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Germinal est le roman d’Émile Zola le plus lu et le plus adapté au cinéma et à la télévision. Publié en 1885, il constitue le treizième volet du cycle des Rougon-Macquart. A l’instar de Balzac et sa Comédie Humaine, Zola prend une photographie des conditions de vie des différentes classes sociales qui composent son époque en utilisant des personnages clés.

Avec Germinal, il dépeint un monde souterrain où les hommes, longtemps terrés et écrasés par la misère, se dressent contre les inégalités sociales et le capitalisme. Il expose dans ce décor minier, comme dans un tableau de maître, les difficultés et les injustices subies par le monde ouvrier, la révolte qu’elles engendrent et comme l’évoque le titre, l’espoir qu’elles font naître malgré tout. Germinal est le septième mois du calendrier républicain dont le début correspond à l’arrivée du printemps, le 21 mars, avec ses connotations de renouveau et d’espoir de jours meilleurs.

Les personnages clés de Germinal

Le roman se décompose en sept parties tout au long desquelles on assiste à l’évolution de la fronde anticapitaliste au travers des personnages clés dans un environnement lugubre.

Étienne Lantier

Le roman débute par l’arrivée d’Étienne Lantier, fils de Gervaise Macquart (voir l’Assommoir), ancien machineur d’une compagnie de chemins de fer. Il a été licencié pour avoir giflé un patron. Il arrive en pleine nuit à la fosse du Voreux pour y trouver du travail et se fait engager à la mine comme haveur (mineur chargé d’abattre le charbon). Il devient au cours du récit le chef de file des mineurs en grève. Épris de justice sociale, il arrive à faire passer de nouvelles idées venues de l’Est pour balayer la bourgeoisie méprisante, bien loin de s’imaginer que la trahison pourrait venir d’un de ses semblables. Anti-héros absolu, il ne cherche pas à nourrir sa propre gloire et c’est avec désintéressement qu’il emmène ses compagnons d’infortune vers ce qui lui semble être une lutte juste et digne.

Toussaint Maheu

Dans Germinal, la famille Maheu habite le coron des Deux-Cent-Quarante. Lorsque l’aîné de leurs sept enfants se marie et quitte la maison, Maheu et sa femme accueillent Lantier. Bon ouvrier, Maheu n’a jamais vécu de confrontation ouverte avec ses chefs. Il joue le rôle important de médiateur entre les mineurs et les propriétaires de l’exploitation. A l’écoute de Lantier, il combat jusqu’à la mort les inégalités sociales dont les familles de mineurs pâtissent.

Antoine Chaval

Antoine Chaval est à l’opposé de Lantier. Leur première rencontre, décrite dans le premier chapitre de la première partie du roman, prédit aisément ce qui va en découler. Parjure, calomniateur, jaloux, traite, il ira jusqu’à accepter de devenir le chef d’ouvriers étrangers embauchés pour remplacer les mineurs en grève. A la solde des patrons, il ne voit que son intérêt personnel aux dépends de l’intérêt général. Il est la faille dans le plan de bataille des ouvriers. Lantier le tue d’un coup de pierre sur la tête.

Citoyen Russe réfugié en France, anarchiste extrémiste, il faut selon lui, tout détruire pour mieux reconstruire et clame que la « Terre sera lavée par le sang, purifiée par l’incendie ». Il a de longues discussions politiques avec Lantier.

Monsieur Hennebeau et Madame Hennebeau

Dans le roman d’Emile Zola, Monsieur Hennebeau est le directeur de la mine, dans le livre Germinal. Plus soucieux de son bien-être que des conditions de travail des ouvriers, il méprise la grève et accueille la délégation emmenée par Maheu avec sarcasme. Il ironise la situation, et bien qu’apparaissant par la suite comme souvent dépassé par les événements, sa situation ne sera jamais menacée. Totalement insensible à la misère des mineurs, la mère de cette famille bourgeoise et malsaine, Madame Hennebeau, va jusqu’à faire visiter les corons à des amis parisiens comme si il s’agissait d’un vulgaire zoo, ne laissant qu’aux malheureux le spectacle de son opulence. La loi du plus fort semble avoir toujours raison.

Les ingrédients de la lutte des classes dans Germinal

Ces personnages centraux sont tous un élément de la recette qui amène à la lutte. D’un côté, les opprimés qui vivent des conditions de travail ne leur servant qu’à mourir de faim, de l’autre, les détenteurs du pouvoir et de l’argent. Au centre, se trouvent les mécontents qui décident de quitter le Voreux pour œuvrer à la mine Jean-Bart, et le traître, Chaval, opportuniste par excellence, qui ne reculera devant rien.

La misère et la faim

Le point de départ de la révolte vient bien du fait que les mineurs, malgré leur travail, n’arrivent pas à subvenir aux besoins alimentaires de leurs familles. Ils travaillent dur et gagne de moins en moins d’argent. La pauvreté engendre la famine et parfois même la mort. Alzire, fille de Toussaint Maheu périt par manque de nourriture. La situation devient insupportable, intolérable, et lorsque chacun n’a plus rien à perdre, sinon la vie elle-même, la lutte pour la survie n’a plus de limites.

Le pouvoir et l’argent

Ici représentés par la famille Hennebeau, le pouvoir et l’argent ne rendent pas enclin à l’écoute des classes « inférieures ». Ceux qui ne manquent de rien jouissent pleinement de la vie sans pour autant faire preuve de compassion active envers les plus démunis. Si le mépris n’est pas de l’indifférence, il n’en alimente pas moins la haine de ceux qui manquent de tout envers ce qui possèdent bien plus qu’il n’en faut pour vivre.

La trahison dans le livre d’Emile Zola

Dans Germinal, Zola expose deux types de trahison. La trahison passive des ouvriers qui refuseront de suivre Lantier mais qui se contenteront d’aller travailler ailleurs, et la trahison active personnifiée par Chaval. Ce dernier n’aspire qu’à une chose : l’accession au pouvoir. Il se laisse corrompre et accepte de saborder la gréve en contrepartie d’un poste de chef. Chaval quitte le Voreux et se rend à la fosse Jean-Bart pour y travailler. Il revient dans la sixième partie du roman à la tête de douze travailleurs belges appelés les « Borains ». Cette ultime félonie entraîne la révolte finale qui se termine dans un bain de sang. Plusieurs mineurs, dont Maheu, perdent la vie.

Arrivé seul, Lantier repartira seul. Les mineurs ont beaucoup perdu et ont fini par reprendre le travail. Mais loin de se sentir vaincu, Lantier poursuit son chemin vers Paris, plein d’ambition et avec le sentiment que « la germination allait bientôt faire éclater la terre », quel que soit le prix à payer.

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Germinal résumé et analyse.

À la mi-février, les grévistes sont encore plus malheureux. Montsou est sous la surveillance de policiers armés. On n'entend dans les rues que le lent mouvement des patrouilles. Le travail n'a repris nulle part. La grève s'est étendue à Crevecœur, Mirou et à la Madeleine. L'effroyable mutilation du cadavre de Maigrat est déjà entourée de légende. Le nouveau prêtre, l'abbé Ranvier, prend la défense des grévistes et s'en prend violemment à la classe moyenne, rejetant sur elle toute la responsabilité.

Pendant que la panique se répand dans les corons, Étienne vit sous terre, dans le terrier de Jeanlin, au fond du Requillart. Personne ne croit qu'il puisse être si proche. Étienne reste des heures entières allongé sur le foin dans l'obscurité. Au début de la deuxième semaine, Jeanlin annonce à Étienne que les policiers pensent qu'il est parti en Belgique. Étienne s'aventure alors hors de son trou, à la nuit tombée. Il ne veut pas s'avouer vaincu. Quelques jours plus tard, Étienne parle à un petit soldat nommé Jules et tente de comprendre ce qui se passe. Il voit Jeanlin lui faire signe de partir car il voit qu'une autre sentinelle se dirige vers Étienne.

La neige et le froid ont eu raison d'Alzire, qui est en train de mourir. Chaque jour, des querelles éclatent à cause des commérages. La femme de Levaque accuse Maheude de répandre des rumeurs sur son infidélité. Maheude est décontenancée et lui demande qui répand la rumeur que c’est elle qui dit que la femme de Levaque couche avec Bouteloup (le locataire des Levaque). Elle lui répond que c'est Pierronne. Tous se rendent alors chez elle. Ils racontent à Pierron, qui revient de sa lessive, que sa femme fait courir des rumeurs sur Levaque et Maheude. Pierron est étonné et ne comprend pas. Pierronne est saisie de peur et ouvre la porte en entendant le tumulte des voix. Ils la voient avec sa robe ouverte, ainsi que Dansaert, qui se rhabille. Le maître porion s'enfuit, tremblant de peur que cette histoire n'arrive aux oreilles du directeur. Pierron défend sa femme, et dans un accès de rage, Maheu et Levaque l'attaquent. La bagarre est interrompue et les Maheu rentrent chez eux. L'abbé Ranvier vient chez les Maheu pour tenter de les convaincre de venir à la messe, sans succès. Étienne leur rend régulièrement visite la nuit, en secret.

Maheu veut que la grève prenne fin mais Maheude, furieux de ses hésitations, menace de le frapper. Étienne est choqué de voir ce changement chez Maheude. Il ne reconnaît plus la femme qui était autrefois si raisonnable. Le docteur Vanderhagen arrive et leur annonce qu'Alzire va mourir. Maheude pleure. Le dimanche suivant, Étienne arrive chez Rasseneur . Ce dernier lui explique que l'association des ouvriers est lentement détruite par une lutte interne qui oppose les ambitions de chacun. Souvarine affirme avec colère que tout gréviste qui n'est pas anarchiste veut simplement devenir bourgeois. Pendant que Souvarine fulmine, Catherine et Chaval entrent dans la taverne. Après s'être insultés, Chaval et Étienne ont une altercation physique. Catherine est immobile contre le mur. Rasseneur tente d'intervenir mais est arrêté par sa femme. Chaval sort un couteau, mais Étienne parvient à s'en emparer. Il maintient Chaval au sol sous son genou et menace de lui trancher la gorge. Mais quelque chose en Étienne l'en empêche et il le lâche. Chaval quitte la taverne, et lorsque Catherine tente de le suivre, il lui dit de rester avec Étienne.

Quand ils sortent de chez Rasseneur, Étienne et Catherine continuent à marcher en silence. Catherine embarrasse Étienne. Le passé leur revient lentement, y compris leurs anciens désirs. Catherine retourne chez Chaval, Étienne ne parvenant pas à la convaincre de rester avec lui. Alors qu'Étienne s'éloigne et se trouve près de la fosse, il voit Jeanlin qui traque une sentinelle. Jeanlin saute soudainement sur les épaules de la sentinelle et lui enfonce son grand couteau dans la gorge. Étienne est choqué et court vers Jeanlin, lui demandant pourquoi il a tué la sentinelle. Jeanlin répond qu'il ne sait pas pourquoi, qu'il en avait simplement envie. Étienne reconnaît la sentinelle tuée : c'est Jules, à qui il parlait il y a quelques jours. Étienne commence à réfléchir à l'endroit où se débarrasser du corps et devient de plus en plus anxieux. Il a une inspiration soudaine : s'il pouvait porter le corps jusqu'au Requillart, il pourrait l'enterrer là pour toujours. Ils finissent par le cacher, avec son fusil, dans une galerie de l'ancienne fosse. Ils brisent le bois qui soutient les murs, au risque d'être enterrés eux-mêmes. La roche cède immédiatement et ils ont à peine le temps de se traîner sur les coudes et les genoux. Jeanlin se retire dans sa tanière, tout comme Étienne, qui pleure alors que Jeanlin dort profondément. Depuis minuit, Catherine erre dans la colonie après avoir été mise à la porte par Chaval.

Catherine revient à la fosse car Chaval est censé y descendre le matin même. Le son d'une trompette la fait sursauter. Elle voit les gardes du Voreux prendre les armes. Étienne arrive en courant, rejoint par une bande d'hommes et de femmes sortant du village, gesticulant, en colère. Toutes les entrées du Voreux sont fermées et les soixante soldats barrent la seule porte restée libre. Un nouveau flot de grévistes arrive bientôt, et tous se précipitent. Étienne doit les arrêter. Il s'approche du capitaine avec un visage désespéré et résolu, tentant de le convaincre de rejoindre la cause des grévistes. Le capitaine refuse de bouger. Étienne entend les grévistes crier et il se retire dans la foule, désespéré. Les femmes commencent à insulter les soldats. Levaque saisit trois baïonnettes dans ses mains. Les soldats reçoivent l'ordre strict de ne faire usage de leurs armes qu’en cas extrême. La tension monte alors que les soldats sont acculés au mur, leurs fusils chargés. On entend le bruit du recul d'une arme, suivi d'un profond silence. Les grévistes courent vers le tas de briques à proximité et la bataille de pierres commence. Beaucoup de grévistes s'y oublient, absorbés par l'affrontement.

Le capitaine Richomme se place entre les soldats et les mineurs. Les soldats sont blessés, et le capitaine les voit désobéir. La pluie de briques s'intensifie, et, au moment où le capitaine s'apprête à leur dire de tirer, les soldats le font d'eux-mêmes. Bébert et Lydie sont tués. Le capitaine Richomme est accidentellement touché dans le dos par une balle. Mouquet meurt, ainsi que Mouquette, qui sauve Catherine en sautant devant elle. Maheu est touché au cœur et meurt sur le coup.

Une tension se développe entre un Étienne vaincu et une Maheude passionnée. Maheu veut que la grève prenne fin, mais Maheude, furieuse de ses hésitations, menace de le frapper. Étienne est choqué de voir ce qu'il a inculqué à Maheude. Ironiquement, la grève lui a fait perdre bien plus qu’à la plupart des autres grévistes. Mais elle choisit de toujours garder espoir et de faire preuve de résilience. Elle conserve une vision optimiste de ce qui semble être un avenir sombre.

Bien qu'elle soit furieuse contre Étienne, Maheude est l'une des seules personnes avec qui il qui conserve son amitié après l'échec de la grève. Le triomphe sur l'adversité et les difficultés pendant cette longue période est un thème majeur de l'interprétation de l’avenir que fait Maheude. Elle l’envisage non seulement en termes de prospérité économique mais aussi de représentation politique. La lutte pour un avenir meilleur ne s'arrête pas à la grève. Elle croit qu'en acceptant la défaite, la vie reviendra à une acceptation passive des conditions de vie du prolétariat. La mort de Maheu plonge Maheude dans une sorte d'incrédulité. Mais au lieu de la désarmer émotionnellement, elle la pousse encore plus loin dans sa lutte pour la liberté.

La victoire n'est pas facile à obtenir. La mort et la mutilation de Maigrat ne constituent pas une véritable victoire – car les grévistes ne l'ont pas réellement tué. C'est cette rétribution insuffisante, cette volonté de satisfaire davantage des désirs sadiques, qui anime Maheude. Le fait que les mineurs aient si peu de moyens de subsistance signifie qu'ils sont prêts à reconsidérer leur ingratitude ou leur satisfaction. Ils se donnent beaucoup de mal pour satisfaire même le plus petit des plaisirs, et ce qui peut être un plaisir pour eux (mutiler Maigrat de ses parties intimes) peut être un crime pour d'autres.

Rasseneur dit à Étienne que l'Association internationale des travailleurs est dévorée par une lutte interne entre vanités et ambitions. Souvarine affirme avec colère que tout gréviste qui n'est pas anarchiste veut simplement devenir lui-même bourgeois. Souvarine met en évidence l’hypocrisie majeure des grévistes, mais surtout l’hypocrisie du comportement d'Étienne. L'égoïsme qui s'est développé chez Étienne en même temps que sa popularité lui a inculqué une arrogance mortelle. Ses appels à l'action trop zélés ont incité la foule à faire preuve d'une violence incontrôlée dans les mines et dans la campagne – renforçant ainsi l'idée que les mineurs sont des brutes.

Étienne laisse son désir de gagner et surtout de diriger la grève brouiller la ligne entre ce qui est pratique et ce qui est impossible. Rasseneur rappelle au lecteur que le changement est très difficile à obtenir et que si la lutte des mineurs réussit, ils obtiendront toutefois bien moins que ce qu'Étienne promet.

