Results, Discussions and Conclusion Sections: A Comparative Analysis A research article is the medium through which people make

public the results of their research. They can vary in structure across academic disciplines, but in general, most articles contain the following components: a title and abstract, an introduction, the study methodology, the study's results backed up with graphs and tables to report the data, discussion of the results, strengths and limitations, and a references section that lists all sources consulted for the article. To make a comparative analysis of the results, discussion and conclusion sections of two research papers belonging to two completely different areas, namely educational and medicine field is the aim of this paper. Extremely noteworthy is the difference as regards the structure choice, since both articles preferred a different organization for their papers. While Di Angelantonio, Chowdhury, Sarwar, Aspelund, Danesh and Gudnasons (2010) medical article exposes the three sections found in R As separately, Barsss (2012) educational paper presentes results and discussions jointly, leaving the conclusions in a single section. Nevertheless, both authors includes all the information that these sections need to have. Concerning discussion section, both of them are descriptive in nature. They summarize their findings relating them to prior studies. The medicine article devotes the section to restate the key findings with reference to the original question as well as reminds the reader of the overall study. On the other hand, as in the educational article, there is not a separation between discussion and results, the author reiterates the hypothesis proposed and points out the most important results as well as an interpretation of the data.

Regarding results section, although the past simple tense and tables and figures are utilized, they differ from in the way they account for results. While Di Angelantonio et al. (2010) seems to have a more direct way, Barss (2012) divides this sections into two parts and uses persuasive arguments. This disparity seems to be connected with the purpose of each article. Whilst the medicine article focuses on interpreting statistical data, the educational paper centers its attention in analyzing and interpreting results. Concerning the presentation of data, both research articles use texts as well as tables and figures to state results. According to Swales (1998), the results section should summarize the data with text, tables, and/or figures. Both results sections begin first with text and then refer the reader to tables and figures in order to highlight the evidence needed to answer the questions/hypotheses being investigated. The education research paper interprets and compares results, gives examples and explanations of the information stated in graphics. On the contrary the medicine article author uses a more concise and objective style which may be more complex to understand, particularly in you are not familiarized with the field. The American Psychological Association (2007) establishes some basic rules as regards the formatting of tables. The education research article respects certain requirements; all tables are correctly numbered, and each one has an individual tittle which is italicized and correctly capitalized. Contrary to this, the medicine article does not comply with certain rules as tittles are neither italicized nor presented with each word capitalized. Whereas Di Angelantonio et al. (2010) uses notes below tables to clarify the information presented, Barrs (2012) omits them; this may be because the information is easier to understand and also because the author explains, interprets and evaluate results in the same section.

As regards conclusions sections, both RAs answer the questions or hypotheses previously stated. Furthermore they summarize what they have found and also suggest directions for future research. In the medicine article the authors limited themselves to state objectively and concisely the main findings whereas in the education paper the author not only points out main findings but also analyzes and reflects upon them. Di Angelantonio et al. (2010) use the present simple tense to show certainty about the statements; conversely, Barrs (2012) utilizes tentative language and modal verbs since in the education field it is not appropriate to show sureness about results and outcomes. On the whole both research articles from the two different fields, education and medicine, comply with certain norms required for the design of discussion, results and conclusions sections. The authors describe the situation in a clear and direct way, considering what is relevant to the topic, focusing on the objectives of the research. They provide the necessary explanations, considering the readers knowledge and give clear explanations of the literature reviewed as well as the illustrations presented; in this way they account for the clarity and the reality principles applying for the conventions of proficient academic writing.

References American Psychological Association (2007). Concise rules of APA style. Washington, DC: British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data. Barrs, K. (2012). Fostering computer-mediated L2 interaction beyond the classroom. Language Learning & Technology, 16 (1), 10-25. Retrieved from: http://llt.msu.edu/issues/february2012/actionresearch.pdf Di Angelantonio, E., Chowdhury, R., Sarwar, N., Aspelund, T., Danesh, J., & Gudnason, V. (2010). Chronic kidney disease and risk of major cardiovascular disease and non-vascular mortality: prospective population based cohort study. British Medical Journal, 341: c4986. doi: 10.1136/bmj.c4986.