How To Write Recommendations For Your Final Year Project

How to Write Recommendations for Your Final Year Project

Recommendations are the part of your final year project where you tell your readers what should be done because of what you found. They are practical, specific actions aimed at the people who can actually carry them out, such as a school management board, a government agency, a company, or future researchers. If your findings show that 70 percent of students in your study area cannot afford learning materials, a recommendation is the action you propose to fix that problem, and who should do it.

Many students lose marks here not because their research is weak, but because their recommendations are vague, disconnected from their findings, or written like general advice. A recommendation that says "the government should do something about education" will not impress your supervisor or your defense panel. A recommendation that names the action, the audience and the evidence behind it will. This guide explains what recommendations are, where they go in your project, a step by step method for writing them from your own findings, worked examples you can adapt, and the mistakes to avoid.

What Are Recommendations in a Research Project?

A recommendation is a concrete, actionable suggestion that follows directly from your research findings. It answers one question: what should be done next, and by whom? Every recommendation must be traceable to a finding in your Chapter Four. If you did not study it, did not measure it, or did not discuss it in your findings, you cannot recommend action on it. That is the first rule, and it is the one students break most often.

Good recommendations have four qualities. They are specific, so the reader knows exactly what action is being proposed. They are practical, so the action can realistically be carried out. They are addressed to a named audience, such as a school authority, an employer, a ministry, or future researchers. And they are justified by evidence, so the reader can see which finding supports them. A recommendation that drops any of these qualities reads like a wish, not a research output.

Recommendations are not the same as conclusions, and they are not the same as implications. Understanding the difference will save you from mixing up three sections that examiners read closely.

Recommendations vs Conclusions vs Implications

Students often confuse these three, but each one does a different job in Chapter Five. Here is how they differ.

• Implications explain what your findings mean. They answer the question, what do these results mean for theory, for practice, or for future research? Implications usually appear in your discussion, where you interpret your findings in depth.
• Conclusions state what you found. They answer the question, what did this study establish? A conclusion summarises your main findings in relation to your objectives and research questions. It states what is true, based on your evidence.
• Recommendations state what should be done. They answer the question, what action should follow from these findings? They prescribe action, and they are aimed at specific people or organisations who can act.

Think of it this way. Your findings say that students in rural schools score lower in mathematics than students in urban schools. The implication is that the location of a school affects learning outcomes, which matters for education policy. The conclusion is that, in your study area, rural students performed significantly worse in mathematics. The recommendation is that the State Ministry of Education should post qualified mathematics teachers to rural schools and provide them with teaching aids. One finding, three different jobs.

Where Do Recommendations Go in Your Project?

In most Nigerian universities and polytechnics, recommendations sit in Chapter Five, usually titled Summary, Conclusion and Recommendations. The standard order is summary of findings first, then conclusions, then recommendations, and finally suggestions for further study. Some institutions place recommendations in the conclusion chapter, and some ask for a separate recommendations section, so always check your departmental guide or ask your supervisor before you start writing.

Recommendations are written in the simple present tense. You are stating what should happen, not what happened. Keep them in a numbered or bulleted list, with each recommendation as its own item, so your examiner can count them and check each one against your findings. Before you write them, make sure your findings are settled. If you are still unsure how your results were obtained, revisit our guides on qualitative vs quantitative research for final year projects and how to determine sample size for your final year project, because recommendations built on weak methodology will not survive your defense.

How to Write Recommendations Based on Your Findings in 7 Steps

Follow these steps in order. They turn your findings into recommendations that your supervisor can trace, your panel can defend, and your readers can act on.

Step 1: List Your Major Findings

Go back to Chapter Four and write down your three to six most important findings, in plain language. Ignore minor results. You are looking for the findings that matter most to your research questions. For example, a study on staff motivation might find that salary delays are the biggest cause of low morale, that training opportunities are rare, and that promotion is based on seniority rather than performance.

Step 2: Ask What Should Change Because of Each Finding

For each major finding, ask one question: what action would fix, improve or build on this? If salary delays cause low morale, the action is to pay salaries on time. If training is rare, the action is to organise regular training. If you cannot think of a sensible action for a finding, that finding probably does not need a recommendation.

Step 3: Name the Audience for Each Recommendation

Every recommendation needs an owner. Who can actually carry out the action? It might be the management of the organisation you studied, a government ministry, a school authority, a professional body, or future researchers. A recommendation with no audience is a wish. A recommendation addressed to the wrong audience is useless, so choose the people or body with the power to act.

Step 4: Make Each Recommendation Specific and Actionable

Replace vague words with concrete actions. Instead of "management should improve staff welfare", write "management should pay salaries on or before the 25th of every month and publish a clear promotion policy based on performance". The reader should be able to picture the action being carried out on a specific day, by a specific person or office.

Step 5: Justify Each Recommendation With Your Evidence

Link each recommendation back to the finding that produced it. You can do this in the same sentence, by starting with "Based on the finding that..." or "Since the study revealed that...". This is what makes your recommendations research based rather than opinion based, and it is what your defense panel will check first.

Step 6: Prioritise Your Recommendations

Lead with the recommendation supported by your strongest evidence, and the one that addresses your most important finding. Order the rest by importance. A short, well ordered list of strong recommendations is far better than a long list of weak ones.