L'arrogance d'Étienne témoigne également de la naïveté de sa jeunesse et de son manque d’expérience de la politique et des réalités de la vie. Sa colère aveugle tout espoir d'une approche calculée de la réforme. Comme les mineurs, il perd beaucoup plus qu'il ne gagne. L'ignorance et la misère ont compromis le mode de vie d'Étienne et des grévistes.

Questions et Réponses par Germinal

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Guide d'étude pour Germinal

Germinal study guide contains a biography of Emile Zola, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• A propos de Germinal
• Germinal Résumé
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Zola, Germinal

France métropolitaine 2022 • Commentaire

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France métropolitaine, juin 2022 • Commentaire

4 heures

Intérêt du sujet • Cet extrait sensibilise le lecteur aux difficiles conditions de travail dans les mines au xix e  siècle.

 Vous ferez le commentaire littéraire de ce texte en vous aidant des pistes suivantes.

1. Les chevaux : deux personnages bouleversants.

2. Une progressive descente aux enfers.

On utilisait dans les mines, au xix e   siècle, des chevaux que l’on descendait au fond des puits afin d’aider au transport du charbon. Dans cet extrait, Zola présente deux de ces animaux qui, à la différence des hommes, restaient des années durant sous terre, sans remonter.

C’était Bataille, le doyen de la mine, un cheval blanc qui avait dix ans de fond. Depuis dix ans, il vivait dans ce trou, occupant le même coin de l’écurie, faisant la même tâche le long des galeries noires, sans avoir jamais revu le jour. Très gras, le poil luisant, l’air bonhomme, il semblait y couler une existence de sage, à l’abri des malheurs de là-haut. Du reste, dans les ténèbres, il était devenu d’une grande malignité. La voie où il travaillait avait fini par lui être si familière, qu’il poussait de la tête les portes d’aérage, et qu’il se baissait, afin de ne pas se cogner, aux endroits trop bas. Sans doute aussi il comptait ses tours, car lorsqu’il avait fait le nombre réglementaire de voyages, il refusait d’en recommencer un autre, on devait le reconduire à sa mangeoire. Maintenant, l’âge venait, ses yeux de chat se voilaient parfois d’une mélancolie. Peut-être revoyait-il vaguement, au fond de ses rêvasseries obscures, le moulin où il était né, près de Marchiennes, un moulin planté sur le bord de la Scarpe, entouré de larges verdures, toujours éventé par le vent. Quelque chose brûlait en l’air, une lampe énorme, dont le souvenir exact échappait à sa mémoire de bête. Et il restait la tête basse, tremblant sur ses vieux pieds, faisant d’inutiles efforts pour se rappeler le soleil.

Cependant, les manœuvres continuaient dans le puits, le marteau des signaux avait tapé quatre coups, on descendait le cheval ; et c’était toujours une émotion, car il arrivait parfois que la bête, saisie d’une telle épouvante, débarquait morte. En haut, lié dans un filet, il se débattait éperdument ; puis, dès qu’il sentait le sol manquer sous lui, il restait comme pétrifié, il disparaissait sans un frémissement de la peau, l’œil agrandi et fixe. Celui-ci étant trop gros pour passer entre les guides, on avait dû, en l’accrochant au-dessous de la cage, lui rabattre et lui attacher la tête sur le flanc.

La descente dura près de trois minutes, on ralentissait la machine par précaution. Aussi, en bas, l’émotion grandissait-elle. Quoi donc ? est-ce qu’on allait le laisser en route, pendu dans le noir ? Enfin, il parut, avec son immobilité de pierre, son œil fixe, dilaté de terreur. C’était un cheval bai 1 , de trois ans à peine, nommé Trompette.

« Attention ! criait le père Mouque, chargé de le recevoir. Amenez-le, ne le détachez pas encore. »

Bientôt, Trompette fut couché sur les dalles de fonte, comme une masse. Il ne bougeait toujours pas, il semblait dans le cauchemar de ce trou obscur, infini, de cette salle profonde, retentissante de vacarme. On commençait à le délier, lorsque Bataille, dételé depuis un instant, s’approcha, allongea le cou pour flairer ce compagnon, qui tombait ainsi de la terre. Les ouvriers élargirent le cercle en plaisantant. Eh bien, quelle bonne odeur lui trouvait-il ? Mais Bataille s’animait, sourd aux moqueries.

Il lui trouvait sans doute la bonne odeur du grand air, l’odeur oubliée du soleil dans les herbes. Et il éclata tout à coup d’un hennissement sonore, d’une musique d’allégresse, où il semblait y avoir l’attendrissement d’un sanglot. C’était la bienvenue, la joie de ces choses anciennes dont une bouffée lui arrivait, la mélancolie de ce prisonnier de plus qui ne remonterait que mort.

Émile Zola, Germinal, 1885.

1. Bai : entre le brun et le roux.

Les clés du sujet

Définir le texte.

Dégager la problématique

Comment Zola, dans cet extrait de roman, nous émeut-il face au sort réservé aux chevaux exploités dans les mines au xix e  siècle ?

Construire le plan

Les titres en couleur ou entre crochets ne doivent pas figurer sur la copie.

Introduction

[Présentation du contexte] Romancier naturaliste du xix e  siècle, Zola représente dans ses œuvres la société de son époque, en particulier les malheurs du peuple. [Présentation du texte] Son roman Germinal , publié dans un contexte de crise industrielle, décrit avec précision les conditions de vie délicates des mineurs. Au travail harassant, dangereux et sous-payé des ouvriers fait pendant l’exploitation des animaux. Notre extrait se focalise sur deux chevaux sollicités pour épauler les hommes, au fond des mines. [Problématique] Comment Zola, dans cet extrait de roman, nous émeut-il face au sort réservé aux chevaux exploités dans les mines ? [Annonce du plan] Nous verrons tout d’abord que les chevaux apparaissent comme deux personnages bouleversants ; puis, nous analyserons la progressive descente aux enfers décrite ici.

I. Les chevaux : deux personnages bouleversants

1. des chevaux personnifiés.

Les chevaux sont dépeints physiquement et moralement, comme de véritables humains .

Les deux chevaux portent des noms qui les individualisent. «  Bataille  », donne à lire, métaphoriquement, la difficulté du quotidien dans la mine. Sa routine laborieuse est évoquée à l’imparfait d’habitude : « il travaillait », « il poussait » (l. 7 et 8). Divers termes soulignent la valeur de ce cheval, véritable ancien, et la richesse de son expérience : c’est le « doyen de la mine » (l. 1), qui a « dix ans de fond » et de « vieux pieds » (l. 18-19). Sa pénible vieillesse touche le lecteur.

On appelle « onomastique » l’étude de la formation et de la signification des noms propres . Très souvent en littérature, les noms inventés sont significatifs et donc à commenter !

L’auteur attribue aux chevaux un comportement et une psychologie humaines . Bataille mène une « existence de sage » (l. 5) avec son « air bonhomme ». Il sait faire preuve de « malignité », c’est-à-dire d’intelligence, lorsqu’il circule dans des galeries auxquelles il a bien su s’adapter.

Le lecteur pénètre également dans les pensées de Bataille qui « rêvasse » et se souvient avec nostalgie de son enfance passée au moulin.

Tel un ouvrier engagé , conscient de sa charge de travail bien délimitée, Bataille, au caractère affirmé, « refusait d’en recommencer un autre » (l. 11), comme s’il n’admettait pas qu’on abuse de sa force de travail.

2. Une scène émouvante

Dotés d’une personnalité complexe et d’une psychologie, les chevaux suscitent la compassion et l’ empathie du lecteur .

La scène est entièrement centrée sur le spectacle qu’offrent les chevaux, objets de toutes les attentions : le narrateur observe les hommes qui eux-mêmes demeurent concentrés sur les chevaux. Cette construction du récit permet ainsi de capter l’attention du lecteur .

Le recours au point de vue interne du cheval permet au lecteur de s’immiscer dans les souvenirs de Bataille et de partager ses émotions. L’aspect confus de ses souvenirs perce dans les expressions vagues ou modalisées « peut-être revoyait-il vaguement » (l. 13), « quelque chose brûlait en l’air » (périphrase qui désigne le soleil). Lointaine, sa vie satisfaisante se brouille.

Le lexique pathétique employé décrit la souffrance physique et morale des chevaux. L’insistance sur le regard de Trompette, reflet de son trouble, – « œil agrandi » (l. 26), « dilaté de terreur » (l. 32) – touche le lecteur. Bataille, « gras » (l. 4) et « la tête basse » (l. 18), « tremblant sur ses vieux pieds » (l. 18-19), semble très affaibli, comme en sursis.

3. Des souvenirs poignants

Le contraste créé entre le passé heureux de Bataille et son sort cruel dans la mine offre une scène lyrique .

L’évocation des souvenirs, avec la description bucolique d’un paysage agréable (un moulin au bord d’une rivière, sous le soleil, bordé de « larges verdures », vivifié par le « vent ») tranche brutalement avec les « ténèbres ».

Dans ce contexte, l’arrivée impromptue de Trompette déclenche une réminiscence émouvante  : le passé enfoui resurgit ; Bataille renoue après des années, par camarade interposé, avec la « bonne odeur du grand air » (l. 44), qui lui est définitivement interdite. L’odeur de Trompette évoque un passé heureux à jamais perdu.

[Transition] Attendrissants, ces chevaux le sont d’autant plus qu’ils sont voués à une existence tragique.

II. Une progressive descente aux enfers

1. des chevaux enterrés vivants.

Absorbés par la terre, les chevaux deviennent des créatures de l’ombre .

Zola développe l’image d’un gouffre qui avale hommes et bêtes  en décrivant un « fond » (l. 2), un « trou obscur » (l. 38), qui rappelle le caveau creusé pour inhumer les corps. Le lexique de l’obscurité rend le lieu plus terrifiant encore : les « galeries noires » (l. 3-4) se font bientôt « ténèbres » (l. 6).

L’animal est soumis à une exploitation qui confine à l’esclavage. La morne routine transparaît dans les répétitions  : « le même coin de l’écurie », « la même tâche » (l. 2-3), tandis que la structure négative « […] dix ans […] sans avoir jamais revu le jour » (l. 4) accentue la durée .

Ce texte fait écho aux luttes menées par Émile Zola, intellectuel engagé, qui se bat dans son œuvre contre les injustices sociales et la misère du monde ouvrier.

Le terme « cauchemar » (l. 37) fait entendre l’ expérience traumatisante de ces bêtes. L’obscurité permanente va jusqu’à colorer les pensées du cheval, qualifiées de « rêvasseries obscures » (l. 14), comme si la mine ternissait inexorablement leur monde intérieur. La blancheur de la robe de Bataille tranche avec la noirceur environnante et symbolise son innocence.

2. Une descente sans retour

L’auteur clôt sa description sur l’arrivée d’une nouvelle recrue.

Mené à l’imparfait à valeur durative, le récit se dilate ; chacun, homme et animal, retient son souffle – « c’était toujours une émotion » (l. 22) –, en espérant éviter le pire, à savoir le décès du cheval saisi d’effroi .

L’emploi du discours indirect libre (« Quoi donc ? est-ce qu’on allait le laisser en route, pendu dans le noir ? », l. 31) puis du discours direct (« Attention ! […] Amenez-le […] », l. 34-35) permet au lecteur de suivre la scène à chaque instant, en restituant les angoisses et les précautions des mineurs lors de la descente .

Le texte prend la forme d’une catabase (du grec ancien katabasis, « descente »), motif récurrent dans les épopées grecques, et qui traite de la descente aux enfers du héros.

Des images fortes évoquent la sidération de Trompette : « il restait comme pétrifié » (l. 25), « avec son immobilité de pierre » (l. 32). L’étrangeté terrifiante de ce monde souterrain est marquée par la proposition relative « qui tombait ainsi de la terre » (l. 41), expression détournée de « tomber du ciel ». Trompette a été projeté dans un monde à l’envers , cauchemardesque.

3. Un sort tragique

Ces chevaux sont à présent promis à un destin funeste.

Leur sort est entre les mains des hommes : les compléments d’objets directs (« on descendait le cheval », l. 21, « on allait le laisser », l. 31…) et les structures passives (« Trompette fut couché », l. 36) attestent que cette existence leur échappe .

Le texte se clôt sur une métaphore significative  : un « prisonnier de plus ». Le « filet » utilisé pour descendre dans les galeries prend une dimension symbolique : les chevaux sont pris au piège.

La relative finale , qui comporte une négation restrictive, « ce prisonnier […] qui ne remonterait que mort », scelle leur destin mortel.

[Synthèse] Ainsi, cette description de chevaux vivant dans les mines, partageant la souffrance humaine, parvient à toucher le lecteur et à le sensibiliser à leur sort tragique. [Ouverture] Cette description réaliste est fidèle aux engagements humains et politiques de Zola en faveur des opprimés. D’autres écrivains, comme Voltaire ou Hugo, s’intéressent également au sort réservé aux animaux, pour mieux réfléchir à notre destinée commune, en appelant à décentrer notre regard.

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How To Write The Conclusion Chapter

A Simple Explainer With Examples + Free Template

By: Jenna Crossley (PhD) | Reviewed By: Dr. Eunice Rautenbach | September 2021

So, you’ve wrapped up your results and discussion chapters, and you’re finally on the home stretch – the conclusion chapter . In this post, we’ll discuss everything you need to know to craft a high-quality conclusion chapter for your dissertation or thesis project.

Overview: The Conclusion Chapter

• What the thesis/dissertation conclusion chapter is
• What to include in your conclusion
• How to structure and write up your conclusion
• A few tips  to help you ace the chapter
• FREE conclusion template

What is the conclusion chapter?

The conclusion chapter is typically the final major chapter of a dissertation or thesis. As such, it serves as a concluding summary of your research findings and wraps up the document. While some publications such as journal articles and research reports combine the discussion and conclusion sections, these are typically separate chapters in a dissertation or thesis. As always, be sure to check what your university’s structural preference is before you start writing up these chapters.

So, what’s the difference between the discussion and the conclusion chapter?

Well, the two chapters are quite similar , as they both discuss the key findings of the study. However, the conclusion chapter is typically more general and high-level in nature. In your discussion chapter, you’ll typically discuss the intricate details of your study, but in your conclusion chapter, you’ll take a   broader perspective, reporting on the main research outcomes and how these addressed your research aim (or aims) .

A core function of the conclusion chapter is to synthesise all major points covered in your study and to tell the reader what they should take away from your work. Basically, you need to tell them what you found , why it’s valuable , how it can be applied , and what further research can be done.

Whatever you do, don’t just copy and paste what you’ve written in your discussion chapter! The conclusion chapter should not be a simple rehash of the discussion chapter. While the two chapters are similar, they have distinctly different functions.  

What should I include in the conclusion chapter?

To understand what needs to go into your conclusion chapter, it’s useful to understand what the chapter needs to achieve. In general, a good dissertation conclusion chapter should achieve the following:

• Summarise the key findings of the study
• Explicitly answer the research question(s) and address the research aims
• Inform the reader of the study’s main contributions
• Discuss any limitations or weaknesses of the study
• Present recommendations for future research

Therefore, your conclusion chapter needs to cover these core components. Importantly, you need to be careful not to include any new findings or data points. Your conclusion chapter should be based purely on data and analysis findings that you’ve already presented in the earlier chapters. If there’s a new point you want to introduce, you’ll need to go back to your results and discussion chapters to weave the foundation in there.

In many cases, readers will jump from the introduction chapter directly to the conclusions chapter to get a quick overview of the study’s purpose and key findings. Therefore, when you write up your conclusion chapter, it’s useful to assume that the reader hasn’t consumed the inner chapters of your dissertation or thesis. In other words, craft your conclusion chapter such that there’s a strong connection and smooth flow between the introduction and conclusion chapters, even though they’re on opposite ends of your document.

Need a helping hand?

How to write the conclusion chapter

Now that you have a clearer view of what the conclusion chapter is about, let’s break down the structure of this chapter so that you can get writing. Keep in mind that this is merely a typical structure – it’s not set in stone or universal. Some universities will prefer that you cover some of these points in the discussion chapter , or that you cover the points at different levels in different chapters.

Step 1: Craft a brief introduction section

As with all chapters in your dissertation or thesis, the conclusions chapter needs to start with a brief introduction. In this introductory section, you’ll want to tell the reader what they can expect to find in the chapter, and in what order . Here’s an example of what this might look like:

This chapter will conclude the study by summarising the key research findings in relation to the research aims and questions and discussing the value and contribution thereof. It will also review the limitations of the study and propose opportunities for future research.

