After executing the research steps outlined in your methodology section comes the challenge of presenting your data in a logical manner that highlights the relationships between various variables. Since the results section is the heart of your arguments within the discussion, it is vital to express various relationships clearly.
This article will analyse various tips on how to write a results section to help you overcome the elements that often compromise students’ efforts to prepare a quality paper.
What goes in the results section of the research paper?
Often students tend to express ideas for the discussion section within the results or omit relevant information resulting in misinterpretation of your findings. Some of the items required in the results section of a research paper include:
- An introduction that reiterates the research questions you were investigating
- Visual elements to illustrate your findings
- A short description of your results
- Positive and negative results relating to your thesis
- A report on the participants of your research and methods of data collection
Avoid restating your methodology as this could bring about redundancy. Also, spare raw data which is irrelevant to your discussion and relevant to your topic in the appendices section.
How to write a results section of a research paper
Detailed planning is essential when writing a results section. Some of the steps to consider when preparing the results section of a research paper include:
- Review the essay guidelines
Before writing your essay, consult the guidelines offered by your tutor. These guidelines will inform you of the word count and expectations on the materials to present your research paper results.
- Select relevant results
Your experiments may yield a massive amount of data and insight related to your topic. Expressing all this data in your results may limit the capacity of a reader to deduce various findings relating to your research questions.
When selecting data, take both the negative and positive findings. Also, organize your data and determine the best way to express various connections between variables.
- Prepare visuals
Illustrations are simpler to comprehend and neater in comparison to raw data. As you prepare your results section, package data in the best graphical method which highlights connections between various research variables.
Also, plan for detailed titles and descriptions to guide your reader to interpret the connections being presented in various variables within your essay.
- Describe the significance of your results
After presenting visuals, prepare a short paragraph highlighting the connections you want your reader to identify. Be keen to report ample details to show your reader that proper research was done to investigate your thesis.
- Editing
After writing all the sections of your results, review them to ensure that your results are presented systematically. Also, peruse the information in your appendices and determine omitted data that could be useful for your research objectives.
Tips for writing the results of research
- Subdivide your data into sections based on the research questions you are investigating to allow for easy summaries of various research objectives.
- Your conclusion should transition smoothly to the discussion section by summing up various findings from your experiments.
- Do not offer commentary on your findings or try to postulate the reason for various findings. Your research paper results should only present an analysis of your findings, setting the ground for claims within your discussion.
- Use internationally recognized units of measurement when describing measurements and results from your research.
- Refrain from using abbreviations unless they were properly defined within your essay introduction.
- Use past tense in your results as you are explaining a process you have already completed.
- Ensure that your figures are consistent throughout your results and discussion section
Final take
We hope that these tips have helped you overcome any challenges that you could be facing with writing the results section. Also, ensure to read multiple results section examples for a better grasp of the style and tone of the results section of a research paper.
