduced when employees have a balance between their personal and professional lives. While additional research is required to establish ways companies can support employees in creating a stronger work-life balance, it's clear the need is there.

Social media is a primary method of communication among young people. As we've seen in the data presented, most young people in high school use a variety of social media applications at least every hour, including Instagram and Facebook. While social media is an avenue for connection with peers, research increasingly suggests that social media use correlates with body image issues. Young girls with lower self-esteem tend to use social media more often than those who don't log onto social media apps every day. As new applications continue to gain popularity, and as more high school students are given smartphones, more research will be required to measure the effects of prolonged social media use.

What are the different kinds of research paper conclusions?

There are no formal types of research paper conclusions. Ultimately, the conclusion depends on the outline of your paper and the type of research you’re presenting. While some experts note that research papers can end with a new perspective or commentary, most papers should conclude with a combination of both. The most important aspect of a good research paper conclusion is that it accurately represents the body of the paper.

Can I present new arguments in my research paper conclusion?

Research paper conclusions are not the place to introduce new data or arguments. The body of your paper is where you should share research and insights, where the reader is actively absorbing the content. By the time a reader reaches the conclusion of the research paper, they should have formed their opinion. Introducing new arguments in the conclusion can take a reader by surprise, and not in a positive way. It might also serve to frustrate readers.

How long should a research paper conclusion be?

There's no set length for a research paper conclusion. However, it's a good idea not to run on too long, since conclusions are supposed to be succinct. A good rule of thumb is to keep your conclusion around 5 to 10 percent of the paper's total length. If your paper is 10 pages, try to keep your conclusion under one page.

What should I include in a research paper conclusion?

A good research paper conclusion should always include a sense of urgency, so the reader can see how and why the topic should matter to them. You can also note some recommended actions to help fix the problem and some obstacles they might encounter. A conclusion should also remind the reader of the thesis statement, along with the main points you covered in the paper. At the end of the conclusion, add a powerful closing statement that helps cement the paper in the mind of the reader.

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Organizing Academic Research Papers: 9. The Conclusion

• Purpose of Guide
• Design Flaws to Avoid
• Glossary of Research Terms
• Narrowing a Topic Idea
• Broadening a Topic Idea
• Extending the Timeliness of a Topic Idea
• Academic Writing Style
• Choosing a Title
• Making an Outline
• Paragraph Development
• Executive Summary
• Background Information
• The Research Problem/Question
• Theoretical Framework
• Citation Tracking
• Content Alert Services
• Evaluating Sources
• Primary Sources
• Secondary Sources
• Tertiary Sources
• What Is Scholarly vs. Popular?
• Qualitative Methods
• Quantitative Methods
• Using Non-Textual Elements
• Limitations of the Study
• Common Grammar Mistakes
• Avoiding Plagiarism
• Footnotes or Endnotes?
• Further Readings
• Annotated Bibliography
• Dealing with Nervousness
• Using Visual Aids
• Grading Someone Else's Paper
• How to Manage Group Projects
• Multiple Book Review Essay
• Reviewing Collected Essays
• About Informed Consent
• Writing Field Notes
• Writing a Policy Memo
• Writing a Research Proposal
• Acknowledgements

The conclusion is intended to help the reader understand why your research should matter to them after they have finished reading the paper. A conclusion is not merely a summary of your points or a re-statement of your research problem but a synthesis of key points. For most essays, one well-developed paragraph is sufficient for a conclusion, although in some cases, a two-or-three paragraph conclusion may be required.

Importance of a Good Conclusion

A well-written conclusion provides you with several important opportunities to demonstrate your overall understanding of the research problem to the reader. These include:

• Presenting the last word on the issues you raised in your paper . Just as the introduction gives a first impression to your reader, the conclusion offers a chance to leave a lasting impression. Do this, for example, by highlighting key points in your analysis or findings.
• Summarizing your thoughts and conveying the larger implications of your study . The conclusion is an opportunity to succinctly answer the "so what?" question by placing the study within the context of past research about the topic you've investigated.
• Demonstrating the importance of your ideas . Don't be shy. The conclusion offers you a chance to elaborate on the significance of your findings.
• Introducing possible new or expanded ways of thinking about the research problem . This does not refer to introducing new information [which should be avoided], but to offer new insight and creative approaches for framing/contextualizing the research problem based on the results of your study.

Conclusions . The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Kretchmer, Paul. Twelve Steps to Writing an Effective Conclusion . San Francisco Edit, 2003-2008.

Structure and Writing Style

https://writing.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/535/2018/07/conclusions_uwmadison_writingcenter_aug2012.pdf I.  General Rules

When writing the conclusion to your paper, follow these general rules:

• State your conclusions in clear, simple language.
• Do not simply reiterate your results or the discussion.
• Indicate opportunities for future research, as long as you haven't already done so in the discussion section of your paper.

The function of your paper's conclusion is to restate the main argument . It reminds the reader of the strengths of your main argument(s) and reiterates the most important evidence supporting those argument(s). Make sure, however, that your conclusion is not simply a repetitive summary of the findings because this reduces the impact of the argument(s) you have developed in your essay.

Consider the following points to help ensure your conclusion is appropriate:

• If the argument or point of your paper is complex, you may need to summarize the argument for your reader.
• If, prior to your conclusion, you have not yet explained the significance of your findings or if you are proceeding inductively, use the end of your paper to describe your main points and explain their significance.
• Move from a detailed to a general level of consideration that returns the topic to the context provided by the introduction or within a new context that emerges from the data.

The conclusion also provides a place for you to persuasively and succinctly restate your research problem, given that the reader has now been presented with all the information about the topic . Depending on the discipline you are writing in, the concluding paragraph may contain your reflections on the evidence presented, or on the essay's central research problem. However, the nature of being introspective about the research you have done will depend on the topic and whether your professor wants you to express your observations in this way.

NOTE : Don't delve into idle speculation. Being introspective means looking within yourself as an author to try and understand an issue more deeply not to guess at possible outcomes.

II.  Developing a Compelling Conclusion

Strategies to help you move beyond merely summarizing the key points of your research paper may include any of the following.

• If your essay deals with a contemporary problem, warn readers of the possible consequences of not attending to the problem.
• Recommend a specific course or courses of action.
• Cite a relevant quotation or expert opinion to lend authority to the conclusion you have reached [a good place to look is research from your literature review].
• Restate a key statistic, fact, or visual image to drive home the ultimate point of your paper.
• If your discipline encourages personal reflection, illustrate your concluding point with a relevant narrative drawn from your own life experiences.
• Return to an anecdote, an example, or a quotation that you introduced in your introduction, but add further insight that is derived from the findings of your study; use your interpretation of results to reframe it in new ways.
• Provide a "take-home" message in the form of a strong, succient statement that you want the reader to remember about your study.

III. Problems to Avoid Failure to be concise The conclusion section should be concise and to the point. Conclusions that are too long often have unnecessary detail. The conclusion section is not the place for details about your methodology or results. Although you should give a summary of what was learned from your research, this summary should be relatively brief, since the emphasis in the conclusion is on the implications, evaluations, insights, etc. that you make. Failure to comment on larger, more significant issues In the introduction, your task was to move from general [the field of study] to specific [your research problem]. However, in the conclusion, your task is to move from specific [your research problem] back to general [your field, i.e., how your research contributes new understanding or fills an important gap in the literature]. In other words, the conclusion is where you place your research within a larger context. Failure to reveal problems and negative results Negative aspects of the research process should never be ignored. Problems, drawbacks, and challenges encountered during your study should be included as a way of qualifying your overall conclusions. If you encountered negative results [findings that are validated outside the research context in which they were generated], you must report them in the results section of your paper. In the conclusion, use the negative results as an opportunity to explain how they provide information on which future research can be based. Failure to provide a clear summary of what was learned In order to be able to discuss how your research fits back into your field of study [and possibly the world at large], you need to summarize it briefly and directly. Often this element of your conclusion is only a few sentences long. Failure to match the objectives of your research Often research objectives change while the research is being carried out. This is not a problem unless you forget to go back and refine your original objectives in your introduction, as these changes emerge they must be documented so that they accurately reflect what you were trying to accomplish in your research [not what you thought you might accomplish when you began].

Resist the urge to apologize If you've immersed yourself in studying the research problem, you now know a good deal about it, perhaps even more than your professor! Nevertheless, by the time you have finished writing, you may be having some doubts about what you have produced. Repress those doubts!  Don't undermine your authority by saying something like, "This is just one approach to examining this problem; there may be other, much better approaches...."

Concluding Paragraphs. College Writing Center at Meramec. St. Louis Community College; Conclusions . The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Conclusions . The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Freedman, Leora  and Jerry Plotnick. Introductions and Conclusions . The Lab Report. University College Writing Centre. University of Toronto; Leibensperger, Summer. Draft Your Conclusion. Academic Center, the University of Houston-Victoria, 2003; Make Your Last Words Count . The Writer’s Handbook. Writing Center. University of Wisconsin, Madison; Tips for Writing a Good Conclusion . Writing@CSU. Colorado State University; Kretchmer, Paul. Twelve Steps to Writing an Effective Conclusion . San Francisco Edit, 2003-2008; Writing Conclusions . Writing Tutorial Services, Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning. Indiana University; Writing: Considering Structure and Organization . Institute for Writing Rhetoric. Dartmouth College.

Writing Tip

Don't Belabor the Obvious!

Avoid phrases like "in conclusion...," "in summary...," or "in closing...." These phrases can be useful, even welcome, in oral presentations. But readers can see by the tell-tale section heading and number of pages remaining to read, when an essay is about to end. You'll irritate your readers if you belabor the obvious.

Another Writing Tip

New Insight, Not New Information!

Don't surprise the reader with new information in your Conclusion that was never referenced anywhere else in the paper. If you have new information to present, add it to the Discussion or other appropriate section of the paper.  Note that, although no actual new information is introduced, the conclusion is where you offer your most "original" contributions in the paper; it's where you describe the value of your research, demonstrate your understanding of the material that you’ve presented, and locate your findings within the larger context of scholarship on the topic.