Importantly, the objective here is just to give the reader a taste of what’s to come (a roadmap of sorts), not a summary of the chapter. So, keep it short and sweet – a paragraph or two should be ample.

Step 2: Discuss the overall findings in relation to the research aims

The next step in writing your conclusions chapter is to discuss the overall findings of your study , as they relate to the research aims and research questions . You would have likely covered similar ground in the discussion chapter, so it’s important to zoom out a little bit here and focus on the broader findings – specifically, how these help address the research aims .

In practical terms, it’s useful to start this section by reminding your reader of your research aims and research questions, so that the findings are well contextualised. In this section, phrases such as, “This study aimed to…” and “the results indicate that…” will likely come in handy. For example, you could say something like the following:

This study aimed to investigate the feeding habits of the naked mole-rat. The results indicate that naked mole rats feed on underground roots and tubers. Further findings show that these creatures eat only a part of the plant, leaving essential parts to ensure long-term food stability.

Be careful not to make overly bold claims here. Avoid claims such as “this study proves that” or “the findings disprove existing the existing theory”. It’s seldom the case that a single study can prove or disprove something. Typically, this is achieved by a broader body of research, not a single study – especially not a dissertation or thesis which will inherently have significant  limitations . We’ll discuss those limitations a little later.

Step 3: Discuss how your study contributes to the field

Next, you’ll need to discuss how your research has contributed to the field – both in terms of theory and practice . This involves talking about what you achieved in your study, highlighting why this is important and valuable, and how it can be used or applied.

In this section you’ll want to:

• Mention any research outputs created as a result of your study (e.g., articles, publications, etc.)
• Inform the reader on just how your research solves your research problem , and why that matters
• Reflect on gaps in the existing research and discuss how your study contributes towards addressing these gaps
• Discuss your study in relation to relevant theories . For example, does it confirm these theories or constructively challenge them?
• Discuss how your research findings can be applied in the real world . For example, what specific actions can practitioners take, based on your findings?

Be careful to strike a careful balance between being firm but humble in your arguments here. It’s unlikely that your one study will fundamentally change paradigms or shake up the discipline, so making claims to this effect will be frowned upon . At the same time though, you need to present your arguments with confidence, firmly asserting the contribution your research has made, however small that contribution may be. Simply put, you need to keep it balanced .

Step 4: Reflect on the limitations of your study

Now that you’ve pumped your research up, the next step is to critically reflect on the limitations and potential shortcomings of your study. You may have already covered this in the discussion chapter, depending on your university’s structural preferences, so be careful not to repeat yourself unnecessarily.

There are many potential limitations that can apply to any given study. Some common ones include:

• Sampling issues that reduce the generalisability of the findings (e.g., non-probability sampling )
• Insufficient sample size (e.g., not getting enough survey responses ) or limited data access
• Low-resolution data collection or analysis techniques
• Researcher bias or lack of experience
• Lack of access to research equipment
• Time constraints that limit the methodology (e.g. cross-sectional vs longitudinal time horizon)
• Budget constraints that limit various aspects of the study

Discussing the limitations of your research may feel self-defeating (no one wants to highlight their weaknesses, right), but it’s a critical component of high-quality research. It’s important to appreciate that all studies have limitations (even well-funded studies by expert researchers) – therefore acknowledging these limitations adds credibility to your research by showing that you understand the limitations of your research design .

That being said, keep an eye on your wording and make sure that you don’t undermine your research . It’s important to strike a balance between recognising the limitations, but also highlighting the value of your research despite those limitations. Show the reader that you understand the limitations, that these were justified given your constraints, and that you know how they can be improved upon – this will get you marks.

Next, you’ll need to make recommendations for future studies. This will largely be built on the limitations you just discussed. For example, if one of your study’s weaknesses was related to a specific data collection or analysis method, you can make a recommendation that future researchers undertake similar research using a more sophisticated method.

Another potential source of future research recommendations is any data points or analysis findings that were interesting or surprising , but not directly related to your study’s research aims and research questions. So, if you observed anything that “stood out” in your analysis, but you didn’t explore it in your discussion (due to a lack of relevance to your research aims), you can earmark that for further exploration in this section.

Essentially, this section is an opportunity to outline how other researchers can build on your study to take the research further and help develop the body of knowledge. So, think carefully about the new questions that your study has raised, and clearly outline these for future researchers to pick up on.

Step 6: Wrap up with a closing summary

Tips for a top-notch conclusion chapter

Now that we’ve covered the what , why and how of the conclusion chapter, here are some quick tips and suggestions to help you craft a rock-solid conclusion.

• Don’t ramble . The conclusion chapter usually consumes 5-7% of the total word count (although this will vary between universities), so you need to be concise. Edit this chapter thoroughly with a focus on brevity and clarity.
• Be very careful about the claims you make in terms of your study’s contribution. Nothing will make the marker’s eyes roll back faster than exaggerated or unfounded claims. Be humble but firm in your claim-making.
• Use clear and simple language that can be easily understood by an intelligent layman. Remember that not every reader will be an expert in your field, so it’s important to make your writing accessible. Bear in mind that no one knows your research better than you do, so it’s important to spell things out clearly for readers.

Hopefully, this post has given you some direction and confidence to take on the conclusion chapter of your dissertation or thesis with confidence. If you’re still feeling a little shaky and need a helping hand, consider booking a free initial consultation with a friendly Grad Coach to discuss how we can help you with hands-on, private coaching.

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17 Comments

Really you team are doing great!

Your guide on writing the concluding chapter of a research is really informative especially to the beginners who really do not know where to start. Im now ready to start. Keep it up guys

Really your team are doing great!

Very helpful guidelines, timely saved. Thanks so much for the tips.

This post was very helpful and informative. Thank you team.

A very enjoyable, understandable and crisp presentation on how to write a conclusion chapter. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks Jenna.

This was a very helpful article which really gave me practical pointers for my concluding chapter. Keep doing what you are doing! It meant a lot to me to be able to have this guide. Thank you so much.

Nice content dealing with the conclusion chapter, it’s a relief after the streneous task of completing discussion part.Thanks for valuable guidance

Thanks for your guidance

I get all my doubts clarified regarding the conclusion chapter. It’s really amazing. Many thanks.

Very helpful tips. Thanks so much for the guidance

Thank you very much for this piece. It offers a very helpful starting point in writing the conclusion chapter of my thesis.

It’s awesome! Most useful and timely too. Thanks a million times

Bundle of thanks for your guidance. It was greatly helpful.

Wonderful, clear, practical guidance. So grateful to read this as I conclude my research. Thank you.

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• Dissertation
• How to Write a Thesis or Dissertation Conclusion

How to Write a Dissertation Conclusion | Checklist and Examples

Published on 9 September 2022 by Tegan George and Shona McCombes. Revised on 10 October 2022.

The conclusion is the very last part of your thesis or dissertation . It should be concise and engaging, leaving your reader with a clear understanding of your main findings, as well as the answer to your research question .

In it, you should:

• Clearly state the answer to your main research question
• Summarise and reflect on your research process
• Make recommendations for future work on your topic
• Show what new knowledge you have contributed to your field
• Wrap up your thesis or dissertation

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Table of contents

Discussion vs. conclusion, how long should your conclusion be, step 1: answer your research question, step 2: summarise and reflect on your research, step 3: make future recommendations, step 4: emphasise your contributions to your field, step 5: wrap up your thesis or dissertation, full conclusion example, conclusion checklist, frequently asked questions about conclusion sections.

While your conclusion contains similar elements to your discussion section , they are not the same thing.

Your conclusion should be shorter and more general than your discussion. Instead of repeating literature from your literature review , discussing specific research results , or interpreting your data in detail, concentrate on making broad statements that sum up the most important insights of your research.

As a rule of thumb, your conclusion should not introduce new data, interpretations, or arguments.

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Depending on whether you are writing a thesis or dissertation, your length will vary. Generally, a conclusion should make up around 5–7% of your overall word count.

An empirical scientific study will often have a short conclusion, concisely stating the main findings and recommendations for future research. A humanities topic or systematic review , on the other hand, might require more space to conclude its analysis, tying all the previous sections together in an overall argument.

Your conclusion should begin with the main question that your thesis or dissertation aimed to address. This is your final chance to show that you’ve done what you set out to do, so make sure to formulate a clear, concise answer.

• Don’t repeat a list of all the results that you already discussed
• Do synthesise them into a final takeaway that the reader will remember.

An empirical thesis or dissertation conclusion may begin like this:

A case study –based thesis or dissertation conclusion may begin like this:

In the second example, the research aim is not directly restated, but rather added implicitly to the statement. To avoid repeating yourself, it is helpful to reformulate your aims and questions into an overall statement of what you did and how you did it.

Your conclusion is an opportunity to remind your reader why you took the approach you did, what you expected to find, and how well the results matched your expectations.

To avoid repetition , consider writing more reflectively here, rather than just writing a summary of each preceding section. Consider mentioning the effectiveness of your methodology , or perhaps any new questions or unexpected insights that arose in the process.

You can also mention any limitations of your research, but only if you haven’t already included these in the discussion. Don’t dwell on them at length, though – focus on the positives of your work.

• While x limits the generalisability of the results, this approach provides new insight into y .
• This research clearly illustrates x , but it also raises the question of y .

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You may already have made a few recommendations for future research in your discussion section, but the conclusion is a good place to elaborate and look ahead, considering the implications of your findings in both theoretical and practical terms.

• Based on these conclusions, practitioners should consider …
• To better understand the implications of these results, future studies could address …
• Further research is needed to determine the causes of/effects of/relationship between …

When making recommendations for further research, be sure not to undermine your own work. Relatedly, while future studies might confirm, build on, or enrich your conclusions, they shouldn’t be required for your argument to feel complete. Your work should stand alone on its own merits.

Just as you should avoid too much self-criticism, you should also avoid exaggerating the applicability of your research. If you’re making recommendations for policy, business, or other practical implementations, it’s generally best to frame them as ‘shoulds’ rather than ‘musts’. All in all, the purpose of academic research is to inform, explain, and explore – not to demand.

Make sure your reader is left with a strong impression of what your research has contributed to the state of your field.

Some strategies to achieve this include:

• Returning to your problem statement to explain how your research helps solve the problem
• Referring back to the literature review and showing how you have addressed a gap in knowledge
• Discussing how your findings confirm or challenge an existing theory or assumption

Again, avoid simply repeating what you’ve already covered in the discussion in your conclusion. Instead, pick out the most important points and sum them up succinctly, situating your project in a broader context.

The end is near! Once you’ve finished writing your conclusion, it’s time to wrap up your thesis or dissertation with a few final steps:

• It’s a good idea to write your abstract next, while the research is still fresh in your mind.
• Next, make sure your reference list is complete and correctly formatted. To speed up the process, you can use our free APA citation generator .
• Once you’ve added any appendices , you can create a table of contents and title page .
• Finally, read through the whole document again to make sure your thesis is clearly written and free from language errors. You can proofread it yourself , ask a friend, or consider Scribbr’s proofreading and editing service .

Here is an example of how you can write your conclusion section. Notice how it includes everything mentioned above:

V. Conclusion

The current research aimed to identify acoustic speech characteristics which mark the beginning of an exacerbation in COPD patients.

The central questions for this research were as follows: 1. Which acoustic measures extracted from read speech differ between COPD speakers in stable condition and healthy speakers? 2. In what ways does the speech of COPD patients during an exacerbation differ from speech of COPD patients during stable periods?

All recordings were aligned using a script. Subsequently, they were manually annotated to indicate respiratory actions such as inhaling and exhaling. The recordings of 9 stable COPD patients reading aloud were then compared with the recordings of 5 healthy control subjects reading aloud. The results showed a significant effect of condition on the number of in- and exhalations per syllable, the number of non-linguistic in- and exhalations per syllable, and the ratio of voiced and silence intervals. The number of in- and exhalations per syllable and the number of non-linguistic in- and exhalations per syllable were higher for COPD patients than for healthy controls, which confirmed both hypotheses.

However, the higher ratio of voiced and silence intervals for COPD patients compared to healthy controls was not in line with the hypotheses. This unpredicted result might have been caused by the different reading materials or recording procedures for both groups, or by a difference in reading skills. Moreover, there was a trend regarding the effect of condition on the number of syllables per breath group. The number of syllables per breath group was higher for healthy controls than for COPD patients, which was in line with the hypothesis. There was no effect of condition on pitch, intensity, center of gravity, pitch variability, speaking rate, or articulation rate.

This research has shown that the speech of COPD patients in exacerbation differs from the speech of COPD patients in stable condition. This might have potential for the detection of exacerbations. However, sustained vowels rarely occur in spontaneous speech. Therefore, the last two outcome measures might have greater potential for the detection of beginning exacerbations, but further research on the different outcome measures and their potential for the detection of exacerbations is needed due to the limitations of the current study.

Checklist: Conclusion

I have clearly and concisely answered the main research question .

I have summarized my overall argument or key takeaways.

I have mentioned any important limitations of the research.

I have given relevant recommendations .

I have clearly explained what my research has contributed to my field.

I have  not introduced any new data or arguments.

You've written a great conclusion! Use the other checklists to further improve your dissertation.

In a thesis or dissertation, the discussion is an in-depth exploration of the results, going into detail about the meaning of your findings and citing relevant sources to put them in context.

The conclusion is more shorter and more general: it concisely answers your main research question and makes recommendations based on your overall findings.

While it may be tempting to present new arguments or evidence in your thesis or disseration conclusion , especially if you have a particularly striking argument you’d like to finish your analysis with, you shouldn’t. Theses and dissertations follow a more formal structure than this.

All your findings and arguments should be presented in the body of the text (more specifically in the discussion section and results section .) The conclusion is meant to summarize and reflect on the evidence and arguments you have already presented, not introduce new ones.

For a stronger dissertation conclusion , avoid including:

• Generic concluding phrases (e.g. “In conclusion…”)
• Weak statements that undermine your argument (e.g. “There are good points on both sides of this issue.”)

Your conclusion should leave the reader with a strong, decisive impression of your work.

The conclusion of your thesis or dissertation shouldn’t take up more than 5-7% of your overall word count.

The conclusion of your thesis or dissertation should include the following:

• A restatement of your research question
• A summary of your key arguments and/or results
• A short discussion of the implications of your research

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If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the ‘Cite this Scribbr article’ button to automatically add the citation to our free Reference Generator.

George, T. & McCombes, S. (2022, October 10). How to Write a Dissertation Conclusion | Checklist and Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved 12 August 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/thesis-dissertation/conclusion/

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‘Germinal’ by Émile Zola Analysis

Updated 14 June 2023

Downloads 32

Category Literature ,  Economics

Topic Literature Review ,  Character ,  Capitalism

Introduction

Germinal,' by Émile Zola, depicts the process by which social movements form and the circumstances that lead to their emergence through the protagonist, Etienne Lantier's, experiences.

Working Conditions and Poverty

As a laborer, Etienne encounters several problems, including getting dismissed for espousing socialist ideals that contrasted from those of his supervisors, who accepted capitalism ideas. Furthermore, Etienne encountered horrible working circumstances in which, despite the great risk of drowning, burning owing to high temperatures in the pits, and being hit by collapsing walls, the corporation failed to provide enough protection gear for all workers. Additionally, the workers were underpaid, contributing to the poverty and low living standards among the mine workers. In a bid to improve the wellbeing of the working class, Etienne created a social movement, ‘International,' which workers used to champion for better working conditions and pay through a strike that affected all the mines in the region. Etienne’s story demonstrates that undesirable experiences lead to the birth of social movements, as people seek to challenge the status quo by coming together to champion for their rights and eliminate oppressive leadership systems.

The Role of Dissatisfaction

The three major parts of the novel that illustrate the argument that social movements emanate from elements of dissatisfaction among the members of society are part 1, part 2, and Part 7. Part 1 demonstrates the poor working environment that workers are exposed to both in the north and the south, yet they lack a voice to change the current situation. While working in the south, Etienne is dismissed from work, where he worked as a mechanic for embracing socialist ideas in a capitalist setting. Etienne’s dismissal demonstrates an aspect of job insecurity, where one could be dismissed without any valid reason that directly relates to work.

