Page 348 - English for Writing Research Papers

338

19.7 How can I increase the impact of the fi rst sentence
of my Conclusions?

Here are some typical first sentences for the Conclusions section.
We have here described a model for understanding the power of brainwashing in certain
'life-changing' courses … We have found significant evidence of …

In this paper we have presented a statistical study of the nature of … We have shown that it
is possible to reason about …

In this paper it has been shown how critical thinking should become a core subject even in
elementary schools … A novel approach has been introduced to …

In this work it has been attempted to analyze loop bending in hip hop … It has been shown
that for…

The present study is an attempt to understand whether homeopathic medicines can cure
neuroses in dogs.

The parts in italics will have zero impact on either the referee or the reader. They
also match the equally uninteresting first sentences often found in Abstracts ( 13.8 ).

The last one ( the present study is .. .) even looks like the beginning of an Abstract,
and could simply be replaced by We estimated (i.e. using the past tense).

Just as professional copy editors advise against beginning a paper with This paper
describes , they also suggest avoiding ending the paper in the same way ( This paper
has described ). This is because such phrases:

• waste a lot of words (5–7 words that tell the reader nothing)
• delay the main topic

• are not memorable for the reader and have no impact
It is not difficult to be more direct and concise, as the following examples show.