How to Write a Combined Results and Discussion Section
The main sections of a research paper are typically ordered like this: introduction, methods, results, discussion, conclusion.
However, some journals require authors to combine the results and discussion into a single section with the heading, “Results and Discussion.”
Unfortunately, combining these sections is not as easy as simply removing the “Discussion” heading (although that would be awesome). If you need to combine these sections, you’ll have to do some rearranging.
This article will walk you through one method authors commonly use to integrate their discussion into their results to arrive at a smooth, cohesive results and discussion section.
The standard pattern is:
Present and discuss Result 1.
Present and discuss Result 2.
Repeat the above until you’ve presented and discussed all your results.
Provide the theoretical and practical implications of the findings as a whole.
Indicate the study’s limitations and suggest directions for future research.
Let’s look at each of the above points in more detail.
Present the First Result
The paragraph describing each result should usually start by stating the result in plain terms.
For example:
Participants who received smartphone notifications scored lower on the MOCCA-College reading-comprehension assessment than participants who received no notifications.
For more specific guidelines on how to present your findings, see my article on the best practices to follow when writing the results section.
Interpret the First Result
As described in this post on how to write a discussion section, after you’ve stated a finding, you should then express whether it supports or contrasts with previous research.
You should also clarify how your finding expands the current body of knowledge. Let readers see what was previously unknown that your study has brought to light.
Building on the previous example, the author might write something like:
This result supports the research of Author A et al. (2025), who found that smartphone interruptions reduced university students’ performance on various tasks requiring sustained attention. The current finding builds on this work by showing that smartphone interruptions can also impair reading comprehension.
In a standard research paper, a passage like the one above would not appear in the results section. This is the main difference between a standard research paper and one with a combined results and discussion section.
Present and Interpret the Next Result
After presenting and interpreting your first result as shown above, do the same with your next result. Then keep repeating the process until you've reported all your results.
Provide the Implications
When describing the theoretical and practical implications, you can stop working with your results individually and treat them as one cohesive unit.
In other words, you don’t need to link each implication to one specific result by saying:
A noteworthy implication of Result 1 is that... Moreover, Result 2 indicates that...
Instead, you can say:
A noteworthy implication of the results is that... Moreover, the results indicate that...
In a published research paper, this part of the results and discussion section might start like this:
The findings reveal that smartphone notifications can interfere with university students’ ability to concentrate on reading tasks, particularly when notifications are frequent or accompanied by sound. As such, the findings have implications for how students manage their smartphones while studying and for how educators design learning environments that minimize distractions. For example...
Note that the author did not separate the finding about (1) the frequency of smartphone notifications and (2) silent versus audible notifications. Instead, they discussed both findings together.
Indicate the Limitations and Directions for Future Research
As with the implications, the limitations—and their corresponding recommendations for future research—should be based on the study as a whole. You do not need to base each limitation on one specific result unless you have reason to do so.
Returning to our example, here is one of the limitations the authors provide, along with their suggestion for how future studies could overcome the limitation:
One limitation of the present study is that the reading-comprehension task was conducted in a quiet laboratory setting, which may not have contained the distractions that students typically encounter in their regular study environments. Future research could examine whether smartphone notifications have similar effects on reading comprehension in different settings, such as libraries, classrooms, or students’ homes.
Again, note that the paragraph isn’t related to one specific result but rather to the whole study.
If you need extra help combining your results and discussion sections, I'd be happy to work with you one-on-one. Magnum Academic Editing's Content Analysis service is designed to ensure that each section of your paper includes everything it needs, in the correct order.
Summary
To recap, when you need to combine your results and discussion into a single section, follow these steps:
Present and discuss each finding on its own.
Provide the theoretical and practical implications of the findings as a whole.
Indicate the study’s limitations and suggest directions for future research.
