After justifying your study, explaining the methodology, and conducting research, you receive a copious amount of data relating to your study. Unlike other chapters, the results section gives credence to various claims made within your paper.
Your results should be presented in an easy and concise manner that allows readers to easily derive various conclusions. What information should feature in the scientific paper results section? Read our guide for tips on writing an outstanding results section of a research paper.
What is the results section of a research paper?
The results chapter of a research paper is the section where you report the findings of various experiments performed during your study. This chapter presents the data you have collected in a logical order, often with the use of descriptive figures such as graphs and tables.
The results chapter tackles all data relating to your research objectives. Although you should show links between various variables, refrain from introducing theories regarding these correlations.
What goes in the results section of a research paper?
After your research, you might have collected a ton of calculations and data for various variables. Covering all this information in your paper may result in a lengthy chapter that limits the optimal analysis of your results.
You should thus trim your information to the details that help you make inferences relevant to your research questions. Some of the items to include in the results section of a research paper APA include:
- An introduction highlighting the research objectives you intend to cover in your experiment.
- A detailed outline of the process you used to reach your results including any variables you adjusted to test your hypothesis.
- The process of data collection and the criteria and ethical considerations that were made when selecting your sample group.
- Charts, tables, and summarized paragraphs for the data you collected. Here, we recommend that you represent your data in a manner that’s easy for the reader to compare and investigate your conclusions.
- You may also include a short explanation after each figure to show the reader how you interpreted the results, avoiding confusion. The visual aids and explanations should explain the frequency and correlation of events when various variables were tweaked and the causality of events. This should however be done without arguing possible reasons for these observations.
- Finally, conclude your results with a summary of the key findings yielded during your study.
Note: calculations used to coalesce the data should be covered in the appendices chapter.
How to write the results section of a research paper
How do you go about writing the results section of your research paper? These steps ought to come in handy to avoid the confusion inspired by copious amounts of data.
- Check instructions
The faculty guideline often outlines the requirements of presenting your results in a research paper. It is best that you revisit these guidelines to establish the completeness of the information you have coalesced.
Also, check other publications to familiarize yourself with the visualizations and content to prepare in the findings section.
- Sort your findings into sections
Your experiment features multiple variables each geared towards investigating a research question. Before you start writing, revisit the research questions and sort your data into various categories.
Doing this allows you to sort your data in a manner that’s easy for readers to follow your results with minimum confusion.
- Design your visual data representations
Visual representations are more efficient in highlighting the relationship between various datasets compared to words. However, start off by establishing the visual presentations that are permitted by your faculty.
All the graphs and tables used should be self-explanatory and tackle all the data yielded in your research. When going about this section, ensure that you are conversant with spreadsheets to avoid various errors that might misrepresent your results.
- Write down your findings
After preparing the relevant visual diagrams, offer a short summary for each table/ graph used. The summary should highlight the relationship between various variables to guide the reader on your interpretation.
The summary will prepare the reader for arguments that you intend to make in the discussion. After writing your summaries, edit each chart and summary to ensure clarity.
How to start a results section of a research paper
The results section in an academic paper should start by discussing the research questions of your paper. What do you intend to establish? By addressing this question, you can refocus the attention on the purpose of your paper, helping readers to reach various conclusions based on the data you collected.
Next, write the process you followed for research, highlighting any variables that were adjusted to provide a better basis for comparison.
Final take
We hope that this guide has helped you overcome any challenges you were facing with your research paper. Be keen to check a research paper results example for a better understanding of how to write the research paper results.
