academic writing discussion

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How to Write Discussions and Conclusions

How to Write Discussions and Conclusions

The discussion section contains the results and outcomes of a study. An effective discussion informs readers what can be learned from your experiment and provides context for the results.

What makes an effective discussion?

When you’re ready to write your discussion, you’ve already introduced the purpose of your study and provided an in-depth description of the methodology. The discussion informs readers about the larger implications of your study based on the results. Highlighting these implications while not overstating the findings can be challenging, especially when you’re submitting to a journal that selects articles based on novelty or potential impact. Regardless of what journal you are submitting to, the discussion section always serves the same purpose: concluding what your study results actually mean.

A successful discussion section puts your findings in context. It should include:

Tip: Not all journals share the same naming conventions.

You can apply the advice in this article to the conclusion, results or discussion sections of your manuscript.

Our Early Career Researcher community tells us that the conclusion is often considered the most difficult aspect of a manuscript to write. To help, this guide provides questions to ask yourself, a basic structure to model your discussion off of and examples from published manuscripts.

academic writing discussion

Questions to ask yourself:

How to structure a discussion

Trying to fit a complete discussion into a single paragraph can add unnecessary stress to the writing process. If possible, you’ll want to give yourself two or three paragraphs to give the reader a comprehensive understanding of your study as a whole. Here’s one way to structure an effective discussion:

academic writing discussion

Writing Tips

While the above sections can help you brainstorm and structure your discussion, there are many common mistakes that writers revert to when having difficulties with their paper. Writing a discussion can be a delicate balance between summarizing your results, providing proper context for your research and avoiding introducing new information. Remember that your paper should be both confident and honest about the results!

Don’t

Snippets of Effective Discussions:

Consumer-based actions to reduce plastic pollution in rivers: A multi-criteria decision analysis approach

Identifying reliable indicators of fitness in polar bears

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How to Write a Discussion Section | Tips & Examples

Published on August 21, 2022 by Shona McCombes . Revised on December 7, 2022.

Discussion section flow chart

The discussion section is where you delve into the meaning, importance, and relevance of your results .

It should focus on explaining and evaluating what you found, showing how it relates to your literature review and paper or dissertation topic , and making an argument in support of your overall conclusion. It should not be a second results section.

There are different ways to write this section, but you can focus your writing around these key elements:

Table of contents

What not to include in your discussion section, step 1: summarize your key findings, step 2: give your interpretations, step 3: discuss the implications, step 4: acknowledge the limitations, step 5: share your recommendations, discussion section example, frequently asked questions about discussion sections.

There are a few common mistakes to avoid when writing the discussion section of your paper.

Start this section by reiterating your research problem and concisely summarizing your major findings. Don’t just repeat all the data you have already reported—aim for a clear statement of the overall result that directly answers your main research question . This should be no more than one paragraph.

Many students struggle with the differences between a discussion section and a results section . The crux of the matter is that your results sections should present your results, and your discussion section should subjectively evaluate them. Try not to blend elements of these two sections, in order to keep your paper sharp.

What can proofreading do for your paper?

Scribbr editors not only correct grammar and spelling mistakes, but also strengthen your writing by making sure your paper is free of vague language, redundant words, and awkward phrasing.

academic writing discussion

See editing example

The meaning of your results may seem obvious to you, but it’s important to spell out their significance for your reader, showing exactly how they answer your research question.

The form of your interpretations will depend on the type of research, but some typical approaches to interpreting the data include:

You can organize your discussion around key themes, hypotheses, or research questions, following the same structure as your results section. Alternatively, you can also begin by highlighting the most significant or unexpected results.

As well as giving your own interpretations, make sure to relate your results back to the scholarly work that you surveyed in the literature review . The discussion should show how your findings fit with existing knowledge, what new insights they contribute, and what consequences they have for theory or practice.

Ask yourself these questions:

Your overall aim is to show the reader exactly what your research has contributed, and why they should care.

Even the best research has its limitations. Acknowledging these is important to demonstrate your credibility. Limitations aren’t about listing your errors, but about providing an accurate picture of what can and cannot be concluded from your study.

Limitations might be due to your overall research design, specific methodological choices , or unanticipated obstacles that emerged during your research process.

Here are a few common possibilities:

After noting the limitations, you can reiterate why the results are nonetheless valid for the purpose of answering your research question.

Based on the discussion of your results, you can make recommendations for practical implementation or further research. Sometimes, the recommendations are saved for the conclusion .

Suggestions for further research can lead directly from the limitations. Don’t just state that more studies should be done—give concrete ideas for how future work can build on areas that your own research was unable to address.

Discussion section example

In the discussion , you explore the meaning and relevance of your research results , explaining how they fit with existing research and theory. Discuss:

The results chapter or section simply and objectively reports what you found, without speculating on why you found these results. The discussion interprets the meaning of the results, puts them in context, and explains why they matter.

In qualitative research , results and discussion are sometimes combined. But in quantitative research , it’s considered important to separate the objective results from your interpretation of them.

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.

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McCombes, S. (2022, December 07). How to Write a Discussion Section | Tips & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved March 1, 2023, from https://www.scribbr.com/dissertation/discussion/

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Writing a Successful Discussion Post

Common assignments: writing a successful discussion post, related resources.

1. Read the discussion prompt carefully.

Pay special attention to:

2. Prepare adequately.

3. Construct a draft.

4. Review and revise.

After writing your post, review your ideas by asking yourself:

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How to write a discussion section?

Writing manuscripts to describe study outcomes, although not easy, is the main task of an academician. The aim of the present review is to outline the main aspects of writing the discussion section of a manuscript. Additionally, we address various issues regarding manuscripts in general. It is advisable to work on a manuscript regularly to avoid losing familiarity with the article. On principle, simple, clear and effective language should be used throughout the text. In addition, a pre-peer review process is recommended to obtain feedback on the manuscript. The discussion section can be written in 3 parts: an introductory paragraph, intermediate paragraphs and a conclusion paragraph. For intermediate paragraphs, a “divide and conquer” approach, meaning a full paragraph describing each of the study endpoints, can be used. In conclusion, academic writing is similar to other skills, and practice makes perfect.

Introduction

Sharing knowledge produced during academic life is achieved through writing manuscripts. However writing manuscripts is a challenging endeavour in that we physicians have a heavy workload, and English which is common language used for the dissemination of scientific knowledge is not our mother tongue.

The objective of this review is to summarize the method of writing ‘Discussion’ section which is the most important, but probably at the same time the most unlikable part of a manuscript, and demonstrate the easy ways we applied in our practice, and finally share the frequently made relevant mistakes. During this procedure, inevitably some issues which concerns general concept of manuscript writing process are dealt with. Therefore in this review we will deal with topics related to the general aspects of manuscript writing process, and specifically issues concerning only the ‘Discussion’ section.

A) Approaches to general aspects of manuscript writing process:

1. what should be the strategy of sparing time for manuscript writing be.

Two different approaches can be formulated on this issue? One of them is to allocate at least 30 minutes a day for writing a manuscript which amounts to 3.5 hours a week. This period of time is adequate for completion of a manuscript within a few weeks which can be generally considered as a long time interval. Fundamental advantage of this approach is to gain a habit of making academic researches if one complies with the designated time schedule, and to keep the manuscript writing motivation at persistently high levels. Another approach concerning this issue is to accomplish manuscript writing process within a week. With the latter approach, the target is rapidly attained. However longer time periods spent in order to concentrate on the subject matter can be boring, and lead to loss of motivation. Daily working requirements unrelated to the manuscript writing might intervene, and prolong manuscript writing process. Alienation periods can cause loss of time because of need for recurrent literature reviews. The most optimal approach to manuscript writing process is daily writing strategy where higher levels of motivation are persistently maintained.

Especially before writing the manuscript, the most important step at the start is to construct a draft, and completion of the manuscript on a theoretical basis. Therefore, during construction of a draft, attention distracting environment should be avoided, and this step should be completed within 1–2 hours. On the other hand, manuscript writing process should begin before the completion of the study (even the during project stage). The justification of this approach is to see the missing aspects of the study and the manuscript writing methodology, and try to solve the relevant problems before completion of the study. Generally, after completion of the study, it is very difficult to solve the problems which might be discerned during the writing process. Herein, at least drafts of the ‘Introduction’, and ‘Material and Methods’ can be written, and even tables containing numerical data can be constructed. These tables can be written down in the ‘Results’ section. [ 1 ]

2. How should the manuscript be written?

The most important principle to be remembered on this issue is to obey the criteria of simplicity, clarity, and effectiveness. [ 2 ] Herein, do not forget that, the objective should be to share our findings with the readers in an easily comprehensible format. Our approach on this subject is to write all structured parts of the manuscript at the same time, and start writing the manuscript while reading the first literature. Thus newly arisen connotations, and self-brain gyms will be promptly written down. However during this process your outcomes should be revealed fully, and roughly the message of the manuscript which be delivered. Thus with this so-called ‘hunter’s approach’ the target can be achieved directly, and rapidly. Another approach is ‘collectioner’s approach. [ 3 ] In this approach, firstly, potential data, and literature studies are gathered, read, and then selected ones are used. Since this approach suits with surgical point of view, probably ‘hunter’s approach’ serves our purposes more appropriately. However, in parallel with academic development, our novice colleague ‘manuscripters’ can prefer ‘collectioner’s approach.’

On the other hand, we think that research team consisting of different age groups has some advantages. Indeed young colleagues have the enthusiasm, and energy required for the conduction of the study, while middle-aged researchers have the knowledge to manage the research, and manuscript writing. Experienced researchers make guiding contributions to the manuscript. However working together in harmony requires assignment of a chief researcher, and periodically organizing advancement meetings. Besides, talents, skills, and experiences of the researchers in different fields (ie. research methods, contact with patients, preparation of a project, fund-raising, statistical analysis etc.) will determine task sharing, and make a favourable contribution to the perfection of the manuscript. Achievement of the shared duties within a predetermined time frame will sustain the motivation of the researchers, and prevent wearing out of updated data.

According to our point of view, ‘Abstract’ section of the manuscript should be written after completion of the manuscript. The reason for this is that during writing process of the main text, the significant study outcomes might become insignificant or vice versa. However, generally, before onset of the writing process of the manuscript, its abstract might be already presented in various congresses. During writing process, this abstract might be a useful guide which prevents deviation from the main objective of the manuscript.

On the other hand references should be promptly put in place while writing the manuscript, Sorting, and placement of the references should not be left to the last moment. Indeed, it might be very difficult to remember relevant references to be placed in the ‘Discussion’ section. For the placement of references use of software programs detailed in other sections is a rational approach.

3. Which target journal should be selected?

In essence, the methodology to be followed in writing the ‘Discussion’ section is directly related to the selection of the target journal. Indeed, in compliance with the writing rules of the target journal, limitations made on the number of words after onset of the writing process, effects mostly the ‘Discussion’ section. Proper matching of the manuscript with the appropriate journal requires clear, and complete comprehension of the available data from scientific point of view. Previously, similar articles might have been published, however innovative messages, and new perspectives on the relevant subject will facilitate acceptance of the article for publication. Nowadays, articles questioning available information, rather than confirmatory ones attract attention. However during this process, classical information should not be questioned except for special circumstances. For example manuscripts which lead to the conclusions as “laparoscopic surgery is more painful than open surgery” or “laparoscopic surgery can be performed without prior training” will not be accepted or they will be returned by the editor of the target journal to the authors with the request of critical review. Besides the target journal to be selected should be ready to accept articles with similar concept. In fact editors of the journal will not reserve the limited space in their journal for articles yielding similar conclusions.

The title of the manuscript is as important as the structured sections * of the manuscript. The title can be the most striking or the newest outcome among results obtained.

Before writing down the manuscript, determination of 2–3 titles increases the motivation of the authors towards the manuscript. During writing process of the manuscript one of these can be selected based on the intensity of the discussion. However the suitability of the title to the agenda of the target journal should be investigated beforehand. For example an article bearing the title “Use of barbed sutures in laparoscopic partial nephrectomy shortens warm ischemia time” should not be sent to “Original Investigations and Seminars in Urologic Oncology” Indeed the topic of the manuscript is out of the agenda of this journal.

4. Do we have to get a pre-peer review about the written manuscript?

Before submission of the manuscript to the target journal the opinions of internal, and external referees should be taken. [ 1 ] Internal referees can be considered in 2 categories as “General internal referees” and “expert internal referees” General internal referees (ie. our colleagues from other medical disciplines) are not directly concerned with your subject matter but as mentioned above they critically review the manuscript as for simplicity, clarity, and effectiveness of its writing style. Expert internal reviewers have a profound knowledge about the subject, and they can provide guidance about the writing process of the manuscript (ie. our senior colleagues more experienced than us). External referees are our colleagues who did not contribute to data collection of our study in any way, but we can request their opinions about the subject matter of the manuscript. Since they are unrelated both to the author(s), and subject matter of the manuscript, these referees can review our manuscript more objectively. Before sending the manuscript to internal, and external referees, we should contact with them, and ask them if they have time to review our manuscript. We should also give information about our subject matter. Otherwise pre-peer review process can delay publication of the manuscript, and decrease motivation of the authors. In conclusion, whoever the preferred referee will be, these internal, and external referees should respond the following questions objectively. 1) Does the manuscript contribute to the literature?; 2) Does it persuasive? 3) Is it suitable for the publication in the selected journal? 4) Has a simple, clear, and effective language been used throughout the manuscript? In line with the opinions of the referees, the manuscript can be critically reviewed, and perfected. [ 1 ]**

Following receival of the opinions of internal, and external referees, one should concentrate priorly on indicated problems, and their solutions. Comments coming from the reviewers should be criticized, but a defensive attitude should not be assumed during this evaluation process. During this “incubation” period where the comments of the internal, and external referees are awaited, literature should be reviewed once more. Indeed during this time interval a new article which you should consider in the ‘Discussion’ section can be cited in the literature.

5. What are the common mistakes made related to the writing process of a manuscript?

Probably the most important mistakes made related to the writing process of a manuscript include lack of a clear message of the manuscript , inclusion of more than one main idea in the same text or provision of numerous unrelated results at the same time so as to reinforce the assertions of the manuscript. This approach can be termed roughly as “loss of the focus of the study” In conclusion, the author(s) should ask themselves the following question at every stage of the writing process:. “What is the objective of the study? If you always get clear-cut answers whenever you ask this question, then the study is proceeding towards the right direction. Besides application of a template which contains the intended clear-cut messages to be followed will contribute to the communication of net messages.

One of the important mistakes is refraining from critical review of the manuscript as a whole after completion of the writing process. Therefore, the authors should go over the manuscript for at least three times after finalization of the manuscript based on joint decision. The first control should concentrate on the evaluation of the appropriateness of the logic of the manuscript, and its organization, and whether desired messages have been delivered or not. Secondly, syutax, and grammar of the manuscript should be controlled. It is appropriate to review the manuscript for the third time 1 or 2 weeks after completion of its writing process. Thus, evaluation of the “cooled” manuscript will be made from a more objective perspective, and assessment process of its integrity will be facilitated.

