Discussion of Findings

Purpose:
The purpose of writing a Discussion of Findings is to delve into the meaning, importance and relevance of the results of your original research activities. It should focus on explaining and evaluating what you found, showing how it relates to the other sources you are using and to your research questions, and making an argument in support of your overall conclusion.

Skills & Knowledge:

Analytical thinking and writing about the results you found, the implications of your research, and how this work fits into existing data on the subject.
Exploring how the data and information you have collected can be combined with existing data and thinking about how it will be used in your final Research Project
Reflecting on the limitations of your results and ways your research topic can be explored in the future by you or other scholars.

The Task:
Your Discussion of Findings section should summarize your key findings, give your interpretations, discuss the implications, acknowledge the limitations, and state your recommendations.

Some of this work may have already been done in the Methodology section, and it is fine to draw from parts of that assignment to complete this one; however, there are several new sections of this assignment that you have not yet considered and so you want to be sure you are giving them careful thought and that your discussion explores not only the content and meaning of your results but also how your results fit in with the existing data you found in other sources. This means that you can bring in data and information from your scholarly sources and begin making connections between your research findings and research findings published by others.

Showing connections between your research and that done by others will form a significant portion of your Research Project, so a lot of the content you are creating for this assignment will go into your final draft of the Research Project.

You can complete a successful Discussion of Findings section by following the steps below in . Each step can be addressed in separate paragraphs and you are welcome to number your paragraphs if you choose.