1. WRITING YOUR DISCUSSION ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC WRITING

2. By the end of this lecture, you should be able to: identify different approaches to writing the discussion use appropriate language to construct the discussion section

3. DISCUSSION SECTION The discussion section is a chance for the researcher to verbalize her findings and what those findings mean to the subject matter of the experiment. Writing the discussion is not difficult, provided you have guidelines and the body of your paper and research is well organized. The discussion section of an empirical research paper is your opportunity to conclude the research and help the reader interpret the results of your research. 3

4. DISCUSSION SECTION The discussion section is essentially written for the sake of explaining your findings In very simple terms, what you did to answer the research questions and why you did it that way It explains the results of your study, and connects the results to each research question. 4

5. APPROACHES TO WRITING YOUR DISCUSSION SECTION 1) Explain your findings 2) Compare the findings 3) Evaluate the findings 4) Infer from the findings 5

6. APPROACH 1: EXPLAIN YOUR FINDINGS 6 EXPLAIN THE FINDINGS a) give reasons or explanation for the findings b) explain the scenario during the data collection period which might have some influences on the results of the research c) explain the results based on the limitation or constraints during the data collection period

7. APPROACH 1: EXPLAIN YOUR FINDINGS a) give reasons for the findings Example 1 : Based on the statistical analysis, the results show that some of the school teachers have integrated well within the community in which they were residing. The percentage, however, is not high and this could be attributed to the fact that most of them were female. They were already occupied with their job and household duties which did not allow them to be active in community services. 7

8. APPROACH 1: EXPLAIN YOUR FINDINGS a) give reasons for the findings Example 2 : Based on the Figure 3, the results clearly show that most of the students who took part of the survey preferred the pre-paid plan. Only a small fraction of the students used the post-paid plan as opposed to those who used the pre-paid plan. The results were anticipated as the respondents were all students, and the pre-paid plan seemed to be the most suitable plan to cater for the needs of the students as they paid for what they used only. While there were a handful of students from wealthy families, the majority of the students simply could not afford the post-paid plan. 8

9. APPROACH 1: EXPLAIN YOUR FINDINGS b) explain the scenario or circumstances during the data collection period or at the time of experiment which might have some influences on the results of the research Example 1 : Based on the statistical analysis, the results revealed that most of the students were receptive to the idea of using Arabic vocabulary in their English classes. This is not surprising considering the institution is an Islamic institution. 9

10. APPROACH 1: EXPLAIN YOUR FINDINGS b) explain the scenario or circumstances during the data collection period or at the time of experiment which might have some influences on the results of the research Example 2: There are several factors that make phone calls not so popular among students. The most obvious factor was financial restraint. Students generally lived on the shoestring budget and could not afford the luxury of spending too much on making calls. These factors helped make SMS the most popular means of communicating. 10

11. APPROACH 1: EXPLAIN YOUR FINDINGS c) explain the results based on the limitations or constraints of the research during the data collection period. Example 1 : The results from the study only indicated the language errors made by students in the final examination. Since the error analysis indicated were only taken from the postgraduate students, the findings cannot represent all the university students’ performance. Due to the time constraint, errors from the undergraduate students were excluded as there was a big number of students involved. 11

12. APPROACH 1: EXPLAIN YOUR FINDINGS c) explain the results based on the limitations or constraints of the research during the data collection period. Example 2 : One of the most popular peripheral services through the cell phone was to get sports results. this was highly anticipated as students usually followed sports events on regular basis, especially the Malaysia Premier League. Since the majority of the respondents were female students, the findings of the research did not show any significant result in the use of this peripheral service for sports. 12

13. APPROACH 2: COMPARE THE FINDINGS 13 COMPARE THE FINDINGS a) compare the findings of the research with the findings of other research within the same field (discussed in literature review section) b) compare and relate the different findings of the research to highlight certain results as significant

14. APPROACH 2: COMPARE THE FINDINGS a) compare the findings of the research with the findings of other research within the same fields (discussed in the literature review section) Example : It can be summarized that SMS was the most popular means of communication among students of higher learning institutions. This trend was very much expected as students live on a strict budget. This was similar to the findings of another study conducted by Lim et al. (2002) at University Telekom Malaysia which found that SMS was the primary reason why students owned a handset. 14

15. APPROACH 2: COMPARE THE FINDINGS b) compare and relate the different findings of the research to highlight certain results as significant Example 1 : A significant number of students were found to have part-time jobs during the semester. This may explain the high percentage of absenteeism among them. The demographic profile of the students involved also showed that they are non- sponsored student, some even have families to support. Therefore, it is very likely that there exist a relationship between financial status and students performance. 15

16. APPROACH 2: COMPARE THE FINDINGS b) compare and relate the different findings of the research to highlight certain results as significant Example 2 : Cell phone call rates are based on the location of the caller and the location where the destination number was registered. Since the student population came from different parts of the country, making long distance calls to family members back in the respective states could be very expensive for students. Therefore, the number of calls made by the students to the family members compared to the SMS was relatively small. This shows that financial limitation was a significant factor in the lives of students in the higher learning institution. 16

17. APPROACH 3: EVALUATE THE FINDINGS 17 EVALUATE THE FINDINGS a) provide assessment of the findings b) decide if the results is negative or positive, successful or otherwise.