Other erroneous issues consist of superfluousness of the manuscript with unnecessary repetitions, undue, and recurrent references to the problems adressed in the manuscript or their solution methods, overcriticizing or overpraising other studies, and use of a pompous literary language overlooking the main objective of sharing information. [ 4 ]

B) Approaches to the writing process of the ‘Discussion’ section:

1. how should the main points of ‘discussion’ section be constructed.

Generally the length of the ‘Discussion ‘ section should not exceed the sum of other sections (ıntroduction, material and methods, and results), and it should be completed within 6–7 paragraphs.. Each paragraph should not contain more than 200 words, and hence words should be counted repeteadly. The ‘Discussion’ section can be generally divided into 3 separate paragraphs as. 1) Introductory paragraph, 2) Intermediate paragraphs, 3) Concluding paragraph.

The introductory paragraph contains the main idea of performing the study in question. Without repeating ‘Introduction’ section of the manuscript, the problem to be addressed, and its updateness are analysed. The introductory paragraph starts with an undebatable sentence, and proceeds with a part addressing the following questions as 1) On what issue we have to concentrate, discuss or elaborate? 2) What solutions can be recommended to solve this problem? 3) What will be the new, different, and innovative issue? 4) How will our study contribute to the solution of this problem An introductory paragraph in this format is helpful to accomodate reader to the rest of the Discussion section. However summarizing the basic findings of the experimental studies in the first paragraph is generally recommended by the editors of the journal. [ 5 ]

In the last paragraph of the Discussion section “strong points” of the study should be mentioned using “constrained”, and “not too strongly assertive” statements. Indicating limitations of the study will reflect objectivity of the authors, and provide answers to the questions which will be directed by the reviewers of the journal. On the other hand in the last paragraph, future directions or potential clinical applications may be emphasized.

2. How should the intermediate paragraphs of the Discussion section be formulated?

The reader passes through a test of boredom while reading paragraphs of the Discussion section apart from the introductory, and the last paragraphs. Herein your findings rather than those of the other researchers are discussed. The previous studies can be an explanation or reinforcement of your findings. Each paragraph should contain opinions in favour or against the topic discussed, critical evaluations, and learning points.

Our management approach for intermediate paragraphs is “divide and conquer” tactics. Accordingly, the findings of the study are determined in order of their importance, and a paragraph is constructed for each finding ( Figure 1 ). Each paragraph begins with an “indisputable” introductory sentence about the topic to be discussed. This sentence basically can be the answer to the question “What have we found?” Then a sentence associated with the subject matter to be discussed is written. Subsequently, in the light of the current literature this finding is discussed, new ideas on this subject are revealed, and the paragraph ends with a concluding remark.

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Divide and Conquer tactics

In this paragraph, main topic should be emphasized without going into much detail. Its place, and importance among other studies should be indicated. However during this procedure studies should be presented in a logical sequence (ie. from past to present, from a few to many cases), and aspects of the study contradictory to other studies should be underlined. Results without any supportive evidence or equivocal results should not be written. Besides numerical values presented in the Results section should not be repeated unless required.

Besides, asking the following questions, and searching their answers in the same paragraph will facilitate writing process of the paragraph. [ 1 ] 1) Can the discussed result be false or inadequate? 2) Why is it false? (inadequate blinding, protocol contamination, lost to follow-up, lower statistical power of the study etc.), 3) What meaning does this outcome convey?

3. What are the common mistakes made in writing the Discussion section?:

Probably the most important mistake made while writing the Discussion section is the need for mentioning all literature references. One point to remember is that we are not writing a review article, and only the results related to this paragraph should be discussed. Meanwhile, each word of the paragraphs should be counted, and placed carefully. Each word whose removal will not change the meaning should be taken out from the text.” Writing a saga with “word salads” *** is one of the reasons for prompt rejection. Indeed, if the reviewer thinks that it is difficult to correct the Discussion section, he/she use her/ his vote in the direction of rejection to save time (Uniform requirements for manuscripts: International Comittee of Medical Journal Editors [ http://www.icmje.org/urm_full.pdf ])

The other important mistake is to give too much references, and irrelevancy between the references, and the section with these cited references. [ 3 ] While referring these studies, (excl. introductory sentences linking indisputable sentences or paragraphs) original articles should be cited. Abstracts should not be referred, and review articles should not be cited unless required very much.

4. What points should be paid attention about writing rules, and grammar?

As is the case with the whole article, text of the Discussion section should be written with a simple language, as if we are talking with our colleague. [ 2 ] Each sentence should indicate a single point, and it should not exceed 25–30 words. The priorly mentioned information which linked the previous sentence should be placed at the beginning of the sentence, while the new information should be located at the end of the sentence. During construction of the sentences, avoid unnecessary words, and active voice rather than passive voice should be used.**** Since conventionally passive voice is used in the scientific manuscripts written in the Turkish language, the above statement contradicts our writing habits. However, one should not refrain from beginning the sentences with the word “we”. Indeed, editors of the journal recommend use of active voice so as to increase the intelligibility of the manuscript.

In conclusion, the major point to remember is that the manuscript should be written complying with principles of simplicity, clarity, and effectiveness. In the light of these principles, as is the case in our daily practice, all components of the manuscript (IMRAD) can be written concurrently. In the ‘Discussion’ section ‘divide and conquer’ tactics remarkably facilitates writing process of the discussion. On the other hand, relevant or irrelevant feedbacks received from our colleagues can contribute to the perfection of the manuscript. Do not forget that none of the manuscripts is perfect, and one should not refrain from writing because of language problems, and related lack of experience.

Instead of structured sections of a manuscript (IMRAD): Introduction, Material and Methods, Results, and Discussion

Instead of in the Istanbul University Faculty of Medicine posters to be submitted in congresses are time to time discussed in Wednesday meetings, and opinions of the internal referees are obtained about the weak, and strong points of the study

Instead of a writing style which uses words or sentences with a weak logical meaning that do not lead the reader to any conclusion

Instead of “white color”; “proven”; nstead of “history”; “to”. should be used instead of “white in color”, “definitely proven”, “past history”, and “in order to”, respectively ( ref. 2 )

Instead of “No instances of either postoperative death or major complications occurred during the early post-operative period” use “There were no deaths or major complications occurred during the early post-operative period.

Instead of “Measurements were performed to evaluate the levels of CEA in the serum” use “We measured serum CEA levels”

The Writing Center • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Academic Discussion Strategies

In US universities, students are encouraged and expected to participate in class. Instructors consider it part of the learning process. Questioning the instructor and providing your own opinion indicate that you are paying attention and thinking critically about the material being presented to you. Instructors also appreciate clarification questions (e.g. asking the instructor to repeat the directions for an assignment) because they want to make sure everyone understands. However, many – if not most – people feel anxious about participating in the classroom. This is especially true for students whose first language is not English. While overcoming this feeling takes time and practice, here are some strategies* that can help you in the meantime.

*Feak, C., Reinhart, S. & Rohlck, T. Academic Interactions: Communicating on campus. Michigan Series in English for Academic & Professional Purposes. (2009). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

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Organizing Academic Research Papers: 8. The Discussion

The purpose of the discussion is to interpret and describe the significance of your findings in light of what was already known about the research problem being investigated, and to explain any new understanding or fresh insights about the problem after you've taken the findings into consideration. The discussion will always connect to the introduction by way of the research questions or hypotheses you posed and the literature you reviewed, but it does not simply repeat or rearrange the introduction; the discussion should always explain how your study has moved the reader's understanding of the research problem forward from where you left them at the end of the introduction.

Importance of a Good Discussion

This section is often considered the most important part of a research paper because it most effectively demonstrates your ability as a researcher to think critically about an issue, to develop creative solutions to problems based on the findings, and to formulate a deeper, more profound understanding of the research problem you are studying.

The discussion section is where you explore the underlying meaning of your research , its possible implications in other areas of study, and the possible improvements that can be made in order to further develop the concerns of your research.

This is the section where you need to present the importance of your study and how it may be able to contribute to and/or fill existing gaps in the field. If appropriate, the discussion section is also where you state how the findings from your study revealed new gaps in the literature that had not been previously exposed or adequately described.

This part of the paper is not strictly governed by objective reporting of information but, rather, it is where you can engage in creative thinking about issues through evidence-based interpretation of findings. This is where you infuse your results with meaning.

Kretchmer, Paul. Fourteen Steps to Writing to Writing an Effective Discussion Section . San Francisco Edit, 2003-2008.

Structure and Writing Style

I. General Rules

These are the general rules you should adopt when composing your discussion of the results :

II. The Content

The content of the discussion section of your paper most often includes :

III. Organization and Structure

Keep the following sequential points in mind as you organize and write the discussion section of your paper:

IV. Overall Objectives

The objectives of your discussion section should include the following: I. Reiterate the Research Problem/State the Major Findings

Briefly reiterate for your readers the research problem or problems you are investigating and the methods you used to investigate them, then move quickly to describe the major findings of the study. You should write a direct, declarative, and succinct proclamation of the study results.

II. Explain the Meaning of the Findings and Why They are Important

No one has thought as long and hard about your study as you have. Systematically explain the meaning of the findings and why you believe they are important. After reading the discussion section, you want the reader to think about the results [“why hadn’t I thought of that?”]. You don’t want to force the reader to go through the paper multiple times to figure out what it all means. Begin this part of the section by repeating what you consider to be your most important finding first.

III. Relate the Findings to Similar Studies

No study is so novel or possesses such a restricted focus that it has absolutely no relation to other previously published research. The discussion section should relate your study findings to those of other studies, particularly if questions raised by previous studies served as the motivation for your study, the findings of other studies support your findings [which strengthens the importance of your study results], and/or they point out how your study differs from other similar studies. IV. Consider Alternative Explanations of the Findings

It is important to remember that the purpose of research is to discover and not to prove . When writing the discussion section, you should carefully consider all possible explanations for the study results, rather than just those that fit your prior assumptions or biases.

V. Acknowledge the Study’s Limitations

It is far better for you to identify and acknowledge your study’s limitations than to have them pointed out by your professor! Describe the generalizability of your results to other situations, if applicable to the method chosen, then describe in detail problems you encountered in the method(s) you used to gather information. Note any unanswered questions or issues your study did not address, and.... VI. Make Suggestions for Further Research

Although your study may offer important insights about the research problem, other questions related to the problem likely remain unanswered. Moreover, some unanswered questions may have become more focused because of your study. You should make suggestions for further research in the discussion section.

NOTE: Besides the literature review section, the preponderance of references to sources in your research paper are usually found in the discussion section . A few historical references may be helpful for perspective but most of the references should be relatively recent and included to aid in the interpretation of your results and/or linked to similar studies. If a study that you cited disagrees with your findings, don't ignore it--clearly explain why the study's findings differ from yours.

V. Problems to Avoid

Analyzing vs. Summarizing. Department of English Writing Guide. George Mason University; Discussion . The Structure, Format, Content, and Style of a Journal-Style Scientific Paper. Department of Biology. Bates College; Hess, Dean R. How to Write an Effective Discussion. Respiratory Care 49 (October 2004); Kretchmer, Paul. Fourteen Steps to Writing to Writing an Effective Discussion Section . San Francisco Edit, 2003-2008; The Lab Report . University College Writing Centre. University of Toronto; Summary: Using it Wisely . The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Schafer, Mickey S. Writing the Discussion . Writing in Psychology course syllabus. University of Florida; Yellin, Linda L. A Sociology Writer's Guide. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 2009.

Writing Tip

Don’t Overinterpret the Results!

Interpretation is a subjective exercise. Therefore, be careful that you do not read more into the findings than can be supported by the evidence you've gathered. Remember that the data are the data: nothing more, nothing less.

Another Writing Tip

Don't Write Two Results Sections!

One of the most common mistakes that you can make when discussing the results of your study is to present a superficial interpretation of the findings that more or less re-states the results section of your paper. Obviously, you must refer to your results when discussing them, but focus on the interpretion of those results, not just the data itself.

Azar, Beth. Discussing Your Findings. American Psychological Association gradPSYCH Magazine (January 2006)

Yet Another Writing Tip

Avoid Unwarranted Speculation!

The discussion section should remain focused on the findings of your study. For example, if you studied the impact of foreign aid on increasing levels of education among the poor in Bangladesh, it's generally not appropriate to speculate about how your findings might apply to populations in other countries without drawing from existing studies to support your claim. If you feel compelled to speculate, be certain that you clearly identify your comments as speculation or as a suggestion for where further research is needed. Sometimes your professor will encourage you to expand the discussion in this way, while others don’t care what your opinion is beyond your efforts to interpret the data.

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Academic Writing Tips for the Discussion Section of a Research Paper

This article is part of an ongoing series on academic writing help of scholarly articles. Previous parts explored how to write an introduction for a research paper , literature review outline and format , how to write a research methodology , and presenting research findings .

In the ‘Discussion and Conclusion’ section, you have to interpret and depict the noteworthiness and significance of your discoveries as they relate to the research questions and results. Also, it is important to point out and clarify any new understanding or contributions your study brings to the problem you have examined.

What to Include in Your Academic Article’s ‘Discussion’ Section

This section is frequently viewed as the most important component of your academic article. That’s why, it’s very important that your ‘Discussion’ section includes the following aspects:

How to Organize the ‘Discussion and Conclusion’ Section of Your Research Paper

For a high-quality academic article, you should divide your ‘Discussion’ section in at least 3 parts, focused on the theoretical contributions of your research paper, the managerial or policy implications, and limitations and future research suggestions based on the outcomes and conclusions of your study.

Theoretical Contributions

This should be the first sub-section of your article’s ‘Discussion and Conclusion’ section and it should portray the following aspects:

Managerial or Policy Implications

In social sciences, particularly for academic articles in business and management, marketing, economics and finance (as the ones we publish at Expert Journals), a majority of studies have either managerial, or policy implications.

The implications for practitioners or policy-makers reflected in your academic article should show:

Study’s Limitations and Directions for Future Research

Limitations and suggestions for future research can either be included in one sub-section, or two, depending on the length of the discussion for each one of them.

For your academic article’s Limitations , you should:

For your academic article’s Future Research Directions , you should:

Key Structure Aspects for Your ‘Discussion and Conclusion’ Section

For a good structure and organization of your research’s discussion and conclusion, keep in mind these aspects:

Which aspects do you focus on when writing your research results section?

This blog series focuses on useful academic writing tips. Find our more on writing high-quality research papers

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Discussion essays Considering both sides of the argument

Discussion essays are a common form of academic writing. This page gives information on what a discussion essay is and how to structure this type of essay. Some vocabulary for discussion essays is also given, and there is an example discussion essay on the topic of studying overseas.