Poverty and Insecurity

Such insecurity causes more trouble for the already underpaid and ill-treated worker; thus Etienne begins his journey towards creating a social movement the moment he is dismissed since he continually thinks of how the workplace could give the working class more security and stability. As Etienne was traveling north, Zola (3) states that ‘One idea alone occupied his empty head, that of a laborer without any work or anywhere to stay.' The statement illustrates that since the majority of workers lived hand to mouth, dismissal from work without any notice meant that workers risked lacking basic needs because they did not earn enough to enable them to save for days when they would go without work.

Rivalry and Greed

Part 1 also illustrates the poverty that the mine workers endured, which further forced them to work under the life-threatening conditions at the mines. Bonnermont, for instance, despite encountering several accidents at the mines, including drowning and burning, which left him weak to work under the prevailing conditions, he is still determined to work for another two years so that he can be granted the full pension. Bonnermont argues that the management is greedy since despite acknowledging his problems, they cannot give him the full pension yet he is only left with two years to retire. Instead, the management convinces Bonnermont to take an early retirement, where he will be compensated 150 francs so that they can save since if he works for another two years, he will be paid 680 francs (Zola and Duffy 9). However, although the management seems greedy, Bonnermont considers working despite his health challenges due to the poverty that surrounds him; hence, he heavily relies on the full pension to meet his basic needs after retirement since he does not have any savings following the poor pay he receives from the company.

Rivalry and Exploitation

Part 2 illustrates the rivalry that exists between firms in capitalist societies as each firm struggles to accumulate more wealth at the expense of the worker. The rivalry is brought out in a conversation that involves Gregoire, an investor at Montsou, and Denelium, the owner of Jean-Bart mine, one of Vandamme's mine. Montsou was trying to purchase Vandame at a lower price, once it destabilized Vandame through the cut-throat competition strategies that it had implemented. The author notes that when Gregoire was advising Denelium to treat with Montsou, ‘He was alluding to the old hatred which existed between the concession of Montsou and that of Vandame’ (Zola and Duffy 75). Denelium then swears that Montsou can never have Vandame when he is still alive, illustrating the extent of the hatred between the two companies and Montsou’s greed to accumulate more wealth. Since Montsou realized that they could not acquire Vandame, they resulted in implementing new payment policies, which involved cutting down the workers’ salaries so that they could lower their operating costs and maximize their profits.

A Strike for Change

The new policy, which adds more pain to the already fed up workers who are desperate to improve the working conditions at the mines, triggers the social movement. To pursue the change they needed, the workers joined ‘International’ and started a strike that stopped all the operations of the Montsou Company, as well as private mining companies, such as Jean Bart. The engagement of the army, however, prevented the strike from achieving its objectives, since the deaths of the striking miners intimidated others into ending the strike. The strike, although it did not meet its objectives, it was a crucial step towards the fight for better working conditions, since it informed the owners of the companies of the dangers of poor treatment of workers.

Fighting for Change

In part 7, Etienne’s survival and going back to Paris as a worker demonstrates hope for the working class. Although many considered Etienne as the reason that the strike failed, his strong socialist ideas remained. The nature of Etienne's ideas is illustrated when he is granted money so that he can quit work in the mines but he refuses, showing that he does not agree with the views of the capitalists, including greed. ‘But he refused the hundred francs. He had already received a letter from Pluchart calling him to Paris and enclosing money for the journey’ (Zola and Duffy 468). Thus, going to work in Paris with Pluchart, who encouraged him to create the ‘International,' demonstrates a new force that would fight for the welfare of workers more effectively after considering the lessons that Etienne gained from the first strike.

In conclusion, Zola demonstrates that the birth of a social movement involves a process where there must be undesirable experiences that trigger the need to change the status quo. In ‘Germinal’ the factors that lead Etienne to create a social movement include the constant oppression of the workers, where workers are underpaid, exposed to life-threatening working conditions, and denied the freedom of expressing their ideas since they risk dismissal from work. The factors made it easy for the oppressed miners to join the movement that sought to resolve their problems by championing for improved working conditions and better pay. Zola portrays social movements as essential tools for challenging the status quo and promoting the well-being of the oppressed in societies, since they emerge to address the inequalities that exist in societies.

Works Cited

Zola, Émile, and Larry Duffy. Germinal. Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions Ltd, 2007. Print.

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How to write an excellent thesis conclusion [with examples]

Restate the thesis

Review or reiterate key points of your work, explain why your work is relevant, a take-away for the reader, more resources on writing thesis conclusions, frequently asked questions about writing an excellent thesis conclusion, related articles.

At this point in your writing, you have most likely finished your introduction and the body of your thesis, dissertation, or research paper . While this is a reason to celebrate, you should not underestimate the importance of your conclusion. The conclusion is the last thing that your reader will see, so it should be memorable.

A good conclusion will review the key points of the thesis and explain to the reader why the information is relevant, applicable, or related to the world as a whole. Make sure to dedicate enough of your writing time to the conclusion and do not put it off until the very last minute.

This article provides an effective technique for writing a conclusion adapted from Erika Eby’s The College Student's Guide to Writing a Good Research Paper: 101 Easy Tips & Tricks to Make Your Work Stand Out .

While the thesis introduction starts out with broad statements about the topic, and then narrows it down to the thesis statement , a thesis conclusion does the same in the opposite order.

• Restate the thesis.
• Review or reiterate key points of your work.
• Explain why your work is relevant.
• Include a core take-away message for the reader.

Tip: Don’t just copy and paste your thesis into your conclusion. Restate it in different words.

The best way to start a conclusion is simply by restating the thesis statement. That does not mean just copying and pasting it from the introduction, but putting it into different words.

You will need to change the structure and wording of it to avoid sounding repetitive. Also, be firm in your conclusion just as you were in the introduction. Try to avoid sounding apologetic by using phrases like "This paper has tried to show..."

The conclusion should address all the same parts as the thesis while making it clear that the reader has reached the end. You are telling the reader that your research is finished and what your findings are.

I have argued throughout this work that the point of critical mass for biopolitical immunity occurred during the Romantic period because of that era's unique combination of post-revolutionary politics and innovations in smallpox prevention. In particular, I demonstrated that the French Revolution and the discovery of vaccination in the 1790s triggered a reconsideration of the relationship between bodies and the state.

Tip: Try to reiterate points from your introduction in your thesis conclusion.

The next step is to review the main points of the thesis as a whole. Look back at the body of of your project and make a note of the key ideas. You can reword these ideas the same way you reworded your thesis statement and then incorporate that into the conclusion.

You can also repeat striking quotations or statistics, but do not use more than two. As the conclusion represents your own closing thoughts on the topic , it should mainly consist of your own words.

In addition, conclusions can contain recommendations to the reader or relevant questions that further the thesis. You should ask yourself:

• What you would ideally like to see your readers do in reaction to your paper?
• Do you want them to take a certain action or investigate further?
• Is there a bigger issue that your paper wants to draw attention to?

Also, try to reference your introduction in your conclusion. You have already taken a first step by restating your thesis. Now, check whether there are other key words, phrases or ideas that are mentioned in your introduction that fit into your conclusion. Connecting the introduction to the conclusion in this way will help readers feel satisfied.

I explored how Mary Wollstonecraft, in both her fiction and political writings, envisions an ideal medico-political state, and how other writers like William Wordsworth and Mary Shelley increasingly imagined the body politic literally, as an incorporated political collective made up of bodies whose immunity to political and medical ills was essential to a healthy state.

Tip: Make sure to explain why your thesis is relevant to your field of research.

Although you can encourage readers to question their opinions and reflect on your topic, do not leave loose ends. You should provide a sense of resolution and make sure your conclusion wraps up your argument. Make sure you explain why your thesis is relevant to your field of research and how your research intervenes within, or substantially revises, existing scholarly debates.

This project challenged conventional ideas about the relationship among Romanticism, medicine, and politics by reading the unfolding of Romantic literature and biopolitical immunity as mutual, co-productive processes. In doing so, this thesis revises the ways in which biopolitics has been theorized by insisting on the inherent connections between Romantic literature and the forms of biopower that characterize early modernity.

Tip: If you began your thesis with an anecdote or historical example, you may want to return to that in your conclusion.

End your conclusion with something memorable, such as:

• a call to action
• a recommendation
• a gesture towards future research
• a brief explanation of how the problem or idea you covered remains relevant

Ultimately, you want readers to feel more informed, or ready to act, as they read your conclusion.

Yet, the Romantic period is only the beginning of modern thought on immunity and biopolitics. Victorian writers, doctors, and politicians upheld the Romantic idea that a "healthy state" was a literal condition that could be achieved by combining politics and medicine, but augmented that idea through legislation and widespread public health measures. While many nineteenth-century efforts to improve citizens' health were successful, the fight against disease ultimately changed course in the twentieth century as global immunological threats such as SARS occupied public consciousness. Indeed, as subsequent public health events make apparent, biopolitical immunity persists as a viable concept for thinking about the relationship between medicine and politics in modernity.

Need more advice? Read our 5 additional tips on how to write a good thesis conclusion.

The conclusion is the last thing that your reader will see, so it should be memorable. To write a great thesis conclusion you should:

The basic content of a conclusion is to review the main points from the paper. This part represents your own closing thoughts on the topic. It should mainly consist of the outcome of the research in your own words.

The length of the conclusion will depend on the length of the whole thesis. Usually, a conclusion should be around 5-7% of the overall word count.

End your conclusion with something memorable, such as a question, warning, or call to action. Depending on the topic, you can also end with a recommendation.

In Open Access: Theses and Dissertations you can find thousands of completed works. Take a look at any of the theses or dissertations for real-life examples of conclusions that were already approved.

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• Terminale STMG
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Germinal , de Zola

I. les caractéristiques de germinal, 1. un roman naturaliste, 2. le résumé de l'histoire, ii. les personnages, 1. étienne lantier, 2. bonnemort, 3. la maheude, 4. les bourgeois, iii. les thèmes principaux, 1. la parole, iv. les techniques, 1. comparaison et métaphore filée, 2. symboles, 3. antithèses, v. qui est zola .

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Example Of Germinal By Emile Zola Essay

Type of paper: Essay

Topic: Literature , Women , Family , Life , Books , Novel , Poverty , Food

Published: 02/10/2020

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Germinal is a novel written by a French writer named Emile Zola. The book was written between 1884-1885 and completed and published in March 1885 and was later set 20 years after it was written. The book is culturally and politically set as it tells a tale of poverty stricken miners and their harsh working conditions as well as the workers strike and crying out for socialism. The setting takes place in a small mining town called Montsou in the north of France. Zola presents a powerful and authentic look into the tragedy riddled lives of miners in Montsou who are forced to endure harsh conditions, risk their lives by working from before dawn and after disk just to put some food on the table. The men and women in Germinal only had one option for mining, starvation; it was either they work or starves to death. Germinal has a host of characters with Etienne Lantier being the main character. Etienne arrived at the cold mine in search for a job after being sacked from his previous job. He was willing to do anything just to make money and earn a living to avoid starving to death. He is portrayed as a hardworking idealist who later became the miner’s leader during the revolution. Etienne faces issues of social justice, socialism, relationships and human nature just like other main characters in the book. Zola creates a diverse and great community with all conceivable characters with only a few who can stand on their own. There were mining men and women, managers, Parisian visitors, wealth owners and revolutionaries who included anarchists and strikers. Moreover, Zola includes retirees, bar owners, whorish daughters and abusive husbands in his novel to make it a complete community of all kinds of people. The wealth owners oppressed the miners by forcing them to be submissive to their orders “restrained by the force of hierarchical authority, that military command structure which ran from the lads at the incline right up to the over man, keeping everyone subservient to the person above him” (Zola 78). Zola spends considerable time writing about the detailed and miserable daily lives of the miners. He talks of how they are underpaid and subjected to fines. Young children are forced to work in pits under horrendous conditions with the hopes of earning pension at the age of 60 and to help their parents put food on the table. Furthermore, children are seen as assets by their parents as they contribute in putting food on the table. Some families even prostitute their wives and daughters in exchange of food from the shop owner. The rich lived a better life on the land while they oppressed the poor without caring “the bourgeois had been living on the fat of the land, and so greedily that they didn’t leave even the plates to lick” (Zola 45). The miners criticized capitalism by striking and destroying the mine in order to fight for their rights and improve their living conditions. The bourgeois lived a good life supported by capitalism while the miners live a miserable life full of poverty. The most interesting and pivotal character in the novel is anarchist Souvarine. He believed that a peaceful strike could not solve their problems and it was meaningless and only damage could work. He also believed that there is no need for negotiations with the bourgeois as it was pointless too. Souvarine argued that everything has to be destroyed since the bourgeois system could not be reformed so destruction was the best solution for their plight. This is seen through his argument “We must destroy everything, or hunger will spring up again. Yes! Anarchy, and end to everything, the earth bathed in blood and purified by fire .. Then we’ll have another think” (Zola 115). He opted for destruction so as to build everything afresh. Zola’s novel Germinal is a great book and a page turner as it explores the plight of the poor in a mining town. It is a struggle between the bourgeois and the poor with a host of characters one can never miss out to read about them. It is culturally and politically set, nevertheless it is humanized by heartbreaking poverty of the miners.

Zola, Emile. Germinal. France: Chapentier Press, 1885. Print.

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Germinal, incipit : commentaire

Tu passes le bac de français ? CLIQUE ICI et deviens membre de commentairecompose.fr ! Tu accèderas gratuitement à tout le contenu du site et à mes meilleures astuces en vidéo.

L’extrait étudié va du début du chapitre 1 à « Alors, l’homme reconnut une fosse. ». Clique ici pour lire le texte de l’incipit de Germinal commenté ici .

Incipit de Germinal, introduction :

Le mot «  germinal  » qu’a choisi Zola pour le titre de ce roman paru en 1885 , treizième de la série des Rougon-Macquart , n’est pas anodin : il désigne le mois de mars du calendrier révolutionnaire , début du printemps et promesse de renouveau .

Mais pour Zola, romancier naturaliste , il importe de décrire avec précision les conditions de vie des hommes de son époque.

Il s’attaque dans Germinal à la lutte des mineurs pour leurs droits sociaux (plus précisément de la longue grève de 1884). L’ incipit s’ouvre donc sur une atmosphère sombre  : le protagoniste, Etienne Lantier, encore anonyme, chemine de nuit dans un environnement hostile .

Extrait étudié :

Dans la plaine rase, sous la nuit sans étoiles, d’une obscurité et d’une épaisseur d’encre, un homme suivait seul la grande route de Marchiennes à Montsou, dix kilomètres de pavé coupant tout droit, à travers les champs de betteraves. Devant lui, il ne voyait même pas le sol noir, et il n’avait la sensation de l’immense horizon plat que par les souffles du vent de mars, des rafales larges comme sur une mer, glacées d’avoir balayé des lieues de marais et de terres nues. Aucune ombre d’arbre ne tachait le ciel, le pavé se déroulait avec la rectitude d’une jetée, au milieu de l’embrun aveuglant des ténèbres. L’homme était parti de Marchiennes vers deux heures. Il marchait d’un pas allongé, grelottant sous le coton aminci de sa veste et de son pantalon de velours. Un petit paquet, noué dans un mouchoir à carreaux, le gênait beaucoup ; et il le serrait contre ses flancs, tantôt d’un coude, tantôt de l’autre, pour glisser au fond de ses poches les deux mains à la fois, des mains gourdes que les lanières du vent d’est faisaient saigner. Une seule idée occupait sa tête vide d’ouvrier sans travail et sans gîte, l’espoir que le froid serait moins vif après le lever du jour. Depuis une heure, il avançait ainsi, lorsque sur la gauche, à deux kilomètres de Montsou, il aperçut des feux rouges, trois brasiers brûlant au plein air, et comme suspendus. D’abord, il hésita, pris de crainte ; puis, il ne put résister au besoin douloureux de se chauffer un instant les mains. Un chemin creux s’enfonçait. Tout disparut. L’homme avait à droite une palissade, quelque mur de grosses planches fermant une voie ferrée ; tandis qu’un talus d’herbe s’élevait à gauche, surmonté de pignons confus, d’une vision de village aux toitures basses et uniformes. Il fit environ deux cents pas. Brusquement, à un coude du chemin, les feux reparurent près de lui, sans qu’il comprît davantage comment ils brûlaient si haut dans le ciel mort, pareils à des lunes fumeuses. Mais, au ras du sol, un autre spectacle venait de l’arrêter. C’était une masse lourde, un tas écrasé de constructions, d’où se dressait la silhouette d’une cheminée d’usine ; de rares lueurs sortaient des fenêtres encrassées, cinq ou six lanternes tristes étaient pendues dehors, à des charpentes dont les bois noircis alignaient vaguement des profils de tréteaux gigantesques ; et, de cette apparition fantastique, noyée de nuit et de fumée, une seule voix montait, la respiration grosse et longue d’un échappement de vapeur, qu’on ne voyait point. Alors, l’homme reconnut une fosse.