Step 7: Add Recommendations for Future Research

End with one or two recommendations for further study. These cover the questions your study could not answer, the areas outside your scope, or the follow up studies your results call for. For example, "Future researchers should examine the same problem in private universities, since this study covered only public universities." Never recommend a study that has nothing to do with your findings.

A Simple Formula for Writing Each Recommendation

If you find yourself staring at a blank page, use this four part formula for every recommendation. It comes from the way experienced researchers structure their advice, and it guarantees that nothing essential is missing.

• Audience: who should act?
• Action: what exactly should they do?
• Context: where, when or how should it be done?
• Justification: which finding supports it?

Put together, the four parts produce a single sentence a reader can act on without returning to your results section. For example: "The management of the bank (audience) should organise quarterly customer service training for all frontline staff (action) at each branch (context), since the study found that 68 percent of customers rated staff courtesy as poor (justification)." One sentence, four parts, no vagueness.

Examples of Strong Recommendations

Here are examples drawn from typical Nigerian final year projects. Notice how each one names an audience, a specific action and the evidence behind it.

• Education: "The State Universal Basic Education Board should supply science laboratory equipment to all public secondary schools in the local government area within the next academic session, since the study found that 8 out of 10 schools had no functional laboratory and students performed poorly in practical examinations."
• Business: "The management of the company should introduce a performance based promotion policy and publish it to all staff, since the study revealed that 74 percent of employees believed promotion was based on favouritism rather than merit."
• Health: "The management of the hospital should employ two additional nurses for the night shift, since the study found that the nurse to patient ratio at night was 1 to 25, far above the recommended standard."
• Technology: "The university management should provide free campus wide internet access in all hostels, since the study found that poor internet access was the main reason students could not complete online assignments on time."
• Future research: "Future researchers should carry out a similar study in rural communities, since this study was limited to urban centres and the findings may not apply to rural settings."

Compare those with weak versions such as "the government should improve education" or "more research should be done". The weak versions name no action, no audience and no evidence, so they tell the examiner nothing. If your draft sounds like that, apply the four part formula above and rewrite it.

How Many Recommendations Should You Write?

There is no fixed number, but most supervisors expect 3 to 6 recommendations. That range is enough to cover your major findings without diluting your message. One recommendation per major finding is a good rule of thumb, plus one or two for future research. If you have 10 findings, do not write 10 recommendations. Pick the findings that matter most and recommend action on those. A short list of strong, evidence based recommendations always scores better than a long list of generic ones. Check your departmental guide, because some institutions specify a minimum or maximum.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Recommending what you did not study. Never recommend action on a problem your findings did not cover. Your panel will ask for the evidence, and you will not have it.
• Being vague. Words like "improve", "enhance" and "do more" mean nothing without a specific action. Name the action, the audience and the timing.
• Writing recommendations that nobody can implement. If the action is impossible, too expensive, or outside the power of the audience you named, it is not a recommendation, it is a fantasy.
• Contradicting your findings. Your recommendations must agree with your results. If your study found that a policy worked well, do not recommend that it be scrapped.
• Copying recommendations from other projects. Recommendations belong to your study. Copying them from another project is plagiarism, and your supervisor will notice, because copied recommendations never match your findings. If you are unsure how to write your own, read our guide on how to identify a research gap for your final year project to see how original research thinking works from the start.
• Forgetting future research. A good Chapter Five always suggests what should be studied next. Leaving this out makes your work look unfinished.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between recommendations and conclusions?

Conclusions state what your study found, based on your evidence. Recommendations state what should be done because of those findings. A conclusion says "salary delays reduce staff morale". A recommendation says "management should pay salaries on time". Conclusions look backwards at your results, recommendations look forwards at action.

Where do recommendations go in a final year project?

Recommendations usually go in Chapter Five, after the summary of findings and the conclusions, under a heading such as Recommendations or Summary, Conclusion and Recommendations. Some institutions use a different layout, so confirm the expected structure with your supervisor or departmental guide before you submit.

Can recommendations be based on personal opinion?

No. Every recommendation must follow from a finding in your study. You may use your judgement to decide which action is best, but the problem the action addresses must come from your evidence. A recommendation based only on personal opinion has no place in a research project.

How do I write recommendations if my findings are mostly negative?

Negative findings are still findings, and they often produce the strongest recommendations. If your study found that a programme failed, recommend what should change, who should change it, and what should be studied next to understand why it failed. Be honest about the result and specific about the remedy.

Conclusion

Recommendations are where your research meets the real world. They are the last thing your examiner reads in Chapter Five, and they are often the part your defense panel questions most closely, because they show whether you understood your own findings well enough to act on them. Keep them specific, practical, addressed to a named audience and tied to your evidence. Use the seven steps and the four part formula in this guide, write 3 to 6 strong recommendations, and finish with suggestions for future research. When your recommendations read like actions a real person could carry out on a real day, you have done the job well. Start with your major findings, turn each one into an action, and write them down before your defense date gets close.

Further reading: For a deeper look at how researchers separate implications from recommendations, see the guide by Editage on implications and recommendations in research and the Grad Coach guide on research implications and recommendations.