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• Next: Appendices >>
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How to Write a Conclusion for a Research Paper

• Posted on May 12, 2023

The key to an impactful research paper is crafting an effective conclusion. The conclusion provides a final opportunity to make a lasting impression on the reader by providing a powerful summary of the main argument and key findings.

A well-written conclusion not only summarizes your research but also ties everything back to your thesis statement. Plus, it provides important takeaways for your reader, highlighting what they should remember from your research and how it contributes to the larger academic discourse.

Crafting an impactful conclusion can be tricky, especially in argumentative papers. However, with our expert tips and tricks, you can rest assured that your conclusion will effectively restate the main argument and thesis statement in a way that resonates with your audience and elevates your research to new heights.

Why is a Conclusion Necessary for a Research Paper? 

The conclusion of a research paper is essential in tying together the different parts of the paper and offering a final perspective on the topic. It reinforces the main idea or argument presented and summarizes the key points and findings of the research, highlighting its significance. 

Additionally, the conclusion creates a full circle of the research by connecting back to the thesis statement presented at the paper’s beginning. It provides an opportunity to showcase the writer’s critical thinking skills by demonstrating how the research supports the main argument.

The conclusion is essential for a research paper because it provides closure for the reader. It serves as a final destination that helps the reader understand how all the different pieces of information fit together to support the main argument presented. It also offers insights into how the research can inform future studies and contribute to the larger academic discourse.

It also ensures that the reader does not get lost in the vast amount of information presented in the paper by providing a concise and coherent summary of the entire research. Additionally, it helps the reader identify the paper’s main takeaway and understand how the research contributes to the larger body of knowledge in the field.

Leave a Lasting Impression

A well-crafted conclusion is an essential element of any research paper. Its purpose is to leave a lasting impression on the reader and tie together the different parts of the paper.

To achieve this goal, a conclusion should summarize the main points and highlight the key findings of the research. By doing so, the reader can easily understand the focus and significance of the study.

A strong conclusion should also discuss any important findings that can be applied in the real world. This practical perspective gives readers a better sense of the impact and relevance of the research.

Summarize Your Thoughts

The conclusion of a research paper should be concise and provide a summary of the writer’s thoughts and ideas about the research. 

It should go beyond simply restating the main points and findings and address the “so what” of the research by explaining how it contributes to the existing body of knowledge on the same topic. This way, the conclusion can give readers a better understanding of the research’s significance and relevance to the broader academic community.

Demonstrate How Important Your Idea Is

Moving beyond a superficial overview and delving into the research in-depth is crucial to create a compelling conclusion. This entails summarizing the key findings of the study, highlighting its main contributions to the field, and placing the results in a broader context. Additionally, it would help if you comprehensively analyzed your work and its implications, underscoring its value to the broader academic community. 

New Insights

The conclusion section of a research paper offers an opportunity for the writer to present new insights and approaches to addressing the research problem.

Whether the research outcome is positive or negative, the conclusion provides a platform to discuss practical implications beyond the scope of the research paper. This discussion can help readers understand the potential impact of the research on the broader field and its significance for future research endeavors.

How to Write a Killer Conclusion with Key Points

When writing a conclusion for a research paper, it is important to cover several key points to create a solid and effective conclusion.

Restate the Thesis

When crafting a conclusion, restating the thesis statement is an important step that reminds readers of the research paper’s central focus. However, it should not be a verbatim repetition of the introduction. 

By restating the thesis concisely and clearly, you can effectively tie together the main ideas discussed in the body of the paper and emphasize the significance of the research question. However, keep in mind that the restated thesis should capture the essence of the paper and leave the reader with a clear understanding of the main topic and its importance.

Summarize the Main Points

To write an impactful conclusion, summarizing the main points discussed in the body of the paper is essential. This final section provides the writer with a last opportunity to highlight the significance of their research findings. 

However, it is equally important to avoid reiterating information already discussed in the body of the paper. Instead, you should synthesize and summarize the most significant points to emphasize the key findings. By doing so, the conclusion can effectively tie together the research findings and provide a clear understanding of the importance of the research topic.

Discuss the Results or Findings

The next step is to discuss the results or findings of the research. The discussion of the results or findings should not simply be a repetition of the information presented in the body of the paper.

Instead, it should provide a more in-depth analysis of the significance of the findings. This can involve explaining why the findings are important, what they mean in the context of the research question, and how they contribute to the field or area of study. 

Additionally, it’s crucial to address any limitations or weaknesses of the study in this section. This can provide a more balanced and nuanced understanding of the research and its implications. By doing so, the reader will have a better understanding of the scope and context of the study, which can ultimately enhance the credibility and validity of the research.

Ruminate on Your Thoughts

The final step to crafting an effective conclusion is to ruminate on your thoughts. This provides an opportunity to reflect on the meaning of the research and leaves the reader with something to ponder. Remember, the concluding paragraph should not introduce new information but rather summarize and reflect on the critical points made in the paper.

Furthermore, the conclusion should be integrated into the paper rather than presented as a separate section. It should provide a concise overview of the main findings and suggest avenues for further research.

Different Types of Conclusions 

There are various types of conclusions that can be employed to conclude a research paper effectively, depending on the research questions and topic being investigated.

Summarizing

Summarizing conclusions are frequently used to wrap up a research paper effectively. They restate the thesis statement and provide a brief overview of the main findings and outcomes of the research. This type of conclusion serves as a reminder to the reader of the key points discussed throughout the paper and emphasizes the significance of the research topic.

To be effective, summarizing conclusions should be concise and to the point, avoiding any new information not previously discussed in the body of the paper. Moreover, they are particularly useful when there is a clear and direct answer to the research question. This allows you to summarize your findings succinctly and leave the reader with a clear understanding of the implications of the research.

Externalizing

On the opposite end of the spectrum are externalizing conclusions. Unlike summarizing conclusions, externalizing conclusions introduce new ideas that may not be directly related to the research findings. This type of conclusion can be beneficial because it broadens the scope of the research topic and can lead to new insights and directions for future research.

By presenting new ideas, externalizing conclusions can challenge conventional thinking in the field and open up new avenues for exploration. This approach is instrumental in fields where research is ongoing, and new ideas and approaches are constantly being developed.

Editorial conclusions are a type of conclusion that allows the writer to express their commentary on the research findings. They can be particularly effective in connecting the writer’s insights with the research conducted and can offer a unique perspective on the research topic. Adding a personal touch to the conclusion can help engage the reader and leave a lasting impression.

Remember that regardless of the type of conclusion you choose, it should always start with a clear and concise restatement of the thesis statement, followed by a summary of the main findings in the body paragraphs. The first sentence of the conclusion should be impactful and attention-grabbing to make a strong impression on the reader.

What to Avoid in Your Conclusion

When crafting your conclusion, it’s essential to keep in mind several key points to ensure that it is effective and well-received by your audience:

• Avoid introducing new ideas or topics that have not been covered in the body of your paper.
• Refrain from simply restating what has already been said in your paper without adding new insights or analysis.
• Do not apologize for any shortcomings or limitations of your research, as this can undermine the importance of your findings.
• Avoid using overly emotional or flowery language, as it can detract from the professionalism and objectivity of the research.
• Lastly, avoid any examples of plagiarism. Be sure to properly cite any sources you have used in your research and writing.

Example of a Bad Conclusion

• Recapitulation without Insight: In conclusion, this paper has discussed the importance of exercise for physical and mental health. We hope this paper has been helpful to you and encourages you to start exercising today.
• Introduction of New Ideas: In conclusion, we have discussed the benefits of exercise and how it can improve physical and mental health. Additionally, we have highlighted the benefits of a plant-based diet and the importance of getting enough sleep for overall well-being.
• Emotional Language: In conclusion, exercise is good for your body and mind, and you should definitely start working out today!

Example of a Good Conclusion

• Insights and Implications: In light of our investigation, it is evident that regular exercise is undeniably beneficial for both physical and mental well-being, especially if performed at an appropriate duration and frequency. These findings hold significant implications for public health policies and personal wellness decisions.
• Limitations and Future Directions: While our investigation has shed light on the benefits of exercise, our study is not without limitations. Future research can delve deeper into the long-term effects of exercise on mental health and explore the impact of exercise on specific populations, such as older adults or individuals with chronic health conditions.
• Call to Action: In conclusion, we urge individuals to prioritize exercise as a critical component of their daily routine. By making exercise a habit, we can reap the many benefits of a healthy and active lifestyle.

Final Thoughts 

When writing a research paper, the conclusion is one of the most crucial elements to leave a lasting impression on the reader. It should effectively summarize the research and provide valuable insights, leaving the reader with something to ponder.

To accomplish this, it is essential to include vital elements, such as restating the thesis , summarizing the main points, and discussing the findings. However, it is equally important to avoid common mistakes that can undermine the effectiveness of the conclusion, such as introducing new information or repeating the introduction. 

So to ensure that your research is of the highest quality, it’s crucial to use proper citations and conduct a thorough literature review. Additionally, it is crucial to proofread the work to eliminate any errors. 

Fortunately, there are many available resources to help you with both writing and plagiarism prevention. Quetext , for example, offers a plagiarism checker, citation assistance, and proofreading tools to ensure the writing is top-notch. By incorporating these tips and using available resources, you can create a compelling and memorable conclusion for readers. 

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How to Write a Research Paper Conclusion Section

What is a conclusion in a research paper?

The conclusion in a research paper is the final paragraph or two in a research paper. In scientific papers, the conclusion usually follows the Discussion section , summarizing the importance of the findings and reminding the reader why the work presented in the paper is relevant.

However, it can be a bit confusing to distinguish the conclusion section/paragraph from a summary or a repetition of your findings, your own opinion, or the statement of the implications of your work. In fact, the conclusion should contain a bit of all of these other parts but go beyond it—but not too far beyond! 

The structure and content of the conclusion section can also vary depending on whether you are writing a research manuscript or an essay. This article will explain how to write a good conclusion section, what exactly it should (and should not) contain, how it should be structured, and what you should avoid when writing it.  

Table of Contents:

What does a good conclusion section do, what to include in a research paper conclusion.

