Journal articles, Discussion section

Readers expect characteristic words and phrases to be used in a genre (e.g., the word "Discussion" is used to demark the start of a Journal article Discussion section). Effective writers must learn to incorporate these words into their writing. 

Also, explain the following to a friend or colleague who has not yet given much thought to writing a journal article Discussion section ... 

In chapter 1, we learned that genres have both broad and fine organizational structures. In this chapter, we focus on the broad organizational structure of the journal article, signaled by identifiable sections and headings. In general, journal articles are divided into four major sections. These sections have the familiar names Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion collectively, this organizational structure is referred to as the IMRD format. In addition to these four... 

The Introduction section of a journal article Identlhes the research area, explains the Importance of the research, provides background Information, cites and summarizes key literature in the held, points out what still needs to be studied, and Introduces the reader to the work presented In the article. The Methods section—formally known as Materials and Methods or Experimental (Section)— describes how the study was conducted. The Results section summarizes quantitative (and possibly qualitative) data collected during the study. In the Discussion section, authors interpret their data and suggest the larger implications and/or applications of their results. Each of these major sections can be further divided into moves, as we will see in subsequent chapters. 

In many journal articles, the Results section is actually a combined Results and Discussion (R D) section. Combined R D sections are preferred by many scientists who want to present and discuss results in an unbroken chain of thought. The combination is often more concise because less time is spent reminding the reader which results are being discussed. Combined R D sections are not all alike rather, they fall on a continuum with fully separated R D sections at one end and fully integrated R D sections at the other. Within this continuum, three patterns emerge blocked R D, iterative R D, and integrated R D. 

In hgure 3.3 (chapter 3), we reported the frequencies of passive voice in each section of a journal article. If you look back at figure 3.3, you will see that passive voice is used more frequently in Methods sections than in Results (or Discussion) sections. This distribution suggests that both active voice and passive voice are used in Results sections. Past and present tense, when combined with active and passive voice, form four different tense-voice combinations. Each combination has its own function, several of which are illustrated in table 4.1. 

In the Discussion section of a journal article, authors interpret their data, address why and how questions (e.g.. Why was the reaction faster How did the mechanism proceed ), and, ultimately, extend their Endings to a larger context (e.g.. What value will these findings have to the scientific community ). Ideally, the Discussion section explains the story revealed by the data, postulates reasons for the observed behaviors, and furthers our fundamental understanding of the underlying science. 

Read and review the Discussion sections of the journal articles that you collected during your literature search (begun with Writing on Your Own task 2C). Read these Discussion sections to learn more about your topic and to find ways to describe and interpret your findings. Examine how the authors applied their findings to a broader research context. Identify articles that you want to cite in your paper, such as works that offer supporting or conflicting evidence. Jot down careful notes as you read. 

In this part of the chapter, we revisit the journal articles that were introduced in chapter 4, where we focused on Results. Here we focus on the Discussion sections of these articles. We examine how well the authors follow the move structure in figure 5.1, how they interpret their results, and how they conclude their work. 

Browse through three Discussion sections of synthesis articles in The Journal of Organic Chemistry. In addition to proposed mechanisms, make a list of other topics routinely addressed in Discussion sections. 

Excerpt 5F includes the Discussion section from a 2001 article in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Read the excerpt and then complete the following tasks ... 

Reflect on what you have learned about writing a Discussion section for a journal article. Select one of the reflection questions below and write a thoughtful and thorough response ... 

Each of the following passages is about a Grignard reaction. Four are from journal articles (two from Introduction sections and two from Discussion sections), and one is from a textbook. Based on your understanding of the purpose and intended audience of each section and genre, read each passage and decide where it comes from. Explain what information you used to make your decisions. 

The phrases in table 6.3 are often followed by the personal pronoun we (e.g., In the present study, we...). In such instances, we is used to signal the beginning of the authors presented work in the journal article. (Recall that we is also used in Results sections to signal human choice and in Discussion sections to signal interpretative remarks.) Table 6.4 lists some verbs that typically follow we in the fill-the-gap statement. Note that the verbs are in present tense when they refer to what is presented in the paper (e.g., we present ) they are in past tense when they refer to work done in the past (e.g., we measured ). (See table 6.5 for a summary of common functions of verb tense—voice combinations in Introductions.)... 

In what ways is an Introduction different from the Methods, Results, and Discussion sections of a journal article ... 