What are discussion essays?

Many essay titles require you to examine both sides of a situation and to conclude by saying which side you favour. These are known as discussion or for and against essays. In this sense, the academic meaning of the word discuss is similar to its everyday meaning, of two people talking about a topic from different sides. For a discussion essay, a balanced view is normally essential. This makes discussion essays distinct from persuasion essays , for which only one side of the argument is given. When writing a discussion essay, it is important to ensure that facts and opinions are clearly separated. Often you will examine what other people have already said on the same subject and include this information using paraphrasing and summarising skills, as well as correct citations .

The following are examples of discussion essay topics.

Although the structure of a discussion essay may vary according to length and subject, there are several components which most discussion essays have in common. In addition to general statements and thesis statement which all good essay introductions contain, the position of the writer will often be stated, along with relevant definitions . The main body will examine arguments for (in one or more paragraphs) and arguments against (also in one or more paragraphs). The conclusion will contain a summary of the main points, and will often conclude with recommendations , based on what you think are the most important ideas in the essay. The conclusion may also contain your opinion on the topic, also based on the preceding evidence.

An overview of this structure is given in the diagram below.

Discussion vocabulary

When summarising the stages in a discussion or in presenting your arguments, it can be useful to mark the order of the items or degrees of importance. The following words and phrases can be used.

The following can be used when introducing your opinion.

It is important in English writing, including academic writing, to use synonyms rather than repeating the same word. The following are useful synonyms for 'advantage' and 'disadvantage'.

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Below is an example discussion essay. Click on the different areas (in the shaded boxes to the right) to highlight the different structural aspects in this essay.

Title: An increasing number of students are going overseas for tertiary education. To what extent does this overseas study benefit the students?

Most people spend around fifteen years of their life in education, from primary school to university study. In the past, students only had the opportunity to study in their own country. Nowadays, however, it is increasingly easy to study overseas, especially at tertiary level. Tertiary education, also called post-secondary education, is the period of study spent at university. As the final aspect of schooling before a person begins their working life, it is arguably the most important stage of their education. While there are some undoubted benefits of this trend, such as the language environment and improved employment prospects , there is also a significant disadvantage, namely the high cost . The first and most important advantage of overseas study is the language learning environment. Students studying overseas will not only have to cope with the local language for their study, but will also have to use it outside the classroom for their everyday life. These factors should make it relatively easy for such students to advance their language abilities. Another important benefit is employability. Increasing globalisation means that there are more multinational companies setting up offices in all major countries. These companies will need employees who have a variety of skills, including the fluency in more than one language. Students who have studied abroad should find it much easier to obtain a job in this kind of company. There are, however, some disadvantages to overseas study which must be considered, the most notable of which is the expense. In addition to the cost of travel, which in itself is not inconsiderable, overseas students are required to pay tuition fees which are usually much higher than those of local students. Added to this is the cost of living, which is often much higher than in the students' own country. Although scholarships may be available for overseas students, there are usually very few of these, most of which will only cover a fraction of the cost. Overseas study therefore constitutes a considerable expense. In summary, studying abroad has some clear advantages, including the language environment and increased chances of employment , in addition to the main drawback, the heavy financial burden . I believe that this experience is worthwhile for those students whose families can readily afford the expense. Students without such strong financial support should consider carefully whether the high cost outweighs the benefits to be gained.

Academic Writing Genres

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Below is a checklist for discussion essays. Use it to check your own writing, or get a peer (another student) to help you.

Bailey, S. (2000). Academic Writing. Abingdon: RoutledgeFalmer

Cox, K. and D. Hill (2004). EAP now! Frenchs Forest: Pearson Education Australia

Jordan, R.R. (1999). Academic Writing Course. Cambridge: CUP

Roberts R., J. Gokanda, & A. Preshous (2004). IELTS Foundation. Oxford: Macmillian

Next section

Find out how to write persuasion essays in the next section.

Previous section

Go back to the previous section about different essay types .

Author: Sheldon Smith ‖ Last modified: 16 January 2022.

Sheldon Smith is the founder and editor of EAPFoundation.com. He has been teaching English for Academic Purposes since 2004. Find out more about him in the about section and connect with him on Twitter , Facebook and LinkedIn .

Compare & contrast essays examine the similarities of two or more objects, and the differences.

Cause & effect essays consider the reasons (or causes) for something, then discuss the results (or effects).

Discussion essays require you to examine both sides of a situation and to conclude by saying which side you favour.

Problem-solution essays are a sub-type of SPSE essays (Situation, Problem, Solution, Evaluation).

Transition signals are useful in achieving good cohesion and coherence in your writing.

Reporting verbs are used to link your in-text citations to the information cited.

Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper

Academic writing refers to a style of expression that researchers use to define the intellectual boundaries of their disciplines and specific areas of expertise. Characteristics of academic writing include a formal tone, use of the third-person rather than first-person perspective (usually), a clear focus on the research problem under investigation, and precise word choice. Like specialist languages adopted in other professions, such as, law or medicine, academic writing is designed to convey agreed meaning about complex ideas or concepts within a community of scholarly experts and practitioners.

Academic Writing. Writing Center. Colorado Technical College; Hartley, James. Academic Writing and Publishing: A Practical Guide . New York: Routledge, 2008; Ezza, El-Sadig Y. and Touria Drid. T eaching Academic Writing as a Discipline-Specific Skill in Higher Education . Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 2020.

Importance of Good Academic Writing

The accepted form of academic writing in the social sciences can vary considerable depending on the methodological framework and the intended audience. However, most college-level research papers require careful attention to the following stylistic elements:

I. The Big Picture Unlike creative or journalistic writing, the overall structure of academic writing is formal and logical. It must be cohesive and possess a logically organized flow of ideas; this means that the various parts are connected to form a unified whole. There should be narrative links between sentences and paragraphs so that the reader is able to follow your argument. The introduction should include a description of how the rest of the paper is organized and all sources are properly cited throughout the paper.

II. Tone The overall tone refers to the attitude conveyed in a piece of writing. Throughout your paper, it is important that you present the arguments of others fairly and with an appropriate narrative tone. When presenting a position or argument that you disagree with, describe this argument accurately and without loaded or biased language. In academic writing, the author is expected to investigate the research problem from an authoritative point of view. You should, therefore, state the strengths of your arguments confidently, using language that is neutral, not confrontational or dismissive.

III. Diction Diction refers to the choice of words you use. Awareness of the words you use is important because words that have almost the same denotation [dictionary definition] can have very different connotations [implied meanings]. This is particularly true in academic writing because words and terminology can evolve a nuanced meaning that describes a particular idea, concept, or phenomenon derived from the epistemological culture of that discipline [e.g., the concept of rational choice in political science]. Therefore, use concrete words [not general] that convey a specific meaning. If this cannot be done without confusing the reader, then you need to explain what you mean within the context of how that word or phrase is used within a discipline.

IV. Language The investigation of research problems in the social sciences is often complex and multi- dimensional . Therefore, it is important that you use unambiguous language. Well-structured paragraphs and clear topic sentences enable a reader to follow your line of thinking without difficulty. Your language should be concise, formal, and express precisely what you want it to mean. Do not use vague expressions that are not specific or precise enough for the reader to derive exact meaning ["they," "we," "people," "the organization," etc.], abbreviations like 'i.e.' ["in other words"], 'e.g.' ["for example"], or 'a.k.a.' ["also known as"], and the use of unspecific determinate words ["super," "very," "incredible," "huge," etc.].

V. Punctuation Scholars rely on precise words and language to establish the narrative tone of their work and, therefore, punctuation marks are used very deliberately. For example, exclamation points are rarely used to express a heightened tone because it can come across as unsophisticated or over-excited. Dashes should be limited to the insertion of an explanatory comment in a sentence, while hyphens should be limited to connecting prefixes to words [e.g., multi-disciplinary] or when forming compound phrases [e.g., commander-in-chief]. Finally, understand that semi-colons represent a pause that is longer than a comma, but shorter than a period in a sentence. In general, there are four grammatical uses of semi-colons: when a second clause expands or explains the first clause; to describe a sequence of actions or different aspects of the same topic; placed before clauses which begin with "nevertheless", "therefore", "even so," and "for instance”; and, to mark off a series of phrases or clauses which contain commas. If you are not confident about when to use semi-colons [and most of the time, they are not required for proper punctuation], rewrite using shorter sentences or revise the paragraph.

VI. Academic Conventions Citing sources in the body of your paper and providing a list of references as either footnotes or endnotes is a key feature of academic writing. It is essential to always acknowledge the source of any ideas, research findings, data, paraphrased, or quoted text that you have used in your paper as a defense against allegations of plagiarism. Even more important, the scholarly convention of citing sources allow readers to identify the resources you used in writing your paper so they can independently verify and assess the quality of findings and conclusions based on your review of the literature. Examples of other academic conventions to follow include the appropriate use of headings and subheadings, properly spelling out acronyms when first used in the text, avoiding slang or colloquial language, avoiding emotive language or unsupported declarative statements, avoiding contractions [e.g., isn't], and using first person and second person pronouns only when necessary.

VII. Evidence-Based Reasoning Assignments often ask you to express your own point of view about the research problem. However, what is valued in academic writing is that statements are based on evidence-based reasoning. This refers to possessing a clear understanding of the pertinent body of knowledge and academic debates that exist within, and often external to, your discipline concerning the topic. You need to support your arguments with evidence from scholarly [i.e., academic or peer-reviewed] sources. It should be an objective stance presented as a logical argument; the quality of the evidence you cite will determine the strength of your argument. The objective is to convince the reader of the validity of your thoughts through a well-documented, coherent, and logically structured piece of writing. This is particularly important when proposing solutions to problems or delineating recommended courses of action.

VIII. Thesis-Driven Academic writing is “thesis-driven,” meaning that the starting point is a particular perspective, idea, or position applied to the chosen topic of investigation, such as, establishing, proving, or disproving solutions to the questions applied to investigating the research problem. Note that a problem statement without the research questions does not qualify as academic writing because simply identifying the research problem does not establish for the reader how you will contribute to solving the problem, what aspects you believe are most critical, or suggest a method for gathering information or data to better understand the problem.

IX. Complexity and Higher-Order Thinking Academic writing addresses complex issues that require higher-order thinking skills applied to understanding the research problem [e.g., critical, reflective, logical, and creative thinking as opposed to, for example, descriptive or prescriptive thinking]. Higher-order thinking skills include cognitive processes that are used to comprehend, solve problems, and express concepts or that describe abstract ideas that cannot be easily acted out, pointed to, or shown with images. Think of your writing this way: One of the most important attributes of a good teacher is the ability to explain complexity in a way that is understandable and relatable to the topic being presented during class. This is also one of the main functions of academic writing--examining and explaining the significance of complex ideas as clearly as possible. As a writer, you must adopt the role of a good teacher by summarizing complex information into a well-organized synthesis of ideas, concepts, and recommendations that contribute to a better understanding of the research problem.

Academic Writing. Writing Center. Colorado Technical College; Hartley, James. Academic Writing and Publishing: A Practical Guide . New York: Routledge, 2008; Murray, Rowena and Sarah Moore. The Handbook of Academic Writing: A Fresh Approach . New York: Open University Press, 2006; Johnson, Roy. Improve Your Writing Skills . Manchester, UK: Clifton Press, 1995; Nygaard, Lynn P. Writing for Scholars: A Practical Guide to Making Sense and Being Heard . Second edition. Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications, 2015; Silvia, Paul J. How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing . Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2007; Style, Diction, Tone, and Voice. Writing Center, Wheaton College; Sword, Helen. Stylish Academic Writing . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2012.

Strategies for...

Understanding Academic Writing and Its Jargon

The very definition of research jargon is language specific to a particular community of practitioner-researchers . Therefore, in modern university life, jargon represents the specific language and meaning assigned to words and phrases specific to a discipline or area of study. For example, the idea of being rational may hold the same general meaning in both political science and psychology, but its application to understanding and explaining phenomena within the research domain of a each discipline may have subtle differences based upon how scholars in that discipline apply the concept to the theories and practice of their work.

Given this, it is important that specialist terminology [i.e., jargon] must be used accurately and applied under the appropriate conditions . Subject-specific dictionaries are the best places to confirm the meaning of terms within the context of a specific discipline. These can be found by either searching in the USC Libraries catalog by entering the disciplinary and the word dictionary [e.g., sociology and dictionary] or using a database such as Credo Reference [a curated collection of subject encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, guides from highly regarded publishers] . It is appropriate for you to use specialist language within your field of study, but you should avoid using such language when writing for non-academic or general audiences.

Problems with Opaque Writing

A common criticism of scholars is that they can utilize needlessly complex syntax or overly expansive vocabulary that is impenetrable or not well-defined. When writing, avoid problems associated with opaque writing by keeping in mind the following:

1. Excessive use of specialized terminology . Yes, it is appropriate for you to use specialist language and a formal style of expression in academic writing, but it does not mean using "big words" just for the sake of doing so. Overuse of complex or obscure words or writing complicated sentence constructions gives readers the impression that your paper is more about style than substance; it leads the reader to question if you really know what you are talking about. Focus on creating clear, concise, and elegant prose that minimizes reliance on specialized terminology.

2. Inappropriate use of specialized terminology . Because you are dealing with concepts, research, and data within your discipline, you need to use the technical language appropriate to that area of study. However, nothing will undermine the validity of your study quicker than the inappropriate application of a term or concept. Avoid using terms whose meaning you are unsure of--do not just guess or assume! Consult the meaning of terms in specialized, discipline-specific dictionaries by searching the USC Libraries catalog or the Credo Reference database [see above].

Additional Problems to Avoid

In addition to understanding the use of specialized language, there are other aspects of academic writing in the social sciences that you should be aware of. These problems include:

NOTE: Rules concerning excellent grammar and precise word structure do not apply when quoting someone. A quote should be inserted in the text of your paper exactly as it was stated. If the quote is especially vague or hard to understand, consider paraphrasing it or using a different quote to convey the same meaning. Consider inserting the term "sic" in brackets after the quoted text to indicate that the quotation has been transcribed exactly as found in the original source, but the source had grammar, spelling, or other errors. The adverb sic informs the reader that the errors are not yours.

Academic Writing. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Academic Writing Style. First-Year Seminar Handbook. Mercer University; Bem, Daryl J. Writing the Empirical Journal Article. Cornell University; College Writing. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Murray, Rowena and Sarah Moore. The Handbook of Academic Writing: A Fresh Approach . New York: Open University Press, 2006; Johnson, Eileen S. “Action Research.” In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education . Edited by George W. Noblit and Joseph R. Neikirk. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2020); Oppenheimer, Daniel M. "Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity: Problems with Using Long Words Needlessly." Applied Cognitive Psychology 20 (2006): 139-156; Ezza, El-Sadig Y. and Touria Drid. T eaching Academic Writing as a Discipline-Specific Skill in Higher Education . Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 2020; Pernawan, Ari. Common Flaws in Students' Research Proposals. English Education Department. Yogyakarta State University; Style. College Writing. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Invention: Five Qualities of Good Writing. The Reading/Writing Center. Hunter College; Sword, Helen. Stylish Academic Writing . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2012; What Is an Academic Paper? Institute for Writing Rhetoric. Dartmouth College.

