Research Tips with Dr. Juliana

Research results and discussion section comparison on a laptop Every academic writer has experienced this moment: you spend months conducting research, analysing data, or synthesising qualitative evidence. You prepare your tables and figures, write your findings, complete the manuscript—and finally click Submit . Then, months later, the decision letter arrives: “The manuscript presents clear data, but the Discussion section largely restates the Results. The authors should contextualise their findings and articulate their broader implications.” This is a common type of criticism in academic publishing. One reason is that researchers sometimes treat the Discussion as another opportunity to report their findings rather than as a space to interpret and contextualise those findings. The distinction is simple but important: RESULTS = What did you find? DISCUSSION = What do your findings mean? ...