DISCUSSION SECTIONS
of research articles
What is the difference between the
Results section and the Discussion
section of research articles?
Results vs. Discussion
Results sections:
• deal with factual statements and their
interpretations
Discussion sections:
• deal with new knowledge claims
• are more theoretical, abstract, general,
integrated with the field, connected to the real
world, concerned with implications, applications,
and limitations than Results sections
Read the statements in the handout. Do
you agree (A) or disagree (D) with them?
What are the typical moves of the
Discussion section of research
articles?
TYPICAL MOVES USED IN DISCUSSIONS/CONCLUSIONS
1. Background information
2. Summarizing and reporting key results
3. Commenting on the key results
4. Stating limitations and making recommendations
for future implementation and research
MOVE 1: Background information
(research purposes, theory, methodology)
• Optional
• The aim is to contextualize the study by
revisiting the introduction (research questions
/ hypotheses, theory) and methodology.
• Thus, the research space is consolidated.
Revisiting the Introduction
Prior work has documented the effectiveness of
psychosocial intervention in improving quality
of life… (revisiting previous research)
However, these studies have either been shortterm
or… (revisiting the gap/weakness/etc.)
Revisiting the Methodology
In this study we tested the extent to which an
extended three-month stress management
program improved quality of life among a
group of patients being treated for stressrelated
skin disorders… (revisiting the
methodology used in this study)
MOVE 2: Summarizing and reporting key results
• Obligatory
• We found that in virtually all cases,
participation in our three-month stress
management program was associated with
substantial increases in …. (revisiting and
summarizing the results)
MOVE 3: Commenting on the key results
• Obligatory
• Writers make claims, explain the results
• Writers refer first to their study and then relate to
previous work in their field
• They compare the work/approach of other
researchers in order to validate their own work
or possibly discredit the work of the other
researchers.
Our current findings expand prior work [5].
Unlike McGowan, we did not identify ….
This method provides results that are comparable to
existing ….
Interpreting the implications
• You can use the Present Simple – to express
permanent truths and facts, it will give your
sentence the status of a fact
We found that x occurs, which indicates /
suggests that y causes z…
• You can also use the Past Simple if you are
less confident or less sure of the results
We found that x occurred, which indicated /
suggested that y caused z…
• Hedging: The results seem to indicate that…
Expressing achievement or contribution
Vocabulary used to state your achievement or
contribution can be:
- exciting: compelling, exceptional, excellent …
- less exciting but still positive: important,
realistic, relevant, exact, clear, novel …
Our results provide compelling evidence that…
The presence of such high levels is a novel
finding.
MOVE 4: Limitations and recommendations
• Outlining the limitations of the work and
providing suggestions for future work
• These suggestions improve the status of the
work by communicating that there is much
research to be done in this area.
Our results are encouraging and should be
validated in a larger cohort of women.
Future work should focus on …
Implementations
• Indicating possible applications or applicability of
the study
• Typical use of modals such as could, should and
may
Our technique can be applied to …
This approach has potential in areas such as …
This could eventually lead to the identification of …
The solution method could be applied …