The poster text is divided into the same general IMRD sections as the journal article Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. Similarly, most posters include an Acknowledgments section, some have an abbreviated References section, and all have a title and author list. Most posters do not include an abstract, in part because of space limitations and in part because an abstract already appears in the conference proceedings. Like the journal article, the IMRD structure of the poster follows an hourglass shape. The top (Introduction) and bottom (Discussion) sections have a broader focus, while the middle sections (Methods and Results) have a narrower focus. Each section of the poster can be divided into individual moves or steps that guide viewers in a conventional way through the content of each section. These moves are analyzed in the next part of the chapter. 

As you read through these Discussion sections, you will notice that they are quite short. Moreover, the discussion points within these sections are often used to highlight, explain, or reiterate key findings rather than to truly interpret data. In addition, unlike a journal article, few references are made to the literature. These common practices illustrate that the main emphasis in posters is to present, rather than interpret, results. This emphasis reflects both the newness of the data presented (late-breaking results may not yet be fully understood) and the interactive role of the poster (to promote an exchange of ideas and dialog). 

Sentences a-c are taken from journal articles. For each, (1) indicate which poster section the information would belong in (Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion) and (2) rewrite the information so that it is appropriate for a poster. 

Read over the combined Results and Discussion section in excerpt 4A, written for a journal article. In one or two sentences, summarize the key findings of that study as they might appear in submove 2.2 (provide essential background information) of a research proposal. Refer to Writing on Your Own task 6A for tips on paraphrasing. 

Schemes are used to depict a series of steps that progress in time. (Note that schemes differ from charts, which list groups of compounds or structures that do not change in time.) Most commonly, schemes are used to illustrate chemical reactions. In such cases, schemes often include arrows (e.g., to denote a forward reaction, resonance, equilibrium, and/or electron movement), intermediates, transition states, reactants, and products. Schemes are numbered in order of appearance in the text (Scheme 1, Scheme 2, etc.). As with tables and figures, the scheme is mentioned in the text before the scheme is encountered. Schemes are perhaps most common in Discussion sections of journal articles (e.g., to illustrate proposed mechanisms) but can appear most anywhere in journal articles, posters, and proposals.

Another common place for redundancy is in transitional sentences. In journal articles, there are two transitional moves at the start of the Results section (to remind readers about methods) and at the start of the Discussion section (to remind readers about results). Caution is needed not to repeat the same sentence in these moves. For example, if you wrote in the Results section As shown in Figure 1, the rate increased with the addition of the catalyst, you could not use this sentence again at the start of the Discussion section. To avoid repetition, you must either state the repeated information differently, or combine it with new information. An example of the latter approach is shown in excerpt 18B, where the authors combine repeated information from the Methods section (that rats were fed 3 pg Se/g of diet) with new information from the Results section (that this diet significantly reduced the incidence of mammary tumors). 

Redundancy is also common in sections of a work that have overlapping purposes. Examples include the abstract of a journal article or the Project Summary of a research proposal each has the purpose of summarizing key points from the accompanying document. Although information can be repeated in the abstract or Project Summary, authors are required to state the information differently, resisting the temptation to merely copy sentences from other sections of their work. Another vulnerable place for redundancy is in the Discussion section of a journal article, which shares several overlapping purposes with the Introduction section. For example, beginning writers sometimes repeat the fill-the-gap statement of the Introduction (e.g., In this work, we measured ) in the sum-... 

Micromixing times can be reduced by an order of magnimde by in-line mixers such as impinging jets, as discussed in Chapter 9. These devices can be utilized effectively in reactive crystallization and are discussed in Ph.D. theses on this topic by Condon (2001) and Johnson (2003), in journal articles by Johnson and Pnid homme (2003) and Hacherl (Condon) (2003), and in Section 10.5 below. 

As discussed in Section 12Ci-3, the Al XS. or alpha proton X-ray spectrometer, has been an important experiment aboard all of the Mars exploration rovers. Journal articles provide details of the APXS experiments on the most recent missions in 2004 and compare the instrumentation and measurement strategies with those on board the Pathfinder mission of 1997.- ... 

The material included in this chapter has been organized by oxidation state, with further subdivision into ligand donor type, and was obtained from reports published in primary research journals. The article will cover coordination complexes of copper in three oxidation states Cum, Cu11, and Cu1. The sections dealing with specific ligand donor types cut across several structural types. In view of the all-inclusive nature of the previous review of CCC(1987), no effort will be made here to present a comprehensive account. Instead, specific cases will be chosen for discussion because they exemplify important concepts concerning the relationship of ligand structure to metal complex properties. 

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