Structure and Writing Style

I. Improving Academic Writing

To improve your academic writing skills, you should focus your efforts on three key areas: 1. Clear Writing . The act of thinking about precedes the process of writing about. Good writers spend sufficient time distilling information and reviewing major points from the literature they have reviewed before creating their work. Writing detailed outlines can help you clearly organize your thoughts. Effective academic writing begins with solid planning, so manage your time carefully. 2. Excellent Grammar . Needless to say, English grammar can be difficult and complex; even the best scholars take many years before they have a command of the major points of good grammar. Take the time to learn the major and minor points of good grammar. Spend time practicing writing and seek detailed feedback from professors. Take advantage of the Writing Center on campus if you need help. Proper punctuation and good proofreading skills can significantly improve academic writing [see sub-tab for proofreading you paper ].

Refer to these three basic resources to help your grammar and writing skills:

3. Consistent Stylistic Approach . Whether your professor expresses a preference to use MLA, APA or the Chicago Manual of Style or not, choose one style manual and stick to it. Each of these style manuals provide rules on how to write out numbers, references, citations, footnotes, and lists. Consistent adherence to a style of writing helps with the narrative flow of your paper and improves its readability. Note that some disciplines require a particular style [e.g., education uses APA] so as you write more papers within your major, your familiarity with it will improve.

II. Evaluating Quality of Writing

A useful approach for evaluating the quality of your academic writing is to consider the following issues from the perspective of the reader. While proofreading your final draft, critically assess the following elements in your writing.

Boscoloa, Pietro, Barbara Arféb, and Mara Quarisaa. “Improving the Quality of Students' Academic Writing: An Intervention Study.” Studies in Higher Education 32 (August 2007): 419-438; Academic Writing. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Academic Writing Style. First-Year Seminar Handbook. Mercer University; Bem, Daryl J. Writing the Empirical Journal Article. Cornell University; Candlin, Christopher. Academic Writing Step-By-Step: A Research-based Approach . Bristol, CT: Equinox Publishing Ltd., 2016; College Writing. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Style . College Writing. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Invention: Five Qualities of Good Writing. The Reading/Writing Center. Hunter College; Sword, Helen. Stylish Academic Writing . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2012; What Is an Academic Paper? Institute for Writing Rhetoric. Dartmouth College.

Writing Tip

Considering the Passive Voice in Academic Writing

In the English language, we are able to construct sentences in the following way: 1. "The policies of Congress caused the economic crisis." 2. "The economic crisis was caused by the policies of Congress."

The decision about which sentence to use is governed by whether you want to focus on “Congress” and what they did, or on “the economic crisis” and what caused it. This choice in focus is achieved with the use of either the active or the passive voice. When you want your readers to focus on the "doer" of an action, you can make the "doer"' the subject of the sentence and use the active form of the verb. When you want readers to focus on the person, place, or thing affected by the action, or the action itself, you can make the effect or the action the subject of the sentence by using the passive form of the verb.

Often in academic writing, scholars don't want to focus on who is doing an action, but on who is receiving or experiencing the consequences of that action. The passive voice is useful in academic writing because it allows writers to highlight the most important participants or events within sentences by placing them at the beginning of the sentence.

Use the passive voice when:

Form the passive voice by:

NOTE: Consult with your professor about using the passive voice before submitting your research paper. Some strongly discourage its use!

Active and Passive Voice. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Diefenbach, Paul. Future of Digital Media Syllabus. Drexel University; Passive Voice. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina.

Academic Phrases for Writing Results & Discussion Sections of a Research Paper

Overview | Abstract | Introduction | Literature Review | Materials & Methods | Results & Discussion | Conclusion & Future Work | Acknowledgements & Appendix

The results and discussion sections are one of the challenging sections to write. It is important to plan this section carefully as it may contain a large amount of scientific data that needs to be presented in a clear and concise fashion. The purpose of a Results section is to present the key results of your research. Results and discussions can either be combined into one section or organized as separate sections depending on the requirements of the journal to which you are submitting your research paper. Use subsections and subheadings to improve readability and clarity. Number all tables and figures with descriptive titles. Present your results as figures and tables and point the reader to relevant items while discussing the results. This section should highlight significant or interesting findings along with P values for statistical tests. Be sure to include negative results and highlight potential limitations of the paper. You will be criticised by the reviewers if you don’t discuss the shortcomings of your research. This often makes up for a great discussion section, so do not be afraid to highlight them.

The results and discussion section of your research paper should include the following:

1. Findings

From the short review above, key findings emerge: __ We describe the results of __, which show __ This suggests that __ We showed that __ Our findings on __ at least hint that __ This is an important finding in the understanding of the __ The present study confirmed the findings about __ Another promising finding was that __ Our results demonstrated that __ This result highlights that little is known about the __ A further novel finding is that __ Together, the present findings confirm __ The implications of these findings are discussed in __ The results demonstrate two things. First, __. Second, __ The results of the experiment found clear support for the __ This analysis found evidence for __ Planned comparisons revealed that __ Our results casts a new light on __ This section summarises the findings and contributions made. It performs well, giving good results. This gives clearly better results than __ The results confirm that this a good choice for __ From the results, it is clear that __ In this section, we will illustrate some experimental results. This delivers significantly better results due to __ The result now provides evidence to __ It leads to good results, even if the improvement is negligible. This yields increasingly good results on data. The result of this analysis is then compared with the __ The applicability of these new results are then tested on __ This is important to correctly interpret the results. The results are substantially better than __ The results lead to similar conclusion where __ Superior results are seen for __ From these results it is clear that __ Extensive results carried out show that this method improves __ We obtain good results with this simple method. However, even better results are achieved when using our algorithm. It is worth discussing these interesting facts revealed by the results of __ Overall, our method was the one that obtained the most robust results. Slightly superior results are achieved with our algorithm. The result is equal to or better than a result that is currently accepted.

2. Comparison with prior studies

The results demonstrated in this chapter match state of the art methods. Here we compare the results of the proposed method with those of the traditional methods. These results go beyond previous reports, showing that __ In line with previous studies __ This result ties well with previous studies wherein __ Contrary to the findings of __ we did not find __ They have demonstrated that __ Others have shown that __ improves __ By comparing the results from __, we hope to determine __ However, in line with the ideas of __, it can be concluded that __ When comparing our results to those of older studies, it must be pointed out that __ We have verified that using __ produces similar results Overall these findings are in accordance with findings reported by __ Even though we did not replicate the previously reported __, our results suggest that __ A similar conclusion was reached by __ However, when comparing our results to those of older studies, it must be pointed out __ This is consistent with what has been found in previous __ A similar pattern of results was obtained in __ The findings are directly in line with previous findings These basic findings are consistent with research showing that __ Other results were broadly in line with __

3. Limitations of your work

Because of the lack of __ we decided to not investigate __ One concern about the findings of __ was that __ Because of this potential limitation, we treat __ The limitations of the present studies naturally include __ Regarding the limitations of __, it could be argued that __ Another limitation of this __ This limitation is apparent in many __ Another limitation in __ involves the issue of __ The main limitation is the lack of __ One limitation is found in this case. One limitation of these methods however is that they __ It presents some limitations such as __ Although widely accepted, it suffers from some limitations due to __ An apparent limitation of the method is __ There are several limitations to this approach. One limitation of our implementation is that it is __ A major source of limitation is due to __ The approach utilised suffers from the limitation that __ The limitations are becoming clear __ It suffers from the same limitations associated with a __

4. Casual arguments

A popular explanation of __ is that __ It is by now generally accepted that __ A popular explanation is that __ As it is not generally agreed that __ These are very small and difficult to observe. It is important to highlight the fact that __ It is notable that __ An important question associated with __ is __ This did not impair the __ This is important because there is __ This implies that __ is associated with __ This is indicative for lack of __ This will not be biased by __ There were also some important differences in __ It is interesting to note that, __ It is unlikely that __ This may alter or improve aspects of __ In contrast, this makes it possible to __ This is particularly important when investigating __ This has been used to successfully account for __ This introduces a possible confound in __ This was included to verify that __

5. Speculations

However, we acknowledge that there are considerable discussions among researchers as to __ We speculate that this might be due to __ There are reasons to doubt this explanation of __ It remains unclear to which degree __ are attributed to __ However, __ does seem to improve __ This does seem to depend on __ It is important to note, that the present evidence relies on __ The results show that __ does not seem to impact the __ However, the extent to which it is possible to __ is unknown Alternatively, it could simply mean that __ It is difficult to explain such results within the context of __ It is unclear whether this is a suitable for __ This appears to be a case of __ From this standpoint, __ can be considered as __ To date, __remain unknown Under certain assumptions, this can be construed as __ Because of this potential limitation, we treat __ In addition, several questions remain unanswered. At this stage of understanding, we believe__ Therefore, it remains unclear whether __ This may explain why __

6. Deductive arguments

A difference between these __ can only be attributable to __ Nonetheless, we believe that it is well justified to __ This may raise concerns about __ which can be addressed by __ As discussed, this is due to the fact that __ Results demonstrate that this is not necessarily true. These findings support the notion that __ is not influenced by __ This may be the reason why we did not find __ In order to test whether this is equivalent across __, we __ Therefore, __ can be considered to be equivalent for __

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31 Comments

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Results & Discussion

Q: What should be written in the Discussion section of an article?

If the discussion section is about "So what," then what is the conclusion meant for?

Asked by akriti saxena on 18 Oct, 2019

There are two aspects to your question: what goes into the Discussion section of an article and what is the difference between the Discussion and conclusion (sections).

The Discussion section of an article, as the name suggests, is meant to discuss the results of the study with respect to the problem of the study. Thus, you need to address points such as the following:

For more information on writing the Discussion section, you may refer to these resources:

The conclusion is typically a part (the last part) of the Discussion section. You need to provide a short summary of your findings and its meaning for your broad research area. Most journals do not require a separate section for the conclusion. For those that do, you need to write this under a separate heading.

For more information on writing the conclusion, you may refer to these resources:

Answered by Editage Insights on 24 Oct, 2019

Upvote this Answer

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Academic Phrasebank

Discussing findings.

The term ‘discussion’ has a variety of meanings in English. In academic writing, however, it usually refers to two types of activity: a) considering both sides of an issue, or question before reaching a conclusion; b) considering the results of research and the implications of these. Discussion sections in dissertations and research articles are probably the most complex sections in terms of their elements. They normally centre around a ‘statement of result’ or an important ‘finding’. As there is usually more than one result, discussion sections are often structured into a series of discussion cycles. The most common elements in these cycles, and some of the language that is typically associated with them, are listed below. Note that when offering explanations and suggesting implications the language used is very tentative or cautious (refer to the section entitled B e ing cautious ).

Providing background information: reference to the literature

Several reports have shown that … As mentioned in the literature review, … Prior studies that have noted the importance of … Very little was found in the literature on the question of … Previous studies evaluating X observed inconsistent results on whether … A strong relationship between X and Y has been reported in the literature. In reviewing the literature, no data was found on the association between X and Y.

Providing background information: reference to the question

The third question in this research was … An initial objective of the project was to identify … The first question in this study sought to determine … It was hypothesised that participants with a history of … The present study was designed to determine the effect of … With respect to the first research question, it was found that … This study set out with the aim of assessing the importance of X in …

Restating the result or one of several results

One interesting finding is … The current study found that … Another important finding was that … The most interesting finding was that … In this study, Xs were found to cause … The results of this study show/indicate that … On the question of X, this study found that … This experiment did not detect any evidence for … The most important clinically relevant finding was …

X provided the largest set of significant clusters of … It is interesting to note that in all seven cases of this study … The most obvious finding to emerge from the analysis is that … In the current study, comparing X with Y showed that the mean degree of … The results of this study did not show that …/did not show any significant increase in …

Indicating an unexpected outcome

Surprisingly, X was found to …. What is surprising is that …. One unanticipated finding was that …. Surprisingly, no differences were found in …. This finding was unexpected and suggests that …. It is somewhat surprising that no X was noted in this condition …. Contrary to expectations, this study did not find a significant difference between …. However, the observed difference between X and Y in this study was not significant. However, the ANOVA (one way) showed that these results were not statistically significant.

Comparing the result: supporting previous findings

This study confirms that X is associated with … This finding was also reported by Smith et al . (1989). This finding is consistent with that of Smith (2000) who … Comparison of the findings with those of other studies confirms … This also accords with our earlier observations, which showed that … These results reflect those of Smith et al . (1992) who also found that … Increased activation in the X in this study corroborates these earlier findings. These results corroborate the findings of a great deal of the previous work in … This finding broadly supports the work of other studies in this area linking X with Y. In accordance with the present results, previous studies have demonstrated that … It is encouraging to compare this figure with that found by Jones (1993) who found that … Consistent with the literature, this research found that participants who reported using X also … This study supports evidence from previous observations (e.g. Smith, 2006; Jones et al ., 2011). There are similarities between the attitudes expressed by X in this study and those described by …

Comparing the result: contradicting previous findings

This study has been unable to demonstrate that … However, this result has not previously been described. This outcome is contrary to that of Smith et al. (2001) who found … This finding is contrary to previous studies which have suggested that … In contrast to earlier findings, however, no evidence of X was detected. The yields in this investigation were higher compared to those of other studies. However, the findings of the current study do not support the previous research. Smith et al. (1999) showed that … This differs from the findings presented here … The overall level was found to be 15%, lower than that of previously reported levels. It has been suggested that … (Smith et al., 2002). This does not appear to be the case. The levels observed in this investigation are far below those observed by Smith et al. (2007). These results differ from X’s 2003 estimate of Y, but they are broadly consistent with earlier …

Offering an explanation for the findings

A possible explanation for this might be that … Another possible explanation for this is that … This result may be explained by the fact that … There are, however, other possible explanations. These relationships may partly be explained by … There are several possible explanations for this result. A possible explanation for these results may be the lack of adequate … These differences can be explained in part by the proximity of X and Y. These factors may explain the relatively good correlation between X and Y.