• Conclusion in an Essay
• Research Paper Conclusion 
• Conclusion Paragraph Outline and Example
• What Not to Do When Writing a Conclusion

The conclusion of a research paper has several key objectives. It should:

• Restate your research problem addressed in the introduction section
• Summarize your main arguments, important findings, and broader implications
• Synthesize key takeaways from your study

The specific content in the conclusion depends on whether your paper presents the results of original scientific research or constructs an argument through engagement with previously published sources.

You presented your general field of study to the reader in the introduction section, by moving from general information (the background of your work, often combined with a literature review ) to the rationale of your study and then to the specific problem or topic you addressed, formulated in the form of the statement of the problem in research or the thesis statement in an essay.

In the conclusion section, in contrast, your task is to move from your specific findings or arguments back to a more general depiction of how your research contributes to the readers’ understanding of a certain concept or helps solve a practical problem, or fills an important gap in the literature. The content of your conclusion section depends on the type of research you are doing and what type of paper you are writing. But whatever the outcome of your work is, the conclusion is where you briefly summarize it and place it within a larger context. It could be called the “take-home message” of the entire paper.

What to summarize in the conclusion

Your conclusion section needs to contain a very brief summary of your work , a very brief summary of the main findings of your work, and a mention of anything else that seems relevant when you now look at your work from a bigger perspective, even if it was not initially listed as one of your main research questions. This could be a limitation, for example, a problem with the design of your experiment that either needs to be considered when drawing any conclusions or that led you to ask a different question and therefore draw different conclusions at the end of your study (compared to when you started out).

Once you have reminded the reader of what you did and what you found, you need to go beyond that and also provide either your own opinion on why your work is relevant (and for whom, and how) or theoretical or practical implications of the study , or make a specific call for action if there is one to be made.   

How to Write an Essay Conclusion

Academic essays follow quite different structures than their counterparts in STEM and the natural sciences. Humanities papers often have conclusion sections that are much longer and contain more detail than scientific papers. There are three main types of academic essay conclusions.

Summarizing conclusion

The most typical conclusion at the end of an analytical/explanatory/argumentative essay is a summarizing conclusion . This is, as the name suggests, a clear summary of the main points of your topic and thesis. Since you might have gone through a number of different arguments or subtopics in the main part of your essay, you need to remind the reader again what those were, how they fit into each other, and how they helped you develop or corroborate your hypothesis.

For an essay that analyzes how recruiters can hire the best candidates in the shortest time or on “how starving yourself will increase your lifespan, according to science”, a summary of all the points you discussed might be all you need. Note that you should not exactly repeat what you said earlier, but rather highlight the essential details and present those to your reader in a different way. 

Externalizing conclusion

If you think that just reminding the reader of your main points is not enough, you can opt for an externalizing conclusion instead, that presents new points that were not presented in the paper so far. These new points can be additional facts and information or they can be ideas that are relevant to the topic and have not been mentioned before.

Such a conclusion can stimulate your readers to think about your topic or the implications of your analysis in a whole new way. For example, at the end of a historical analysis of a specific event or development, you could direct your reader’s attention to some current events that were not the topic of your essay but that provide a different context for your findings.

Editorial conclusion

In an editorial conclusion , another common type of conclusion that you will find at the end of papers and essays, you do not add new information but instead present your own experiences or opinions on the topic to round everything up. What makes this type of conclusion interesting is that you can choose to agree or disagree with the information you presented in your paper so far. For example, if you have collected and analyzed information on how a specific diet helps people lose weight, you can nevertheless have your doubts on the sustainability of that diet or its practicability in real life—if such arguments were not included in your original thesis and have therefore not been covered in the main part of your paper, the conclusion section is the place where you can get your opinion across.    

How to Conclude an Empirical Research Paper

An empirical research paper is usually more concise and succinct than an essay, because, if it is written well, it focuses on one specific question, describes the method that was used to answer that one question, describes and explains the results, and guides the reader in a logical way from the introduction to the discussion without going on tangents or digging into not absolutely relevant topics.

Summarize the findings

In a scientific paper, you should include a summary of the findings. Don’t go into great detail here (you will have presented your in-depth  results  and  discussion  already), but do clearly express the answers to the  research questions  you investigated.

Describe your main findings, even if they weren’t necessarily the ones anticipated, and explain the conclusion they led you to. Explain these findings in as few words as possible.

Instead of beginning with “ In conclusion, in this study, we investigated the effect of stress on the brain using fMRI …”, you should try to find a way to incorporate the repetition of the essential (and only the essential) details into the summary of the key points. “ The findings of this fMRI study on the effect of stress on the brain suggest that …” or “ While it has been known for a long time that stress has an effect on the brain, the findings of this fMRI study show that, surprisingly… ” would be better ways to start a conclusion. 

You should also not bring up new ideas or present new facts in the conclusion of a research paper, but stick to the background information you have presented earlier, to the findings you have already discussed, and the limitations and implications you have already described. The one thing you can add here is a practical recommendation that you haven’t clearly stated before—but even that one needs to follow logically from everything you have already discussed in the discussion section.

Discuss the implications

After summing up your key arguments or findings, conclude the paper by stating the broader implications of the research , whether in methods , approach, or findings. Express practical or theoretical takeaways from your paper. This often looks like a “call to action” or a final “sales pitch” that puts an exclamation point on your paper.

If your research topic is more theoretical in nature, your closing statement should express the significance of your argument—for example, in proposing a new understanding of a topic or laying the groundwork for future research.

Future research example

Future research into education standards should focus on establishing a more detailed picture of how novel pedagogical approaches impact young people’s ability to absorb new and difficult concepts. Moreover, observational studies are needed to gain more insight into how specific teaching models affect the retention of relationships and facts—for instance, how inquiry-based learning and its emphasis on lateral thinking can be used as a jumping-off point for more holistic classroom approaches.

Research Conclusion Example and Outline

Let’s revisit the study on the effect of stress on the brain we mentioned before and see what the common structure for a conclusion paragraph looks like, in three steps. Following these simple steps will make it easy for you to wrap everything up in one short paragraph that contains all the essential information: 

One: Short summary of what you did, but integrated into the summary of your findings:

While it has been known for a long time that stress has an effect on the brain, the findings of this fMRI study in 25 university students going through mid-term exams show that, surprisingly, one’s attitude to the experienced stress significantly modulates the brain’s response to it. 

Note that you don’t need to repeat any methodological or technical details here—the reader has been presented with all of these before, they have read your results section and the discussion of your results, and even (hopefully!) a discussion of the limitations and strengths of your paper. The only thing you need to remind them of here is the essential outcome of your work. 

Two: Add implications, and don’t forget to specify who this might be relevant for: 

Students could be considered a specific subsample of the general population, but earlier research shows that the effect that exam stress has on their physical and mental health is comparable to the effects of other types of stress on individuals of other ages and occupations. Further research into practical ways of modulating not only one’s mental stress response but potentially also one’s brain activity (e.g., via neurofeedback training) are warranted.

This is a “research implication”, and it is nicely combined with a mention of a potential limitation of the study (the student sample) that turns out not to be a limitation after all (because earlier research suggests we can generalize to other populations). If there already is a lot of research on neurofeedback for stress control, by the way, then this should have been discussed in your discussion section earlier and you wouldn’t say such studies are “warranted” here but rather specify how your findings could inspire specific future experiments or how they should be implemented in existing applications. 

Three: The most important thing is that your conclusion paragraph accurately reflects the content of your paper. Compare it to your research paper title , your research paper abstract , and to your journal submission cover letter , in case you already have one—if these do not all tell the same story, then you need to go back to your paper, start again from the introduction section, and find out where you lost the logical thread. As always, consistency is key.    

Problems to Avoid When Writing a Conclusion 

• Do not suddenly introduce new information that has never been mentioned before (unless you are writing an essay and opting for an externalizing conclusion, see above). The conclusion section is not where you want to surprise your readers, but the take-home message of what you have already presented.
• Do not simply copy your abstract, the conclusion section of your abstract, or the first sentence of your introduction, and put it at the end of the discussion section. Even if these parts of your paper cover the same points, they should not be identical.
• Do not start the conclusion with “In conclusion”. If it has its own section heading, that is redundant, and if it is the last paragraph of the discussion section, it is inelegant and also not really necessary. The reader expects you to wrap your work up in the last paragraph, so you don’t have to announce that. Just look at the above example to see how to start a conclusion in a natural way.
• Do not forget what your research objectives were and how you initially formulated the statement of the problem in your introduction section. If your story/approach/conclusions changed because of methodological issues or information you were not aware of when you started, then make sure you go back to the beginning and adapt your entire story (not just the ending). 

Consider Receiving Academic Editing Services

When you have arrived at the conclusion of your paper, you might want to head over to Wordvice AI’s AI Writing Assistant to receive a free grammar check for any academic content. 

After drafting, you can also receive English editing and proofreading services , including paper editing services for your journal manuscript. If you need advice on how to write the other parts of your research paper , or on how to make a research paper outline if you are struggling with putting everything you did together, then head over to the Wordvice academic resources pages , where we have a lot more articles and videos for you.

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Impact of China’s carbon emissions trading scheme on urban air quality: a time-varying DID model

• Research Article
• Published: 11 September 2023
• Volume 30 , pages 103862–103876, ( 2023 )

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• Haibo Sun   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6368-357X 1 &

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Using panel data for 277 Chinese cities, this paper applies a time-varying difference-in-differences (DID) model to empirically test the impact of China’s carbon emissions trading scheme (ETS) on urban air quality, and further explores its heterogeneity and the mechanisms involved. The results show that ETS can improve urban air quality. This conclusion remains robust through a series of robustness tests, including PSM-DID estimation, varying window periods, exclusion of significant events, lag phase, and placebo tests. The dynamic effect test indicates that ETS has a continuous and effective effect on improving urban air quality. Mechanism analysis reveals that the degree of marketization can enhance the improvement effect that ETS has on urban air quality. Meanwhile, industrial structure upgrading and green technology innovation are important mechanisms by which pilot ETS policy improves urban air quality. Regional heterogeneity analysis finds that ETS only improves urban air quality in eastern and central regions.

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Data availability.

