如何写好 Discussion？

2 月 27 日，募格编辑联合丁香园举办了一堂 SCI 论文写作微信公开课，资深母语编辑 Kristin 以论文的讨论部分写作为主题展开了在线讲解。

课后，大家针对授课内容积极提问，我们现在将母语编辑的回答汇集整理，相信这 16 个问题的答案，一定能帮你帮您写好 Discussion。

Q&A

1.Whether we should use some important words such as 'the first time' in our paper?

I think it helps. The clearer it is, the better. You can also use"novel" "never published before" etc..

2.What are the differences between discussion and result?

The results section is what you found. So you usually present your figures andjust say exactly what you found (for example, we found in our disease modelthat protein A was decreased). In the discussion you really discuss the results. What do they mean? What have people found before? Why are theyimportant? (For example, the decrease in protein A is linked to the progressionof the disease. It has previously been shown in Chang et al. This decrease inprotein A is important because it allows us to target this protein for treatingthis disease).

3. If I have the different result with others, how can I write in the discussion better? How to discuss negative result?

Just because you have a different result from others doesn’t necessarily meanit is negative. I think it is important to be honest here and mention that what you found is different to what has previously been published. It is also thengood to discuss reasons why (E.g., different animal model? Different dose ofdrug? Different time-course of administration? etc.) Just because a result isdifferent doesn’t mean it isn’t useful or non-publishable.

4.How to deal with the relationship between the introduction and discussion?

The introduction is really to introduce your study but it is usually reallyshort (maybe 1 page max). It usually introduces what you are studying (cancer,heart disease, etc.) and then you state what is missing about the topic (i.e., inheart disease we don't understand why protein A is important) then you stateyour hypothesis so everyone knows what you will research (i.e., We will studyprotein A in cardiomyocytes to see if it has an effect on the disease)

5.Should we discuss each item of result in discussions?

A:Yes, I think you should discuss each result. Even if it is short, you shouldmention all results in the discussion. It helps to create a story, which isclear and logical, and by explaining each result, you help to do this.

6.Teacher，thank you for your useful presentationfirst，I would like to know what kind of tensesyou usually use in discussion part, especially when cited references.

In the discussion we usually use a mixture of simple past and present. So whenyou discuss your results you would use simple past (we found in our study that....), or if you talk about other people's studies (cited references) you alsouse simple past (Chan et al., found that ....) but otherwise you can usepresent (i.e., and this study is important because …)

7.Excuse me but I have a question about Common mistake #4, I find the goodexample a little bit repeating. Can we just say "the study of Chan et alshows similar results and hence proves its validity"?

Yes, you are absolutely right. You can just say "the study of Chan et alshows similar results and hence proves its validity" (although I wouldn't say "proves" validity, I would say strengthens our results orsomething similar). I just wanted to provide an example with more than one wayto say "new".

8.You have mentioned that in the discussion we should tell the novelty of the research,but we have always put this in the beginning for the purpose, how to distinguishthem?

Repeating yourself isn't a bad thing. The more you state the novelty, theclearer it becomes to your reader (and reviewer!) because you mention it a fewtimes. In the introduction (or beginning) you don't have to state the novelty,you usually state what you will do (i.e., your hypothesis). However, if you dostate novelty in the introduction you can repeat it in the discussion, noproblem.

9.How to avoid overstatement in discussion?

Good question!! I think it is important to not use strong words like, "wehave proven that ..." "we will cure that" and to make sure yourstatements are similar to your results.

10.I would like to ask a question, lady. Due to the change of magazine, at first,my discussion and results were separate but now it needs to be put together. Canyou give me some advice to do this work? Thank you a lot!

Yes, this can be tricky. What I like to do is to present the result first (Infigure 1 we showed/found that ....) and then right after you would discuss it.This is novel/important because ... Then you start on the next result. (Infigure 2 we showed that ... and this is important because ....). In the lastparagraph I would also do a conclusion so it is clear what you found and why itis important.

11.Why isn't the sentence in the discussion the longer the better?

The simple answer is that the longer you write, the more chances people have tobecome confused or lost. Also, as you know, reading REALLY long papers isboring. You want the reader to enjoy your paper and to find it simple and easyto understand. The best way to do this is to have it short and simple.

12.How can we clearly state the novelty of the study?

I think the best way to do this is to use simple words and make it clear andshort. We found the novel result that ... Our, this study is novel because ...etc.

13.In your opinion, if our result is A is good. In the discussion, we should nothave the words「someone thinks A is good, but anthers can't, it has controversyat resent」. Isn’t it?

I think it is OK to mention in the literature if there is a controversy.Sometimes this is better because it means your paper is even more important. If5 people found protein A was decreased and 5 people found protein A wasincreased, you can say, currently in the literature it is unclear if protein Ais increased or decreased, our study attempted to clarify this controversy. Ourresults show that ...

14.Should we cite the NEWEST study which is related to our results in the discussion？

Yes!! I think this is a great idea. It shows that you are up-to-date with theliterature and it also gives the reader a nice summary of what is happening inthe literature. You can also cite older articles, but I think it is good toalso include the newest ones.

15.If I have shortcuts in my study, like I only have short-term results of theinfluence of operation on a tumor marker, but I lack the long-term resultswhich is really important. How can I make my findings convincing and notrejected because I still not have the long-term results? Thank you.

This can also be difficult sometimes. However, short term studies can be justas important as long term. For example, if you are studying a disease, shortterm impacts are as important as long term. In our heart studies we talk aboutshort term studies as important because what happens in the short term willcause what happens in the long term. You need to know what happens first beforeyou know what happens later.

For your example, it is important to know if thetumor marker goes down really quickly after surgery of if it takes longer, thatis important for clinical knowledge. How long do they need to monitor the tumormarker before it changes?

16.Simple words and simple sentences will be better?

YES! Sometimes I notice people choose very long and complicated words that weoften don't use normally in English. This makes it more difficult for us tounderstand your paper. As simple as possible is really better. Also, a lot ofpeople have English as a second or third language who will read your papers.Keeping it as simple as possible is better for everyone! Longer morecomplicated words don't make it sound better, it makes it more confusing!

可能很多同学错过了这次公开课，别担心，我们早已为各位准备好了这次公开课的干货。大家可以通过视频回顾一下我们的公开课：How to write a good discussion.

文章来源：募格编辑

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