Questions possibles à l’oral de français sur l’incipit de Germinal :

♦ Comment Zola introduit-il son protagoniste ? ♦ Quel est le rôle du paysage dans cet incipit ? ♦ Comment le réalisme de cet incipit laisse-t-il peu à peu place au fantastique  ? ♦ En quoi cet incipit annonce -t-il le reste du roman Germinal ?

Annonce du plan

Nous verrons que cet incipit de Germinal joue bel et bien un rôle informatif (I), puis nous aborderons la confrontation centrale : l’homme face au paysage (II). Pour terminer, nous remarquerons le glissement opéré du réalisme vers le fantastique , dans la vision du protagoniste (III).

I – Un incipit informatif

A – un contexte spatio-temporel réaliste.

Le décor est décrit en détail et bien ancré dans la réalité  : nous sommes sur «  la grande route de Marchiennes à Montsou  », constituée de «  dix kilomètres de pavé  », et nous savons que le protagoniste est à «  deux kilomètres de Montsou  » lorsqu’il tourne sur la gauche.

Marchiennes est une ville qui existe réellement dans le Nord-Pas-de-Calais, même si Montsou est un endroit inventé par Zola.

Quant au paysage , «  les champs de betteraves  » et «  l’immense horizon plat  » nous confirment que le récit se déroule dans le nord de la France .

La saison et même l’heure sont également données de manière assez précise  : l’homme est parti «  vers deux heures  » et marche «  sous la nuit sans étoiles  ». Le «  vent de mars   » nous renseigne sur la période de l’année, de même que les «  terres nues  » et «  le froid  », qui indiquent l’hiver .

B – Introduction du protagoniste

Le personnage principal , Etienne Lantier, n’est pas encore nommé dans cet incipit mais il est bien le protagoniste de cet extrait. Désigné comme «  un homme  », «  il  » puis «  l’homme  », il est le point central et nous suivons son cheminement .

Quelques indices nous sont d’ores et déjà livrés : ce n’est pas un vieillard, car il marche «  d’un pas allongé  » ; c’est un «  ouvrier sans travail et sans gîte  », et le «  coton aminci de sa veste  » montre qu’il ne doit pas être très riche. Il appartient donc à la classe des travailleurs , mais n’a pas d’emploi .

Enfin, nous avons accès à quelques-unes de ses pensées  : sa «  seule idée  » est «  l’espoir que le froid serait moins vif après le lever du jour  ». C’est un besoin primaire : nous sommes dès l’incipit plongés dans l’univers des indigents .

C – Un début de roman intrigant

Les rares informations données sur Etienne, qui se cantonnent à des besoins primaires (il a lui-même la «  tête vide  » ; tout ce qui le préoccupe est le froid qui fait «  saigner  » ses «  mains gourdes  »), ainsi que la référence à la «  fosse  », ancrent le récit dans un certain milieu, celui des mineurs .

Mais d’autres éléments restent problématiques . L’heure à laquelle l’homme entreprend ce voyage de Marchiennes à Montsou est intrigante  : pourquoi, lorsqu’on n’a pas les moyens d’être mieux couvert, partir en plein cœur de la nuit  ?

Les informations précises mais parcimonieuses que nous donne Zola invitent à de nombreuses questions sur l’identité et le passé de ce personnage, ainsi que sur le but de son voyage  : où va-t-il ? pourquoi n’a-t-il pas de travail ?

Transition  : Ainsi, ce passage remplit parfaitement le double-rôle d’un incipit : informer et inciter à continuer. La situation initiale qui s’esquisse ici intrigue  ; le lecteur est témoin dès ces premières lignes de l’affrontement entre cet homme solitaire et son environnement.

II – Un face-à-face : l’homme contre son environnement

A – une nature hostile.

Le paysage qui entoure le marcheur est aride : la plaine est «  rase  », les terres «  nues  », le sol «  noir  ».

Le ciel lui-même est menaçant, comme le souligne le champ lexical de l’obscurité  : «  sans étoiles  », «  d’une obscurité et d’une épaisseur d’encre  », «  mort  ». L’ antithèse «  l’embrun aveuglant des ténèbres  » souligne la noirceur du paysage.

La t empérature est un autre élément hostile  : le vent est omniprésent («  souffles du vent de mars, des rafales larges  ») et même personnifié. En effet, les «  lanières du vent d’est  » semblent indiquer que le vent est doué de volonté et cherche à fouetter Etienne.

B – La faiblesse de l’homme

La platitude du paysage est écrasante pour ce personnage qu’on imagine debout et «  seul  », minuscule dans ces immenses plaines (l’horizon est «  plat  » et le seul signe de vie humaine sont des maisons «  aux toitures basses  » et «  un tas écrasé de constructions  », qui reste «  au ras du sol  »).

Face à la nature qu’on sent puissante et furieuse (le vent fouette, le sol semble «  une mer  »), l’homme paraît bien faible.

Esclave à la merci du vent , il est présenté comme pauvre et surtout souffrant physiquement (ses mains saignent à cause du froid).

Réduit à ses besoins primaires, il en presque déshumanisé face à une nature qui, elle, semble animée , alors qu’il n’est guère plus qu’un animal qui suit ses instincts (il va vers les brasiers, pourtant menaçants, car il ne peut «  résister au besoin douloureux de se chauffer les mains  »).

C – Un paysage industriel angoissant

Tout comme Etienne, le lecteur découvre le site minier de Montsou brusquement.

Dans le texte, cette découverte correspond à la première occurrence du passé simple («  lorsque sur la gauche, à deux kilomètres de Montsou, il aperçut …  »), qui marque un tournant dans la situation initiale  : après une longue marche de plusieurs kilomètres, le protagoniste approche de sa destination.

Malgré une apparition qui contraste avec le froid de l’hiver, ce nouvel élément du paysage reste menaçant  : les «  feux rouges, trois brasiers  », qu’il doit atteindre en s’enfonçant encore plus dans le paysage plat («  chemin creux  »), sont comparés à «  des lunes fumeuses  », amenant l’idée d’incendie et de destruction.

La description des bâtiments est marquée, tout comme le paysage naturel, par leur horizontalité  et leur caractère lugubre  : d’abord le village aux «  toitures basses et uniformes  », puis le site minier, une «  masse lourde, un tas écrasé  ».

Les fenêtres «  encrassées  », les lanternes qualifiées de «  tristes  » et les charpentes aux «  bois noircis  » contribuent à la vision funèbre du site.

Transition  : C’est donc bien un sentiment d’angoisse et de solitude qui sous-tend cet incipit, dans lequel le protagoniste se retrouve aux prises avec un paysage hostile . L’atmosphère est rendue plus inquiétante encore par l’apparition d’une étrange vision .

III – La vision : du réalisme au fantastique

A – glissement des points de vue.

Après une description très réaliste du paysage et de l’homme sur la route, le texte bascule dans le troisième paragraphe dans une vision presque fantastique . Se produit en parallèle un glissement des points de focalisation (points de vue).

Alors que dans les deux premiers paragraphes, le narrateur déroule le récit d’un point de vue tour à tour externe (on observe le paysage, puis le personnage, à distance : on sait qu’il grelotte, quelques indications sont donnés sur ses vêtements et le paquet qu’il porte) et omniscient (le narrateur décrypte les pensées du personnage, «  sa tête vide d’ouvrier  » focalisé sur le froid), le récit passe soudain au point de vue interne .

À partir du premier verbe au passé simple («  aperçut  »), l’incipit est narré du point de vue interne d’Etienne : le lecteur ne voit plus qu’à travers ses yeux, et donc, à partir d’une vision subjective et limitée . Ainsi, le lexique de la perception devient omniprésent : «  aperçut  », «  disparut  », «  vision  », «  reparurent  », «  spectacle  », «  apparition  », «  voyait  », «  reconnut  » car nous percevons la scène à travers le prisme du regard d’Etienne.

B – L’enfer minier

Mais tout comme le protagoniste, le lecteur se retrouve limité dans ce qu’il perçoit , comme en attestent la courte phrase «  Tout disparut.  » .

Puis les nombreux éléments descriptifs indiquent que la vision est indistincte  : «  confus  », «  fumeuses  », «  masse  », «  tas  », «  silhouette  », «  rares lueurs  », «  fenêtres encrassées  », «  vaguement  », «  profils  ».

Les «  feux rouges  », seuls éléments de lumière et de chaleur du texte, ne semblent pas bienveillants. Au contraire, ils sont qualifiés de «  brasiers  » et sont «  suspendus  » dans les airs. Ils jouent le rôle de tentateurs  : si Etienne s’approche de ce site minier, c’est parce que malgré la «  crainte  » qu’ils lui inspirent, il ne peut «  résister au besoin douloureux de se chauffer les mains  ».

La fumée omniprésente («  lunes fumeuses  », «  noyée de nuit et de fumée  », «  échappement de vapeur  ») renforce la sensation d’étouffement et préfigure l’enfermement des miniers sous terre.

C – Le symbolisme de la vision

La «  vision de village   » devient un peu plus loin, lorsqu’Etienne arrive à la mine, une «  apparition fantastique  ».

L’obscurité qui prédomine dans cet incipit, avec l’insistance sur la couleur noire (couleur par excellence de ce roman noyé dans le charbon ), peut se lire comme un symbole de mort .

Alors qu’Etienne est réduit à l’état d’un pauvre vagabond, la mine, elle, est personnifiée  : dotée d’une «  voix  » et d’une «  respiration grosse et longue  », elle se tapit dans la nuit comme une bête prête à lui sauter dessus. Cette description annonce d’ores et déjà l’effondrement de la mine qui mènera de nombreux ouvriers à la mort.

L’apparition se dissipe assez vite, Etienne reconnaissant ensuite «  la fosse  ». Il ne se dégage pas moins de ce premier contact avec son nouveau lieu de travail une impression funèbre .

Incipit de Germinal, conclusion

Loin de se contenter d’informer le lecteur sur la situation initiale, cet incipit de Germinal annonce en grande partie l’ intrigue  : l’affrontement entre l ’homme et les forces qui le dépassent ainsi que la monstruosité de la mine , animal tapi dans l’obscurité et prêt à bondir sur sa proie, laisse présager les luttes dans lesquelles s’engageront en vain les miniers .

Cet incipit est à rapprocher de la conclusion du roman, où Etienne marche là encore seul sur la route mais en plein jour , dans un printemps naissant et plein de promesses : c’est alors un passage porteur d’espoir pour l’avenir des ouvriers.

Tu étudies l’incipit de Germinal ? Regarde aussi :

♦ Germinal , Zola : résumé ♦ L’Assommoir , Zola, excipit : analyse ♦ L’Assommoir , chapitre 2 (les désirs de Gervaise) : commentaire ♦ Au bonheur des Dames , Zola : résumé ♦ Au bonheur des dames, Zola : Chapitre 1 ♦ Incipit de Bel-ami de Maupassant : commentaire ♦ Incipit de La Condition humaine de Malraux : commentaire ♦ Incipit de Madame Bovary de Flaubert : commentaire ♦ Incipit de La peste de Camus : commentaire ♦ Incipit de Pierre et Jean de Maupassant : analyse

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Commande ton livre 2025 en cliquant ici ⇓.

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Amélie Vioux

Professeure et autrice chez hachette, je suis spécialisée dans la préparation du bac de français (2nde et 1re).

Sur mon site, tu trouveras des analyses, cours et conseils simples, directs, et facilement applicables pour augmenter tes notes en 2-3 semaines.

Je crée des formations en ligne sur commentairecompose.fr depuis 14 ans.

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15 commentaires

Bonjour, Je viens de lire votre fiche sur comment faire une ouverture au bac mais je n’ai pas lu le livre en entier et je ne vois pas avec quelle oeuvre je pourrais faire le lien. Pourriez-vous m’indiquer des idées d’ouverture, s’il vous plaît ?

ecrivez un paragraphe comme zola avec une atmosphere lugubre un incipit

Bonjours , dites quelqun sait pourquoi etienne il porte un manteau rouge ? J au cherche partout et je ne trouve rien , c’est le prof qui m’a demander de trouver sa.

Vous seriez des amours si vous m’aidez .

merci ..ca m a beaucoup aidé

bonjour, ravie de te connaitre madame puisse- je te poser une question? bref je suis un étudiant en deuxième année universitaire et vraiment j’ai quelques problèmes de compréhension des figures de styles surtout l’analyse ‘ai besoin de ton aide; et aussi a propos de la progression argumentatif. ET MERCI

Bonjour, Je voudrais savoir quelles sont les caractéristiques du cadre spatio-temporel de cet incipit ? Serait-il possible de me répondre assez vite ?

Cordialement

Toutes les réponses sont dans le commentaire que j’ai réalisé ! Lis-le attentivement plusieurs fois.

Ya t-il une différence entre le commentaire libre et le commentaire composé

Bonjour Madame. J’adore vos commentaires. Ils sont super clairs et bien expliqués. Je vous reconnais tout de suite quand je tombe sur vos commentaires 🙂

Merci pour votre réponse

Désolé je n’ai pas laissé mon commentaire dans la bonne case, je le remets ici. Dans certains commentaires vous proposez « les questions possibles à l’oral » et dans d’autres commentaires  » problématiques possibles ». Pouvez-vous m’éclairer sur cette différence ?

Merci d’avance

J’utilise les deux termes indifféremment.

mon prof de Français nous a donné ce texte en lecture analytique mais avec des axes différents. Nous avons:

A. L’incipit de Germinal a. Description précise b. Présentation du personnage: ouvrier médiocre

B. Un personnage pathétique a. Un quotidien ennuyeux b. La misère c. La souffrance

Je n’ai pas aimé du tout nos axes de lecture mais mes camarades m’ont dit que c’est est-ce que je pourrais garder ce plan pour l’oral?

Je m’aperçois en regardant sur ce site que mon prof de français utilise ce que tu fais pour ces cours et nous dicte mots pour mots, je trouve ça facile de se prétendre prof de français en faisant ça. Il nous a aussi donné un commentaire littéraire a faire qu’il a trouve sur internet

Dans certains commentaires d’incipit, vous proposez les questions possibles au bac et dans d’autres commentaires vous citez les problématiques possibles. Pouvez-vous m’éclaircir sur cette différence ?

Laisse un commentaire ! X

Merci de laisser un commentaire ! Pour des raisons pédagogiques et pour m'aider à mieux comprendre ton message, il est important de soigner la rédaction de ton commentaire. Vérifie notamment l'orthographe, la syntaxe, les accents, la ponctuation, les majuscules ! Les commentaires qui ne sont pas soignés ne sont pas publiés.

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How to Write a Dissertation Conclusion – Example & Tips

Published by Jamie Walker at August 13th, 2021 , Revised On July 12, 2024

It is imperative for students to understand how to  write a dissertation  conclusion in order to achieve the highest grade in their dissertation project.

The concluding chapter of the dissertation should be appealing to the readers and give an accurate but concise review of what your research revolves around with special emphasis on the outcomes  and recommendations that you have derived from your research study.

The illustration below provides an insight into  how a first-class dissertation is structured , and we will now look in complete detail over how to manage the conclusion chapter of your dissertation.

The conclusion of a dissertation or thesis generally connects the beginning of your research ( introduction ,  research problem ,  research questions ) to the findings and implications of your research.

You must relate to the major  findings of your research  and answer the research questions that your study raised. There is no need to hesitate to state the limitations of research because it is natural that your research will have some limitations rather than none.

Writing a dissertation conclusion is, perhaps, the most critical aspect of your research work which is why it is vitally important to not miss out on the key elements surrounding a great dissertation conclusion.