This inconsistency may be due to … These results are likely to be related to … This discrepancy could be attributed to … It seems possible that these results are due to … This rather contradictory result may be due to … The observed increase in X could be attributed to … It is difficult to explain this result, but it might be related to …

The possible interference of X cannot be ruled out. It may be that these participants benefitted from … Differences between X and Y may have influenced … These possible sources of error could have affected … There are two likely causes for the differences between … The reason for this is not clear but it may have something to do with … The observed correlation between X and Y might be explained in this way: … Since this difference has not been found elsewhere it is probably not due to …

Advising cautious interpretation of the findings

Another source of uncertainty is … A note of caution is due here since … These findings may be somewhat limited by … These findings cannot be extrapolated to all patients. These data must be interpreted with caution because … It could be argued that the positive results were due to … These results therefore need to be interpreted with caution. In observational studies, there is a potential for bias from … It is important to bear in mind the possible bias in these responses. Although exclusion of X did not …, these results should be interpreted with caution. However, with a small sample size, caution must be applied, as the findings might not be …

Suggesting general hypotheses

It is possible, therefore, that … It can thus be suggested that … In general, therefore, it seems that … It may be the case therefore that these variations … It is therefore likely that such connections exist between … It is possible to hypothesise that these conditions are less likely to occur in …

These findings suggest that … According to these data, we can infer that … This observation may support the hypothesis that … Hence, it could conceivably be hypothesised that … The value of X suggests that a weak link may exist between … These results provide further support for the hypothesis that … Therefore, X could be a major factor, if not the only one, causing …

Noting implications of the findings

It can therefore be assumed that the … An implication of this is the possibility that … The present study raises the possibility that … One of the issues that emerges from these findings is … Some of the issues emerging from this finding relate specifically to …

These findings may help us to understand … This finding, while preliminary, suggests that .… This finding has important implications for developing … This observational study suggests that a diet rich in X may help prevent … These findings raise intriguing questions regarding the nature and extent of … This combination of findings provides some support for the conceptual premise that …

Commenting on the findings

These findings are rather disappointing. However, these results were not very encouraging. The test was successful as it was able to identify students who … The present results are significant in at least two major respects. The results of this study do not explain the occurrence of these adverse events. These findings will doubtless be much scrutinised, but there are some immediately dependable conclusions for …

Giving suggestions for future work

This is an important issue for future research. Research questions that could be asked include … There are still many unanswered questions about … Several questions remain unanswered at present. Despite these promising results, questions remain. Further work is required to establish the viability of… Further research should be undertaken to investigate the … There is abundant room for further progress in determining … A further study with more focus on X is therefore suggested. Future studies on the current topic are therefore recommended. To develop a full picture of X, additional studies will be needed that … In future investigations, it might be possible to use a different X in which … Further studies, which take these variables into account, will need to be undertaken.

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Moral Discussion

Table of Contents

After reading the Lachman article in the resources section, I want you to describe situations you may encounter as a new nurse that could impact your moral resilience. You may choose to include situations from your past. As you think about these situations, consider how to build up your moral resilience. The discussion posting should also address the differences between moral injury, moral distress , and moral residue and how you would cope with each challenge.

Please in APA format, and no plagiarism, correct spelling and grammar.

Vicki D. Lachman, PhD, APRN, MBE, FAAN, is President, V.L. Associates, a consulting and coaching firm, Avalon, NJ, and Sarasota, FL. She is Chair of, American Nurses Association Ethics and Human Rights Advisory Board, and serves on a hospital ethics committee.

Moral Resilience: Managing and Preventing Moral Distress and Moral Residue

P racticing nurses need confidence in confronting morally complex situations to reduce the potential for moral injury, and thus prevent moral dis-

tress and burnout (Rushton, Batcheller, & Schroeder, 2015). To gain this self-confidence, nurses need to identify appropriate levels of moral responsibility in situations of moral ambiguity or complexity. Understanding the concept of moral resilience will help create prevention and intervention strategies. An illustrative case, table of definitions, and attributes of moral resilience are described, discussing how leaders can support resilience by building an ethical workplace.

A Case of Moral Injury and Moral Distress This case example exemplifies the profound impact

of the futile intervention on the mind of a nurse who was able to write the narrative for a research project 30 years later (Ferrell, 2006). This article will use this case to illustrate the definitions (see Table 1) and examine how moral resilience strategies could have helped.

I was working on a medical-surgical floor with a pat ient with end-stage liver cancer. The oncologist decided to do a bone marrow biopsy. There was no benefit to the patient; he just wanted to see what was happening with her. He was not going to change any treatment. My sense was he just wanted to satisfy his curiosity. I was a relatively new nurse and I questioned him some but then let it go. (p. 927)

In this case, the nurse’s action was insufficient to pre-vent an unnecessary, futile procedure. As a result, the nurse experienced lingering feelings over the personal loss of moral integrity (i.e., moral residue).

What Is Resilience? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2015a) defined

resilience as “the ability to become strong, healthy, or successful again after something bad happens; an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or

change” (para. 1-2). By the nature of their work, all nurs- es have had the opportunity to see human resilience in clinical specialties – oncology, neurology, cardiology – and trauma survivors, as well as post-combat experi- ences of traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder. Nurses need resilience to thrive in these inti- mate and complex clinical situations. What are the characteristics of those who are resilient?

A concept analysis of resilience by Earvolino-Ramirez (2007) resulted in helpful descriptive parameters. Her research defined six attributes that repetitively appeared in the literature. The first characteristic was rebounding/ reintegration. “A quality of bouncing back and moving on in life after adversity is present in resilience” (p. 76). Reintegration describes an individual’s desire to return to a normal routine in an improved way. High expectancy/ self-determination was the second characteristic. This involves having a sense of purpose in life and an internal belief an individual will persevere no matter what life brings. The third characteristic was positive relationships/ social support. In nine studies with children and adults, the presence of at least one social support and meaning- ful relationship with one significant adult was consistent with resilient outcomes. Flexibility was the fourth charac- teristic and encapsulated the crux of adaptability – the ability “to roll with the punches,” be accepting, and have an easy temperament. The fifth characteristic was “hav- ing a sense of humor about life situations and about one’s self…” (p. 77). Being able to make light of the adversity and the intensity of personal emotional reac- tions helps individuals keep a realistic perspective. We have all laughed with patients as they navigated through awkward movements in their recovery. The sixth and final characteristic was self-esteem/self-efficacy. These terms often are recognized as the answer to “why some people snap and some people snap back” (p. 77). Earvolino-Ramirez concluded adversity was the single most recognized variable that discriminated resilience from other personality traits (e.g., hardiness) or social management processes (e.g., support groups).

What Is Moral Resilience? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2015b) defined

moral as “concerning or relating to what is right and wrong in human behavior; considered right and good by most people: agreeing with a standard of right behav-

Ethics, Law, and Policy Vicki D. Lachman

March-April 2016 • Vol. 25/No. 2122

ior” (para. 1). Though the term moral resilience was used in numerous publications, no definition was offered (Monteverde, 2014; Rushton et al., 2015; Rushton & Kurtz, 2015). This author defines moral resilience as the ability and willingness to speak and take a right and good action in the face of adversity that is moral/ethical. Lessons learned from military combat situations are instructive in further understanding the application of moral resilience to clinical nursing situations (American Nurses Association [ANA], 2015a; Litz et al., 2009).

Why Is Moral Resilience Key in Dealing with Moral Complexity?

Litz and colleagues (2009) defined moral injury as an injury suffered as a result of “perpetrating, failing to pre-vent, or bearing witness to acts that transgress deeply held moral beliefs and expectations” (p. 296). The harm done by moral injury comes from its ability to “shatter an individual’s beliefs about the purpose and meaning of life, challenge belief in God, induce moral conflict, and even precipitate an existential crisis” (p. 296). Service members, as well as nurses, may experience moral injury from two sources. First, they may witness or do something that violates their moral code. For example, the nurse failed to prevent the intervention in the futility case, creating a moral conflict that left her with moral residue. Second, individuals may become so Ethics, Law, and Policy entrenched in their work culture their moral code begins to incorporate elements of their host culture (Markus & Kitayama, 2003; Monteverde, 2014; Snow, 2009; Zimbardo, 2007). What becomes normal clinical practice can violate compassionate, evidence-based patient care in some unit/organizational cul- tures. Extensive arguments have been offered by situa- tional philosophers and social psychologists that moral character will be traded for situational acceptance. Monteverde (2014) and Erdil and Korkmax (2009) called for new ethics education for nurses; both identified the influence of the so-called hidden or informal curriculum to which students are exposed during clinical prac- tice. Practicing nurses are exposed to the same organizational culture that deals compassionately with difficult patients, confronts patient safety issues, supports patient advance directives, or does not.

Resilient people employ transformational coping strategies of understanding and contextualizing the cir- cumstances of the situation. They see the reality of their work culture and sometimes must take action that does not support the cultural norm. They couple this with situation-focused problem solving to reframe the event in terms of a challenge over which they have some level of control. Resilience is cultivated when nurses are able to frame their experiences contex- tually in environments with different, even competing moral systems while maintaining a healthy sense of commitment, control, and challenge. Van Den Berg

TABLE 1. Terms and Definitions

Term Definition Source Moral complexity Emerges when events do not fit within learned rules. Monteverde, 2014, p. 393 Moral ambiguity The possibility of interpreting an expression in two or more distinct

ways; vagueness or uncertainty of meaning [lack of clarity as what is the right and good thing to do].

The Free Dictionary, 2003

Moral injury Perpetrating, failing to prevent, or bearing witness to acts that trans- gress deeply held moral beliefs and expectations.

Litz et al., 2009, p. 296

Moral distress The condition of knowing the morally right thing to do, but institu- tional, procedural, or social constraints make doing the right thing nearly impossible; threatens core values and moral integrity.

ANA, 2015b, p. 44

Moral residue Lingering feelings after a morally problematic situation has passed; in the face of moral distress, the individual has seriously compro- mised himself or herself, or allowed others to be compromised, resulting in loss of moral integrity.

Epstein & Hamric, 2009, p. 330

Moral courage Capacity to overcome fear and stand up for his or her core values; the willingness to speak out and do what is right in the face of forces that would lead a person to act in some other way; it puts principles into action.

Lachman, 2007, p. 131

Moral resilience The ability and willingness to speak and take a right and good action in the face of adversity that is moral/ethical.

Prestige resilience The set of reactive attitudes that allow a person to cope with the permanent public presence of cultural others, without harming or denying his or her identity.

Van Den Berg, 2004, p. 197

March-April 2016 • Vol. 25/No. 2 123

(2004) defined prestige resilience as “the set of reactive attitudes, which allows a person to cope with the per- manent public presence of cultural others, without harming or denying her own identity” (p. 197). According to Litz and co-authors (2009),

…the idea is not to try and fix the past, but rather to draw a firm line around the past and its related associations, so that the mistakes of the past do not define the present and the future and so that a pre-occupation with the past does not prevent possible future good. (p. 704)

Do morally resilient nurses manage moral distress sit- uations in clinical practice differently, avoiding moral residue that erodes their moral integrity? As Epstein and Hamric (2009) noted in their research, the answer to this question is unknown. Mealer and colleagues (2012) commented, “…future research is needed to better understand coping mechanisms employed by highly resilient nurses and how they maintain a healthier psy- chological profile” (p. 292). This author believes research on the development of resilience could yield promising ways to combat moral distress and moral residue, as well as better understand the development of moral courage and moral resilience (Mealer et al, 2012; Monteverde, 2014; Moore, 2014; Rushton et al., 2015; Wagnild, 2014). Because resilience can be learned, an individual needs to understand what characteristics are most important to develop.

What Other Attributes Are Needed to Build Moral Resilience?

Using the work of Conner and Davidson (2003) from the development of their resilience scale (CD-RISC), Wagnild’s (2014) work on the True Resilience Scale Survey (TRS), and other references in this article, this author adds to the Earvolino-Ramirez (2007) concept analysis of resilience six attributes most relevant to moral resilience. Considerable overlap exists in characteristics, and the fol- lowing statements from the resilience scales address the importance of clarity of beliefs: • “I stay true to myself even when I’m afraid to do so.”

(TRS) • “My deeply held values guide my choices.” (TRS) • “I make decisions that are consistent with my

beliefs.” (TRS) • “I know what’s most important to me and this

knowledge guides my life.” (TRS) • “Make unpopular decisions.” (CD-RISC) • “Can handle unpleasant feelings.” (CD-RISC) In the case, the nurse did not stay true to the personal belief of patient advocacy and was left with the moral residue of guilt.

All authors on resilience address the importance of perseverance. Below are three quotations from the two scales and a book that reflect its importance for moral resilience. • “Even if I don’t feel like it, I do what I need to do.”

• “Best effort no matter what.” (CD-RISC) • “Perseverance means you don’t give up easily on any-

thing.” (Wagnild, 2014, p. 13) These behaviors, plus the six attributes mentioned by Earvolino-Ramirez (2007), are the traits that nurses should develop for moral resilience.

What Can Leaders Do to Increase Moral Resilience in the Workplace?

The resilience of leaders influences the resilience of the people they lead. Allison-Napolitano and Pesut (2015) created a model for resilient leaders and dis- cussed the subject in depth. What follows are three ways leaders can influence moral resilience in a constantly changing, morally complex health care system. 1. Engage in interprofessional dialogue in truly com-

plex cases in a seminar format. This allows members to explore their peers’ methods for engaging in the case. This effort focuses on enabling members to revisit past trauma to develop appreciation of the appropriate context in which trauma occurred by countering the tendency to universalize, and regain a sense of themselves as competent moral agents.

2. Leaders and staff formulate policies and priorities that reinforce the requirement to verbalize concerns in morally complex cases, without the possibility of retribution.

3. Leaders routinely consider the directives they give. Their talk and actions need to be synchronous with a culture that supports an ethical work environment. The advice and counsel they offer, the stories they tell, and perhaps most importantly the examples they provide may indeed alter the manner in which individuals interpret and make sense of their experi- ences in morally complex cases.

Summary Moral resilience is the ability to deal with an ethically

adverse situation without lasting effects of moral dis- tress and moral residue. This requires morally coura- geous action, activating needed supports and doing the right thing. Morally resilient people also have developed self-confidence by confronting such situations so they can maintain their self-esteem, no matter what life delivers. Finally, the ability to adapt to changing circum- stances with a sense of humor is at the heart of their flexibility. Morally resilient nurses are not naïve about the price of moral integrity. They know it does not come without pain of dealing with adversity, but they believe the virtue of moral courage is necessary to meet the eth- ical obligations of their profession (ANA, 2015b).

REFERENCES Allison-Napolitano, E., & Pesut, D.J. (2015). Bounce forward: The

extraordinary resilience of nurse leadership. Silver Spring, MD: American Nurses Association.

March-April 2016 • Vol. 25/No. 2124

Ethics, Law, and Policy

American Nurses Association (ANA). (2015a). Force-feeding of detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Retrieved from http://www. nursingworld.org/ MainMenuCategories/EthicsStandards/ Resources/Force-feeding- of-Detainees-at-Guantanamo-Bay.html

American Nurses Association (ANA). (2015b). Code of ethics for nurses with interpretative statements. Silver Spring, MD: Author.

Connor, K.M., & Davidson, R.T. (2003). Development of a new resilience scale: The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). Depression and Anxiety, 18(2), 76-82.

