IntroductionThe Introduction should provide readers with the background information needed to understand your study, and the reasons why you conducted your experiments. The Introduction should answer the question: what question/problem was studied? Show
While writing the background, make sure your citations are:
TIP: Do not write a literature review in your
Introduction, but do cite reviews where readers can find more information if they want it. Once you have provided background material and stated the problem or question for your study, tell the reader the purpose of your study. Usually the reason is to fill a gap in the knowledge or to answer a previously unanswered question. For example, if a drug is known to work well in one population, but has never been tested in a different population, the purpose of a study
could be to test the efficacy and safety of the drug in the second population. The final thing to include at the end of your Introduction is a clear and exact statement of your study aims. You might also explain in a sentence or two how you conducted the study. Materials and MethodsThis section provides the reader with all the details of how you conducted your study. You should:
TIP: Check the ‘Instructions for Authors’ for your target journal to see how manuscripts should present the
Materials and Methods. Also, as another guide, look at previously published papers in the journal or sample reports on the journal website. ResultsIn the Results section, simply state what you found, but do not interpret the results or discuss their implications.
TIP: There is a famous saying in English: “A picture is worth a thousand words.” This means that, sometimes, an image can explain your findings far better than text could. So make good use of figures and tables in your manuscript! However, avoid including redundant figures and tables (e.g. two showing the same thing in a different format), or using figures and tables where it would be better to just include the information in the text (e.g. where there is not enough data for a table or figure). Back│Next 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. 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. Questions to ask yourself:
How to structure a discussionTrying 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: Writing TipsWhile 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!
Do
Don’t
Snippets of Effective Discussions:
Related Resources
What is the implications section of a research paper?Answer: Research implications suggest how the findings may be important for policy, practice, theory, and subsequent research. Research implications are basically the conclusions that you draw from your results and explain how the findings may be important for policy, practice, or theory.
Which part of the research paper explains the implications of the results?Definition. The purpose of the discussion section is to interpret and describe the significance of your findings in relation to what was already known about the research problem being investigated and to explain any new understanding or insights that emerged as a result of your research.
Which section of the research report contains a discussion of the study findings?The results section of the research paper is where you report the findings of your study based upon the information gathered as a result of the methodology [or methodologies] you applied.
In which section of a scientific article would the author provide the details about participants materials and procedures?The Methods section of a research article includes an explanation of the procedures used to conduct the experiment.
|