Academic Writing Guide

What is the purpose of the results section? 

The purpose of the results section is to report the results of your data. This is not the place for analysis of the data, only the reporting of the data. The analysis and synthesis of the impact of the results should be included in the discussion section, which immediately follow the results section. Remember to report all of the results, even if they do not strengthen your hypothesis. In research it is just as important to see negative results, as well as positive ones. Knowing negative outcomes can guide future research methods. 

How do I organize my results section?

• Chronologically: Some choose to organize the Results section by reporting the data in the order that it occurred as described in the Methodology. 
• Importance: Others choose to organize the data in order of significance with the most significant appearing first. 

Remember in the results section you can identify correlations exist, however save the discussion about why they exist for the Discussion section. 

Tips for Creating the Content of Your Results Section

• Write your results in past tense.
• Put the data in a logical order that the reader can easily follow.
• Be Concise. In other words do not mention the same data over and over. 
• Use tables and figures your condense your data into an easily digestible format. 
• When using these non-textual elements such as figures or tables, clearly label the items in the text.
  • (Example: Figure 1, Table 1, etc.)
• Use an appendix or appendices for raw data.