The datasets used, generated, and analyzed during the current study are available in the China City Statistical Yearbook, Statistical Yearbook of each province in China, China National Intellectual Property Database, and EPS China Data.

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This research is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71903114; Grant No. 72004122) and Youth Innovation Team Program of Shandong Higher Education Institution (Grant No. 2022RW049).

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Sun, H., Cao, D. Impact of China’s carbon emissions trading scheme on urban air quality: a time-varying DID model. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30 , 103862–103876 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-29465-x

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• Published: 07 November 2023

Social virtual reality helps to reduce feelings of loneliness and social anxiety during the Covid-19 pandemic

• Keith Kenyon   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-5084-9024 1 ,
• Vitalia Kinakh 2 &
• Jacqui Harrison 1  

Scientific Reports volume  13 , Article number:  19282 ( 2023 ) Cite this article

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Evidence shows that the Covid-19 pandemic caused increased loneliness, anxiety and greater social isolation due to social distancing policies. Virtual reality (VR) provides users with an easy way to become engaged in social activities without leaving the house. This study focused on adults, who were socialising in Altspace VR, a social VR platform, during the Covid-19 pandemic and it explored whether social VR could alleviate feelings of loneliness and social anxiety. A mixed-methods research design was applied. Participants (n = 74), aged 18–75, completed a questionnaire inside the social VR platform to measure levels of loneliness (UCLA 20-item scale) and social anxiety (17-item SPIN scale) in the social VR platform (online condition) and real world (offline condition). Subsequently, a focus group (n = 9) was conducted to gather insights into how and why participants were using the social VR platform. Findings from the questionnaire revealed significantly lower levels of loneliness and social anxiety when in the social VR platform. Lower levels of loneliness and social anxiety were also associated with participants who socialised with a regular group of friends. In addition, findings from the focus group suggested that being part of an online group facilitates stronger feelings of belonging. Social VR can be used as a valuable intervention to reduce feelings of loneliness and social anxiety. Future studies should continue to establish whether social VR can help to encourage group formation and provide people with enhanced social opportunities beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Introduction.

On the 11th March 2020 the World Health Organisation declared the rapidly spreading Corona virus outbreak a pandemic 1 and world governments began to impose enforced social isolation rules. Throughout 2020/2021 the majority of countries imposed lengthy periods of lockdown. The first UK lockdown lasted almost 4 months and during this time only essential travel was permitted and interaction with others from outside the direct household was forbidden 2 . The lock-down caused disruption to daily routines, social activities, education and work. Social distancing measures led to a collapse in social contact. When people experience a reduction in social contact or when the quality of interaction with others is diminished, they can suffer feelings of loneliness. Nearly 7.5 million adults experienced "lockdown loneliness," which is the equivalent to around 14% of the population. 3 Additionally, the percentage of the UK population reporting loneliness increased from 10% in March 2020 to 26% in February 2021 4 .

Social isolation and loneliness

Social isolation and loneliness are different. Social isolation is commonly defined as “the state in which the individual or group expresses a need or desire for contact with others but is unable to make that contact” 5 , p. 731 . Social isolation can occur due to quarantine or physical separation. Due to quarantine measures enforced during lockdown, people faced involuntary social isolation or at least a reduction in their social interactions to the point that their social network was quantitatively diminished 6 . Loneliness is a subjective experience that arises when a person feels that they are isolated and deprived of companionship, lack a sense of belonging, or that their social interactions with others are diminished in either quantity or quality 7 .

Social isolation, loneliness and detrimental implications for physical and mental health

The rise of loneliness during lockdown also increased the prevalence of anxiety 3 and such health problems as depressive symptoms and insomnia, reconfirming findings from earlier research 8 that explored the relationship between social isolation and loneliness and the effect it has on our physical and mental health. Loneliness can lead to stress and high blood pressure, a sedentary or less active lifestyle, and a reduction in cognitive function 9 , 10 , 11 . Loneliness can also lead to less healthy behaviours e.g. an increase in alcohol consumption and smoking 12 , a poor diet 13 and poor sleeping patterns 14 . Loneliness has been found to have an impact on a person’s social wellbeing leading to feelings of low self-esteem and worthlessness as well as increased anxiety and decreased levels of happiness, resulting in depression 11 , 15 , 16 , 17 .

Technology-based interventions to reduce social isolation and loneliness

Within the last decade several systematic reviews have focused on technology-based interventions for people who are experiencing or who are at risk of experiencing loneliness and social isolation 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 . Masi et al. 18 in their meta-analysis, explored the efficacy of technology-based vs non-technology-based interventions across all population groups, notably, the mean size effect for technology-based interventions was − 1.04 (N = 6; 95% CI  − 1.68, − 0.40; p  < 0.01), as opposed to − 0.21 (N = 12; 95% CI  − 0.43, 0.01; p = 0.05) for non-technology-based interventions. Choi et al. 19 reported a significant pooled reduction in loneliness in older adults after implementing technology-based interventions (Z = 2.085, p  = 0.037). Early technology-based interventions consisted of conference calls/video conferencing, text-based Inter Relay Chat and Emails 18 , 19 , 20 . Subsequent systematic reviews 21 , 22 found that video conferencing was able to reduce loneliness in older particpants, however, this technology only helped to facilitate communication between existing, rather than new contacts. These types of intervention are therefore less beneficial for individuals who are socially isolated and struggling to establish connections with others.

During the Covid-19 lockdowns there was no possibility to provide or continue providing face-to-face individual or group interventions for lonely people. Moreover, even non-lonely people found themselves in situations where they could not maintain their social relationships through face-to-face interactions. Thus, the Department of Primary Care and Public Health in England recommended that avenues for mitigating feelings of loneliness should look to include web- and smartphone-based interventions 23 .

Virtual reality (VR) using a head mounted display (HMD) is considered qualitatively different from other technologies in that it has the ability to provide a sensation of immersiveness or ‘being there’ 24 . VR technologies are becoming more accessible and comfortable with the creation of lighter more portable HMDs at a more affordable cost. This allows the technology to be used by a greater range of adults and members of vulnerable groups, e.g. adults with mobility impairments and older adults with age-related impairments. VR users, often represented as avatars, are able to meet and communicate in real-time with each other within a range of different scenarios. People are able to participate in social activities with new people, e.g. venturing off into new and exciting worlds (with nature scenes) 24 , travelling to different destinations around the world 25 , 26 without leaving their homes and escaping their confined realties or engaging in horticultural therapeutic interactions 27 . Older adults are able to engage in social networking activities, including playing games with other people and attending family events through VR, users spoke very positively and expressed visible signs of enjoyment about their experience 28 , 29 , 30 . Virtual gaming is very popular among younger users with 31 , 32 reporting that players experience significantly lower levels of loneliness and social anxiety when playing VR games compared within the real world.

Users taking part in VR interventions report being less socailly isolated, show less signs of depression, and demonstrate greater levels of overal well-being 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 33 , 34 . Widow(er)s in a VR support group showed a significant improvement during an 8-week intervention 35 . While both systematic reviews 33 , 34 reported useful insights regarding the positive impact of VR technology on loneliness, most studies on VR environments included a small number of participants from specific populations, thus the reported findings have limited generalisability.

When VR is used as an intervention to reduce social and public speaking anxiety, it is found to be most effective as a mode of delivery for alternative therapeutic interventions such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy 36 . Furthermore, Kim et al. 37 found that patients with Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) benefitted from the use of VR as an intervention, evidenced by short-term neuronal changes during exposure. They concluded that VR is useful as a first intervention for SAD patients who are unable to access formal treatment.

Various social VR platforms have emerged since 2013, e.g. VRChat, Altspace VR and RecRoom, however, the use of social VR as an intervention for reducing social isolation and loneliness is still a relatively new and unexplored field. Therefore, whilst there is research to support the effectiveness of VR as a tool to deliver therapeutic interventions and improve social well-being, there is limited research on the use of social VR as an online mechanism to decrease social isolation and improve group belonging.

Innovation and contributions of this study

The current study is a cross-sectional study of the general population, socially isolated during the Covid-19 pandemic and who were using social VR platforms to interact with each other. This study addresses the limitations of previous studies, which have focused exclusively on specific groups within the population, i.e. older adults or VR gamers, or explored general well-being rather that loneliness and social anxiety. In previous studies the HMDs were often provided by the research team, meaning that there was a time restrain (frequency or length) in relation to the use of the VR technology by participants. This study is novel as it explores the effects of loneliness and social anxiety on a wider demographic of people, who have unrestricted access to HMDs and have been socialising in Altspace VR during the Covid-19 pandemic. This study is of an international character and utilises a mixed methods approach to explore the benefits of social VR to help reduce feelings of loneliness and social anxiety and to provide additional means by which social contact can be enhanced for vulnerable populations who may remain isolated post-pandemic.

Research hypotheses

The following hypotheses were explored:

Lower levels of loneliness and social anxiety are experienced when participants are in the social VR platform (online) compared with in the real-world condition (offline).

Lower levels of loneliness and social anxiety are experienced by participants who are part of a group in social VR, i.e. members of a Virtual Social Group (VSG), than those who are not.

Lower levels of loneliness and social anxiety are experienced by participants who have a group of friends in the social VR in comparison with those who do not.

Lower levels of loneliness and social anxiety are experienced by participants who spend greater amounts of time in social VR.

The study used a convergent parallel mixed-methods research design 38 to collect both diverse quantitative and qualitative data (see Fig.  1 ). The study complied will relevant ethical regulations and was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the University of Bolton, UK. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants.

A convergent parallel mixed-methods model of the current research.

Collection of quantitative data

Participants.

Participants were required to be English speaking, over the age of 18 and users of Altspace VR. A message of invitation was posted on different Discord community channels/message boards: Official Altspace VR; Educators In VR; Spatial Network; Humanism; Computer Science in VR; VR Church. 87 participants were recruited via an opportunity sampling method.

Materials and measures

A private research room was created inside Altspace VR to ensure that participants were able to complete the questionnaire undisturbed (see Fig.  5 ). The online questionnaire was created in Qualtrics XM and could be accessed across multiple devices: Oculus Quest, Oculus GO, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and PC. The online questionnaire included sections about demographics, details of Altspace VR usage and sections assessing participant’s subjective feelings of loneliness and social anxiety. Measures of loneliness and social anxiety were collected for both conditions—real world (offline condition), followed by social VR (online condition).

