Introduction
Before specifically addressing the area of conclusions and recommendations I will firstly provide you with some working definitions that are used for some of the terms that will be touched on. Then I will explain why such emphasis is placed on them.
Data: |
facts used as a basis for calculation. |
Information: |
facts communicated in an instructive way, putting it simply, information data that has been sorted out and presented in a useful way. |
Conclusions: |
a judgement arrived at by reasoning. |
Recommendations: |
that which will achieve a favourable result. |
The reason that so much emphasis is placed on conclusions and recommendations is that the other sections are mostly about the presentation of data in a useful form. But all the data and information is of little value in itself unless one interrogates it by posing such questions of the data as, 'so what'?
By applying such questions to your data you will then start to get some value when you present some conclusions from the body of information provided by you in your paper. As a result of this process, you should then be able to provide a recommended course of action as to how your selected event could be better managed in the future.
For example, one might present some information that:
- vinegar and bi-carbonate of soda are stored in a particular location;
- vinegar and bi-carbonate of soda have the potential for chemical reaction (so what?).
From research and experimentation it is your conclusion that if vinegar and bi‑carbonate of soda are mixed, they give off a gas.
It then might be your recommendation that the stocks of vinegar and bi-carbonate be isolated to minimise the risk of them being mixed and giving off a gas.
This is a very simple example to illustrate the principles.