How to write your dissertation
Writing up results
when you've finished this page you will be able to...
- evaluate your results write-up
If you've organised, displayed and analysed your data, it's time to write it up, and the place for this is the results section.
The key to a great results section is in describing your results - you need to tell your readers exactly what you found out. This is where you document what was observed or discovered. It is not the place for discussion.
Simply describing your results may not seem that tricky, but there is an art to it. Things to remember when writing up results include...
- focus on the key results - these are the ones that answer your research question
- be clear and concise - make sure your readers know exactly which results you're describing
- don't go into too much detail - you only need to direct your readers to important information
- let your pictures do the talking - if you have made good use of graphs and tables you'll only need to describe general trends ('the graph shows that as mean springtime temperature increased, so did the population of migrant birds')
- however, be careful not to omit anything important- your readers weren't party to your research so you need to tell them what you discovered
- you must talk about every table, figure and chart - if it's not worth talking about, leave it out!
- make life easier for your readers by simplifying your results: 75% is easier to understand than 150 out of 200, and 'nearly 10% is easier to digest than 9.98%
- describe your results don't explain or discuss them - this is what the discussion section is for!
Activity: Writing up your results - 10 minutes
There's an art to writing up results: you need to be concise, accurate and clear - and above all, you must describe your results and not discuss them.
1. Use the check-list below to evaluate your results write-up.
| My results section... |  |
| focuses on my most important results | |
| is clear and concise | |
| lets my graphs and tables do the talking: I only describe general trends | |
| has not omitted anything important | |
| describes every table, graph and figure that is included | |
| describes not discusses |
2. If you haven't been able to tick all the boxes, make the necessary changes.
Have a look at the site below and see if you can tell the difference between a good and a bad results section.
Engage in research: writing about results
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