Dissertation Conclusion Guidelines

Dissertation conclusion is a core element of your dissertation or thesis paper which is why you will be required to follow a specific set of guidelines in order to showcase the findings of your study in a logical manner.

How to Start a Dissertation Conclusion

Always write your conclusion in clear and simple language.  Before starting to write the conclusion chapter, it is important that students become familiar with the assessment criteria and expected outcomes in order to avoid complexities at a later stage.

The aim of a dissertation conclusion is to provide a brief overview of the main research work so the readers can figure out how your research study will add value to the existing literature.

Moreover, recommendations for future research and practitioners should also be provided in this section.

Difference between Conclusion & Discussion

The contents of the  discussion  and conclusion chapters are similar, and they are typically grouped together in journal articles and scientific papers.

Depending on your academic institute and the subject of your degree program, you could be asked to put discussion and conclusion together under the same chapter in your dissertation or thesis paper.

However, typically in a  dissertation or thesis paper , it is common to have a separate chapter for the conclusion to briefly state answers for all research questions, and summarise and reflect on the research.

The conclusion chapter is considerably shorter in length than the discussion. Here you will be expected to provide general statements to give readers a final impression of your research.

On the other hand, in the discussion chapter of a dissertation , the author states the major findings, and their interpretations and implications.

Do not introduce any new information, arguments, meanings, and interpretations in the conclusion chapter.

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What to Write in a Conclusion

An important question that one must address before writing a dissertation conclusion is what to write in a conclusion?

In the best case scenario, you will summarise the findings of your entire research in a comprehensive manner, but at the same time ensure that you are not just restating the points covered in the main body.

The purpose here is to present a synthesis of the major points covered which is why it is advised not to include any new ideas relating to your research at this point.

Methodology in a dissertation  can be a taxing and time consuming matter because a large chunk of your research is based on the methods you have adopted.

Essentially, the methodology should relate to the literature you have reviewed and provide academic justification to your  choice of research methods  – be it quantitative, qualitative or a mix of both.

Students must make sure that they shed adequate light on the methodology part in their dissertation conclusion.

It is essential to keep the dissertation conclusion concise and to the point rather than going into unnecessary details which would rather be a part of the main body.

Writing a dissertation conclusion is not a strenuous task if you stick to the fact that your goal here is to provide insight, evaluations and implications of your research study.

Structuring a Dissertation Conclusion

While writing a dissertation conclusion, you must be particular about the fact that it gives reflection of a cohesive argument and supports the points you have covered in the main body.

Your conclusion should depict the importance of why you chose this  specific research topic  and the impact your study will have on the society.

Providing solutions to the problems you have identified and predicting what might happen in the near future leaves a very good impression on the readers, and some of them might well be inclined to consider your argument long after.

When pondering over how to write a dissertation conclusion, it is important to relate your ideas with academics who are closely followed by your supervisor.

Although the dissertation belongs to you and you have the full right to express your own views where appropriate, there is absolutely no harm in slightly aligning your views with other researchers in order to achieve a good score.

Dissertation Conclusion Limitations

Every dissertation is likely to suffer from limitations which is precisely the reason why students must acknowledge and appropriately address them.

Limitations is an integral part of your dissertation conclusion because it will also help your readers to  understand your research design and philosophical approach .

This brief segment reflects upon the importance of the inherent limitations been identified; the reasons behind your choice of methods; and possible ways to counter the limitations.

It is recommended never to hide the limitations associated with your research, because your tutor will probably have years of experience with  different methods of research  and they will figure out these limitations even if you have not specifically discussed them.

Simply highlighting the dissertation limitations is not a very good idea because every research limitation must accompany ways in which it can be combated. Dissertation limitations can be methodological or conceptual.

It is necessary to briefly touch upon both types of limitations so your supervisor can figure out what part of your research was stalled by lack of data, cultural biases, sampling etc.

This section of the dissertation conclusion chapter is generally based on a world count – 200-500 words so it is appropriate to discuss only the most significant limitations of your study.

Dissertation Conclusion Length

Another important question that you might want to address in the final phase of your research work is how long should dissertation conclusion be? The length of a dissertation conclusion is in direct correlation with the length of the full dissertation paper.

On a simple basis the longer or more detailed your research is, the longer the conclusion it will have, and vice versa. The length will often depend on the writer’s personal judgement and making a call on such a matter might well turn out to be the difference between an ordinary and  professional dissertation writer.

The length of a dissertation conclusion chapter is generally 5-7% of the total dissertation word count.

Addressing Research Questions in Dissertation Conclusion

Make sure that you start your conclusion chapter by directly addressing the  research questions  or the  research problem  that your dissertation or thesis intended to address.

Conclusion chapter gives you the final chance to demonstrate to your readers that your research achieved what was aimed at the beginning of the research.

Provide a clear, concise and to the point answer to your research questions. You are not expected to repeat what you have already said in the discussion part of the paper, rather turn readers’ attentions towards a final outcome.

Dissertation Conclusion Example

No matter how much you dig into the details of writing a conclusion for your dissertation, it is always nice to have a look at a full-fledged example for guidance purposes. The graphic below gives a summarised view of what is to be written in a dissertation conclusion.

Here is an example of how to write a dissertation conclusion to help you better understand.

How to Write Dissertation Conclusion Example

Here is a dissertation conclusion example of a dissertation that aimed to test a theoretical argument based on an analysis of a case study; Proposed anaerobic digestion plant in Tripoli.

Chapter 5 – Dissertation Conclusion 5.1 Background This chapter highlights the crux of the study by briefly describing objectives and literature survey. The feasibility of the proposed plant is then discussed, leading to the study’s limitations and difficulties. In the end, some recommendations for future work are provided in brief. Some suggestions to improve and highlight the renewable energy generation techniques are also part of the chapter. 5.2 Literature Review, Survey and Interviews A Valora process AD plant, with a capacity of 0.8 tones of food waste per day, is proposed to be established in the city of Tripoli. This plant can assist the national grid in meeting the rising demands of electricity in Tripoli and on the outskirts. Public opinion about establishing such a plant is taken by conducting a survey. The survey results suggest that the people of Tripoli understand the need for a WTE plant and ensure their cooperation for the separate household food waste if provided with the containers by the municipal authorities. The food waste to energy generation plant provides a solution for both household food waste management in Tripoli and generating an adequate amount of electricity to meet the rising demand. An informal session of interviews has been conducted with the experts from the Energy Agency of Libya. The opinion and observation-based data collection are done in order to opt for the interpretive approach of research adequately. All five respondents recommended the idea of establishing an AD plant in Tripoli-Libya. Their comments and suggestions have also validated the plant location selected in the research as an appropriate location for establishing a plant. The idea of energy generation using sustainable methods is the main point they’ve endorsed. The research provides the solution for both; waste management in Tripoli and the introduction of sustainable energy generation methods in Libya. 5.3 Feasibility of the Proposed System A detailed, feasibly study was conducted, including technical details such as the amount of biogas generation, plant type, equipment sizing, and proposed location for the plant. Initial finances, operation and management costs of the proposed AD plant are estimated in the financial analysis of the proposed plant. Life cycle assessment is compared with food waste management to evaluate the environmental effects of the plant. The analysis suggests that the proposed AD plant is economically, technically and ecologically feasible to establish on 3rd Ring Road in Tripoli. 5.4 Limitations and Difficulties Some of the limitations and difficulties involved in the process of digestion or establishing a digestion plant are listed as follows; 1. Since many WTE technologies are designed to handle mixed-type food waste such as solid waste and municipal waste etc. Running the plant with specifically food waste is difficult as food waste makes comparatively less amount than MSW as a whole. 2. Some other WTE challenges include high capital cost, waste-gas cleanup, regulatory hurdles, and conversion efficiency. 3. Since domestic utilization of generated electricity is a primary objective, and it adds a limitation where even distribution of electricity distribution in domestic buildings is not possible if the plant is located outside the residential area. This issue can be resolved by centralizing a substation for the proper transmission and distribution. 4. Since the accuracy of the estimated analysis depends entirely on the data, and missing fields affect the accuracy of the estimations. 5. Since the survey is conducted among non-technical people and represents their views, no primary data is available that accurately estimates the energy generation from the amount of food or biogas generation. The calculations of estimation of biogas yield and energy generation are based on the equations taken from secondary resources thus can be erroneous. 5.5 Future Work This study is conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of establishing a large-scale plant to provide an alternative and renewable energy solution. The whole idea is applicable and implementable in the proposed area. Instead, in the future, the idea can be evaluated for the individual high-rise buildings to make them self-sufficient in energy demand and supply and to reduce the load on the national electricity grid. A cross-national study involving cost-benefit analysis of family-sized digesters in Tripoli is yet to analyze in order to predict the future of biogas technology in Libya. Information about government subsidies on renewable energy generation plants in Tripoli is important but unknown yet. This study revolves around the utilization of food waste collected from residential buildings only. Although hotels, restaurants, and canteens can also provide a considerably high amount of food waste and it is relatively easy for them to collect it separately. Thus further work can be based on the food waste collection from the food consumption areas. It is important to remember that there is no need to restate the research objectives in conclusion. Your statements should incorporate answers to research questions without you having to repeat those questions. Here is another example of dissertation conclusion.

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Summarising and Reflecting on Research

As mentioned before, the conclusion chapter gives you that final opportunity to restate what your research study intended to achieve, what approach you took in the process, where  findings  you came up as a result of your study, and whether or not they were according to your expectations. In short, a conclusion section needs to provide an overview of the building blocks of your research.

It is common to use a reflective style of writing here, rather than simply restating what you have already written in the previous chapters. This approach will also help you to avoid repetition.

For example, if there were limitations of your chosen research methodology then you might want to briefly state whether or not that could have influenced the results of your research study. You can also highlight any new insights that you recorded during the process.

Focus more on the positives of your study although you will be expected to concisely state the limitations of your research as well.

The research approach employed for this research study provided new insight into B even though it limited the generalizability of findings.

Recommendations for Future in Conclusion Chapter

Although it is common to provide recommendations for future research work in the discussion chapter, it will be a good idea to provide an overview of those endorsements in the conclusion chapter with a focus on the practical and theoretical consequences of your results.

Practitioners should consider A and B based on these conclusions….Further research needs to be conducted for better understanding in regards to the implications of these findings….The effects of the relationship between A and B are still unclear, and so further research must be conducted…

Research pertaining to a dissertation or thesis is usually expected to discover, enlighten, and educate rather than frame the results as essentials for practitioners and policymakers.

Any recommendations related to business, application, and strategy should be presented as propositions to avoid overstating the appositeness of your work.

Never undermine your research work when making propositions for future research. Your work should be recognized as complete, thorough, and reliable without the need for further research to confirm your conclusions.

Stress the Importance of Your Research in Conclusion

You don’t want your readers to leave with the impression that your work did not make a valuable contribution to the existing knowledge in your area of study. Here are some ideas to demonstrate how this is done;

• Referring back to the problem statement to help readers understand how your work addresses the research problem originally identified.
• Elaborate how your results validated or tested an existing hypothesis or theory.
• Stating how your research was able to fill a certain gap in existing knowledge as pointed out in the literature review.

Again, it is recommended to avoid repetition. You do not want to reiterate what you have already discussed in the previous chapter.

Dissertation Conclusion Help from Experts

Writing a dissertation is no mean feat because it requires complete dedication and attention to detail in order to secure a good grade.

Even the very first part of your dissertation – topic selection can become a cumbersome task because of the  need to select a topic with a sufficient amount of literature available on it.

Despite putting in a lot of effort, you might still end up with a grade that is well below your own expectations which is why it is sometimes better off to approach professionals providing dissertation writing services so that the complexities surrounding a top-quality dissertation are handled by people with specialized skill set.

As we approach the conclusion of this piece, it should be clear by now as to what students are expected to do in the final phase of their dissertations. In short, they should have a clear idea about  how to write a dissertation conclusion .

Finally, it is important not to let yourself down by writing a mediocre conclusion and consequently lose crucial marks. The hard part of your dissertation is already completed so it is worthwhile to put in a concentrated effort to end on a high and impress your supervisor.

Struggling with any Chapter of your Dissertation?

Whether it is your dissertation introduction, literature review, methodology, conclusion or any other chapter, our expert dissertation writers can help you succeed. With our dissertation chapter writing service, you can be confident of having your individual chapters completed to your school’s exact guidelines. Click here to learn more about our dissertation chapter writing service. Find out how our dissertation services can help you.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many pages is a dissertation conclusion.

The length of a dissertation conclusion varies but is typically around 1 to 2 pages. It succinctly summarizes key findings, discusses implications, and restates the significance of the study, providing a resolution to the research.

You May Also Like

Anyone who supports you in your research should be acknowledged in dissertation acknowledgments. Learn more on how to write dissertation acknowledgements.

Writing a dissertation can be tough if this is the first time you are doing it. You need to look into relevant literature, analyze past researches, conduct surveys, interviews etc.

If your dissertation includes many abbreviations, it would make sense to define all these abbreviations in a list of abbreviations in alphabetical order.

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How Do I Write the Conclusion?

Final Conclusions, Putting Your Work in Context and Considering Further Research

• First Online: 19 October 2023

Cite this chapter

• Sue Reeves   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3017-0559 3 &
• Bartek Buczkowski   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4146-3664 4  

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The conclusion is one of the shortest parts of the dissertation. In this chapter, we focus on the meaning and purpose of the conclusion, its components, and the sources of information that you should use to draw your conclusions. We will also point out the connection between the conclusion and the aim of the study, and things to avoid when writing the conclusion.

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Bunton D (2005) The structure of PhD conclusion chapters. J Engl Acad Purp 4(3):207–224

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Further Reading

Cottrell S (2017) Critical thinking skills: effective analysis, argument and reflection, 3rd edn. Palgrave, London

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McGregor SLT (2018) Understanding and evaluating research: a critical guide. SAGE Publications, Los Angeles, CA

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Reeves, S., Buczkowski, B. (2023). How Do I Write the Conclusion?. In: Mastering Your Dissertation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-41911-9_10

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Writing a Paper: Conclusions

Writing a conclusion.

A conclusion is an important part of the paper; it provides closure for the reader while reminding the reader of the contents and importance of the paper. It accomplishes this by stepping back from the specifics in order to view the bigger picture of the document. In other words, it is reminding the reader of the main argument. For most course papers, it is usually one paragraph that simply and succinctly restates the main ideas and arguments, pulling everything together to help clarify the thesis of the paper. A conclusion does not introduce new ideas; instead, it should clarify the intent and importance of the paper. It can also suggest possible future research on the topic.

An Easy Checklist for Writing a Conclusion

It is important to remind the reader of the thesis of the paper so he is reminded of the argument and solutions you proposed.

Think of the main points as puzzle pieces, and the conclusion is where they all fit together to create a bigger picture. The reader should walk away with the bigger picture in mind.

Make sure that the paper places its findings in the context of real social change.

Make sure the reader has a distinct sense that the paper has come to an end. It is important to not leave the reader hanging. (You don’t want her to have flip-the-page syndrome, where the reader turns the page, expecting the paper to continue. The paper should naturally come to an end.)

No new ideas should be introduced in the conclusion. It is simply a review of the material that is already present in the paper. The only new idea would be the suggesting of a direction for future research.

Conclusion Example

As addressed in my analysis of recent research, the advantages of a later starting time for high school students significantly outweigh the disadvantages. A later starting time would allow teens more time to sleep--something that is important for their physical and mental health--and ultimately improve their academic performance and behavior. The added transportation costs that result from this change can be absorbed through energy savings. The beneficial effects on the students’ academic performance and behavior validate this decision, but its effect on student motivation is still unknown. I would encourage an in-depth look at the reactions of students to such a change. This sort of study would help determine the actual effects of a later start time on the time management and sleep habits of students.

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How to Write a Conclusion for Research Papers (with Examples)

The conclusion of a research paper is a crucial section that plays a significant role in the overall impact and effectiveness of your research paper. However, this is also the section that typically receives less attention compared to the introduction and the body of the paper. The conclusion serves to provide a concise summary of the key findings, their significance, their implications, and a sense of closure to the study. Discussing how can the findings be applied in real-world scenarios or inform policy, practice, or decision-making is especially valuable to practitioners and policymakers. The research paper conclusion also provides researchers with clear insights and valuable information for their own work, which they can then build on and contribute to the advancement of knowledge in the field.

