A dissertation has several sections such as the introduction, literature review, methodology, findings, discussions, and conclusion. Each of these sections is important and has important requirements that should be met to make your dissertation complete. However, the findings and discussions sections are like the ultimate in your writing. These sections sum up all the work that you have been doing from the beginning.
The Findings section comes before the discussion. Your findings are what you have captured through your methods. After writing your literature review and doing your methodology section, readers will be looking for the results you have gathered from your study. This is what will be written in the finding sections. Therefore, you should be well prepared to write this part of your paper. Despite what you have done in the previous sections, this is the part that gives meaning to your dissertation.
What Are Findings in a Dissertation?
Anyone doing research is looking to bridge certain gaps left in past studies. Therefore, what you get from your present research are what are known as findings. They are the results and/or outcomes of your methodology section. All the information collected from your study will be posted here. This part of your dissertation includes the presentation of raw and processed data in form of tables, charts and graphs among other ways.
When writing about the findings, think of what was vital for your dissertation. This is the data and information that you will be presenting to your audience. The content in this part of your paper is what will highlight the main aim and objectives of writing your dissertation. Therefore, it is important to focus on the data tied around your problem statement. After doing all the work to introduce and highlight gaps in your research, readers will be looking forward to seeing what you have managed to do to address those gaps.
Writing the Discussion Section
Findings of your research are not enough to help readers understand the objectives and aim of writing your dissertation. Therefore, you will be required to write a discussion section around that. Your discussions should be informed by the findings of your study. After presenting everything collected from your primary and secondary sources, readers would want to know what they mean in that field of study.
In your discussion section, the main idea is to interpret for your readers all the information that you have been able to gather. Discuss the relevance of your findings based on the objectives that you stated in the introductory part of your dissertation. There should be a connection to create flow from the beginning to the end of your paper. Readers should be able to see how your study connects to past research and especially what you captured in your literature review.
Final Thoughts
The essence of writing a dissertation is to provide new evidence and facts on the topic you have chosen. This is what makes the findings and discussion sections very vital in your dissertation writing process!