18. APPROACH 3: EVALUATE THE FINDINGS a) provide assessment of the findings Example 1 : The findings suggest that there is a mismatch between the written literacy demands of the job market and the level of proficiency of applicants who were university graduates. This claim seemed to have found its basis only for local companies. However, there was no way of verifying this claim for the international companies as there were no previous studies conducted on them. As such, the feedback from these companies is still needed to produce a more substantive finding. 18

19. APPROACH 3: EVALUATE THE FINDINGS a) provide assessment of the findings Example 2 : Better coverage of certain service providers means that service is available over a wider coverage. One of the service providers claimed that its cellular network offered a more stable and wider coverage in most parts of Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak compared to other service providers. This claim seemed to have found credibility among the students in most institutions of higher learning. However, there was no way of verifying this claim as their had been no studies conducted on the network coverage of all service providers in the country. As such, the responses by the students on the better coverage of one service provider seemed to be on hearsay. 19

20. APPROACH 2: EVALUATE THE FINDINGS b) decide if the results is negative or positive, successful or otherwise. Example : From the data collected, there is no doubt that the engineering students generally had positive experiences with Problem Based Learning (PBL) as they worked together on the their project in groups. Students acquired self-directed learning as they worked together in finding a solution to a problem which mirrors the real world. Through feedback from peers, students also learnt to express their ideas and share tasks assigned to them. 20

21. APPROACH 4: INFER FROM THE FINDINGS 21 INFER THE FINDINGS a) develop your own viewpoint and ideas based on the facts and results b) make sense of findings c ) do not leave findings in the statistical form as no one would be able to understand d) be creative and do not be afraid to speculate

22. APPROACH 4: INFER THE FINDINGS a) develop your own viewpoint and ideas based on the facts and results Example : The finding suggested that traffic information was the least attractive peripheral service provided by the hand phone service provider among the respondents. This was expected as the university was situated far from the busy metropolitan area. Apart from that, many of the students lived on the campus and did not need traffic information to travel to their classes. As such, traffic information may not be useful to them.. 22

23. APPROACH 4: INFER THE FINDINGS b) make sense of findings Example : Comparing reactors where yeast extract and glucose were added, it was observed that the gradients of the graphs for variation in nitrate concentration in these reactors are all very close and similar to that of the control reactor. Thus, it can be deduced that at the beginning of the experiment the biomass were utilizing the naturally occurring readily biodegradable substrate as the electron donor for denitrification. 23

24. APPROACH 4: INFER THE FINDINGS c) do not leave findings in the statistical form as no one would be able to understand what the numbers mean Example : The finding suggested one quarter of the those surveyed were doing some form of part- time jobs. 98% of those who responded are postgraduate students who have families. 24

25. APPROACH 4: INFER THE FINDINGS d) be creative and do not be afraid to speculate Example : The statistical analysis has shown that more and more female students are selected for the dean’s list. The numbers show that even in the Faculty of Engineering, the ladies are outdoing the male students in terms of examination results and performance in the industrial training. Perhaps in the future, the ladies will be more in demand in the industry than their male counterpart. It would probably be difficult for male engineers to find a job. 25

26. COMMON ERRORS IN DISCUSSION 26 1) Don’t substitute a summary for discussion Summary is the purpose of an abstract A discussion is not a superficial intepreretation of your results You should refer to the data in a general way but avoid giving the data again Do not simply reformulate and repeat points already made as each new statement should contribute to your position and to the readers’ understanding of the problem

27. COMMON ERRORS IN DISCUSSION 27 2) Don’t simply justify the research by claiming it has practical application Research is justified by what it allows us to understand. When we understand relations between variables, then we can make practical applications Do not feel compelled to say how your research applies

28. COMMON ERRORS IN DISCUSSION 28 3) Don’t make a discussion out of all the little things that went wrong in your study The discussion should not be apologetic Your work will not be valued simply because you admit, apologize and explain for all the lists of failures Don’t discuss what might have happened if the there had not been any error Accept the fact that our research is not perfect and proceed to the analysis and discussion

29. COMMON ERRORS IN DISCUSSION 29 4) Don’t fill up space by listing topics for future research Resist the temptation of listing down questions for future research Lists are normally impulsively generated but seldom meet the criteria discussion Unless you feel that the present research needs a new direction and provide a genuine insight with careful thought Don’t simply try to fill in the empty space