Earvolino-Ramirez, M. (2007). Resilience: A concept analysis. Nursing Forum, 42(2), 73-82.

Epstein, E.G., & Hamric, A.B. (2009). Moral distress, moral residue, and the crescendo effect. Journal of Clinical Ethics, 20(4), 330-342.

Erdil, F., & Korkmax, F. (2009). Ethical problems observed by student nurses. Nursing Ethics, 16, 589-598.

Ferrell, B.R. (2006). Understanding the moral distress of nurses witness- ing medically futile care. Oncology Nursing Forum, 33(5), 922-930.

Lachman, V.D. (2007). Moral courage: A virtue in need of development? MEDSURG Nursing, 16(2), 131-133.

Litz, B.T., Stein, N., Delaney, E., Lebowitz, L., Nash, W.P., Silva, C., & Maguen, S. (2009). Moral injury and moral repair in war veterans: A preliminary model and intervention strategy. Clinical Psychology Review, 29(8), 695-706.

Markus, H.R., & Kitayama, S. (2003). Culture, self, and the reality of the social. Psychological Inquiry, 14(3/4), 277-283.

Mealer, M., Jones, J., Newman, J., McFann, K.K., Rothman, B., & Moss, M. (2012). The presence of resilience is associated with a healthier psychological profile in intensive care nurses (ICU) nurses: Results of a national survey. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 49(3), 292-299.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary. (2015a). Resilience. Retrieved from http://www. merriam-webster.com/dictionary/resilience

Merriam-Webster Dictionary. (2015b). Moral. Retrieved from http://www. merriam-webster.com/dictionary/moral

Monteverde, S. (2014). Undergraduate healthcare ethics education, moral resilience, and the role of ethical theories. Nursing Ethics, 21(4), 385-401.

Moore, C. (2014). The resilience breakthrough: 27 tools for turning adversity into action.Austin, TX: The Greenleaf Book Group Press.

Rushton, C.H., Batcheller, J., & Schroeder, K. (2015). Burnout and resilience among nurses practicing in high-intensity settings. American Journal of Critical Care, 24(5), 412-420.

Rushton, C.H., & Kurtz, M.J. (2015). Moral distress and you: Supporting ethical practice and moral resilience. Silver Spring, MD: American Nurses Association.

Snow, N.E. (2009). How ethical theory can improve practice: Lessons from Abu Ghraib. Ethical Theory and Moral practice, 12, 55-568.

The Free Dictionary. (2003). Ambiguity. Retrieved from http://www. thefreedictionary.com/ambiguity

Van Den Berg, P. (2004). Be prestige-resilient! A contextual ethics of cul- tural identity. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 7(2), 197-214.

Wagnild, G. (2014). True resilience: Building a life of strength, courage, and meaning. Allendale, NJ: Cape House Books.

Zimbardo, P. (2007). The Lucifer effect: Understanding how good people turn evil. New York, NY: Random House.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

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How to Write a Discussion Section | Tips & Examples

Published on 21 August 2022 by Shona McCombes . Revised on 25 October 2022.

Discussion section flow chart

The discussion section is where you delve into the meaning, importance, and relevance of your results .

It should focus on explaining and evaluating what you found, showing how it relates to your literature review , and making an argument in support of your overall conclusion . It should not be a second results section .

There are different ways to write this section, but you can focus your writing around these key elements:

Table of contents

What not to include in your discussion section, step 1: summarise your key findings, step 2: give your interpretations, step 3: discuss the implications, step 4: acknowledge the limitations, step 5: share your recommendations, discussion section example.

There are a few common mistakes to avoid when writing the discussion section of your paper.

Start this section by reiterating your research problem and concisely summarising your major findings. Don’t just repeat all the data you have already reported – aim for a clear statement of the overall result that directly answers your main research question . This should be no more than one paragraph.

Many students struggle with the differences between a discussion section and a results section . The crux of the matter is that your results sections should present your results, and your discussion section should subjectively evaluate them. Try not to blend elements of these two sections, in order to keep your paper sharp.

Prevent plagiarism, run a free check.

The meaning of your results may seem obvious to you, but it’s important to spell out their significance for your reader, showing exactly how they answer your research question.

The form of your interpretations will depend on the type of research, but some typical approaches to interpreting the data include:

You can organise your discussion around key themes, hypotheses, or research questions, following the same structure as your results section. Alternatively, you can also begin by highlighting the most significant or unexpected results.

As well as giving your own interpretations, make sure to relate your results back to the scholarly work that you surveyed in the literature review . The discussion should show how your findings fit with existing knowledge, what new insights they contribute, and what consequences they have for theory or practice.

Ask yourself these questions:

Your overall aim is to show the reader exactly what your research has contributed, and why they should care.

Even the best research has its limitations. Acknowledging these is important to demonstrate your credibility. Limitations aren’t about listing your errors, but about providing an accurate picture of what can and cannot be concluded from your study.

Limitations might be due to your overall research design, specific methodological choices , or unanticipated obstacles that emerged during your research process.

Here are a few common possibilities:

After noting the limitations, you can reiterate why the results are nonetheless valid for the purpose of answering your research question.

Based on the discussion of your results, you can make recommendations for practical implementation or further research. Sometimes, the recommendations are saved for the conclusion .

Suggestions for further research can lead directly from the limitations. Don’t just state that more studies should be done – give concrete ideas for how future work can build on areas that your own research was unable to address.

Discussion section example

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How to write a good discussion section.

How to Write a Good Discussion Section

The discussion section is a very important part of your dissertation or research paper. It is also one of the most difficult parts to write, and sometimes the longest. Yet, many students write it in a rushed manner. Eager to reach the finishing line, they miss the opportunity to fully explore their findings and put them in the context of other research in the field. The first rule that applies to writing your discussion is therefore to allow enough time to give it the credit that it deserve. Your discussion section allows you to take a fresh perspective on your findings, so you can dig deep and provide new and original ideas from your research.

Here are some of the common mistakes people make when writing their discussion section:

To avoid these mistakes, bear in mind that in your discussion section you are expected to interpret and explain your results, link them to other studies, answer your research question(s) and evaluate your study. You can consider following this sequence: (1) refer to your research question; (2) provide the answer; (3) justify it with relevant results; (4) link your work to the work of others.

Your discussion section is a review of your findings, and it should show you really understand them. It is generally written in the present tense, and can have subheadings to make it easier to read.

The following strategies can help you draft a good discussion:

What is the difference between a discussion section and your conclusion?

There are some similarities between the terms discussion and conclusion in academic writing. These two terms usually represent two separate concepts. While you might have noticed some similarities between the two, they both generally have a different purpose. The discussion is a detailed presentation of your findings and provides scientific back-up for your arguments. It explains your findings and interprets them in context of previous work, as well as provides some suggestions for future research. The conclusion, on the other hand, is generally brief and provides just the main points of your dissertation ; i.e. the take-home message. It can be seen as a summary of your discussion and tells the reader why your research matters. For a more thorough description of the term conclusion as it applies to academic writing, you can refer to this post . If you decide to combine these two concepts, it is important that you cover all of your required topics in a systematic way. At all times, cultivate creative thinking and make sure you are telling the reader a coherent narrative that is hopefully making them excited about your results.

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How to Write a Discussion Essay

Last Updated: February 23, 2023 References

This article was co-authored by Jake Adams . Jake Adams is an academic tutor and the owner of Simplifi EDU, a Santa Monica, California based online tutoring business offering learning resources and online tutors for academic subjects K-College, SAT & ACT prep, and college admissions applications. With over 14 years of professional tutoring experience, Jake is dedicated to providing his clients the very best online tutoring experience and access to a network of excellent undergraduate and graduate-level tutors from top colleges all over the nation. Jake holds a BS in International Business and Marketing from Pepperdine University. There are 11 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 416,290 times.

Planning Your Essay

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If you were given a text to base your essay on, make sure that text has enough evidence to support your chosen position.

Image titled Write a Discussion Essay Step 4

Use Roman numerals on your page to mark your main ideas. Write a main point by each Roman numeral. You should only cover 3 to 4 main points in a relatively short essay, such as one that's 3 to 5 pages.

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Your main sources should be books or ebooks, journal articles from academic journals, and credible websites. You can also use high quality news articles if they're applicable to your topic.

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Writing the Introduction

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For an example or anecdote, start by telling a short story about something relevant to your topic. For instance, you might write the following for an essay on immigration, "When I was 4-years-old, my parents told me we were going on a long trip. After a bus ride, we spent nights walking, my dad carrying me most of the way. One day, we crossed a river. That day marked our first day in our new country."

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For example, you might write, "Immigration is a highly-debated issue. It is controversial because some people fear how it affects the resources of the country the people are immigrating to, while others believe the improved quality of life for immigrants is what’s most important."

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For instance, your thesis statement might be, "Immigration is good for the country because it increases diversity, infuses the country with new talent, and broadens the population's perspective, and it should be encouraged with a few basic safeguards in place."

Composing the Body of Your Essay

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Try not to set up a "straw man" argument, where you don't give the other side a fair chance. You should be able to support your position without purposefully creating a weak position on the other side.

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For instance, maybe you want to transition between a section about increasing diversity to one about bringing in new talent. You might write a sentence like, "Increasing diversity in our country doesn't just bring in new cuisines and art, it also brings in hard workers that have fresh perspectives on old problems in the workforce."

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Concluding Your Essay

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For instance, you might write, "A truly great country is one that celebrates differences and welcomes new ideas and perspectives. While immigration has some negative effects on a country, overall, allowing people from other countries to come in helps to spark new ideas and make the country a better and more interesting place to live. Rather than being a drain on society, immigrants are motivated to work hard and our citizens can only benefit from listening to their perspectives."

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Once you have the flow down, read it again to check for grammatical mistakes and typos. It can help to read it aloud, as it slows you down and forces you to read every word.

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Remember you can't research forever. Often, the research stage absorbs a student so fully that the upcoming submission date seems unimportant. Make sure to leave yourself at least a few days to write your essay. ⧼thumbs_response⧽ Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

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About This Article

To write a discussion essay, start by taking a side on the issue you're writing about, like "Immigration is good for the country." Then, outline the main points that made you decide to take that position and do research to find evidence that backs them up. Look for credible sources that can help you make your argument, and don't forget to cite them. Then, when you're writing your essay, devote 1 paragraph to each main point and include your evidence. For help writing the introduction and conclusion to your essay, scroll down! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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301 Academic Skills Centre

Academic writing.

Strategies and advice on how to communicate your ideas using an appropriate academic register

Student working on laptop in the library

Introduction to academic writing

Producing written work as part of a university exam, essay, dissertation or another form of assignment requires an approach to organisation, structure, voice and use of language that differs from other forms of writing and communication.

Academic writing is a language that no one is born speaking. Understanding more about the conventions of your discipline and the specific features and conventions of academic writing can help you develop confidence and make improvements to your written work.

Academic writing is part of a complex process of finding, analysing and evaluating information, planning, structuring, editing and proofreading your work, and reflecting on feedback that underpins written assessment at university.

Here we focus on the key principles of academic writing as a way to communicate your ideas using appropriate language, structure and organisation.

301 Recommends: Academic Writing Digital Workshop

Try out our interactive digital workshop to explore the key principles of good academic writing.

Academic language

Academic writing is defined by conventions rather than rules. This means that they are flexible and adaptable at least some of the time.

The point is not for you and your peers to produce identical pieces of work, but to provide a shared framework of communication that allows specialists within a field to access information, ideas and concepts quickly and easily.

It goes without saying that academic writing uses a more formal register than everyday communication. The following are four important conventions to follow that will help you to hit the right level of formality in your writing:

Use formal language

Academic writing tends to adopt formal language derived from Latinate, rather than Anglo-Saxon roots. This distinction is particularly evident in the use of verbs in academic language.

In general, phrasal verbs are used when speaking (eg in presentations), whilst Latinate verbs are used in academic writing (eg essays). Phrasal language is more informal, whilst Latinate verbs sound 'posher' and more formal.

Phrasal verbs tend to come in two parts: they use a verb together with an adverb or preposition.

There is often a one-word equivalent, which usually comes from Latin root, reflecting the origins of formal English among educated Romans and the Church.

Examples include:

Carry out = perform

Talk about = discuss

Look up to = respect

Why is this useful? Latinate verbs use fewer words, so can help you develop a more concise writing style.

Latinate verbs can also be more specific than their phrasal equivalents, for example, the phrasal verb 'set up' has several Latinate equivalents:

Set up a room: I’m going to arrange the room for the meeting.

Set up an experiment: The experiment was prepared.

Set up an organisation: The NSPCC was established in 1884.

You may wish to use a mixture of phrasal and Latinate verbs in your writing, and to tailor it to your assignment. For example, if writing a more informal blog post, you may want to use more phrasal language.

Some common examples of academic verb use include:

Carry out: Perform "The experiment was carried out/performed..."

Find out: Investigate "The aim of this project is to find out/investigate…"

Leave out: Omit "Therefore this was left out of/omitted from the analysis..."

Awareness of how and when to use different registers of language can help to improve the level of formality of your writing.

Avoid contractions and abbreviations

Academic writing tends to avoid the types of contractions and abbreviated language that you might use in other forms of communication.

In some cases, this is obvious, but in other cases, where abbreviations have become commonly used forms of words, it can be more difficult to spot.

Are not/is not: Aren't/isn't

Quotation: Quote

UK: United Kingdom

However, some commonly used abbreviations or acronyms relating to the discipline will often need to be used to enhance the clarity of your writing and reduce the word count.

In these cases, it is important to use the full form of the abbreviated name or phrase in the first instance, including the abbreviation in parentheses.

A key role has always been played by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)...

World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations state...

The use of an Electrocardiogram (ECG) is recommended...

Certain extremely commonly used acronyms have become part of common usage and do not require further explanation within a text. For example, AIDS, laser, radar, scuba.

Write objectively

Academic writing tends to strive for an appearance of objectivity.

Although you will no doubt have an informed opinion or theory that you are trying to get across in your writing, it is important to build a compelling objective case for your ideas using evidence and data.

Secondary sources should be used to build a foundation of background thinking, ideas and theories to support your approach.

All secondary sources (books, journals, webpages, conference presentations, films, audio recordings, etc.) should be referenced using the standard system recommended by your department.

A bibliography of all referenced works should be included at the end of your assignment, ordered alphabetically and formatted using the recommended standard system.

Visit the library referencing pages for more information, examples and tutorials.

Primary sources include any information or data that you have found, collected or generated to illustrate your arguments or explore your hypotheses. Primary sources may include texts that you are analysing, survey responses, experimental data, artefacts and much more.

When writing about primary and secondary sources, it is usually better to avoid using the first person ('I' or 'we' forms), as your focus should be on an objective interpretation of that evidence.

The first person is most commonly used to indicate where you are going beyond an objective analysis to put forward your own informed opinions, for example as part of a discussion section or conclusion.

