Discussion sections
The discussion is often the most important and longest part of a scientific paper, report, or HDR thesis. It shows your ability to critically evaluate your topic and synthesise research on the issue. Read on for tips to structure and write a strong discussion section.
The discussion also answers the research question(s) or confirms/disconfirms your hypothesis, which displays your informed understanding of the research issue. It provides a crucial link between the introduction, the findings and the conclusion of your paper.
It should have a specific to general structure that does the following:
- reminds the reader of your aim
- states whether your research question/hypothesis was answered
- explains the findings and shows how they answer the question
- outlines the advantages of your approach and justifies its contribution to the literature
- states any limitations of the study
- concludes by noting further work needed.
The components of the discussion might blur into each other, but they should all be present. Sections headings are not used.
Image: Components of the discussion section may blur into one another.
Structuring your discussion section
Language used in the discussion
In the case of a scientific report, the discussion is written using both the simple past tense to summarise findings, and the simple present tense to interpret the results and make them relevant to readers now.
Use hedging verbs to express tentativeness (‘appears that …’, ‘suggests that…’ ‘seems that’…). This is done as few reports are ever completely certain in terms of outcomes and further work is often needed.
The kind of language used in each component of the discussion are illustrated in the following examples.