The UCLA Loneliness Scale version 3 39 was used to measure the subjective level of loneliness. This 20-item self-reporting questionnaire uses a four-point Likert scale, with 0 = “Never”, 1 = “Rarely”, 2 = “Sometimes”, 3 = “Often”. The loneliness score for each participant (range from 0 to 60) was determined as the sum of responses to all 20 items—higher scores reflecting greater loneliness. The UCLA Loneliness scale was adapted to include the word Altspace in the online condition as it was felt that this would further help participants to focus specifically on the online experience. No further adaptations were made to this questionnaire. The Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN) scale 40 was used to measure the subjective level of social anxiety as it is effective in measuring the severity of social anxiety. This 17-item self-reporting questionnaire uses a five-point Likert scale, with 0 = “Not at all”, 1 = "A little”, 2 = “Somewhat”, 3 = “Very much”, 4 = “Extremely”. Adding the scores from each item produced a SPIN score for each participant. A higher SPIN score indicates more severe symptoms of social anxiety. No adaptations were made to the SPIN questionnaire.

Participants who were interested in taking part in the survey were taken to the research room inside Altspace VR where they were sent a message with a link to the online questionnaire. Participants who clicked on the link were then presented with a browser window inside the room that only they could see. Participants who opened the questionnaire were first presented with the participant information sheet giving full details of the study. Information regarding withdrawal from the study and a list of additional support services were also provided in line with the University of Bolton’s ethical guidelines. After reading the study information sheet, participants were presented with the consent form for which full consent was required before they were able to move onto the survey.

The strategy for dealing with incomplete cases was to remove any participants who did not answer all of the questions, thus analysis was conducted on 74 participants. Exported data from the Qualtrics system was imported into the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM SPSS, version 25). A Kolmogorov–Smirnov test ( p  > 0.5) was carried out to test for a normal distribution and histograms, nominal Q-Q plots and box plots were used to identify any outliers. Two outliers were found in the data for Social Anxiety in the offline condition and these were replaced with the mean of 17.54 .

Characteristics of the sample

Of the total sample (n = 74), 46 were males and 28 females. The age range of respondents was 18–75 years (the split of valid participants is shown in Table 1 ). Participants were recruited globally (the geographical demographic is shown in Fig.  2 ). Out of these 74 participants, 31 participants (15 males, 16 females) were new to Altspace VR, having joined Altspace VR during the Covid-19 pandemic. 43 participants indicated that they had used Altspace VR before the outbreak of Covid-19.

Participant’s location.

Change in loneliness and social anxiety

Figure  3 shows the breakdown of social anxiety scores in both the online and offline conditions. The data shows that the severity of social anxiety is higher in the offline condition, whereas participant’s levels of anxiety reduce when they are online.

Participant’s SPIN Scores.

The UCLA loneliness scale uses continuous scoring and so it is not possible to provide a similar breakdown for participant’s levels of loneliness. The effect that social VR has on the participant will be discussed in greater detail later.

It was anticipated that during the Covid-19 pandemic and as a direct result of social distancing rules being imposed that general usage in Altspace VR would increase. Figure  4 shows that 76% of participants felt that their usage had increased and after calculating the average difference in usage (before and during Covid-19) an average increase per user of 11 h per week was reported.

Participants usage of Altspace VR since Covid-19.

Hypothesis 1

Hypothesis 1 predicted lower levels of loneliness and social anxiety are experienced when participants are in social VR (online) compared with in the real-world condition (offline) A paired-samples t-test was carried out to compare online (inside social VR) and offline (real-world) conditions for both loneliness and social anxiety. The results in Table 2 demonstrate a statistically significant decrease in the scores for loneliness from the offline condition (M = 20.53, SD = 14.80) to the online condition (M = 16.32, SD = 11.04), t  = − 2.573, p  < 0.05. A statistically significant decrease in social anxiety was found in the offline condition (M = 23.01, SD = 16.65) compared to the online condition (M = 16.34, SD = 13.09), t  = − 5.80, p  < 0.05. A small to moderate effect size 41 was found for both variables (i.e. d loneliness = 0.32 and d social anxiety = 0.45).

Hypotheses 2, 3 and 4

H2 predicted that lower levels of loneliness and social anxiety are experienced by participants who are part of a group in social VR than those who are not.

Being a member of a VSG means that the participant meets with a group or number of groups on a regular basis to take part in scheduled events, e.g. regular church services for members of VR Church; discussions around education each week for members of Educators in VR; mediation and relaxation sessions for members of the EvolVR group; and discussions on a whole range of matters relating to life in the Humanism group. 75.7% of participants (n = 56) indicated that they were a member of a VSG and 24.3% (n = 18) were not affiliated with any groups.

A one-way between participants ANOVA was carried out to compare the effect of being a member of a VSG separately for each of the dependent variables. No significant effect was found for loneliness in both the online condition F(1,72) = 0.17, p  = 0.68 and offline condition F(1,72) = 1.63, p  = 0.20. No significant effect was found for social anxiety in the online condition F(1,72) = 2.22, p  = 0.14, however, a significant effect was found for social anxiety in the offline condition F(1,72) = 4.23, p  < 0.05, η 2  = 0.06 (a medium effect size). This finding suggests that participants who are part of a VSG experience less social anxiety (M = 20.80, SD = 15.64) than those who are not (M = 29.89, SD = 18.26) when in the real world (offline) condition.

H3 predicted that lower levels of loneliness and social anxiety are experienced by participants who have a group of friends in social VR in comparison with those who do not. This differs from Hypothesis 2 in that having friends in Altspace VR is seen as a deeper connection than simply taking part in group events where connections may not have been formed. Participants were grouped on whether they have a circle of friends in social VR with whom they regularly socialise with (52.7%, n = 39) and not (47.3%, n = 35).

A one-way between participants ANOVA was carried out to compare the effect of having a circle of friends separately for each of the dependent variables. A significant effect was found for loneliness in the online condition F(1,72) = 6.75, p  < 0.05, η 2  = 0.08 (a medium effect size), whereas no significant effect was found for loneliness in the offline condition F(1,72) = 0.03, p  = 0.86. This suggests that participants who have a circle of online friends experience less loneliness (M = 13.28, SD = 11.02) than those who do not (M = 19.71, SD = 10.17). A significant effect was found for social anxiety in both the online condition F(1,72) = 6.82, p  < 0.05, η 2  = 0.09 (a medium effect size) and offline condition F(1,72) = 9.18, p  < 0.01, η 2  = 0.11 (a large effect size). This suggests that participants who have a circle of online friends experience less social anxiety (M = 12.72, SD = 12.64) than those who do not (M = 20.37, SD = 12.54) in both online and offline conditions.

H4 predicted that lower levels of loneliness and social anxiety are experienced by participants who spend greater amounts of time in social VR. There was a reasonable balance of participants who have been members of Altspace VR for more than 6 months prior to (n = 43) and who joined during (n = 31) the Covid-19 pandemic.

A one-way between participants ANOVA shows a significant effect for loneliness in the online condition F(1,72) = 4.68, p  < 0.05, η 2  = 0.06 (a medium effect size), whereas no significant effect was found for loneliness in the offline condition F(1,72) = 0.08, p  = 0.93. This suggests that participants who have been members of Altspace VR for more than 6 months experienced less loneliness (M = 14.02, SD = 11.63) than those who joined during the Covid-19 pandemic (M = 19.52, SD = 09.43). No significant effect was found for social anxiety in the online condition F(1,72) = 2.13, p  = 0.15, however, a significant effect was found for social anxiety in the offline condition F(1,72) = 4.77, p  < 0.05, η 2  = 0.06 (a medium effect size). This suggests that participants who have been members of Altspace VR for more than 6 months experienced less social anxiety (M = 19.51, SD = 16.82) than those who recently joined (M = 27.87, SD = 15.38).

Discussion of quantitative results

Research into the use of web-based technologies and virtual worlds has consistently demonstrated positive effects of such interventions on an individual’s subjective feelings of loneliness and social anxiety. Hypothesis 1 of this study is therefore supported and is consistent with the earlier findings 31 , 32 , 42 , 43 and a recent review 44 .

The results of this study in relation to hypothesis 2 were unable to support the assumption that being part of a VSG will reduce feelings of loneliness. The study was therefore unable to support findings from 32 which reported that VR gamers who played as part of a guild were less likely to experience feelings of loneliness. Social identity theory 45 provides a possible explanation for this. Teaming up with a specific VR gaming guild with the common purpose of defeating an enemy for example exerts a stronger sense of identity and group attachment compared to belonging to multiple virtual social groups, where an individual could have several social identities, thus group attachment is less salient. Furthermore, group attachment takes time to develop and within Altspace VR new VSGs are being created all the time. Future studies should look to explore the relationship between the membership duration and the strength of group attachment and the effect this has on subjective feelings of loneliness.

The results of this study support hypothesis 3 in that participants, who have a circle of friends with who they regularly socialise in social VR, experience lower levels of loneliness and social anxiety. This is consistent with the findings of 32 who found that playing with known people helps to reduce feelings of loneliness and social anxiety. This also further supports the findings of 46 who found that half of participants considered their gamer friends to be comparable to their real-life friends. As pointed out by 47 in the Need to Belong Theory, people need frequent and meaningful interactions to feel fulfilled. The ability to form positive social interactions with people with which we feel most connected, i.e. a circle of friends that share our goals or with which we have a common purpose, promotes greater levels of satisfaction and generates greater feelings of belonginess, which in turn reduces our feelings of loneliness and social anxiety 48 .