30. SUGGESTED STEPS IN DISCUSSION 30 REITERATE RESULTS IN A STRAIGHTFORWARD MANNER USE EASILY UNDERSTOOD LANGUAGE 1) SUMMARIZE AND DISCUSS IMPORTANT FINDINGS HOW MEANINGFUL HOW DOES IT COVER THE RESEARCH AREA 2) DESCRIBE WHY MAKE CONNECTIONS TO SIMILAR RESEARCH EXPLAIN WHY IT IS DIFFERENT OR SIMILAR 3) LINK FINDINGS DISCUSS LIMITATIONS BUT NOT EVERY SINGLE ONE THINK LIKE A CRITIC 4) LIMITATIONS WHAT ARE SOME QUESTIONS THAT REMAIN UNANSWERED MAKE POSITIVE AND PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS /RECOMMENDATIONS 5) FUTURE RESEARCH

31. COMMON WORDS USED IN DISCUSSION 31 COMMON WORDS USED IN DISCUSSION BOOSTERSHEDGES

32. COMMON WORDS USED IN DISCUSSION 32 actually, always, assured, certainly, clearly, confirm, decided, doubtless, in fact, given that, inevitably, necessarily, no doubt, perceive, prove, surmise, reliable, unarguably, unquestionably, well-known, unequivocally, undeniably, surely, precisely, particularly, determine, is essential, indeed BOOSTERS about, almost, apparently, assumingly, to a certain extent, conceivably, deduce, essentially, formally, generally, ideally, implication, imply, often, ostensibly, rather, somewhat, superficially, technically, seemingly, mainly, largely, occasionally, more or less, typically, usually, virtually tendency, may, maybe HEDGES

33. LANGUAGE EXPRESSIONS THAT CAN BE USED IN YOUR DISCUSSION A. BACKGROUND INFORMATION. 33 As mentioned in the literature review… Prior studies showed that students…. Other research in…....concluded that…. This study set out with the aim of assessing the importance of… Very little was found in the literature on the question of…

34. LANGUAGE EXPRESSIONS THAT CAN BE USED IN YOUR DISCUSSION B. EXPLANATION OF RESULTS This result may be explained by …/a number of different factors It may be that these students benefited from… There are several possible explanations for this result. A possible explanation for this might be … Another possible explanation for this is that…. 34

35. LANGUAGE EXPRESSIONS THAT CAN BE USED IN YOUR DISCUSSION B. EXPLANATION OF RESULTS (continuation) It is difficult to explain this result, but it might be related to… It seems possible that these results are due to.. The reason for this is not clear but it may due to …. This inconsistency/discrepancy may due to…. There are, however, other possible explanations.. 35

36. LANGUAGE EXPRESSIONS THAT CAN BE USED IN YOUR DISCUSSION C. REFERENCE TO PREVIOUS RESEARCH (Positive/Support). 36 This result of this study seems to confirm the findings of a study by Nuraihan (2004) in this field. These findings of this research are consistent with those of Jacob et al. (2001) who found… These findings supported the previous research…. These findings confirmed the result of other research that…

37. LANGUAGE EXPRESSIONS THAT CAN BE USED IN YOUR DISCUSSION C. REFERENCE TO PREVIOUS RESEARCH (Positive/Support). 37 These findings agree with Isarji’s (2002) findings which showed… There are similarities between the attitudes expressed by…. This study corroborates the earlier findings about… These results are consistent with those of the other studies which found… The present findings seem to be consistent with other research that…

38. LANGUAGE EXPRESSIONS THAT CAN BE USED IN YOUR DISCUSSION C. REFERENCE TO PREVIOUS RESEARCH (Negative/Contradict) These findings did not support previous research … The present findings did not seem to be consistent with other research that… In contrast to earlier findings, however, no evidence of… was discovered. This study has been unable to demonstrate that… However, the findings of the current study do not support the study conducted by Param (1998). However, this result has not been previously described in other studies.. 38

39. LANGUAGE EXPRESSIONS THAT CAN BE USED IN YOUR DISCUSSION D. SUGGESTING GENERAL HYPOTHESES AND IMPLICATIONS These findings suggest that… The findings show that there exists a weak link between… It is possible that… It is therefore likely that such connections exist between… It can thus be suggested that…. 39

40. LANGUAGE EXPRESSIONS THAT CAN BE USED IN YOUR DISCUSSION D. SUGGESTING GENERAL HYPOTHESES AND IMPLICATIONS (continuation) It is possible to hypothesize that these conditions are less likely to occur in… From the above discussion, it can be concluded that… It can therefore be assumed that the… The findings of this study suggest that…. 40

41. LANGUAGE EXPRESSIONS THAT CAN BE USED IN YOUR DISCUSSION D. SUGGESTING GENERAL HYPOTHESES AND IMPLICATIONS (continuation) It is possible to hypothesize that these conditions are less likely to occur in… From the above discussion, it can be concluded that… It can therefore be assumed that the… The findings of this study suggest that…. 41

42. REFERENCE: Norazman Abdul Majid, Masdinah Alauyah Md. Yusoff, Tina Abdullah, Sahirah Marzuki, Zanariah Md. Salleh, Faruk Muhammad, Siti Aishah Abd Hamid & Rohayah Kahar. (2007). Academic report writing : from research to presentation (2 nd edition). Malaysia: Prentice Hall THE END THE END