The research paper conclusion should explain the significance of your findings within the broader context of your field. It restates how your results contribute to the existing body of knowledge and whether they confirm or challenge existing theories or hypotheses. Also, by identifying unanswered questions or areas requiring further investigation, your awareness of the broader research landscape can be demonstrated.

Remember to tailor the research paper conclusion to the specific needs and interests of your intended audience, which may include researchers, practitioners, policymakers, or a combination of these.

Table of Contents

What is a conclusion in a research paper, summarizing conclusion, editorial conclusion, externalizing conclusion, importance of a good research paper conclusion, how to write a conclusion for your research paper, research paper conclusion examples.

• How to write a research paper conclusion with Paperpal? 

Frequently Asked Questions

A conclusion in a research paper is the final section where you summarize and wrap up your research, presenting the key findings and insights derived from your study. The research paper conclusion is not the place to introduce new information or data that was not discussed in the main body of the paper. When working on how to conclude a research paper, remember to stick to summarizing and interpreting existing content. The research paper conclusion serves the following purposes: 1

• Warn readers of the possible consequences of not attending to the problem.
• Recommend specific course(s) of action.
• Restate key ideas to drive home the ultimate point of your research paper.
• Provide a “take-home” message that you want the readers to remember about your study.

Types of conclusions for research papers

In research papers, the conclusion provides closure to the reader. The type of research paper conclusion you choose depends on the nature of your study, your goals, and your target audience. I provide you with three common types of conclusions:

A summarizing conclusion is the most common type of conclusion in research papers. It involves summarizing the main points, reiterating the research question, and restating the significance of the findings. This common type of research paper conclusion is used across different disciplines.

An editorial conclusion is less common but can be used in research papers that are focused on proposing or advocating for a particular viewpoint or policy. It involves presenting a strong editorial or opinion based on the research findings and offering recommendations or calls to action.

An externalizing conclusion is a type of conclusion that extends the research beyond the scope of the paper by suggesting potential future research directions or discussing the broader implications of the findings. This type of conclusion is often used in more theoretical or exploratory research papers.

Align your conclusion’s tone with the rest of your research paper. Start Writing with Paperpal Now!  

The conclusion in a research paper serves several important purposes:

• Offers Implications and Recommendations : Your research paper conclusion is an excellent place to discuss the broader implications of your research and suggest potential areas for further study. It’s also an opportunity to offer practical recommendations based on your findings.
• Provides Closure : A good research paper conclusion provides a sense of closure to your paper. It should leave the reader with a feeling that they have reached the end of a well-structured and thought-provoking research project.
• Leaves a Lasting Impression : Writing a well-crafted research paper conclusion leaves a lasting impression on your readers. It’s your final opportunity to leave them with a new idea, a call to action, or a memorable quote.

Writing a strong conclusion for your research paper is essential to leave a lasting impression on your readers. Here’s a step-by-step process to help you create and know what to put in the conclusion of a research paper: 2

• Research Statement : Begin your research paper conclusion by restating your research statement. This reminds the reader of the main point you’ve been trying to prove throughout your paper. Keep it concise and clear.
• Key Points : Summarize the main arguments and key points you’ve made in your paper. Avoid introducing new information in the research paper conclusion. Instead, provide a concise overview of what you’ve discussed in the body of your paper.
• Address the Research Questions : If your research paper is based on specific research questions or hypotheses, briefly address whether you’ve answered them or achieved your research goals. Discuss the significance of your findings in this context.
• Significance : Highlight the importance of your research and its relevance in the broader context. Explain why your findings matter and how they contribute to the existing knowledge in your field.
• Implications : Explore the practical or theoretical implications of your research. How might your findings impact future research, policy, or real-world applications? Consider the “so what?” question.
• Future Research : Offer suggestions for future research in your area. What questions or aspects remain unanswered or warrant further investigation? This shows that your work opens the door for future exploration.
• Closing Thought : Conclude your research paper conclusion with a thought-provoking or memorable statement. This can leave a lasting impression on your readers and wrap up your paper effectively. Avoid introducing new information or arguments here.
• Proofread and Revise : Carefully proofread your conclusion for grammar, spelling, and clarity. Ensure that your ideas flow smoothly and that your conclusion is coherent and well-structured.

Write your research paper conclusion 2x faster with Paperpal. Try it now!

Remember that a well-crafted research paper conclusion is a reflection of the strength of your research and your ability to communicate its significance effectively. It should leave a lasting impression on your readers and tie together all the threads of your paper. Now you know how to start the conclusion of a research paper and what elements to include to make it impactful, let’s look at a research paper conclusion sample.

How to write a research paper conclusion with Paperpal?

A research paper conclusion is not just a summary of your study, but a synthesis of the key findings that ties the research together and places it in a broader context. A research paper conclusion should be concise, typically around one paragraph in length. However, some complex topics may require a longer conclusion to ensure the reader is left with a clear understanding of the study’s significance. Paperpal, an AI writing assistant trusted by over 800,000 academics globally, can help you write a well-structured conclusion for your research paper. 

• Sign Up or Log In: Create a new Paperpal account or login with your details.  
• Navigate to Features : Once logged in, head over to the features’ side navigation pane. Click on Templates and you’ll find a suite of generative AI features to help you write better, faster.  
• Generate an outline: Under Templates, select ‘Outlines’. Choose ‘Research article’ as your document type.  
• Select your section: Since you’re focusing on the conclusion, select this section when prompted.  
• Choose your field of study: Identifying your field of study allows Paperpal to provide more targeted suggestions, ensuring the relevance of your conclusion to your specific area of research. 
• Provide a brief description of your study: Enter details about your research topic and findings. This information helps Paperpal generate a tailored outline that aligns with your paper’s content. 
• Generate the conclusion outline: After entering all necessary details, click on ‘generate’. Paperpal will then create a structured outline for your conclusion, to help you start writing and build upon the outline.  
• Write your conclusion: Use the generated outline to build your conclusion. The outline serves as a guide, ensuring you cover all critical aspects of a strong conclusion, from summarizing key findings to highlighting the research’s implications. 
• Refine and enhance: Paperpal’s ‘Make Academic’ feature can be particularly useful in the final stages. Select any paragraph of your conclusion and use this feature to elevate the academic tone, ensuring your writing is aligned to the academic journal standards. 

By following these steps, Paperpal not only simplifies the process of writing a research paper conclusion but also ensures it is impactful, concise, and aligned with academic standards. Sign up with Paperpal today and write your research paper conclusion 2x faster .  

The research paper conclusion is a crucial part of your paper as it provides the final opportunity to leave a strong impression on your readers. In the research paper conclusion, summarize the main points of your research paper by restating your research statement, highlighting the most important findings, addressing the research questions or objectives, explaining the broader context of the study, discussing the significance of your findings, providing recommendations if applicable, and emphasizing the takeaway message. The main purpose of the conclusion is to remind the reader of the main point or argument of your paper and to provide a clear and concise summary of the key findings and their implications. All these elements should feature on your list of what to put in the conclusion of a research paper to create a strong final statement for your work.

A strong conclusion is a critical component of a research paper, as it provides an opportunity to wrap up your arguments, reiterate your main points, and leave a lasting impression on your readers. Here are the key elements of a strong research paper conclusion: 1. Conciseness : A research paper conclusion should be concise and to the point. It should not introduce new information or ideas that were not discussed in the body of the paper. 2. Summarization : The research paper conclusion should be comprehensive enough to give the reader a clear understanding of the research’s main contributions. 3 . Relevance : Ensure that the information included in the research paper conclusion is directly relevant to the research paper’s main topic and objectives; avoid unnecessary details. 4 . Connection to the Introduction : A well-structured research paper conclusion often revisits the key points made in the introduction and shows how the research has addressed the initial questions or objectives. 5. Emphasis : Highlight the significance and implications of your research. Why is your study important? What are the broader implications or applications of your findings? 6 . Call to Action : Include a call to action or a recommendation for future research or action based on your findings.

The length of a research paper conclusion can vary depending on several factors, including the overall length of the paper, the complexity of the research, and the specific journal requirements. While there is no strict rule for the length of a conclusion, but it’s generally advisable to keep it relatively short. A typical research paper conclusion might be around 5-10% of the paper’s total length. For example, if your paper is 10 pages long, the conclusion might be roughly half a page to one page in length.

In general, you do not need to include citations in the research paper conclusion. Citations are typically reserved for the body of the paper to support your arguments and provide evidence for your claims. However, there may be some exceptions to this rule: 1. If you are drawing a direct quote or paraphrasing a specific source in your research paper conclusion, you should include a citation to give proper credit to the original author. 2. If your conclusion refers to or discusses specific research, data, or sources that are crucial to the overall argument, citations can be included to reinforce your conclusion’s validity.

The conclusion of a research paper serves several important purposes: 1. Summarize the Key Points 2. Reinforce the Main Argument 3. Provide Closure 4. Offer Insights or Implications 5. Engage the Reader. 6. Reflect on Limitations

Remember that the primary purpose of the research paper conclusion is to leave a lasting impression on the reader, reinforcing the key points and providing closure to your research. It’s often the last part of the paper that the reader will see, so it should be strong and well-crafted.

• Makar, G., Foltz, C., Lendner, M., & Vaccaro, A. R. (2018). How to write effective discussion and conclusion sections. Clinical spine surgery, 31(8), 345-346.
• Bunton, D. (2005). The structure of PhD conclusion chapters.  Journal of English for academic purposes ,  4 (3), 207-224.

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Writing a Dissertation: Conclusion and Other Sections

Once you have completed the main body of your dissertation or thesis, you then need to worry about drawing your conclusions, and the additional pages, such as whether to include a table of contents.

Your university may have guidelines but, otherwise, you will have to use your own judgement.

This page gives some advice about what is often included and why.

Writing your Conclusion

You may have been permitted, and have chosen, to include your conclusions in the discussion section, see our page on Results and Discussion for some ideas about why you might choose to do this.

However, it is normal practice to include a short section at the end of your dissertation that draws out your conclusions.

This section will need to have several elements, including:

A brief summary , just a few paragraphs, of your key findings, related back to what you expected to see (essential);

The conclusions which you have drawn from your research (essential);

Why your research is important for researchers and practitioners (essential);

Recommendations for future research (strongly recommended, verging on essential);

Recommendations for practitioners (strongly recommended in management and business courses and some other areas, so check with your supervisor whether this will be expected); and

A final paragraph rounding off your dissertation or thesis.

Your conclusion does not need to be very long; no more than five pages is usually sufficient, although detailed recommendations for practice may require more space.

Other Elements for Inclusion

Your university will almost certainly have formal guidelines on the format for the title page, which may need to be submitted separately for blind marking purposes.

As a general rule, the title page should contain the title of the thesis or dissertation, your name, your course, your supervisor and the date of submission or completion.

This is a one page summary of your dissertation or thesis, effectively an executive summary .

Not every university requires a formal abstract, especially for undergraduate or master's theses, so check carefully. If one is required, it may be either structured or unstructured.

A structured abstract has subheadings, which should follow the same format as your dissertation itself (usually Literature, Methods, Results and Discussion). There will probably also be a word limit for the abstract.

If an abstract is required, it may be published separately from your thesis, as a way of indexing it. It will therefore be assessed both as a part of your thesis, and as a stand-alone document that will tell other researchers whether your dissertation will be useful in their studies. It is generally best to write the abstract last, when you are sure of the thread of your argument, and the most important areas to highlight.

Table of Contents

You should include a table of contents, which should include all headings and subheadings.

It is probably best to use the standard software tools to create and update this automatically, as it leads to fewer problems later on. If you’re not sure how to do this, use the Help function in the software, or Google it.

The time spent learning how to do it accurately will be more than saved later on when you don’t have to update it manually.

Table of Figures

You only really need to include this if you have a lot of figures. As with your table of contents, it’s best to use the tools available in the software to create this, so that it will update automatically even if you move a table or figure later.

Acknowledgements

This section is used to ensure that you do not inadvertently fall foul of any ‘taking help’ guidance.

Use it to thank:

Anyone who provided you with information, or who gave you their time as part of your research, for example, interviewees, or those who returned questionnaires;

Any person or body who has provided you with funding or financial support that has enabled you to carry out your research;

Anyone who has helped you with the writing, including anyone who has read and commented on a draft such as your supervisor, a proof-reader or a language editor, whether paid or unpaid;

Anyone to whom you are particularly grateful, like your spouse or family for tolerating your absence from family occasions for years during your studies.

You should not use appendices as a general ‘dumping ground’ for stuff you found interesting, but couldn’t manage to shoehorn in anywhere else, or which you wanted to include but couldn’t within the word count.

Appendices should be used for relevant information only, such as copies of your questionnaires or interview outlines, letters asking people to participate or additional proofs.

You can be reasonably confident that nobody will read them in any detail, so don’t bother to use an appendix to explain why your argument is correct. Anything that you want to be read should be included in the main body of your text.

Finishing Off...

Check, check and check again.

Every university’s requirements are slightly different in terms of format, what sections need to be included and so on.

Make sure that you check what you have done against your university’s guidelines and that it conforms exactly .

If in doubt, check with the administrative staff dealing with submissions or with your supervisor. You really do not want to be penalised for an error of formatting.

Make sure that you put your dissertation together in a single document, and read it over as a whole before submitting it.

It is also a good idea to get somebody else to proofread your work to check for any mistakes that you may have missed.

Collating your dissertation may introduce errors of formatting or style, or you may notice duplication between chapters that you had previously missed.

Allow sufficient time for collating and final checks, and also for any formal binding required by the university, to avoid any last minute panics.

Continue to: Assignment Finishing Touches Reflecting on Marked Work

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Conclusion Generator

So you've pushed through blank page syndrome, gotten into the zone, and written up stellar content that fits your vision. your writing starts strong, hits all the right points, and flows nicely. but you're stuck right before the finish line, unsure of how to tie things together well and end with a strong conclusion..

So you've pushed through blank page syndrome, gotten into the zone, and written up stellar content that fits your vision. Your writing starts strong, hits all the right points, and flows nicely. But you're stuck right before the finish line, unsure of how to tie things together well and end with a strong conclusion. Been here before? Originality.ai makes this pattern a thing of the past with our new free conclusion generator. Once you've done the hard work of producing content you're proud of, Originality.ai helps you carry it to completion and finish strong without spending precious time stuck behind writers block, all while maintaining your unique voice. 

Armed with the power of advanced AI, our easy-to-use conclusion generator analyzes your writing, identifies the key ideas and central arguments of your work, and produces a conclusion that matches the tone and style of your input. Perfect for essays, articles, or blog posts, our conclusion generator helps you to whip up closing paragraphs at lightning speed , streamlining your workflow and making your writing stronger than ever.

Finishing Strong: Use Cases for a Conclusion Generator

Are you constantly stuck trying to wrap up your writing with a compelling conclusion? Orinality.ai's new conclusion generator tool is your new best friend when it comes to tying up all those loose ends in your writing. Whether you're a student struggling to conclude an essay, a busy content creator trying to keep your blog posts punchy, or a professional crafting reports and presentations, this tool has got your back. One of the best applications of this tool is in the realm of business communication. Imagine you're crafting a report or a proposal, where it's vital to conclude with a confidence that really drives your points home. This is where our AI conclusion generator becomes your secret weapon. Navigating through complex data, market analysis, or strategic plans to arrive at the perfect conclusion can be challenging. However, with this tool at your disposal, all you need to do is feed in the key elements of your discussion, and voilà – it generates a clear, effective conclusion that captures the essence of your work, at the level of detail that's right for you.

But wait, there's more! Our free conclusion generator is more than just a time-saver; it's a quality enhancer. For bloggers and content creators, crafting a memorable ending that resonates with your audience is crucial. This tool helps you do just that, by providing a tailored conclusion that aligns with your writing style and the message you want to convey. As the University of Southern California points out , the conclusion is the opportunity answer the question “So what?” What is it about your work that matters most? Imagine ending every post with the perfect punchline or thought-provoking statement – that's what this tool offers. Plus, it's incredibly user-friendly and adaptable, making it suitable for a wide range of writing styles and purposes. In essence, this AI tool isn't just about ending your writing; it's about giving it a powerful, lasting impact.

What's included?

