Published on August 21, 2022 by Shona McCombes. Revised on November 11, 2022. 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:
If you’re unsure about your field’s best practices, check out sample dissertations in your field or your departmental guidelines. What not to include in your discussion sectionThere are a few common mistakes to avoid when writing the discussion section of your paper.
Step 1: Summarize your key findingsStart 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. Examples: Summarization sentence starters
Step 2: Give your interpretationsThe 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. Examples: Interpretation sentence starters
Step 3: Discuss the implicationsAs 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. Examples: Implication sentence starters
Step 4: Acknowledge the limitationsEven 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. NoteYou should only mention limitations that are directly relevant to your research objectives. Then, share how much impact they had on achieving the aims of your research.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. Examples: Limitation sentence starters
Step 5: Share your recommendationsBased 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. Examples: Recommendation sentence starters
Discussion section exampleHere is an example of how you can introduce your discussion section. Note that it includes everything mentioned
above: notably research outcomes, limitations, interpretations, and avenues for future research.  Frequently asked questions about discussion sectionsCite this Scribbr articleIf you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.
Is this article helpful?You have already voted. Thanks :-) Your vote is saved :-) Processing your vote... Where is the implications section of a research paper?The implications are part of your discussion section, where you summarize your findings and then put them into context—this context being earlier research but also the potential effect your findings could have in the real world, in whatever scenario you think might be relevant.
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.
What part of research outlines the findings and presents the implications of the study?The conclusion offers you the opportunity to elaborate on the impact and significance of your findings. This is particularly important if your study approached examining the research problem from an unusual or innovative perspective. Introducing possible new or expanded ways of thinking about the research problem.
What section of a research article will you most likely find practical implications of the research?The implications of a study are typically described in the Discussion section or the Conclusion section (in journals where the latter is a separate section from the former), where the study limitations and road ahead are mentioned.
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