How to Draft the Discussion Section of Your Manuscript

The Discussion section is the most important—and difficult—part of writing a manuscript. Many authors dread drafting this section. But writing this section can be incredibly insightful.

The main purpose of the Discussion is to describe what your results mean. In this way, you interpret your results in a broader context and highlight their significance to your field.

Fortunately, the Discussion section typically follows a standard structure. To help you draft this challenging section, use the following outline to ensure that you include all the important information for your readers.

Summarize your major findings

In this first paragraph, start with a statement that reminds your reader of the overarching hypothesis and approach of your study, which you already stated in your Introduction. Then share your most important finding(s) and explain how they answer the question or fill the knowledge gap you described in the Introduction section. Then, state how your major findings help to move the field forward by addressing that knowledge gap.

If your study used or established a new approach, you will want to use this paragraph to describe the new method or model and how it will help to advance your field.

Interpret your important findings

For the next several paragraphs, you want to interpret your results in a logical order. To organize these paragraphs, discuss your findings from most to least important. You also might consider grouping your evidence by topic and/or supporting data, or by following the same order that you described your results.

As you work through your results, explain how they fit with existing literature. Describe how they extend the findings of previous studies. Discuss whether your results support or contradict findings shown in other studies. If you find contradictions, explain why you think your results are different from what has already been shown. Did you answer a similar question with a different model? Did you assess a different timeline or use a different reagent?

You will also want to discuss any unexpected or intriguing findings. Explain why you think these findings are interesting, why you think they occurred, and what you think they mean in a broader context.

Also, mention any inconclusive results and explain them as best as you can. If applicable, suggest additional experiments that are needed to clarify your results.

Discuss the limitations

In the next paragraph, describe the limitations of your study and how they could have affected your data or analysis. Did you have a small sample size? Were certain data unavailable? Are you aware of any biases in the analysis or interpretation? Be transparent and briefly discuss any possible caveats to the study.

This paragraph may be contained in its own short section of the Discussion. If not, you can either summarize the limitations in a paragraph (as described above) or weave specific limitations into the relevant paragraphs of your discussion.

Recommend future directions

In this paragraph, you want to describe the next steps following your study. Based on your findings, what studies do you plan to do next? What studies do you recommend other researchers in your field do in the future?

Similar to the limitations, you might weave these details into the relevant paragraphs of your discussion. 

State your conclusions

This paragraph may be in its own short section or the last paragraph of the Discussion, depending on the journal. In either case, the contents of the paragraph are the same.

The conclusion paragraph is your final opportunity to state the significance of your research. In this paragraph, avoid restating your main findings. Instead, summarize the outcome of your study and describe the main contribution that your work makes to the field. Focus on what you accomplished and the broader implications of your study. This approach will remind your reader of the relevance and significance of your findings to the field, helping you to end on a strong note.