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Unit 3 ✏ Writing about Results

3.1 Structure
The title of this section varies in different disciplines, and also in different
journals. Instead of Results, it is sometimes called ‘Analysis’ or ‘Data
Analysis’. The table below shows four options for the subtitles from this
point until the end of the research paper.

Option 1 Option 2 Option 3 Option 4

Results Results Results and Results

or or Discussion or
Data Analysis Data Analysis Data Analysis
Copyright © 2009. Imperial College Press. All rights reserved.

Discussion Discussion Ø Discussion and

Conclusion(s)

Conclusion(s) Ø Conclusion(s) Ø

In all cases this section reports your comments on what you found
or observed, and if the subtitle contains the word Discussion (i.e. Results
and Discussion), it includes some or all of the Discussion. As with the
Methodology section, the best way to choose an appropriate subtitle is to
look at the Guide for Authors of the journals you read regularly.
In most cases, the results of your work can be given in graphs, tables,
equations or images. Why, then, should you bother to write a Results
section? Why not simply provide good, clear graphs or tables with good,
clear titles and perhaps a few notes underneath each? Thinking about these
Glasman-Deal, H. (2009). Science research writing for non-native speakers of english : A guide for non-native speakers
questions
of english. is http://ebookcentral.proquest.com
Retrieved from a good way to begin to understand what you should be writing
Created from leicester on 2020-02-25 08:39:06.

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92 Science Research Writing

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION

MATERIALS/
METHODS
(what you did/used)
central
report
section
RESULTS
(what you found/saw)

DISCUSSION/
CONCLUSION

Fig. 1. The shape of a research article or thesis.

in this section. Almost everyone writes a Results section, so it is clear that

some things cannot be achieved by just using tables, graphs or other images
of your results. They can be achieved only by using words.
Copyright © 2009. Imperial College Press. All rights reserved.

There are many reasons for writing a Results section. In the first place,
some of your results may be more interesting or significant than others, and
it is difficult to communicate this in a table or graph. Also, it is essential
to relate your results to the aim(s) of the research. Thirdly, in some cases
you may want to offer background information to explain why a particular
result occurred, or to compare your results with those of other researchers.
In addition, your results may be problematic; perhaps some experiments
were not fully successful and you want to suggest possible reasons for this.
However, one of the most important reasons for writing a Results
section rather than relying on graphs, tables and other images is that you
must communicate your own understanding and interpretation of the
results to your readers. Results do not speak for themselves; if they did, the
tables or graphs of your results would be enough. Your readers do not have
to agree with you but they need to know your opinion and understanding
of your results.
Glasman-Deal, H. (2009). Science research writing for non-native speakers of english : A guide for non-native speakers
of english. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com
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Results — Structure 93

So when we come to ask our three questions:

• How do I start the Results section? What type of sentence should I begin
with?
• What type of information should be in this section and in what order?
• How do I end this section?
You already know that this section contains some comments on what
you found or observed rather than just a description of your findings and
observations, and this helps to answer the second question.
Read the Results section below. The title of the paper is: A modelling
approach to traffic management and CO exposure during peak hours.
Don’t worry if the subject matter is not familiar to you or if you have
difficulty understanding certain words, especially technical terms such as
median exposure. Just try to get a general understanding at this stage and
familiarise yourself with the type of language used.

Results
1 Data obtained in previous studies1,2 using a fixed on-site monitor
indicated that travel by car resulted in lower CO exposure than travel
on foot. 2 According to Figo et al. (1999), the median exposure of car
passengers was 11% lower than for those walking.2 3 In our study,
Copyright © 2009. Imperial College Press. All rights reserved.

modelled emission rates were obtained using the Traffic Emission

Model (TEM), a CO-exposure modelling framework developed by
Ka.3 4 Modelled results were compared with actual roadside CO
concentrations measured hourly at a fixed monitor. 5 Figure 1 shows
the results obtained using TEM.

6 As can be seen, during morning peak-time journeys the CO

concentrations for car passengers were significantly lower than for
pedestrians, which is consistent with results obtained in previous
studies.1,2 7 However, the modelled data were not consistent with
these results for afternoon journeys. 8 Although the mean CO
concentrations modelled by TEM for afternoon journeys on foot
were in line with those of Figo et al., a striking difference was noted
when each of the three peak hours was considered singly (Fig. 2).

Glasman-Deal, H. (2009). Science research writing for non-native speakers of english : A guide for non-native speakers
of english. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com
Created from leicester on 2020-02-25 08:39:06.

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