Conclusions and recommendations are the most widely read sections of any report. Conclusions summarize a nd explain your findings and are the heart of your report. The ability to draw sound conclusions and make clear recommendations from your research is crucial to business success.

When drawing conclusions, make sure you________.

Consider the scenario:

You are making recommendations after researching and writing a report on employee vacation time and job satisfaction. What writing tips should you keep in mind when writing your recommendations?

A. Your recommendations should always be the result of prior logical analysis.

B. Your recommendations should never be in the form of a command.

C. You can combine recommendations and conclusions.

D. You should use words such as maybe and perhaps.

E. You can omit conclusions and move straight to recommendations in short reports.

A good conclusion touches the theme or main topic, summarizes the main points, and connects with the introduction, but with a sense of closure. Conclusions should be sound and logical. Irrelevant conclusions are annoying to the senses. Without a conclusion, the report will sound like one illogical move without clear direction and purpose.

Recommendations should address improvement efforts based on the problem(s) presented in the body of the report.