Discussion

The discussion is where you interpret your results in the context of the study aims and compare your findings to those published in the literature.

Structure your discussion to flow logically:

• Use subheadings to make it easier to write and follow.
• Answer any specific questions that were set for the assignment.
• Support your answers with citations and references from the literature.

Cover the aims of your study:

• What questions were you asking and how are they addressed by your data?
• Anything that appeared in your results section should be commented on in the discussion.
• Refer to figures in the results to illustrate your point.

Compare your data to other published results:

• Describe similarities and differences and don’t forget to include citations.
• Are there explanations for why your data agrees or disagrees with the literature? Acknowledge limitations of the experiment, but don’t overemphasise a lack of data or any sampling errors.

Suggest wider research or applications:

• Provide a few suggestions for future work or what experiments could be done to generate even more insight.
• Finish with some broader statements that show the wider significance of your work. For example, if your study was about the composition of plants in patches at Rangitoto Island, what can you say about how plants colonise new sites anywhere around the world?