The results of this study in relation to hypothesis 4 support the assumption that the longer a person has been in social VR the lower will be their feelings of loneliness. There was a significant reduction in feelings of loneliness in the online condition, but not in the offline condition. The explanation for the divergence is that both new and existing Altspace VR users were experiencing similarly high levels of loneliness in the real-world condition, due to the sudden enforced period of lockdown that was imposed upon them, and that whilst being in social VR for a longer period of time showed a greater reduction in feelings of loneliness, in the real world the length of time they had been using social VR was not significant. A possible explanation for this is that when returning to the real world a person is again faced with the challenges of the imposed social isolation and will therefore continue to experience greater levels of loneliness. The reverse situation was found for social anxiety with a significant reduction in social anxiety being found in the offline condition for participants who had been using social VR for longer. This is a useful finding because it shows that using social VR for longer periods of time can help to reduce feelings of social anxiety in the real world. As is suggested by 42 social VR can be used to build up social capital and thereby help to improve a person’s social skills in the real world.

Focus group

Nine participants (6 male, 3 female) who took part in the online questionnaire were later recruited to take part in a focus group. The demographics of this group are shown in Table 3 . The focus group was made up of a wide mix of people from around the world. Participants were a mix of educators, students, developers and other professionals. Four of the participants were new to Altspace VR, having joined during the Covid-19 pandemic, whilst five had been in Altspace VR for more than 6 months. All the participants had previously attended at least one Educators in VR research event.

The focus group study took place in a private research room inside of Altspace VR (see Fig.  5 ), purposely created by the researcher. Only selected participants were able to join this room via a portal link provided by the researcher. The interview was recorded using OBS screen recording software on the researcher’s computer.

Virtual research room.

Prompts were kept to a minimum and questions were open-ended to elicit rich responses from participants. The focus group was later transcribed verbatim by the researcher. The transcript was analysed using a thematic data analysis approach as per the Braun and Clarke framework 49 . Thematic analysis is a suitable analytic approach to systematically establish patterns of meaning within qualitative data sets 50 . Microsoft Word was used to facilitate data management and the coding of themes. Participants’ responses were coded and themes identified.

Qualitative results

Four superordinate themes with several subordinate themes were identified (see Table 4 ).

Theme 1. Why the participant visits the social VR platform

Participants spoke freely about how they got involved in Altspace VR and what they believe to be the main reason they visit Altspace VR. Three sub-themes were discovered, although from the discussions it was clear that most, if not all, participants, valued the group interaction and attendance at events very highly.

Socialising in VR

What was interesting about the group of participants in the focus group was that they were all connected due to their involvement with the Educators in VR community and not through friendship ties. Some participants highlighted that they initially joined Altspace VR to meet new people and then started building a network of professional relationships.

Participant quotes from the transcripts are given within the results section for each subordinate theme. For confidentiality purposes quotes from participants will be referenced as: Participant (P), followed by a number 1–9 and the participant’s gender M (male), F (female) e.g. “P1M”.

“In VR I hang out with friends and of course the [Educators in VR] research team, but I don’t hang out around the campfire as much anymore” (31-33,P3F).

The campfire in Altspace VR is a meeting place for new users to mingle, chat and make friends. New users to Altspace VR tend to levitate towards the campfire until they establish friendship groups and events in which to take part in. This participant has already established a network of meaningful friendships and they are now spending less unstructured time in social zones.

All participants highlighted that they had seen an increase in their usage during the Covid-19 pandemic. The imposed restrictions on physical meetups led to several participants using social VR to meet with real-world friends to satisfy their social needs.

“During this pandemic I have probably come in an hour or two more per day. Part of that was to connect with some of my friends. I got some friends to start coming into Altspace VR so we were able actually hang out in Altspace” (52-55,P5F). “more recently, in the last month or so, because I work in the VR community and a lot of my personal friends have VR headsets, the people that I work with at the university, The people that are in my groups and in my sphere so to speak at the university are some of my best friends and so we have started having social meet-ups in VR for nothing other than social, like just for social meet-ups” (125-132,P1M)

Attending community events and learning new skills

All of the focus group participants recognised the value of taking part in regular events in social VR. In particular, participants were positive about the opportunities that exists within Altspace VR to collaborate with others to expand and learn new skills. Community involvement within Altspace VR generates a strong sense of belonging thus reducing feelings of loneliness and social anxiety.

“I got inspired by the Covid situation to host events, so it inspired me to bring people together. I think if the Covid situation did not happen I wouldn’t have organised these research meetings to be honest, so it was pretty much the catalyst to hosting events” (161-165,P3F) “One thing I love about the Altspace environment is the Educators forum because I have joined philosophy classes, I’ve done Psychology classes, I’ve really interacted. In fact, I started a talk show, [ ] my own event, and that’s one thing that I love about Altspace, so I do love this place” (72-78,P7M)

Sharing ideas with professionals and like-minded people

Altspace VR allows users to create their own events and to share knowledge with other users. There are a wide range of different interest groups within Altspace VR. Establishing common interests with others is a cornerstone to forming positive and meaningful relationships. Establishing a network of contacts is also beneficial by encouraging, giving advice and supporting each other in difficult times 51 . Several of the participants commented that social VR is a useful tool not least during periods of enforced social isolation, but also to those who find themselves unable to form such relationships within their existing real-world social networks.

“I entered Altspace mainly for the Educators in VR conference and after that, during the Covid crisis obviously I stayed because it is a perfect place to find people that have a similar interest with mine” (62-64,P6F). “It’s almost impossible where I live to find people with similar interests like mine, so this is probably the only way for me to find people with similar interests” (188-190,P6F) “I love coming here because there are so many truly brilliant people with so much to learn and so many interesting things to hear and see” (105-107,P9M)

Theme 2. How the participant sees their current situation

Although participants were not specifically asked, they took it upon themselves to reflect how they see the current situation and their specific circumstance in terms of being socially isolated. Participants felt that they were socially isolated and less social for several reasons. These have been broken down into the following sub-themes.

Introverted/anti-social

Several participants stated that they are socially inhibited and anxious individuals, who find socialising in the real world more challenging, whereas social VR offers a less intimidating way for them to meet and make friends.

“If you struggle with social interaction, VR is a little less intimidating, I would say. I really think these platforms are a great way to connect and less intimidating as well” (240-245,P3F) “Prior to Covid I was actually pretty like unsocial, I still kind of am unsocial, but it seems as though now society is kind of like bending towards introverts so in a sense it’s like the market’s benefiting my type so like in a sense I’m becoming increasingly more social” (18-22,P2M).

Socially isolated due to remote location and work/life balance

Some participants lamented that their geographic location or work/life balance in the real world made it very difficult for them to meet and to have frequent interactions with people with similar interests to theirs. This aspect makes them at a greater risk of loneliness to others. Social interaction within social VR is not restricted by geographic location and so these participants feel that this has helped to enhance their social interaction with others.

“I use VR to socialise because I live in a little village so for me it’s the only way to meet people, to communicate with people etc because normally I don’t meet people in the real life. With my friends and with my brother etc so I use the VR to socialise okay” (40-43,P4M) “I went on sabbatical in September this academic year I spent my entire summer, last year outside hiking and camping and all of that and then all of a sudden I was inside doing research and I was isolated from my community. I feel like my work community is my community, you know, and I felt like I lost my community and I felt like I found a new one in Altspace” (259-265,P1M)

Theme 3. How the participant sees the social VR platform

Several participants elaborated in detail on how they felt that social VR helped them to connect with people in ways that were better than alternative digital communication methods such as video conferencing, text chat or social media.

Greater immersion/presence

Immersion and presence are important characteristics within VR because the aim after all is to replicate, to some degree, the feelings of being within the real world. The more this is made possible the more useful VR will be in combating feelings of loneliness and social anxiety during periods of prolonged isolation in the real world.

“I’ve been in here with students for tutorials and […] students have said that they feel more presence with other students in this environment” (108-111,P9M) “I’m a perceptual psychologist so I even think about it from the view of like it feels like some of the spaces that I go into now in Altspace really regularly feel in my head like real spaces that I go to so when I feel like I go to a couple of events in the afternoon in Altspace and then I take the headset off it kind of feels like I left my house and I went out and did something and then came back, it doesn’t feel like I was in my house the whole time” (154-160,P1M)

More ways to connect

In addition to the greater immersion and presence that VR can create, Altspace VR also gives individuals the ability to control and create their own environments for social interaction. It is not possible within the real world for most of us to simply create our own hang-outs or to control our environments so easily. This allows people to therefore interact in ways that up until now have not been possible. Several participants linked the ability to create stimulating and exciting environments in the Altspace VR to something that they can feel proud of, and this gives them social capital over other users with less advanced skills in world creation. This in turn helps to improve their ability to socialise and build further friendships in social VR that they would not have been able to build in the real world.

“I made a beach environment, a beach world and there are other ones out there, but I made a custom private one for me and my friends to meet in and so we meet in there and other places and we bounce around and look at different places but we often find somewhere like a private room where we can actually have a nice private conversation and we don’t have to worry about anyone interfering and everyone said its fantastic it really allows us to connect in ways, you know like those personal chats you have with close friends that it’s hard to do in any other medium, it feels a little more natural in VR to do that and so it’s been fantastic, we’ve been really enjoying it” (132-142,P1M) “Since coming in here now [my friends] are like world building and have created some really awesome spaces in here and so we go in and check out the space that they just created and so I’m still kind of doing project oriented hang-outs as far as like we will be like oh that lighting needs to be a little different and stuff like that but it’s been a really fun way to hang out with people that I already may have been friends with before all this happened but now that this happened they are starting to come into this space so we can connect even more often” (214-222,P5F)

Theme 4. How social VR is helping during the Covid-19 pandemic

In the second part of the focus group, participants were asked to think about how they thought Altspace VR was helping them specifically during the Covid-19 pandemic and whether they thought that others could benefit from this experience too. The responses were very positive and provided a great deal of insight into how Altspace VR is helping them to deal with loneliness and social anxiety during Covid-19. A number of key sub-themes emerged from this category.

Helps people feel less lonely

Several participants said that social VR helps them to feel connected with a circle of friends and that this helps to reduce feelings of loneliness and depression.

