Step 1: Outline the purpose of the research at hand (overview)
Before going any further, it is important to have a brief overview of your research project. Given that the subject matter of the research may have faded from the reader’s mind by this point, this will refresh the memory without the need for a few words of embellishment. This amnesia-inducing effect makes it an essential part of the discussion.
You can do the following:
● Restate your research topic (briefly describe the direction of your research);
● Revisit your research strategy (methodology);
● Highlighting key findings (not all the results of the research process, but definitely the core points);
● Show your readers the structure of the discussion chapters (for ease of understanding).
Step 2: Analyse the links between the research findings and existing academic resources.
This section must reflect that the discussion is not incompatible with the knowledge referred to in the literature review. However, you will need to answer the following questions:
1. Are your findings consistent with previous research? If so, what do they have in common? What are the differences?
2. Why do your results differ from previous studies? How can you explain the differences?
This requires you to use critical thinking to uncover potential reasons that may have led to such results! Also, cite sufficient references to support your points.
In the course of your discussion, you can also consider the possibility that some understandings may be inaccurate and discuss why the reasons do not account for the contradictions in the status quo. Such an analysis reveals the platform’s academic creativity! Common sentences are as follows:
The results of the study are in line with previous observations by scholars.
Our findings are consistent with recent studies that have also claimed to show…
The results of the current study are similar to those of…
The results of the current study are similar to those of…:
Unlike previous studies, however…
The results of this study provide strong evidence to dismiss broad tendencies as invalid assertions.
The results of this study deviate from the widely accepted view…
Commonly used sentences for misinterpretation of results are as follows:
The reason may lie in…
We suspect that this phenomenon may be due to…
You can propose two different interpretations for… The first claim… , the second certainty… The first claim… , the second certainty…
The differences may be due to… reasons.
Step 3: Discuss Unexpected Findings (Unexpected Results)
This section requires you to answer a series of questions:
1. are there any feasible results that break through the expected assumptions, and this should be explained, such as whether the results are statistically significant.
2. provide details of other secondary results not covered in this study to achieve a better understanding.
3. more importantly, what is the value of these unexpected findings in future developments? What are the implications for your field of research? What are the new insights gained through your research?
Common sentences that reveal surprising results include:
In a way, it is surprising that…
Surprisingly,…
A dubious discovery on the occasion of exploring the accident is…
This study did not observe… , which is somewhat surprising. , which is somewhat surprising.
Explanations of dubious discovery are usually given using the following sentence structure:
This study provides a new perspective on exploring the interrelationships between… .
A deeper understanding of the data has an unquestionable impact on…
Although previous studies have primarily focused on X, the results of this study suggest that Y is equally important.
This discovery broadens our understanding of this field.
Step 4: Reveal the relationship between the findings and the relevant theoretical models
Having addressed the above issues, we now need to organise our thoughts to explore the more abstract part – the theoretical part. Please be visionary when considering the larger system!
1. Can your research results contribute to the current theoretical system? Do your findings conflict with a particular theoretical idea? Does it even change an idea? Or does it fill a gap in an existing theory?
2. Does your research provide a proposal for a new model?
This part is undoubtedly a necessary step to get good marks as well, as these are innovative contributions that you should be recognised for at all times!
Step 5: Describe potential constraints (and methods) in the research process
1. describe the potential constraints that arose during the research process and indicate how they affected the quality and credibility of the results. These constraints may be related to the acquisition of research data, the selection and analysis of research methods, and may even involve issues such as the experience and skill level of the researchers.
2. Provide solutions or coping strategies to deal with these constraints, such as adopting additional data collection or assessment protocols, optimising the research design and data analysis methods, or even making up for one’s own shortcomings by borrowing research methods from other fields.
Regarding this part of the discussion, the following sentences are commonly used:
Research is limited by many factors.
Due to limited resources, many important issues were not addressed in the study.
The limitations of data analytics prevent deeper exploration.
Step 6: Summary
This is the last and most critical step of all reports.
1. Summarise the main findings of the study and emphasise the importance and significance of these findings.
2. list the limitations and shortcomings of the study and highlight how these issues will drive future research.
3. describe the potential applications of the study and directions for further research, and emphasise the applied value of the study.
The following are sentences commonly used in the summarisation process:
The important conclusion of this study is that…
We found problems in…
Potential applications of this research include….
We will conduct further research… We will conduct further research… in order to explore the issue in greater depth.
