SECTION
TWO : Results
Making sense of your data
for yourself and others
Step
1: If you haven't already done so, put your lab data
in visual form by creating appropriate tables, graphs, and other figures.
Representing your data in a visual format will allow you to identify trends
and relationships among variables more easily.
More
Help:
- Establish what types of
data you have, quantitative or
qualitative.
- Determine if the data should
be represented as a
table or a graph.
- If you decide to use a graph
to represent your data, determine which type
of graph is one that best represents your data.
- If a table is the best format
for your data, then modify the table you used to collect your data so
that it is labeled and organized properly. For more help with tables,
go to Designing Tables.
- If you need help creating
a spreadsheet to make a table or graph, go to "Excel
Tutorial."
Step
2: Once you have generated visual representations of
your data, decide the order in which your tables, graphs, or other figures
should be presented in the Results section.
More
Help:
If
you have multiple data sets, you can arrange your visuals according
to one of these methods of ordering:
- chronological order: if
the lab consists of more than one procedure, you can present the results
in the order in which you did the procedures, especially if that order
provides a useful way of leading the reader through the results.
- order of importance: arrange
the visuals by putting the one that is the most important first and
then the others in descending order of importance.
- order of generality: sometimes
it is better to start with the most general representation of the data
and then place the more specific ones after that,especially if the specific
ones serve to support the broad representation or add more details to
it.
Step
3: Review all the data from your experiment. In a sentence
or two summarize the overall results of this lab. This is the opening
sentence(s) of the Results section.
More
Help:
- In your summary, be sure
to focus only on the findings, the data from the experiment. Don’t
address the hypothesis.
- Review the data in your
visuals (tables and graphs and other figures). If you have trouble shaping
a one- or two- sentence summary, look for a unifying feature among the
data sets. This is likely to be the dependent variable. The sentence
will be a general statement that summarizes your findings about that
variable or related variables.
- You can start the sentence
in several ways: "The results of the lab show that
";
"The data from the experiments demonstrate that
"; "The
independent variable X increased as Y and Z were
."
Step
4: In separate paragraphs summarize the finding in
each of your visuals--tables, graphs, or other figures. First state the
overall relationship or interaction among variables that each visual represents.
Then include any specific details from the visual that are important for
understanding the results. Refer to your tables, graphs, or other figures
as figure or table 1, 2, 3, etc.
More
Help:
- Describe each visual in
a separate paragraph. Each paragraph has two parts:
- The first sentence gives
the general
finding for the visual, what it indicates overall, and
- The following sentence(s)
provides key details from the visual that are important to understanding
the experiment (don't include all the details).
- Refer to your visual(s)
in the written part of your Results in one of two ways:
- Refer to your visual(s)
at the beginning of your findings, for example, "Table 1 shows
that the reaction times decreased as the strength of the solution
increased." "Figure 3 demonstrates that the mortality
rate among riparian mammals adhered to approximately seven-year
cycles." (It is also possible to use verbs such as "lists,"
"displays," "describes," etc.)
- Refer to your visual(s)
in parentheses at the end of the of your findings. For example,
"The reaction times decreased as the strength of the solution
increased (Table 1)." "The mortality rate among riparian
mammals adhered to approximately seven-year cycles (see Figure 3)."
(Ask your teacher which format to use for parenthetical documentation.)
Step
5: Complete the Results by placing all the elements
you've written in the proper order: (1) the sentence summarizing the overall
data for the lab; (2) the paragraphs of word descriptions for each visual
arranged in the order the visuals are presented. Remember that the Results
only reports and describes what you observed and collected during your
lab. The Results does not explain, discuss, or draw conclusions.
The
Results looks like this:
- Summary of overall findings
of lab
- Paragraph related to visual
1
- Sentence of overall
finding from visual 1
- Sentence(s) with key
details from the visual 1
- Paragraph related to visual
2
- Sentence of overall
finding from visual 2
- Sentence(s) with key
details from the visual 2
- Paragraph related to visual
3
- Sentence of overall
finding from visual 3
- Sentence(s) with key
details from visual 3, etc.
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