Academic Writing 7 min read December 3, 2024

Presenting Your Findings: How to Write a Clear and Effective Results Section

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After meticulously designing your study, collecting data, and performing analyses, the Results section is where you unveil the core findings of your research. This section forms the empirical heart of your manuscript, presenting the evidence upon which your conclusions will be built. Unlike the Introduction, which sets the stage, or the Discussion, which interprets the findings, the Results section demands objectivity and clarity. Its primary function is to report what you found, presenting the data in a logical, unbiased, and understandable manner, without venturing into interpretation or speculation.

Crafting an effective Results section can be challenging. It requires balancing the need for comprehensive reporting with clarity and conciseness. You must decide which findings are most crucial, how best to present them (using text, tables, or figures), and how to organize them logically to tell a coherent story based on your data. Furthermore, the conventions for presenting results can vary significantly across different academic disciplines.

This post will explore the essential purpose and structure of the Results section, offer guidance on presenting data effectively, highlight key differences across disciplines, and provide practical tips for writing a Results section that is both informative and impactful.

The Core Purpose: Objective Reporting

The fundamental goal of the Results section is to present the key findings of your study objectively and factually. It should answer the research question(s) or address the hypothesis(es) outlined in your Introduction by presenting the relevant data you collected and analyzed. Key principles include:

Objectivity: Present the findings without bias or interpretation. Avoid using subjective language or speculating on the meaning of the results – that belongs in the Discussion.
Clarity: Ensure the results are presented in a way that is easy for the reader to understand. Use clear language and logical organization.
Conciseness: Report the essential findings directly. Avoid redundancy and unnecessary detail, but ensure enough information is provided for the reader to assess the evidence.
Focus: Center the section around the data directly relevant to your research questions or hypotheses. Ancillary or less critical findings might be included in supplementary materials.

Structuring Your Results Section

A well-structured Results section guides the reader logically through your findings. While the specifics depend on your study, a common approach involves:

Opening Statement (Optional but helpful): Briefly remind the reader of the overall study aim or the specific question this part of the results addresses. This can help orient the reader.
- Example: “To assess the impact of the new teaching intervention, student test scores were compared between the intervention and control groups.”
Logical Organization: Present findings in a logical sequence that aligns with your research questions, hypotheses, or methods. Common organizational strategies include:
- By Research Question/Hypothesis: Present the results relevant to each question or hypothesis sequentially.
- By Method: Group results obtained using the same method (e.g., survey results, then interview results).
- From General to Specific: Start with overall findings and then delve into more specific details.
- From Most to Least Important: Prioritize the most significant findings.
Use of Subheadings: Employ clear and informative subheadings to break down the results into manageable subsections. This improves readability and helps readers navigate the findings related to specific aspects of your study.
- Example Subheadings: “Effect of Treatment on Tumor Size,” “Participant Demographics,” “Thematic Analysis of Interview Data,” “Correlation between Variable X and Variable Y.”
Integration of Text, Tables, and Figures: Use a combination of narrative text, tables, and figures to present your findings effectively.
- Text: Summarize the key findings in prose, guiding the reader through the data presented in tables and figures. Highlight the main trends or significant results.
- Tables: Use tables to present precise numerical data, comparisons between groups, or detailed information that would be cumbersome in the text.
- Figures (Graphs, Charts, Images): Use figures to illustrate trends, patterns, relationships, or key visual data (e.g., images from microscopy, maps).
Reporting Statistical Analyses (Quantitative Studies): When reporting quantitative data, include relevant statistical information, such as:
- The statistical test used.
- The value of the test statistic (e.g., t-value, F-value, chi-square value).
- Degrees of freedom.
- The exact p-value (e.g., p = .023) or significance level (e.g., p < .05).
- Effect sizes and confidence intervals where appropriate.
- Example: “The intervention group showed significantly higher post-test scores (M = 85.2, SD = 5.1) compared to the control group (M = 78.5, SD = 6.3), t(98) = 5.42, p < .001.”

Presenting Data Effectively: Text, Tables, and Figures

The key to an effective Results section lies in choosing the best way to present each piece of information and ensuring that text, tables, and figures work together harmoniously.

Narrative Text: Use the text to summarize the main message of your findings and guide the reader. Don’t simply repeat the data points listed in tables or figures; instead, highlight the key takeaways (e.g., “Table 1 shows a significant increase in variable Y for Group A compared to Group B.”). Refer explicitly to the relevant tables and figures (e.g., “(see Figure 2)”, “as shown in Table 3”).
Tables: Design tables to be clear, concise, and self-contained. Include a clear title, label all columns and rows accurately, specify units of measurement, and provide footnotes for abbreviations or explanations. Ensure consistency in formatting.
Figures: Ensure figures are high-quality and easy to interpret. Include a clear title or caption, label axes clearly (with units), use legends effectively, and ensure visual elements (lines, bars, symbols) are distinct. Like tables, figures should ideally be understandable on their own.
Avoid Redundancy: Do not present the exact same data in both a table and a figure. Choose the format that best illustrates the point. Similarly, avoid repeating extensive numerical data from tables/figures in the text; summarize the main point instead.

Disciplinary Variations in Presenting Results

The nature and presentation of the Results section differ significantly across disciplines:

STEM & Quantitative Social Sciences: This is where the standard IMRaD Results section is most common. The focus is on presenting numerical data, statistical analyses, graphs, and tables objectively. The separation between presenting results and interpreting them (in the Discussion) is usually strict.
Humanities: A distinct “Results” section is rare. Findings, often derived from textual analysis, historical investigation, or philosophical argument, are typically woven into the main body of the paper as part of the ongoing analysis and interpretation. Evidence is presented through quotes, examples, descriptions, or close readings, integrated directly into the argument.
Qualitative Social Sciences: This field often uses the term “Findings” instead of “Results.” While objectivity is still valued, the presentation is often more narrative. Findings might be organized thematically, supported by illustrative quotes from interviews, detailed descriptions from observations, or case study analyses. There might be a closer integration of presentation and preliminary interpretation compared to quantitative studies, although the main interpretation is still reserved for the Discussion.

Always check the specific guidelines of your target journal, as conventions can vary even within sub-disciplines.

Key Tips for Writing Your Results Section

Be Consistent: Use consistent terminology, units, and formatting throughout.
Report All Relevant Findings: Include results that support your hypothesis as well as those that do not. Selective reporting is unethical.
Past Tense: Generally, use the past tense to describe the results you found (e.g., “Group A showed higher scores,” “No significant difference was observed”).
Clarity Over Complexity: Prioritize clear communication. Avoid overly technical jargon where simpler terms suffice.
Focus on the Data: Stick to reporting what the data shows. Save interpretations, comparisons to other studies, and explanations for the Discussion section.
Check Journal Guidelines: Pay close attention to specific requirements regarding formatting of tables, figures, and statistical reporting.

The Results section is the bedrock of your research paper. By presenting your findings clearly, objectively, and logically, using an appropriate mix of text, tables, and figures, and being mindful of disciplinary conventions, you provide the reader with the necessary evidence to understand and evaluate your research contribution. A well-written Results section paves the way for a convincing Discussion and a high-impact manuscript.