Some discussion resources

I thought I would share some very simple discussion resources with you all.

Firstly, a quick list of the purposes of the discussion chapter are as follows (Skills You Need, n.d.):

1. Interpret and explain our results
2. Answer our research question
3. Justify our approach
4. Critically evaluate [our] study

Secondly, we can ask ourselves a list of questions to ensure that we have finalised all we need to finalise in our chapter:

• Have we clearly shown where our findings are similar to other research papers?
• Have we clearly shown where our findings are dissimilar other research papers?
• Have we explored our findings outliers, and linked them to the literature?
• Does each section of the discussion link back to the findings?
• Have we simply restated results when instead we needed to discuss, and link the literature to the findings?
• Have we ensured there is no raw data in this chapter?
• Have we included any new information that has not previously appeared in our literature review, methodology or findings?
• Have we ensured that there will be no surprises appearing in our conclusions?

Thirdly, there are a number of very good sources that we can read on the discussion chapter. Associate Professor Inger Mewburn from Australia National University is often better known as the Thesis Whisperer. The three posts below are all well-worth reading. Further, Martin Shuttleworth has very good site - www.explorable.com - which explores a number of elements of the thesis, and is also thoroughly useful. The sites are:

• Mewburn, I. (2012). How Do I Start My Discussion Chapter? http://thesiswhisperer.com/2012/01/23/how-do-i-start-my-discussion-chapter/
• Mewburn, I. (2016). The difficult discussion chapter. https://thesiswhisperer.com/2016/04/20/the-difficult-discussion-chapter/
• Mewburn, I. (2021) . How do I Write the Discussion Section? https://thesiswhisperer.com/2020/03/04/no-really-how-do-you-write-a-discussion-section/
• Shuttleworth, M. (2009). Writing a Discussion Section. https://explorable.com/writing-a-discussion-section
• Young, S. (2021). Discussion articles. http://www.samyoung.co.nz/search/label/discussion

I hope this list proves useful.

Sam

References:

• Mewburn, I. (2012). How Do I Start My Discussion Chapter. http://thesiswhisperer.com/2012/01/23/how-do-i-start-my-discussion-chapter/
• Mewburn, I. (2016).& The difficult discussion chapter https://thesiswhisperer.com/2016/04/20/the-difficult-discussion-chapter/
• Mewburn, I. (2021). How do I Write the Discussion Section? https://thesiswhisperer.com/2020/03/04/no-really-how-do-you-write-a-discussion-section/
• Skills You Need (n.d.). Discussion Section .http://www.skillsyouneed.com/learn/dissertation-results-discussion.html#ixzz4KdOQv3Be
• Shuttleworth, M. (2009). Writing a Discussion Section. https://explorable.com/writing-a-discussion-section
• Young, S. (2021). Discussion articles. http://www.samyoung.co.nz/search/label/discussion