 Welcome to this ELC self-study video. Today we will be looking at how to write the conclusion and recommendations for a workplace report. Now comes the part where we demonstrate our insight. We need to show our reader that we understand the information we have gathered. The conclusion and recommendations sections are where we show our own interpretation of the material. The conclusion section shows our summary and interpretation of the information. The recommendations section shows what needs to be done as a result. First, consider your organization. The conclusion is after the findings and is usually section 4 while the recommendations is section 5. The first part we'll look at is the conclusion section. This is where we'll review the main findings and results and express them in general terms. This could be section 4.1 called summary. Now remember to underline your headings and indent the text to make it easier to read. We'll then draw a main conclusion and link to the recommendations by showing a need for action. This could be section 4.2 and called need for action. The conclusion is for busy readers who don't have time to read all of your findings and for readers who want to read an overview of the findings before deciding whether to read the findings in detail. Using the recycling report again, our summary is that data shows that the rate of recycling among residents increases when they are told of the consequences of recycling and our main conclusion and link to the recommendations could be education could provide a useful tool in increasing the likelihood that people will recycle. This will also help to focus our conclusions on the issues raised in the first parts of the report. Now remember we don't put any new information in the conclusion. We're just summarizing and interpreting the information we already have. We need to show how the information we presented affects the aims from our introduction. Generally in the conclusion we use past tense to summarize the findings but you can use present tense or the present perfect if you think that the findings are still true now. Remember to be objective. Pronouns such as I should not be used in the first part of the conclusion. We still need to keep a professional style. Next we come to the recommendations section. This does exactly what it says. This is where we tell the reader what we recommend. You need to provide solutions to the problems that you have identified in the findings. Well let's look at a quick example. Imagine a customer visits your company and talks to a salesperson. The salesperson is new and lacks product knowledge so sells the customer an unsuitable product. Well later the customer discovers that the product is unsuitable and therefore he returns the product complains and asks for his money back. What recommendations could you give? One could be that the customer should get his money back and a goodwill voucher. Another could be about staff training and how the company should improve this aspect of company policy. Notice the different ways of starting recommendations. For example given that in the light of since and in order to you can number the different recommendations and have the same numbering order as you had in the findings. For example section 3.1 in the findings would be about a problem that occurred while section 5.1 in the recommendations provides the solution to that problem. This would make it very straightforward for the reader to match the findings with the recommendations. Also remember to give each subsection a subheading. So for example section 5.1 could be called compensation. You should also provide the effects of your recommendations. For example by giving the customer a goodwill voucher he's encouraged to come back to use the company again. Okay that's the conclusion and recommendations section of the workplace report. See you next time.