Guide to Scientific WritingDiscussion
The discussion is the section where you explain what your results mean in light of the hypotheses and other related work in the field. The discussion is structured like the introduction, but in reverse. It starts narrow, then broadens toward the end. At the beginning of the discussion, you should briefly restate your hypotheses. All of the data should be mentioned and related to the basic questions that were asked in the Introduction. This section is very important because it is where you can interpret the results to answer your question(s). This is also where you fit your work into the current field, and discuss what new questions arise based on your findings.
Discussion Format
In the Discussion, you should briefly restate the central questions of your paper (as indicated in your Introduction), and the specific hypotheses that were tested. This brings the reader back to why the study was done in the first place, and focuses your Discussion on the relevant issues.
Next you need to discuss how your findings relate to those questions. If you asked two questions in your Introduction, make sure you address them both specifically and individually. If your data don’t allow you to answer the question definitively, say so, and indicate what additional information you would need to answer it.
Recall that you being your paper with a description of the general importance of the topic you investigated. Now you need to revisit the same information.
- How do your conclusions for your questions relate to the general context?
- How do your results compare to those obtained by the author(s) of your primary source(s)?
- If they are different, what explanations do you have for those differences?
- How do your results contribute to the general state of knowledge in the field?
Finally, you should discuss what questions remain – or what questions your results have raised – that warrant further investigation. For this part of the discussion, DON’T just write out all the problems with your lab, or state that you would do the same lab again. Think about what new experiments should be done, or what other questions you would want to ask if you did a follow-up study.