WRT333

Discussion

Syllabus | Table of Pages | Assignment "Structure and Content ..."

Day (1998) suggest the following "injunctions" which provide the components of a discussion.

  1. Present the principles, relationships, and generalizations shown by Results. Discuss—do not recapitulate—Results.
  2. Point out any exceptions or lack of correlation, and define unsettled points. Don't hedge, but if there are unresolved issues, deal with them and don't try to cover them up.
  3. Show how your results concur with or are at odds with previous published work.
  4. Discuss any theoretical or practical implications of your work.
  5. Conclude concisely.
  6. Summarize evidence for each conclusion.

The discussion is meant to show relations amoung your observations. It also serves to point up any significance to the results, answering the so what? question. You do not need to embellish your work. You've added a bit to the storehouse of human knowledge; just be clear about what that little bit was. And don't forget the modesty with which Watson and Crick concluded the 20th Century's greatest (1 page note) contribution to biological science, "Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids," with the modest, "It has not escaped our notice that the specific pairing we have postulated immediately suggests a possible copying mechanism for the genetic material."

Swales (1990) parallels his 3 step introduction (see here) with 3 suggestions for critical elements that should comprise the discussion:

  1. Original claims supported by the evidence in the previous text.
  2. Wider significance of those claims to the research territory under study.
  3. Possible future work to validate or make use of the original claims.

Be cautious, however, in trailing off with speculations about possible future work. Do not end with "...and more work needs to be done...." If you have a specific plan in mind (and have already made a significant start along the road from grant funding to publication), you may include it, notifying the reader of a pending further advancement. Otherwise, skip this. You may find, at the end of a long research career, that the last time such open ended speculation about futue work was appropriate, was the loose conclusion of your thesis or dissertation; it may have been merely tolerated there!

References