Originality.ai's conclusion generator's strength is its flexibility. Need your conclusion that fits your writing ASAP? Simply type, paste, or upload the text you want to conclude, pick your desired length, and click generate. Presto – our sophisticated AI tool identifies the core details of your writing and serves up the perfect conclusion. Need a little more control over your conclusion, to make sure it hits just the right tone and detail level for your audience? Just open up the settings option to tailor your conclusion to your needs.

Diverse language options allow you to conclude from, or in, a variety of languages, helping you reach any audience, and our structure settings allow you to format your conclusion as either a paragraph, a numbered list, or a set of bullet points, making it as useful for presentations and slide decks as it is for more traditional writing.

No matter which options you select, our conclusion generator consistently delivers content that is well-written, easily understandable, and grammatically flawless. This guarantees that you always present your most polished work, helping you reach new heights with your writing.

Step-by-Step Guide: Effectively Using Our Conclusion Generator

1) input the content you would like to include under "your text".

Simply write or paste the writing you would like to conclude. If you have a document or website you would like to upload, you can click the "Upload" button to import the text from a file or URL.

2) Add keywords

If you have specific key terms that should be included in your conclusion, you can specify them in the keywords field, separated by commas must be separated by commas.

3) Choose a length

Select a word count range for your conclusion, from a short paragraph of less than 50 words to a longer paragraph of 200-250.

4) Adjust settings (optional)

If you would like to tailor the style and formatting of your conclusion, click "Settings". Here you can select an option for tone, level of detail, target audience, and output language. You can also change the formatting from a paragraph to a bulleted or numbered list, and adjust the number of sections you would like to generate.

5) Click "Generate"

Click the generate button, and in a few moments your new conclusion will be added to the top of the feed.

6) Finetune Your Results

If you would like to rewrite individual sentences within a conclusion, use the Finetune feature. Simply click the Finetune button below a conclusion, and then select the sentence you would like paraphrased. Your conclusion will be added to the top of the feed with that sentence rewritten. Note that Finetune rewrites will count towards your number of free uses per day.

7) Use Your Paragraphs

Copy a conclusion by clicking the clipboard icon in the upper right, or download it as a .docx or .txt file by clicking the download icon in the same region.

What Powers Originality's Conclusion Generator?

Our AI Paragraph Conclusion Generator is equipped with the latest advancements in language technology, utilizing the GPT-3.5 system, a large language model (LLM) with 175 billion parameters. This powerful tool is engineered to produce high-quality writing that is tailored to your specific needs. It achieves this by analyzing the text you provide, and extracting any relevant key points or thesis statements, ensuring your conclusion aligns with your voice. The GPT-3.5 system's exceptional capability in interpreting language nuances guarantees that the generated content hits the core arguments of your writing. Moreover, its extensive training across multiple languages enables proficient writing and translation capabilities.

Other Tools You May Find Helpful

To assist you in creating exceptional content, Originality.ai has developed a cutting-edge set of free AI writing tools, built to tackle the biggest issues facing writers and content creators in a digital age. Need help writing body paragraphs? Try our  Already have a paragraph that needs adjusting? Try our paragraph generator . If you'd like to paraphrase rather than write from scratch, check out our paragraph rewriter .

Wherever you are in your writing journey, Originality.ai has you covered with AI tools that make content creation a breeze, for free.

Finish Strong with Originality.ai's Conclusion Generator

When navigating  the dynamic world of digital content creation, tools like Originality.ai's free conclusion generator aren't just a luxury—they're a necessity. Tailor-made for the needs of diverse content creators, this tool shines with its ability to produce satisfying conclusions for your writing.

Imagine boosting your productivity with lightning-fast efficiency while ensuring your content stands out in the competitive digital arena. That's exactly what Originality's conclusion generator offers. It's not just about staying afloat in the fast-paced world of online content; it's about soaring to new heights with the power of innovation and originality at your fingertips. Give it a try, end all your writing woes today!

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• Knowledge Base
• How to conclude an essay | Interactive example

How to Conclude an Essay | Interactive Example

Published on January 24, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on July 23, 2023.

The conclusion is the final paragraph of your essay . A strong conclusion aims to:

• Tie together the essay’s main points
• Show why your argument matters
• Leave the reader with a strong impression

Your conclusion should give a sense of closure and completion to your argument, but also show what new questions or possibilities it has opened up.

This conclusion is taken from our annotated essay example , which discusses the history of the Braille system. Hover over each part to see why it’s effective.

Braille paved the way for dramatic cultural changes in the way blind people were treated and the opportunities available to them. Louis Braille’s innovation was to reimagine existing reading systems from a blind perspective, and the success of this invention required sighted teachers to adapt to their students’ reality instead of the other way around. In this sense, Braille helped drive broader social changes in the status of blindness. New accessibility tools provide practical advantages to those who need them, but they can also change the perspectives and attitudes of those who do not.

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Table of contents

Step 1: return to your thesis, step 2: review your main points, step 3: show why it matters, what shouldn’t go in the conclusion, more examples of essay conclusions, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about writing an essay conclusion.

To begin your conclusion, signal that the essay is coming to an end by returning to your overall argument.

Don’t just repeat your thesis statement —instead, try to rephrase your argument in a way that shows how it has been developed since the introduction.

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

Next, remind the reader of the main points that you used to support your argument.

Avoid simply summarizing each paragraph or repeating each point in order; try to bring your points together in a way that makes the connections between them clear. The conclusion is your final chance to show how all the paragraphs of your essay add up to a coherent whole.

To wrap up your conclusion, zoom out to a broader view of the topic and consider the implications of your argument. For example:

• Does it contribute a new understanding of your topic?
• Does it raise new questions for future study?
• Does it lead to practical suggestions or predictions?
• Can it be applied to different contexts?
• Can it be connected to a broader debate or theme?

Whatever your essay is about, the conclusion should aim to emphasize the significance of your argument, whether that’s within your academic subject or in the wider world.

Try to end with a strong, decisive sentence, leaving the reader with a lingering sense of interest in your topic.

The easiest way to improve your conclusion is to eliminate these common mistakes.

Don’t include new evidence

Any evidence or analysis that is essential to supporting your thesis statement should appear in the main body of the essay.

The conclusion might include minor pieces of new information—for example, a sentence or two discussing broader implications, or a quotation that nicely summarizes your central point. But it shouldn’t introduce any major new sources or ideas that need further explanation to understand.

Don’t use “concluding phrases”

Avoid using obvious stock phrases to tell the reader what you’re doing:

• “In conclusion…”
• “To sum up…”

These phrases aren’t forbidden, but they can make your writing sound weak. By returning to your main argument, it will quickly become clear that you are concluding the essay—you shouldn’t have to spell it out.

Don’t undermine your argument

Avoid using apologetic phrases that sound uncertain or confused:

• “This is just one approach among many.”
• “There are good arguments on both sides of this issue.”
• “There is no clear answer to this problem.”

Even if your essay has explored different points of view, your own position should be clear. There may be many possible approaches to the topic, but you want to leave the reader convinced that yours is the best one!

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• Argumentative
• Literary analysis

This conclusion is taken from an argumentative essay about the internet’s impact on education. It acknowledges the opposing arguments while taking a clear, decisive position.

The internet has had a major positive impact on the world of education; occasional pitfalls aside, its value is evident in numerous applications. The future of teaching lies in the possibilities the internet opens up for communication, research, and interactivity. As the popularity of distance learning shows, students value the flexibility and accessibility offered by digital education, and educators should fully embrace these advantages. The internet’s dangers, real and imaginary, have been documented exhaustively by skeptics, but the internet is here to stay; it is time to focus seriously on its potential for good.

This conclusion is taken from a short expository essay that explains the invention of the printing press and its effects on European society. It focuses on giving a clear, concise overview of what was covered in the essay.

The invention of the printing press was important not only in terms of its immediate cultural and economic effects, but also in terms of its major impact on politics and religion across Europe. In the century following the invention of the printing press, the relatively stationary intellectual atmosphere of the Middle Ages gave way to the social upheavals of the Reformation and the Renaissance. A single technological innovation had contributed to the total reshaping of the continent.

This conclusion is taken from a literary analysis essay about Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein . It summarizes what the essay’s analysis achieved and emphasizes its originality.

By tracing the depiction of Frankenstein through the novel’s three volumes, I have demonstrated how the narrative structure shifts our perception of the character. While the Frankenstein of the first volume is depicted as having innocent intentions, the second and third volumes—first in the creature’s accusatory voice, and then in his own voice—increasingly undermine him, causing him to appear alternately ridiculous and vindictive. Far from the one-dimensional villain he is often taken to be, the character of Frankenstein is compelling because of the dynamic narrative frame in which he is placed. In this frame, Frankenstein’s narrative self-presentation responds to the images of him we see from others’ perspectives. This conclusion sheds new light on the novel, foregrounding Shelley’s unique layering of narrative perspectives and its importance for the depiction of character.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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Your essay’s conclusion should contain:

• A rephrased version of your overall thesis
• A brief review of the key points you made in the main body
• An indication of why your argument matters

The conclusion may also reflect on the broader implications of your argument, showing how your ideas could applied to other contexts or debates.

For a stronger conclusion paragraph, avoid including:

• Important evidence or analysis that wasn’t mentioned in the main body
• Generic concluding phrases (e.g. “In conclusion…”)
• Weak statements that undermine your argument (e.g. “There are good points on both sides of this issue.”)

Your conclusion should leave the reader with a strong, decisive impression of your work.

The conclusion paragraph of an essay is usually shorter than the introduction . As a rule, it shouldn’t take up more than 10–15% of the text.

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Yum China Holdings: Solid Execution Deserves A Buy Rating

• YUM China Holdings continues to demonstrate solid execution and outperform peers in a challenging macro environment.
• I am positive about YUMC's strategy of value for money, new store openings, and growth initiatives.
• YUMC should see a rerating of valuation multiples eventually.

jetcityimage

Following my coverage of Yum China Holdings ( NYSE: YUMC ) in May'24, in which I recommended a buy rating as the business fundamentals continue to improve and I was optimistic about management’s strategy of opening new stores and growing same-store sales growth [SSSG], this post is to provide an update on my thoughts on the business and stock. I still give a buy rating for YUMC as it continues to demonstrate solid execution despite the weak macro environment, especially against peers. If this performance continues, I believe it is only a matter of time before multiples get rated upwards.

Investment thesis

On 05-08-2024, YUMC released its 2Q24 earnings , which saw SSSG of -4%, driven by KFC's 3% SSSG and PH's 8% SSSG. Net store openings saw 401 in the quarter, driven by KFC opening 328 stores and PH opening at 79 (YUMC closed 6 stores due to store adjustments in other brands). As such, total sales grew 0.9% on a reported basis and 4% on a constant currency basis. Company restaurant margins saw 15.5% with better food & paper costs, payroll, and O&O (occupancy and other operating expenses) cost control. While this was a 70bps decline vs. 2Q23, if adjusted for the $12 one-off expense, restaurant margin was flat vs. 2Q23. By brand, KFC reported a 16.2% margin and PH reported a 13.2% margin. For consolidated EBIT margin, YUMC saw 9.9%, driving total EBIT to $266 million. Adj EPS grew from $0.47 to $0.54, representing a 16% y/y growth. The 2Q24 results should have demonstrated to the market that YUMC is executing very well against the challenging operating environment in China, which lends credence to sustainable growth ahead.

Goldman Sachs

Starting with the SSSG outlook, I believe YUMC's current strategy (value for money) will continue to help it capture demand in this challenging demand environment (i.e., to win share), as consumers are now value-cautious. The core of this strategy is to ensure that pricing stays cheap, and management is delivering on this as the ticket size of KFC has been relatively stable: RMB37 in 2Q24 vs. RMB35 in 2Q19 (note that part of the RMB2 increase is due to an increasing mix of delivery orders that are more expensive), which in real terms suggests that pricing has deflated (flat pricing vs. inflation over the past few years). For PH, management expects average ticket prices to be lower to further gain share within the mass segment. Lastly, the delivery fee is also lowered. Given that lower pricing is the best strategy to capture value-conscious consumers, this should help YUMC continue to win share. The result of this strategy is apparent when we compare it against peers in China, which on average saw much worse SSSG performance than YUMC (based on Goldman Sachs data).

Own calculation

I believe YUMC can sustain this SSSG outperformance because of its ability to capture cost savings via various initiatives like simplifying menus and operations, using automation (robot services and automatic fried rice machines) to improve productivity, etc. While it is hard to quantify these impacts, two operating metrics suggest they are working: payroll cost and O&O cost, and since 2Q22, YUMC has managed to capture ~ 300bps of cost savings from these two areas.

The bigger growth driver is YUMC's ability to open new stores, which has been impressive so far as they added 401 net new stores in this quarter, tracking well against the annual target of 1,500–1,700 net new stores. Notably, KFC franchise stores are tracking well ahead of target, as they contributed to 23% of total openings in 2Q24 (this is ahead of YUMC’s investor day target of 15-20%). The number of expected new shopping malls opening this year (300) is also supportive of YUMC expansion plans. Perhaps the best indicator that there is still plenty of room for YUMC to open stores is that return-on-investments have not deteriorated at all. The payback period of KFC remains healthy and stable at 2 years, and PH even saw payback further shortened to 2-3 years from ~3 years prior, and 80% of new stores achieve breakeven within 3 months.

Our new stores maintained good returns. Their payback period held steady at two years for KFC and improved to two to three years at Pizza Hut. Around 80% of our new stores achieved monthly breakeven within three months. 2Q24 earnings results call

YUMC's other growth initiatives (K Coffee and PH WoW) have also achieved encouraging initial results with healthy margins. For K coffee, it is now available in all KFC stores and generated Rmb1 billion in sales in 1H24 (very impressive growth of 26% y/y with volume up 36%), mainly attributable to YUMC’s focus on value-for-money coffee along with food. With management expecting to operate 500 to 600 stores by FY25 (already 300 in July, up from >100 in 1Q24), this should be a decent growth driver. As for the PH WoW initiative, management noted it was SSSG-accretive, with potential cost savings given that less labor is required. Given this positive result, management plans to accelerate the roll-out of the WoW store to reach >200 by FY24 vs. 100 by July, and this should serve as another SSSG driver.

In valuing YUMC, I think the big question is whether multiples can rerate back to >20x forward PE, and what are the conditions needed to be fulfilled before this can happen? I think the conditions are:

• SSSG to grow back to mid-single-digits, same as pre-covid levels; and
• Net new store growth to grow at mid-to-high single digits;
• Restaurant profit margin to sustain mid-teen percentage levels

Points 1 and 2 will drive total system sales (and revenue) of high-single to low-double-digit percentage growth, which, coupled with point 3, will drive double-digit EPS growth (inline or higher than pre-covid levels)

I believe point 1 is doable as the 2-year SSSG stack for KFC is at 5.6% and PH at 2% in 2Q24, despite the weak spending environment. I used a 2-year stack because 2Q23 was a tough comp base with 15% KFC SSSG and 13% PH SSSG. For what it's worth, the 2-year SSSG stack accelerated from 1Q24 for both brands. Point 2 should also be doable as the current rate of store openings is on track (2Q24 saw 13.4% y/y growth, in line with the 14% seen in 1Q24). As for point 3, YUMC has demonstrated that it is very good at driving down costs, and the report results speak for themselves (1Q24 saw a 17.6% margin and 2Q24 saw a 15.5% margin).

As such, I remain convinced that YUMC will see its valuation rerate back upwards to at least 20x forward PE (it is trading at 14.4x today, which is close to the lowest since the stock went listed). My view is that investors are very wary of investing in China today, given the weak macroeconomic environment. But given that YUMC continues to execute, I think this is an opportunity for long-term investors.

I reiterate the risk I mentioned previously: slower-than-expected SSSG growth due to weak consumer sentiment will hurt YUMC's ability to grow and the stock’s sentiment. In addition, as YUMC ventures into other whitespaces in China, the same strategy (value for money) may not work the same, and this could limit how much YUMC can grow in the near term given the macro backdrop.

In conclusion, my rating for YUMC is still a buy rating as it continues to deliver impressive results despite a challenging macroeconomic environment. I stay optimistic about YUMC’s focus on offering value to consumers, which should continue to help it gain share. Coupled with the on-track store expansion plans, and cost management, I foresee EPS to grow at double digits over the medium-term once the macro environment gets better. This should drive up YUMC’s valuation multiples back to >20x.

This article was written by

Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, and no plans to initiate any such positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.

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