academic writing 08 constructing a research paper II (continued)

Results deal with facts, which are descriptive; Discussions deal with points, which are interpretive. The There are also three moves. In a long article, the Discussion sections run the sequence more than once.

1. points to consolidate the research space (obligatory)
2. points to indicate the limitations of your study (optional but common)
3. points to recommend a course of action and/or to identify useful areas of further research (optional and only common in some fields)

In my field (describing and solving social problems with ecological data), move 2 is as important as move 1 because social research is too complex to finish in a single paper. As empirical research filling the gap between theory and practice, move 3 is also necessary. Followings are some useful opening:
beginning with a discussion of the literature, such as someone (year) recovered .... and found that ....
offering a general conclusion, such as from this data, it is clear that ....
reminding the reader of the original purpose, such as the objective of the survey was to ...
giving a summary, such as this report brings together all known records of ....
referring to theory, mentioning the methodology or study site, and discussing the limitation.
Besides, in Results, statements may be quite specific while in abstract, space restrictions may lead to a high level of generality. Discussion is expected between these two levels. It is common to use there "phrases of generality", for example, on the whole or in the main.
In order to avoid the limitation to become the weaknesses in the research, there are some typical formulations:

• It should be noted that this study has been primarily concerned with ...
• This study has addressed only the question of ...
• However, the findings do not imply ...
• The results of this study cannot be taken as evidence for ...

(Swales, J. M. and Feak, C. B. 2007, Academic Writing for Graduate Students, University of Michigsn Press, Ann Arbor.)