Some principles of using the first person include:

Avoid overusing the first person (I) and use passive forms where possible: "the experiment was conducted..."; "evidence suggests..."; "a sample was taken..."

Watch out for adjectives that imply a value judgement: fantastic, brilliant, rubbish, interesting, good, etc.

Avoid using cliched phrases: "a hot topic..."; "the other side of the coin..."; "at the end of the day..."; "the fact of the matter..."; "in the current climate..."

Avoid overstatement. Make cautious use or avoid the following altogether: extremely, very, really, always, never, a lot, the most, the least

Note: always check department guidelines on the use of first-person forms in your writing.

301 Recommends: Manchester University Academic Phrasebank

The Academic Phrasebank is a repository of the most commonly-used phrases in published academic work, organised according to purpose and function. Explore the Phrasebank for ideas on how to express yourself using established academic language.

Paragraphs and flow

Paragraphs are the building blocks of your written work, and a good essay or assignment will organise the content clearly at a paragraph level.

However, in a piece of academic writing paragraphs can be tricky to structure due to the complexity of ideas that you are likely to be working with.

The following structure is not the only way to write a paragraph, but it is a common model that is used in academic writing to build sources and evidence into your writing in a critical and analytical way.

Writing good paragraphs: structure

Most paragraphs of academic writing tend to follow a similar organisational structure:

The topic sentence: States the main idea or area to be covered by the paragraph.

Explanation or definitions (optional): Can be used to clarify any difficult or uncertain terminology introduced in the topic sentence.

Evidence and examples: One or more sentences introducing key ideas, sources, quotes, case studies, evidence or data.

Comment: Explores what the evidence means, how it can be summarised or whether it needs to be challenged.

Concluding sentence: Relates the paragraph to your overall argument and links forward to the next paragraph.

The final sentence is often the most important part of a paragraph as it clarifies your interpretation of the topic area and identifies how it contributes to your overall argument.

Watch this short study skills hacks video for more information.

Writing good paragraphs: unity

A paragraph will usually discuss only one idea as outlined in the first sentence, the topic sentence . If you find a paragraph drifting away from this controlling idea, it is time to split it into more than one paragraph:

The opening sentence of paragraph should outline the main idea (topic sentence).

Every supporting sentence should directly explain, refer back to, or build on the main idea using specific evidence and examples where possible.

Use the final sentence(s) to refer back to the topic sentence and lead into the following paragraph.

Writing good paragraphs: flow

The skill of structuring your writing and building effective connections between paragraphs is one that will allow you to develop and sustain a compelling argument in your written work.

By setting out your ideas and evidence with a natural flow, you will make your work much more readable.

This important technique will help you work towards higher levels of attainment in assignments and help to improve the quality of your everyday writing.

Paraphrasing and quoting

When you are producing a piece of writing at university, you will often want to talk about what someone else has written about the topic.

There are four distinct ways of doing this.

Quoting: directly including in your work the published words or other data you have found in a source

Paraphrasing: expressing in your own words the ideas, arguments, words or other material you have found published elsewhere

Para-quoting: paraphrasing an idea or area but retaining one or more important words and phrases from the original in quotation marks

Summarising: providing a top-level overview of a single larger area of work or multiple sources

There are many reasons for quoting or paraphrasing in your own work, but essentially these techniques allow you to show your understanding of current knowledge about the topic you are studying and respond to that knowledge in your work.

Remember that you will need to cite and reference all of the sources that have informed your work.

It is a complex linguistic skill to incorporate others’ work smoothly and efficiently into your own by quoting or paraphrasing.

Skilful use of sources and selective quoting and paraphrasing are important elements of the critical writing process, which is in greater detail on the critical thinking pages – see Legitimation Code Theory for more ideas.

It is also a key skill of academic writing that will help to ensure that your work does not include elements of plagiarism.

For more information on plagiarism, including suggestions on how to avoid it, see the following resource from the Department of Physics and Astronomy .

As with other aspects of working with sources, it is important to follow your department's specific guidelines about these skills.

When to quote and when to paraphrase

You should direct quote

if you are referring to a formal definition in which the specific language is important

if you are quoting an opinion (with which you do not necessarily agree)

if you are reporting direct speech, eg the reactions or experience of someone actually involved

if you wish to highlight specific features of the author's writing style

You should paraphrase

to elaborate on or explain a concept or definition to your reader

to engage critically with an opinion or source and demonstrate that you understand it fully

to summarise the reactions or experience of one or more individual

if the general concept is more important than the specific language used

academic writing discussion

Writing to a word count

If you find you often go over the word count on an assignment, there are several possible causes and solutions.

In this online resource, we will think about the purpose of the word count, the reasons why we might go over it, and strategies to tackle it.

Why is there a word count?

Word counts are part of the challenge of academic writing for several reasons:

To suggest a level of detail: with one topic, you could write a 100-word summary, 1,000-word essay, 10,000-word dissertation, or a 100,000 word PhD thesis. The word count gives an indication of the level of depth you are expected to go into

To ensure fairness: each student has the same number of words to show the marker what they know.

To test your communication skills: being able to keep within a word count requires a concise writing style and excellent communication skills – it helps you get straight to the point.

To demonstrate your critical thinking skills: to stay within word counts, you need to focus on what is most important and select the best examples and case studies. It puts critical thinking into practice

As a matter of practicality: markers only have a finite amount of time to mark work.

Why do we go over the word count?

First of all, it is important to remember that being over the word count is better than having a blank page. The ideas are down on the page but might need refining. There are several reasons why you might have exceeded the word count:

Still developing an effective structure: Do you have a clear plan and have you stuck to it? If not, can you map out an overall structure for your essay and identify areas where you have departed from it?

Fear of missing out on something important: try to be selective with examples and arguments. What is your mission statement or key argument, and how does each section help you make it?

Waffling (using 200 words when 100 will do): work on developing a concise academic writing style. Even if you’re not over the word count, this leaves you more words for your critical analysis and discussion

Writing to a word count involves careful planning and organisation to make sure that you get your main points across. The following points might help you to stay within the parameters that you are aiming for:

Remember: Having a more concise academic writing style gives you more words to use on things that are important, eg critical analysis and discussion. It’s not just about cutting the odd word here and there to get you under the word count.

The following are some simple tips to make sure you stay within your word count:

Find out what counts towards your word count (for references, footnotes, abstract, captions, tables, text boxes…)

Consider combining related sections or cutting irrelevant sections.

Focus on condensing your key arguments.

Use a concise academic writing style, eg avoid excessive hedging, remove redundant adjectives.

Lie about your word count.

Cut sections just to meet the word count.

Focus on removing individual words – this will be extremely time consuming and will make little impact on your overall count.

Use contractions to meet the word count (eg isn't, doesn't, shouldn't) – this is not academic.

Useful resources

Internal resources.

Disability and Dyslexia Support Service (DDSS) – Paraphrasing

University of Sheffield Library – Information and digital literacy skills tutorials

Department of Physics and Astronomy – Paraphrasing resource

English Language Teaching Centre (ELTC) – Seminar recording: Punctuation in academic writing

ELTC – Seminar recording: Academic vocabulary

ELTC – Seminar: Nominalisation

External Resources

Manchester University – Academic phrasebank

UCL Institute of English – Word count

Gunning Fog Index Calculator – Online tool

Purdue Online Writing Lab – Quoting, paraphrasing and summarising

Wisconsin Writing Centre – Paraphrasing vs. quoting

Using English for academic purposes – Writing paragraphs

Related information

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How to Write the Discussion Section of a Research Paper

The discussion section of a research paper should tie together your arguments and present your findings to the reader. The goal of this post is to help you write an engaging, professional discussion that will leave readers with something they can take away from your work. This article includes examples and tips for ensuring that your writing in this section is clear, concise, compelling, and polished.

What is a Research Paper?

Research papers are a common type of academic writing assignment that is often given in college. They can be assigned as part of a class, like an English literature course or independent research projects. The goal is to write enough details about the topic without going overboard so that readers have all they need to understand it fully and not feel lost.

It can be used as the foundation for an argumentative essay or to analyze and explore a subject in depth.

Just follow the simple steps below!

What is the Purpose of the Discussion Section of a Research Paper?

Discussions sections are meant to go into more depth about a topic that can be done in the introduction. It would be best if you used this section to present your argument and make an attempt at convincing readers that it is accurate or valid based on whatever evidence you have provided.

Any discussion aims to provide enough information for someone who did not write it to understand the topic. While it should go beyond simply listing details, you do not need to present a complete picture if your evidence does not allow for broad strokes. It would be best if you convinced readers that your argument holds weight. Therefore, be clear about whether or not you agree with it and provide compelling evidence that supports broader knowledge and your point of view.

Writing the Discussion Section of a Research Paper

Once you interpret and summarize previously published research, use your own words to write the study findings to avoid plagiarism. If your presentation is lengthy, consider using subheadings to clarify the main points, so your target audience understands. The use of active voice and first-person are strongly preferred.

Try to avoid repeating what was said in the introduction or elsewhere in the body of the paper. Instead, discuss topics at length and use details from your results to back up your claims. For example, if you used a particular method, provide specific examples and explain its relevance in more detail than was done previously.

The purpose of a discussion section is to use your study/experiment results to infer conclusions about the topic at hand. It would help if you used this opportunity to examine your findings and extrapolate what it all means critically.

What Are the Parts of a Discussion in a Research Paper?

The discussion section of your paper should include the following:

1. A summary of Your Findings and Results

The summary should be brief, and you should aim at providing a general idea of what your study is all about. Summarize your main findings in a way that makes sense to the reader. It helps them understand why certain conclusions can be drawn from the data.

Tie your key findings into previous studies as well as your argument. Show how your study differs from others and how you were able to perform new experiments.

How do you think the results of your paper contribute to a larger framework? Include figures and tables if necessary, especially if they are integral to helping you make conclusions. Such a discussion aims to provide information that clarifies why your research is essential, what can be learned from it, and how it adds to the existing knowledge on this topic.

Systematically explain how your findings contribute to the existing body of research. Mention a few historical references as a context to your research.

Have a thorough understanding of what you found out and why it matters so that you can detail the crucial points to justify why this research matters.

For example, if you’re looking into how eating food impacts heart rate, you can mention which foods were tested and their respective effects on the body. You can also extrapolate your findings, suggesting that those who want to reduce their heart rates should avoid eating certain types of food.

2. A Discussion of Results/Findings In Relation to Other Studies

Be sure to discuss the study limitations and explain why your findings may or may not be valid. For example, are there some factors that you haven’t considered that might have influenced the outcome? Were your data based on a small sample size with limited demographic diversity? These are just some of the factors that you need to keep in mind when considering your findings. Mention both the strengths and limitations of your research. Limitations are the most frequently neglected aspects of scientific research but must not be omitted.

3. A Review of the Literature

The literature review section is where you provide an overall analysis of the research that has been done on this topic. It means going over existing studies and pointing out what they have in common, as well as what makes them different from each other. This should be more than just a simple summary, but instead an analysis of past research that’s insightful and clear to its readers. Be sure to explain which parts of the research are relevant and why.

The following is an example of one way you could structure this section:

A review of the literature discusses three key points that inform the present study: 1) how other researchers have viewed this issue in the past, 2) how our research adds to what is already known about the topic, and 3) how we can use our results to guide future research efforts.

Our findings seem to indicate that there is a link between interest-based motivation and academic achievement when compared across grades. It follows that as students get older, interest-based motivation plays a more significant role in academic achievement. Also, the relationship between these two variables is more substantial for students identified by their teachers as gifted or talented.

We conclude with an overview of how our results add to existing research and possible future avenues of study. This section also summarizes our major findings and leaves the reader with a sense of how the present study contributed to existing knowledge in this area.

When writing your research paper, consider using the 5Ws and H (Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How) as a guide for organizing your thoughts. You can apply these questions to your own research paper outline by considering the following:

What is this study about?

Where and when did it take place?

Who was involved in this study?

How does one explain the findings of the study (i.e., what are possible explanations)?

Why did the researchers perform this study? What was their goal?

4. Interpretation and Implications of Your Discussion

Your interpretation section is where you explain what the results mean. It’s an opportunity to provide a deeper analysis than can be done in the introduction. You should tie together your research with similar topics and include detailed references to previous studies. Discuss theoretical connections, practical implications, and future avenues of research.

5. A Discussion of the Results as Relates to Gap in the Field of Study

This section is an excellent place to explain why there has been no research on the subject. Point out why this topic is important and how it can be used in subsequent research papers. If you are interested in continuing your research, this would be the place to mention it. It shows that you are passionate about the topic and willing to put more time into it. A discussion of gaps in the field also helps explain why you believe your results to be indicative. It can even be used as evidence to support your argument.

6. The Implications of the Findings for Theory and Practice

This section discusses how these study results might affect other published research or the general public, especially if your study is relevant to a widely debated topic.

7. A Discussion of Future Research

Take this opportunity to mention other hypotheses that could be tested by following up on your research and any limitations of the present study that demand further exploration. However, avoid getting too caught up with a desire for more research. You want to convince your readers that you have done an excellent job without sounding desperate for more studies to validate your claims.

If you do not plan on continuing your research, include what other studies could be conducted based on your findings. Include also how they should go about their research to avoid possible flaws in methodology.

8. Conclusions/Interpretations of Findings

Please give your opinion (your personal conclusions) on what the data shows and how it clarifies previous findings in this field. State where your study adds value to existing research and show how it applies to real-life situations.

Remember that this should be more than just an analysis of the findings. It should also serve as an introduction to those who are not well-versed in the subject and why it is essential at large. Conclude with your opinion on whether your hypothesis was supported or rejected. Tie yourself and the reader back to your problem statement. Draw conclusions and present them as assertions or findings. Avoid using absolute terms like ‘never,’ ‘always,’ and so on.

If you have done an excellent job, the reader should be able to walk away with a clear understanding of the implications of your research and how it can be used in future studies.

academic writing discussion

Format and Writing Style

academic writing discussion

What is the Main Difference Between “Discussion” and “Conclusion” Sections of a Research Paper?

Although the discussion and conclusion sections can often be similar, there is one main difference between them. The conclusion section recaps your experiment and provides a brief overview of what was found.

In contrast, the discussion section expands on your findings by giving a detailed explanation of how they relate to the topic at hand. You also use the discussion section to discuss gaps in your field and how future research can improve upon your findings.

A Sample Discussion Section for a Research Paper

The following is an example discussion section that you can adapt to fit your research paper:

Although this study did not investigate how exactly social media affects young people, it provided some evidence that there may be a strong correlation. Future studies should be conducted that would explore this link more thoroughly and determine a causal relationship between social media use and depression.

The results of this study could also help explain some research done on the topic of suicide, which has been seen to double between the years 1940 and 2009 (Kessler et al., 2010). For example, one study found that young girls who spent more than five hours using social media per day were twice as likely to develop depressive symptoms (Shirangi et al., 2012). Many researchers have attributed the increase in suicide among adolescents in recent years to depression, bullying, and other factors. Still, perhaps one of the biggest causes is a more significant amount of time spent on social media.

