How to write the results section of a research paper comes down to one discipline most students haven't practiced: reporting what you found without immediately explaining what you think it means. That instinct to interpret while you report is natural, and it's also the single fastest way to blur a section that's supposed to be purely factual. This guide covers exactly what belongs in your results section, what belongs in discussion instead, and how to present your data so a reader can trust it.
What Goes in the Results Section
The results section reports what you found, in plain language backed by the specific numbers or observations that support it. Nothing more. According to Purdue University's Online Writing Lab, a results section should remind the reader of the question being asked, state the answer in plain English, then back it up with the statistic or data point that supports it. That's the whole job.
Here's how the three sections that follow your methods actually divide the work:
| Section | What It Answers | What Doesn't Belong |
|---|---|---|
| Results | What did you find? | Interpretation, comparison to other studies, speculation about causes |
| Discussion | What does it mean? | New data you haven't already reported in results |
| Methods | What did you do? | Any mention of what happened once you did it |
A research paper results section that stays inside its lane makes the discussion section's job easier too, since the discussion can build on findings the reader already trusts as fact, not opinion mixed with fact.
Results vs. Discussion: The Line Most Students Cross
Here's the distinction in practice. "The average test score increased by 12 points after the intervention" is a result: a fact, backed by a number. "This increase suggests the intervention improved retention" is a discussion sentence: an interpretation of what that fact means. The National Library of Medicine's guidance on biomedical scientific writing states this directly: report only what you found, and hold all evaluation of significance for the discussion.
Students cross this line constantly, usually with a single connecting word. "Scores increased, showing that the method worked" has already left results and entered discussion, because "showing that" is doing interpretive work. The fix is almost always mechanical: cut the interpretation, keep the fact, and let the discussion section make the case for what it means later.
This same reporting-first discipline applies to your abstract, which compresses your results into a sentence or two using the same rule: state what you found, not what you concluded from it.
How to Present Data: Tables, Figures, and Text
Pick one format per set of numbers, not all three. A table works when a reader needs exact values across several categories, like comparing four experimental groups on three measures. A figure works when the pattern matters more than any single number, a trend over time or a relationship between two variables. Text works for a single finding that doesn't need a visual at all.
The mistake to avoid is repeating the same numbers in a table and then again, word for word, in a paragraph underneath it. If you've built a table, your prose should point readers to what matters in it, "Group A scored higher on all three measures (Table 1)," not restate every cell.
Structuring Multiple Findings in the Right Order
If your study produced more than one finding, order matters. The clearest structures put your most important finding, the one that most directly answers your original research question, first, with supporting or secondary findings after it. Chronological order, running through findings in the sequence you happened to analyze them, is usually the weakest option, since it organizes around your process instead of the reader's understanding.
Give each distinct finding its own subheading or clearly separated paragraph if you have more than two or three. A results section that blends everything into one long paragraph makes a reader hunt for which sentence answers which question.
Common Mistakes Students Make
Interpreting instead of reporting. Covered above, and still the most frequent error: a results section that quietly becomes a discussion section halfway through.
Dumping raw data instead of distilling it. A table with every individual data point isn't a results section, it's an appendix. Summarize first: means, differences, the specific comparison your research question asked about.
Leaving out results that don't support the hypothesis. A finding that contradicts what you expected is still a finding. Cutting it doesn't make your project stronger, it makes it incomplete, and a mentor or judge who asks about it later will notice the gap.
Writing the section before the data exists. Filling in placeholder numbers "to get the structure done" almost always means rewriting the whole section once real results come in, which costs more time than waiting would have.
How to Write Your Results Section
- Finish collecting and analyzing your data first. There's nothing to report accurately until the analysis is done.
- List every finding that answers your original research question, before you write a single sentence of prose. This becomes your outline.
- Order your findings by importance, not by the sequence you ran them in.
- Write one plain-English sentence per finding, stating what you found before you attach any number to it.
- Add the specific data that backs each sentence, a statistic, a measurement, a percentage, right after the plain-English claim.
- Choose one format per data set: table, figure, or text, never the same numbers repeated in two of them.
- Read it back and cut every sentence that explains why something happened. That sentence belongs in your discussion section, not here.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the results section of a research paper?
The section where you report what you actually found, in plain language backed by the specific data or statistics that support it. It comes after the methods section and before the discussion, and it sticks to facts, not interpretation.
What's the difference between the results and discussion sections?
Results reports what you found. Discussion explains what it means. A results sentence says the average score increased by 12 points; a discussion sentence says that increase suggests the intervention worked. Mixing the two is the most common structural mistake in a first research paper.
Should the results section include interpretation?
No. Save interpretation, comparisons to other research, and claims about why something happened for the discussion section. The results section reports what happened, not what it means.
Do I need to include negative or null results?
Yes, if they're relevant to your research question. A finding that doesn't support your hypothesis is still a real result, and leaving it out misrepresents what your study actually showed.
How long should a results section be?
Long enough to report every finding relevant to your research question and no longer. There's no fixed word count, but a results section padded with raw data dumps or repeated explanations is usually a sign the findings haven't been distilled yet.
Should I use tables, figures, or just text?
Whichever presents the specific data most clearly, and don't use more than one for the same numbers. A table works for exact values across categories, a figure works for trends and patterns, and text should point readers to what matters in either rather than repeating every number from it.
What order should I present multiple findings in?
Order by relevance to your original research question, not the order you happened to run the analysis. A common structure is most important finding first, followed by supporting or secondary findings.
Can I write the results section before I finish collecting data?
No. Writing it early means summarizing results you don't actually have yet, and rewriting the whole section once your real findings come in wastes more time than waiting would have.
The Bottom Line
A strong results section does one job: it tells the reader what you found, backed by real data, without telling them what to think about it yet. That discipline is harder than it sounds, since interpreting as you go is a natural instinct, but a results section that stays factual makes every section around it stronger, including the discussion that gets to build on facts the reader already trusts. Aspire's position on student research holds here too: the value of a project comes from doing the analysis yourself and reporting it honestly, negative results included, not from writing the version of your findings that sounds best.
If you're working through a full research paper and want a mentor checking each section as you go, the Aspire Research Fellowship pairs you with a PhD mentor and a recent ISEF champion over 12 weeks, open to grades 8 through 11, with more than 20,000 students through the program so far.
Apply to the Aspire Research Fellowship →
For the section that comes right after this one, see our guide to structuring a literature review, or go back to the section that compresses your results into two sentences in our guide to what an abstract in a research paper actually is.