“I feel it really does help me in social isolation. I have been on sabbatical this last year so my whole year has been about isolation even before Covid-19, I’ve been working a lot on my own and that sort of thing so yeah becoming part of the community in Altspace, collectively in the different ways that I have has had a huge impact on my mental health. I was getting a little depressed in the fall and having this community has really felt like that it brought me out of it a bit” (147-154,P1M) “By the second semester I only had like one course and we were like really concentrating on a specific project and everything and it was like really limiting me to go outside and do some other stuff. Even though I’m an introvert but I do feel like I really wanted to go outside and have some fun. I really like to see other stuff around me and doing all this stuff here in VR kept me really engaged with the communities” (191-197,P8M)

Helps to motivate and provide structure

Having a purpose and being occupied with an interesting project and subsequently conversing about its progress/issues with others in social VR were perceived as motivational factors, which helped them to deal with the imposed social isolation.

“Events really motivated me to keep busy also when I was in social isolation for two months. Yeah, two months is a long time you know to not get out of your house so that was great I created some sense of purpose and it was really heart-warming to see everybody come together and really interesting people as well. Everybody has something cool to share and was very helpful so that gave me some energy, you know to just keep on going and make the best out of the situation” (166-173,P3F) “I finally have a structure for a project that I have been thinking about for over a year now and having these interactions in here and talking to people allowed me to bring a clear picture of how I can start a project I have been thinking about and start building it inside Altspace, so that’s a big plus for me” (178-182,P6F)

Helps people to be less anti-social and reduced social anxiety

Several participants explained that social VR is “a great way to connect and less intimidating as well” for socially anxious, i.e. “unsocial” and “introverted” people, who as a result often feel lonely. In addition, social VR is a convenient tool for social interactions as it brings people closer “especially during these situations, but not only during like pandemics”. (240–243,P3F)

“In my case the Covid increased my social interaction with people because I’m a pretty anti-social person in real life so for me this has increased ten-fold my social interaction in general” (174-176,P6F). “Covid pushed people inside spaces like VR and made my social interactions far easier to have” (186-188,P6F). “I am in sort of a group, let’s say of people who have problems with connecting with people, this is awesome. This is definitely a big plus and I would like more of this” (322-324,P6F) “I was, I guess, somewhat socially isolated before coming in Altspace I tend to just like to work on projects and stay at home or be at work, but since coming in Altspace I’ve definitely started experiencing more of the social aspect of living like making connections with other people in ways that aren’t strictly like a project that I’m working on and so that’s been nice” (202-208,P5F). “I do think that VR can help us, those of us who are socially isolated or have social anxieties of some sort. It does make it more accessible for us to be able to go into a space and interact with people. For instance in real life, if you were to have social anxiety and you start feeling almost like a panic attack coming on, that would prevent you from going into a real life space, whereas in VR you […] can say, oh I have to go really easily and you’re back in your home and you can work through whatever may have come up with social anxiety. So I do think it makes social interactions more accessible in those cases” (307-316,P5F)

Helps to socialise with real life friends during lock-down

Another idea that surfaced among the participants is the potential to use social VR as a mode of interaction/engagement with real-life friends/family members who live afar. Participants expressed the view that the current restriction on face-to-face contact could to some extent be counterbalanced by inviting real-world friends into social VR to socialise.

“The fully social part of VR has happened because of the Covid-19 situation, because I used to go for dinners with people like every month, […] and we can’t do the real world social, so we are trying to do the VR social” (142-146,P1M) “Once everyone went into social isolation for Covid I actually started hanging out with a friend that lives 3 hours away from me more than before because before it would be a 3 hour drive, but then once all this happened, I actually convinced them to come into Altspace” (208-212,P5F) “It’s been a really fun way to hang out with people that I already may have been friends with before all this happened but now that this happened they are starting to come into this space so we can connect even more often. (218-222,P5F).

Discussion of qualitative findings

Overall, participants’ commentaries to Theme 1 reconfirm that their usage of social VR has increased during the period of imposed social isolation and restrictions on physical meetups due to the Covid-19 pandemic. They were using social VR to meet with real-world friends to satisfy their social needs and continue to receive support from people they are close to; or to mix socially with other users who they meet either at a “campfire” or whilst taking part in regular events inside of the social VR platform, thus expanding their social network of non-intimate contacts. As a result, they felt less lonely online (whilst being in Altspace VR) as they felt like they were in the same space together. Interestingly, participants noted that they also benefited emotionally from meeting like-minded people/professionals and sharing ideas with them, getting support and advice, and working together in real-time. This is a new explanation why people use VR technology, which did not surface in the earlier research studies. Nonetheless this reason ties with the Need to Belong Theory 47 . This is useful to help us to understand why users visit Altspace VR in general and during the enforced social isolation period.

In theme 2 participants’ responses reiterate what has already been explained in the literature that shy, socially inhibited and anxious individuals find online anonymity liberating and less inhibited than the real world 52 . Moreover, in Altspace VR it is also possible to make use of non-verbal communication such as emojis or emoticons (see Fig.  6 ).

Use of emojis to communicate in Altspace VR.

Some participants commented that their geographic location or work/life balance in the real world made it very difficult for them to meet people with similar interests. The social internet, e.g. Facebook 53 and video conferencing 54 have long been used to socialise with friends and family and have been found to be an affective intervention for reducing loneliness. Theme 3 considers that social VR could be regarded as the latest endeavour within this field as individuals are able to create their own exciting hangouts, e.g. a beach or a city from Ancient Greece. Furthermore users are able to easily control environments and restrict entry. This allows people to interact in ways that up until now have not been possible.

Findings in Theme 4 give a clear indication that social VR helps to reduce feelings of loneliness, and this further supports the findings of 32 . Social interactions in social VR are also particularly attractive to those who are lonely or shy/socially anxious/self-conscious or have poor social skills, etc. as they feel more in control of their online interactions and feel that they have a broader range of topics that they are able to discuss compared with in the real world 55 . Lonelier people also feel that they can be more themselves in online social interactions than in the real world 56 .

General discussion

People use social VR for many different reasons: to socialise with new and existing friends; to join social interest groups; to learn new skills and generally to be part of a larger community of people (including other professionals) than those that they are part of in the real world. Social VR attracts a wide range of people because of the ease in which people can meet people with similar interests to their own, although it could be argued that up until the recent Covid-19 pandemic social VR tended to attract a greater amount of people who found real-life social interaction difficult. The results of this study show a reduction in social anxiety in individuals with moderate, severe and very severe social anxiety in the online condition, i.e. when using social VR. The increase in availability of VR headsets in recent years has led to an expansion in usage of social VR and the recent Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent social distancing rules led to more people and organisations making a greater use of VR to communicate and carry out their daily business and routines during the prolonged period of social isolation. Social VR also enables people to collaborate in ways not possible within the real world, reducing geographic restrictions and breaking through communication barriers by using visually stimulating content creation tools to enhance the process of human interaction through world-building and event hosting.

The main objective of this study was to explore whether social VR could be used to help reduce feelings of loneliness and social anxiety amongst people confined to their homes and away from their regular friendship groups and social connections, i.e. when the quantity and quality of their social network is gravely affected. Overall, the synthesised results of the present study show that participants experience a statistically significant reduction in loneliness and social anxiety when in social VR than in the real world during prolonged periods of imposed social isolation. Qualitative findings support/validate the quantitative results for H1. Thus, the evidence shows that social VR can decrease the sense of loneliness and social anxiety with users and have an overall positive effect on their emotional and social wellbeing.

The qualitative data diverges from the quantitative results presented for H2 that addressed the effect of being part of a VSG separately for loneliness and social anxiety. The quantitative results showed no significant effect for loneliness in the online and the offline conditions, whereas participants’ views showed that being a member of a VSG created a sense of belongingness and helped them to feel less lonely and depressed. Quantitative data showed no significant effect for social anxiety when an individual is a member of a VSG or not; but revealed a medium effect for social anxiety in the offline condition indicating that users, who are part of a VSG and subsequently take part in regular group events, experience less social anxiety in real world (i.e. offline), than those who are not part of a VSG. Participants who are part of a VSG were positive about the possibilities of social VR and being part of a VSG, because this setup helped shy and socially inhibited individuals to observe conversations, use emojis to show emotions rather than speak, use the online anonymity to get over the discomfort of social interactions and gradually become more connected and accepted by other members of the VSG. This prepares socially anxious individuals to handle being out there (in online and the real world).

Qualitative findings are in line with the quantitative results for H3 in that the degree of loneliness and social anxiety is also further reduced by factors such as having a circle of online friends. Social VR allows people to meet others who share similar interests, this is more difficult within the real world for people who struggle with social anxiety or who live in remote locations for example, or as was the case with this study, people who were confined to their homes due to social distancing rules during a pandemic. The qualitative data helps to produce a better understanding in relation to ‘online friends’ as these include individuals who were met in social VR and real-life friends who currently live afar and were invited to join the social VR platform.

The qualitative findings somewhat converge with quantitative results for H4 in that online loneliness reduces with the length of time the participant has been using social VR, i.e. participants who had been using social VR for greater than 6 months experienced less loneliness than those who joined during the Covid-19 pandemic. The length of time the participant had been using social VR had no effect on their feelings of loneliness in the real world. Comments from participants who have been members of Altspace VR for more than 6 months revealed that finding a new (online) community that supports their need to belong and provides meaningful and positive social interactions acted as an antidote to the loneliness that they experience in the real world. Individuals who struggle to build meaningful relationships in the real world due to social anxiety and other social phobias turn to social VR as it provides a less confrontational way in which to form and maintain social relationships with others and therefore help to reduce feelings of loneliness and social anxiety.

Research limitations and implications

The heterogeneity of the sample for the quantitative survey enabled conclusions to be drawn regarding the participant experience in Altspace VR, their subjective feelings of loneliness and social during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, in interpreting the views of participants in the focus group it should be stressed that the sample of participants was solely recruited from the Educators in VR research event and that this may not represent the views of others who do not take part in such events. Although the reported themes were clearly identified, there remains a possibility that additional themes would be detected should the views of participants from a wider pool be collected.