Further research could investigate if social media use directly causes feelings of depression or if the relationship is derived from other factors such as peer pressure, low self-esteem, and anxiety. It would also be interesting to see if these findings are typically seen regardless of gender, age or culture.

To answer this question, it might be helpful to have a large sample that is diverse in terms of gender, race, and age range. Moreover, it would be essential to look at specific social media sites like Twitter or Instagram rather than just Facebook.

Additional research should also investigate how different age groups are affected by social media use. For example, some researchers have found that middle school students who spent more than two hours a day on social media were twice as likely to develop depressive symptoms than those who spent less than thirty minutes (Konofagou et al., 2016).

Other studies, however, have found that adolescents between the ages of thirteen and fifteen do not show any similar results (Finkenauer et al., 2010).

Further research could also investigate how social media directly affects the moods of its users. Some have suggested that frequent exposure to various forms of social media can cause narcissistic tendencies and decrease self-esteem (Lasaleta et al., 2017).

Some researchers believe that the amount of time spent on platforms such as Facebook could be a significant predictor of depressive symptoms (Baker, 2013).

Future research could also investigate whether being on social media makes individuals feel more isolated from society. Some have found that even though online interactions are becoming a part of everyday life, they seem to be replacing time spent with in-person interactions and doing activities such as watching television.

One study found that more than half of the students who were surveyed spent at least an hour looking at their phones while spending time with friends (Lenhart, Madden, & Hitlin, 2015). This suggests that even when individuals are in a social environment, they choose to be on their phones rather than engage directly with those around them.

As can be seen, there are many possible consequences of social media use that have differed between studies. To better understand the effect these sites might have on their users, it would be interesting to see more research done like in this study, which investigated depression rates among different age groups. Future research should also investigate other factors such as gender, race, and culture when investigating the relationship between social media and depression.

Researchers should investigate how different forms of social media directly affect users. Some have suggested that sites like Facebook can cause narcissistic tendencies among its users, leading to feelings of isolation (Lasaleta et al., 2017). These ideas could also be explored in more detail by observing how various age groups

Identifying Theoretical and Practical Implications

Theoretical implications:.

Practical Implications:

What Are Some Key Characteristics of a Discussion Section?

What Are Some Common Mistakes Made in a Discussion Section?

Get started now!

1. When writing a discussion section, is it necessary to use jargon? Why or why not?

2. What would be the most critical characteristic of your discussion that you should mention in your post?

3. If you discuss limitations and implications for future research, when should these be mentioned in your post?

4. What are some common mistakes you should avoid when writing a discussion section in your post?

5. If you were to discuss too much or too little, what would be the best amount of information to include in your post (be specific and give examples)?

6. Is it necessary for all discussion sections in a research paper to address limitations and implications for future research?

7. What is the best way to check your work for spelling and grammar mistakes?

8. How long should a discussion section be in a paper (be specific and give examples)?

9. If you were writing about writing good discussion sections, what would be the essential point to make?

10. Is it ever necessary to use jargon when writing a discussion section in your post? Why or why not?

Writing Tips

Time to Write!

Now, start using these tips to write a discussion that will be engaging, clear, and concise.

Start by summarizing the previous research on your topic. Make sure to avoid plagiarism if you did not conduct this study yourself and credit any sources accordingly.

Present your own opinions as part of the body of your paper to make an argument for your argument.

Consider using subheadings to break up the main points and make your discussion easier to follow for readers.

Write a strong conclusion, restating your argument. Include any relevant personal opinions on the topic that you have developed since completing your research. Be sure to reference any additional work on the subject that you might do in the future.

Ensure that your writing is engaging and professional, without errors or typos, when formatting your discussion section.

Writing a research paper can be time-consuming and challenging. However, it can become much easier once you learn how to write different sections of your academic writing. Use these steps as guidelines when you sit down to write your discussion section and start your research paper.

In this blog post, we’ve attempted to outline some of the essential elements of tackling research questions or having a good discussion of your scientific papers. We hope this article was helpful for you. Keep reading our blog for more tips on writing papers.

academic writing discussion

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How to Write a Discussion Section for a Research Paper

We’ve talked about several useful writing tips that authors should consider while drafting or editing their research papers. In particular, we’ve focused on figures and legends , as well as the Introduction , Methods , and Results . Now that we’ve addressed the more technical portions of your journal manuscript, let’s turn to the analytical segments of your research article. In this article, we’ll provide tips on how to write a strong Discussion section that best portrays the significance of your research contributions.

What is the Discussion section of a research paper?

In a nutshell, your Discussion fulfills the promise you made to readers in your Introduction . At the beginning of your paper, you tell us why we should care about your research. You then guide us through a series of intricate images and graphs that capture all the relevant data you collected during your research. We may be dazzled and impressed at first, but none of that matters if you deliver an anti-climactic conclusion in the Discussion section!

Are you feeling pressured? Don’t worry. To be honest, you will edit the Discussion section of your manuscript numerous times. After all, in as little as one to two paragraphs ( Nature ‘s suggestion based on their 3,000-word main body text limit), you have to explain how your research moves us from point A (issues you raise in the Introduction) to point B (our new understanding of these matters). You must also recommend how we might get to point C (i.e., identify what you think is the next direction for research in this field). That’s a lot to say in two paragraphs!

So, how do you do that? Let’s take a closer look.

What should I include in the Discussion section?

As we stated above, the goal of your Discussion section is to answer the questions you raise in your Introduction by using the results you collected during your research . The content you include in the Discussions segment should include the following information:

How to Write the Discussion Section

The above list of what to include in the Discussion section gives an overall idea of what you need to focus on throughout the section. Below are some tips and general suggestions about the technical aspects of writing and organization that you might find useful as you draft or revise the contents we’ve outlined above.

Technical writing elements

Discussion section organization

Discussion Part 1: Summarizing Key Findings

Begin the Discussion section by restating your statement of the problem and briefly summarizing the major results. Do not simply repeat your findings. Rather, try to create a concise statement of the main results that directly answer the central research question that you stated in the Introduction section . This content should not be longer than one paragraph in length.

Many researchers struggle with understanding the precise differences between a Discussion section and a Results section . The most important thing to remember here is that your Discussion section should subjectively evaluate the findings presented in the Results section, and in relatively the same order. Keep these sections distinct by making sure that you do not repeat the findings without providing an interpretation.

Phrase examples: Summarizing the results

Discussion Part 2: Interpreting the Findings

What do the results mean? It may seem obvious to you, but simply looking at the figures in the Results section will not necessarily convey to readers the importance of the findings in answering your research questions.

The exact structure of interpretations depends on the type of research being conducted. Here are some common approaches to interpreting data:

Organize the Discussion section around key arguments, themes, hypotheses, or research questions or problems. Again, make sure to follow the same order as you did in the Results section.

Discussion Part 3: Discussing the Implications

In addition to providing your own interpretations, show how your results fit into the wider scholarly literature you surveyed in the literature review section. This section is called the implications of the study . Show where and how these results fit into existing knowledge, what additional insights they contribute, and any possible consequences that might arise from this knowledge, both in the specific research topic and in the wider scientific domain.

Questions to ask yourself when dealing with potential implications:

Your purpose in giving the implications is to spell out exactly what your study has contributed and why researchers and other readers should be interested.

Phrase examples: Discussing the implications of the research

Step 4: Acknowledging the limitations

All research has study limitations of one sort or another. Acknowledging limitations in methodology or approach helps strengthen your credibility as a researcher. Study limitations are not simply a list of mistakes made in the study. Rather, limitations help provide a more detailed picture of what can or cannot be concluded from your findings. In essence, they help temper and qualify the study implications you listed previously.

Study limitations can relate to research design, specific methodological or material choices, or unexpected issues that emerged while you conducted the research. Mention only those limitations directly relate to your research questions, and explain what impact these limitations had on how your study was conducted and the validity of any interpretations.

Possible types of study limitations:

After discussing the study limitations, you can also stress that your results are still valid. Give some specific reasons why the limitations do not necessarily handicap your study or narrow its scope.

Phrase examples: Limitations sentence beginners

Discussion Part 5: Giving Recommendations for Further Research

Based on your interpretation and discussion of the findings, your recommendations can include practical changes to the study or specific further research to be conducted to clarify the research questions. Recommendations are often listed in a separate Conclusion section , but often this is just the final paragraph of the Discussion section.

Suggestions for further research often stem directly from the limitations outlined. Rather than simply stating that “further research should be conducted,” provide concrete specifics for how future can help answer questions that your research could not.

Phrase examples: Recommendation sentence beginners

Consider Receiving Professional Language Editing

As you edit or draft your research manuscript, we hope that you implement these guidelines to produce a more effective Discussion section. And after completing your draft, don’t forget to submit your work to a professional proofreading and English editing service like Wordvice, including our manuscript editing service for paper editing , cover letter editing , SOP editing , and personal statement proofreading services. Language editors not only proofread and correct errors in grammar, punctuation, mechanics, and formatting but also improve terms and revise phrases so they read more naturally. Wordvice is an industry leader in providing high-quality revision for all types of academic documents.

For additional information about how to write a strong research paper, make sure to check out our full research writing series !

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How to Write Discussions and Conclusions
A successful discussion section puts your findings in context. It should include: the results of your research, a discussion of related research, and a comparison between your results and initial hypothesis. Tip: Not all journals share the same naming conventions.
How to Write a Discussion Section
What not to include in your discussion section Step 1: Summarize your key findings Step 2: Give your interpretations Step 3: Discuss the implications Step 4: Acknowledge the limitations Step 5: Share your recommendations Discussion section example Frequently asked questions about discussion sections What not to include in your discussion section
PDF 7th Edition Discussion Phrases Guide
Papers usually end with a concluding section, often called the "Discussion." The Discussion is your opportunity to evaluate and interpret the results of your study or paper, draw inferences and conclusions from it, and communicate its contributions to science and/or society. Use the present tense when writing the Discussion section. •
Writing a Successful Discussion Post
3. Construct a draft. Discussion post assignments often have multiple questions. Instead of answering each one in order, use a topic sentence to bring all points together into one central argument, claim, or purpose. Use your evidence to build your response and persuade your readers by supporting your claim with course readings or outside ...
How to write a discussion section?
The discussion section can be written in 3 parts: an introductory paragraph, intermediate paragraphs and a conclusion paragraph. For intermediate paragraphs, a "divide and conquer" approach, meaning a full paragraph describing each of the study endpoints, can be used.
Academic Discussion Strategies
Academic Discussion Strategies In US universities, students are encouraged and expected to participate in class. Instructors consider it part of the learning process. Questioning the instructor and providing your own opinion indicate that you are paying attention and thinking critically about the material being presented to you.
Organizing Academic Research Papers: 8. The Discussion
The content of the discussion section of your paper most often includes: Explanation of results: comment on whether or not the results were expected and present explanations for the results; go into greater depth when explaining findings that were unexpected or especially profound.
What is Academic Writing?
Academic writing should use clear and precise language to ensure the reader understands the meaning. This includes the use of technical (i.e. subject-specific) vocabulary, which should be used when it conveys the meaning more precisely than a similar non-technical term.
Academic Writing Tips for the Discussion Section of a Research Paper
Think of your discussion and conclusion section as an inverted pyramid: start from the general aspects of your research and then focus on the specifics. Use the same terms, academic writing style that was used throughout your research paper
Discussion essays
These are known as discussion or for and against essays. In this sense, the academic meaning of the word discuss is similar to its everyday meaning, of two people talking about a topic from different sides. For a discussion essay, a balanced view is normally essential.
8. The Discussion
When writing the discussion section, you should carefully consider all possible explanations for the study results, rather than just those that fit your hypothesis or prior assumptions and biases. This is especially important when describing the discovery of significant or unanticipated findings. V. Acknowledge the Study's Limitations
Academic Writing Style
Academic writing is "thesis-driven," meaning that the starting point is a particular perspective, idea, or position applied to the chosen topic of investigation, such as, establishing, proving, or disproving solutions to the questions applied to investigating the research problem.
How to Write an Effective Discussion in a Research Paper; a Guide to
For doing this, more details about the purpose of writing a discussion in an academic research project are provided and differences between discussion and introduction are clarified. Then, the ...
Academic Phrases for Writing Results & Discussion Sections of a
Results and discussions can either be combined into one section or organized as separate sections depending on the requirements of the journal to which you are submitting your research paper. Use subsections and subheadings to improve readability and clarity. Number all tables and figures with descriptive titles.
What to write in the Discussion section of an article ...
The Discussion section of an article, as the name suggests, is meant to discuss the results of the study with respect to the problem of the study. Thus, you need to address points such as the following: What do the results mean for the problem and hypothesis of the study? What are the implications for the target population?
BBC Learning English
Topics include: academic vocabulary; essay structure; writing in online discussion forums; the language of academic argument and more. Click on the images and do the activities! Academic Writing 1 ...
Discussing findings
Discussing findings. The term 'discussion' has a variety of meanings in English. In academic writing, however, it usually refers to two types of activity: a) considering both sides of an issue, or question before reaching a conclusion; b) considering the results of research and the implications of these. Discussion sections in dissertations ...
Moral Discussion
After reading the Lachman article in the resources section, I want you to describe situations you may encounter as a new nurse that could impact your moral resilience. You may choose to include situations from your past. As you think about these situations, consider how to build up your moral resilience. The discussion posting should […]
How to Write a Discussion Section
Table of contents. What not to include in your discussion section. Step 1: Summarise your key findings. Step 2: Give your interpretations. Step 3: Discuss the implications. Step 4: Acknowledge the limitations. Step 5: Share your recommendations. Discussion section example.
How to Write a Good Discussion Section
Your discussion section allows you to take a fresh perspective on your findings, so you can dig deep and provide new and original ideas from your research. Here are some of the common mistakes people make when writing their discussion section: Simply repeating their results section, with little reference to existing literature.
How to Write a Discussion Essay (with Pictures)
A discussion essay, also known as an argumentative essay, is one where you take a position on an issue. Start by taking a side, researching your topic, and outlining your essay before launching into the introduction and your thesis statement. [1]
Academic writing
Academic writing tends to strive for an appearance of objectivity. Although you will no doubt have an informed opinion or theory that you are trying to get across in your writing, it is important to build a compelling objective case for your ideas using evidence and data.
How to Write the Discussion Section of a Research Paper
Your discussion section should be written in an engaging, professional manner to keep readers engaged and return for future projects. Include any additional research on the topic if you have found something since completing your initial project that would further support your argument.
How to Write a Discussion Section for a Research Paper
Begin the Discussion section by restating your statement of the problem and briefly summarizing the major results. Do not simply repeat your findings. Rather, try to create a concise statement of the main results that directly answer the central research question that you stated in the Introduction section.
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