The discussion section of an academic paper is a key part of the process of elaborating on scientific findings, revealing their potential impact, and building on the advances made by those who have gone before. In order to ensure that the argument is clear and easy to understand, the five steps of discussion writing and the practical techniques to effectively prepare the discussion section are proposed for your reference.
I. Five Steps to Discussion Writing
Five main steps are advocated to assist in achieving a high quality text in the discussion section:
1. restate the conclusion and key findings;
2. compare and contrast the findings with the previous literature, highlighting new advances made in the process;
3. reveal potential shortcomings of this study;
4. suggest potential strategies to address these limitations and challenges;
5. discuss what changes in experimental conditions might have occurred and ask questions accordingly.
Practical Techniques for Efficiently Compiling a Discussion Section
Following the steps above, we will introduce you to three important practical techniques:
1. Emphasise the conclusions
Before the end of each chapter, summarise the core ideas of the chapter. Reiterating the emphasis makes the points more distinct and easier for the reader to recall. In addition, be sure to clearly incorporate references to supporting information to enhance the credibility of your points.
2. Comparing Research Findings
In the Discussion section, compare and contrast the positive and negative or comparative results shown with existing research to argue the importance and uniqueness of your own research. Citing similar studies and analysing their similarities and differences demonstrates your own insight and points out the strengths in this study. At the same time, one should avoid too many critical remarks that may undermine one’s authority.
3. Reference to potential solutions
Use the discussion section to list some specific and feasible strategies or methods of improvement to address the problem or challenge faced to provide insights for future scientific research. You should also recognise that all solutions are temporary and that successive research processes may lead to better cracks.
These are the techniques used in writing the discussion section and I hope they will be of benefit to you. You can use these conventionalised formats and sentences to organically integrate relevant information and together build the complete structure of the discussion section.
III. Common Sentence Types and Phrases
Finally, to make it easier for you to organise your presentation, here is a list of sentence structures and phrases that are commonly used in the Discussion section to make your research appear more in-depth and detailed:
1. Association with previous findings
… validates the important role of the parent source in …
2…. Consistency of data entry
… Indicates that there are significant differences in… Indicates that there are significant differences in … between the samples.
3. Alternative interpretation of research results
The further development of this research may reveal a series of complex mechanisms.
4. The value proposition of discovery
The causal relationship derived from this paper has wide application prospects in practice. 5.
5. The limitations of the coexistence of research methods
Although the study of… provides important clues, the methodology still remains unchanged. Although the study of… provides important clues, the method still has some limitations.
6. Intervention actions that may lead to different outcomes
Giving… interventions can improve the ability of the study sample and warrant further study and exploration.
7. Possible applications
The principles revealed by… The principles revealed by… provide new ideas for improving… The principles revealed by… provide new ideas for improving… adjustment.
The research results of… have laid a solid theoretical foundation for promoting… The research results of… have laid a solid theoretical foundation for promoting…
8. Recommendations for follow-up inquiries
The phenomenon revealed by the study holds the potential for significant change, which should be further explored in the future.
9…. Reflections triggered by
The findings led to a reassessment of… and led us to recognise the importance of… and led us to recognise the importance of the research question.
10. Changes that may be expected
As conditions change, what changes are expected to occur?
This is the full picture of writing tips and common sentence patterns for the discussion section. These tools and formats can effectively enhance the logic and usefulness of the content that