It is the researcher’s understanding that this is the first study that has exclusively focused on participant’s feelings of loneliness and social anxiety during a period of enforced prolonged isolation whereby social VR has been utilized as an intervention to help reduce such feelings. The results offered here, should therefore be taken as a starting point upon which further empirical studies could be built. Longitudinal investigations could be carried out to further assess the suitability of social VR as an intervention to help reduce loneliness and social anxiety amongst specific communities, e.g. remote learners/workers, people living alone or in care, the less physically able, prisoners and other sub-groups of people facing loneliness and social anxiety whereby their ability to socialise with other is in some way restricted. Future research would also need to provide accurate estimates of the prevalence of loneliness and social anxiety in these sub-groups.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced people to change the way in which they connected with others during lockdown. Social VR helped to improve social connectedness during the COVID-19 pandemic and reduce “lockdown loneliness”. Post-pandemic it is necessary to recognise the additional needs that face society, especially vulnerable people and those struggling with mental health issues resulting from lockdown. Social VR can, therefore, be a way of further supporting people facing social isolation, loneliness and social anxiety. Social VR platforms may be virtual, but the relationships we build in them are very real.

Data availability

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article or in the accompanying Supplementary Information file.

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Kenyon, K., Kinakh, V. & Harrison, J. Social virtual reality helps to reduce feelings of loneliness and social anxiety during the Covid-19 pandemic. Sci Rep 13 , 19282 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-46494-1

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Delving into Human Behavior: the Art of Naturalistic Observation

This essay about the method of naturalistic observation in psychology, highlighting its unique ability to capture authentic human behavior in real-life settings. It discusses the importance of observing behavior in natural environments, where individuals interact spontaneously, offering insights into social dynamics and generating new research avenues. Despite challenges like observer bias and resource constraints, naturalistic observation remains a valuable tool for understanding the intricacies of human behavior and social interaction.

How it works

In the vast landscape of psychological research, one methodology stands out for its ability to capture the essence of human behavior in its most authentic form: naturalistic observation. Far from the sterile confines of a laboratory, naturalistic observation ventures into the heart of everyday life, unveiling the intricacies of human interaction and behavior within their natural habitat. It is a journey into the realm of genuine experience, where the complexities of social dynamics and individual quirks are laid bare for scrutiny and understanding.

At its core, naturalistic observation offers a unique perspective on human behavior by immersing researchers in the environments where it naturally unfolds. Whether it’s a bustling city street, a tranquil park, or a lively classroom, these natural settings serve as the stage for the drama of everyday life. Here, researchers become silent observers, blending into the background as they witness the ebb and flow of human interaction with an unobtrusive gaze. It is through this lens that the true essence of behavior is revealed, unencumbered by the constraints of artificial experimental setups.

One of the most compelling aspects of naturalistic observation is its ability to capture the nuances of social interaction in real-time. In these natural settings, individuals behave in ways that are spontaneous and unscripted, offering researchers a glimpse into the intricacies of human relationships and social dynamics. Whether it’s the subtle cues of nonverbal communication or the complex interplay of group dynamics, naturalistic observation allows researchers to peel back the layers of social behavior and uncover its underlying mechanisms.

Moreover, naturalistic observation holds immense potential for uncovering unexpected insights and generating new avenues of research. As researchers immerse themselves in the rich tapestry of everyday life, they may stumble upon intriguing patterns or phenomena that spark their curiosity. Perhaps it’s the way pedestrians navigate a crowded street or the dynamics of conversation in a bustling café. These seemingly mundane observations can serve as the seeds for further exploration, leading researchers down unexpected paths of inquiry and discovery.

However, naturalistic observation is not without its challenges and limitations. One of the most significant hurdles is the potential for observer bias, wherein the presence of the researcher may subtly influence the behavior of those being observed. To mitigate this risk, researchers employ a variety of strategies, such as blending into the environment or employing covert observation techniques. Additionally, naturalistic observation can be resource-intensive, requiring researchers to invest significant time and effort in data collection and analysis.

Despite these challenges, the benefits of naturalistic observation are undeniable. By providing a window into the complexities of human behavior in its natural habitat, this approach offers unparalleled insights into the intricacies of social interaction and individual behavior. It is a journey into the heart of what it means to be human, where the mundane becomes extraordinary and the ordinary becomes extraordinary. In the hands of skilled researchers, naturalistic observation is not just a tool for understanding behavior; it is a gateway to a deeper understanding of the human experience itself.

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Healthcare Financing: Public and Private Payment Sources Research Paper

Medicare and medicaid.

Medicare and Medicaid are two separate government-run programs where Medicare is federal government-run and Medicaid is both federal and state-funded. Medicare covers healthcare costs for Americans above 65 years or under 65 years with a disability, regardless of their income (Medicare Interactive, 2019). Medicaid covers healthcare coverage for American citizens with very low incomes. Those eligible for both covers are allowed to have them and they collaborate to ensure the individual receives lower costs of healthcare. The differences between Medicare and Medicaid arise in their covered services and cost-sharing.

Services Provided

Medicare consists of two parts, Medicare A and Medicare B, with each covering different aspects of a holder’s healthcare. Part A is hospital insurance and covers inpatient hospice care, expert nursing facility, hospice, laboratory tests, operation, and home health care. Part B is the medical insurance that covers doctors and other healthcare personnel services and outpatient care. It additionally covers the cost of long-lasting medical equipment, home wellness services, and some precautionary amenities for its holders (Medicare, 2019). The services provided under Medicaid vary from state to state due to the variations in their type, amount, duration, and scope covered within the broad federal guidelines (Medicaid.gov, 2022). Federal guidelines prescribe the bare minimums a state is required to provide for the insurance holders but offer leeway for the states to provide or not provide other optional services. Obligatory services include inpatient and outpatient clinic services, doctor services, laboratory and x-ray amenities, and home-based care. Optional benefits include prescription medicines, case-control, physical rehabilitation, and occupational therapy.

How Providers are Reimbursed

Medicare reimbursements are directed to the billing provider, and the healthcare providers can choose to comply with the rates set by Medicare. Medicare settles 80% of the healthcare costs incurred by its insurance holders (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2022). The money Medicare holds is mainly contributions from federal government taxes which are used to pay doctors, hospitals, and private insurance companies. Additional funding for Medicare arises from premiums, deductibles, coinsurance, and co-pays. Medicaid reimbursement is largely similar to that of Medicare as the insurer determines the rates and requires healthcare providers to comply with those standards (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2022). Medicaid exempts most groups from out-of-pocket costs as it covers the biggest part of their healthcare costs. The reimbursement of funds from both Medicare and Medicaid follows scrutiny of the costs and massive paperwork that sometimes delays payment to healthcare providers.

Private Payer Models

Private payer models vary from Medicaid and Medicare which are largely government-funded. Private insurance is covered by commercial entities and health insurance companies that offer different reimbursement models. Insurance companies are regulated under American law and require their holders to pay predetermined rates. The insurance company then covers the healthcare costs for their holders based on the agreed rates with the contracts. The private payer models embodied the vision of the government which sought to shift from the fee-for-service model which offered minimal accountability for healthcare professionals. This ensured that healthcare providers were not merely paid for the volume of services offered, but instead for the quality outcomes and that the costs were controlled.

Methods of Provider Reimbursement

The reimbursement modalities within the private sector vary and different companies prescribe diverse models. The shared savings and shared losses model is an example of a reimbursement modality adopted by private insurers (Duncan et al., 2022). Up until the annual reconciliation, when total FFS expenditures for all members ascribed to the provider network are measured against a predetermined budget target, providers are reimbursed at contracted fee-for-service (FFS) rates (usually less a percentage withhold). Providers are eligible to receive a portion of the shared savings if overall spending was below the target; the percentage is frequently based on the attainment of specific quality indicators. In a two-sided arrangement, providers are liable to the ACO for a percentage of the shared losses if overall FFS expenses go over the cost objective.

The bundled payment model is an alternative for the private sector where the payor determines a definite price for all services associated with a specified “episode of care”. These include a knee or hip replacement surgery, across a variety of providers and care locations. Until year-end settlement, the participating providers are typically paid at the agreed-upon FFS rates (Struijs et al., 2020). Models may try to account for the severity of illnesses or account for anomalous instances in other ways. Global capitation models require an insurer to make a single, comprehensive payment to cover a person over a defined period, typically over a month for each member. The enhanced FFS model is an improved form of the traditional FFP model which supplements payments with bonuses or penalties related to performance evaluations. When healthcare providers achieve certain quality or utilization milestones, they are compensated with bonuses that act as incentives.

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA or ACA) Impact on Healthcare Delivery

The patient protection and affordable care act expanded the coverage of people eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid insurance. The act made it easier for people to understand the health insurance services provided by the government, along with additional subsidies (Williams, 2020). This made it more affordable for all while covering people with lower incomes. The implementation of these acts increased the number of Americans eligible to 16 million people within the first five years of ACA. This act also made healthcare affordable for young people who were not previously eligible for insurance. The young people could not meet the demanding financial constraints set by previous laws, but the incentives offered under ACA made this possible.

People with preexisting health conditions including people with chronic illnesses were no longer excluded from care with the onset of ACA. The insurers were required to cover their needs and provided sufficient funds to meet their needs, and these include people suffering from cancer. People with chronic diseases previously run out of care because their costs are high, and the insurer stopped paying for them at some point. ACA removed this curtain and availed these people with a chance to access care to the extent of their needs. ACA additionally increased the demand for healthcare providers to carry out more screening of people. The insurer was required to cover these costs and this has overall improved well-being.

Better screening is associated with the early detection of fatal healthcare conditions and timely management. This has improved the healthcare of the American people due to reduced mortality from preventable conditions. The chronic conditions are diagnosed early before their damage is extensive, prompting treatment and halt of spread. Prescription drugs have diminished in cost with the onset of ACA, as the insurer is required to assume greater responsibility. The outstanding con associated with the acts is the higher insurance premiums people have to pay, straining their incomes with more expenditure.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (2022). Comparing Reimbursement Rates | CMS . Cms.gov. Web.

Duncan, I., Mackenzie, A., Bonfiglio, E., Wrigley, T., & Liao, X. (2022). Shared Savings Model Risk in the MSSP Program . North American Actuarial Journal , 1–11. Web.

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IvyPanda . 2024. "Healthcare Financing: Public and Private Payment Sources." May 6, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/healthcare-financing-public-and-private-payment-sources/.

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