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Use the menu below to find out how to write each part of a scientific report.

Results Section

The table below offers guidelines for effective results sections in scientific reports.

Question to address:
How to address it::
What did you observe?

For each experiment or procedure:

  • Briefly describe experiment without detail of Methods section (a sentence or two).

  • Report main result(s), supported by selected data:
    • Representative: most common
    • Best Case: best example of ideal or exception

Additional tips:

  1. Order multiple results logically:

    • from most to least important
    • from simple to complex
    • organ by organ; chemical class by chemical class

  2. Use past tense to describe what happened.

What to avoid:

  1. Don't simply repeat table data; select.

  2. Don't interpret results.

  3. Avoid extra words: "It is shown in Table 1 that X induced Y" --> "X induced Y (Table 1)."

 

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