ABSTRACT
I. THE CONCLUSION The conclusion is perhaps the most important segment of the dissertation or research paper. This is true partly because the conclusion presents the "bottom line" of the researcher's findings, with implications for theory and practice. But equally important is the fact that evaluators of the researcher's efforts are likely to ask whether the conclusion is consistent with the introduction (did the researcher do what he or she set out to do?) and whether the conclusion is supported by the evidence the researcher has marshaled (did the researcher generalize to the appropriate universe, and did the research avoid asserting conclusions that do not rest on the data actually collected in the present study?).
