Paper writting - 6 - Findings/Discussion

Findings/Discussion Chapter

1. 顺序是presenting results à describing results à discussing results

一般用past simple or present simple

2. Referring to tables or figures

• It can be seen from Table X that …
• As is shown in Figure Y, …
• As shown in Figure Y, …
• As the findings in Figure W reveal/show/indicate
• The effects of … on … are shown in Figure 3.
• According to Table Z, …

3. Comparing and contrasting data

• Expressing similarities

{exactly, practically, approximately, almost, nearly, about} the same as…

• Expressing differences

…far more…than……slightly more…than…Unlike……, whereas…{much, considerably, significantly, somewhat, slightly, marginally| higher/lower, etc. than…

• Using expressions to describe trend data

There was a{slight, small, gradual, steady, significant, dramatic, sharp, rapid, steep, sudden}{rise, increase, decrease, decline, fall, drop} in……{rose, increased, decreased, declined, fell, dropped}{slightly, gradually, steadily, significantly, dramatically, sharply, rapidly} in…

4. Language of hedging

Expressing tentativeness	Expressing certainty
One reason for …	The reason for …
A possible explanation for … is that …	The explanations for … are …
This may / might / could be because …	This is because …
… may be attributed to …	… can be attributed to …
It seems that …	It is clear / obvious that …
The findings perhaps indicate the need to …	The findings prove the need to …

Hedging is a very common language phenomenon, and its research tends to be foc.

模糊限制语是一种常见的语言现象，对其研究正朝着功能研究的方向发展。

5. Conveying confident uncertainty (tentative language, hedging language)

• Probability

Original sentence: Property priceswillincrease this year.…may / might / could increase…It is almost certain / highly likely / possible that…There is a strong / good / definite possibility that…

• Distance

Original sentence: Peopleareconfident about the economic outlook.. appear / seem to be confident…It would appear / seem that…The evidence suggests that…According to…On the evidence of…On the basis of…In the view of…

• Generalization

Original sentence:Peoplein HK support the government.Most / many / the vast majority of people…For the most part……tend to support…Apart from / with the exception of / except for…

• Weaker verbs

Original sentence: The rise in interest rates caused the stock market to fall.

The rise in interest rates contributes to the fall on the stock market.

Original sentence: The results undoubtedly / clearly / obviously prove that …

The results suggest that …

6. Others

In regard to / with regard to

Regarding… / pertaining to … / related to … / relating to …

As shown in … / as is shown in …

Establish / present / outline

Analyze / investigate / explore / examine / address / consider

Something is worth doing / something is worthy of doing

Contributions

7. Using language to protect yourself in discussion/conclusion chapters

A common means that writers use to protect themselves from criticism in journal articles and in discussion/conclusion chapters is to use speculative and imprecise language.

Such language can be described under five categories:

• Imprecise verbs (e.g., appear, seems)
• Modal verbs (e.g., may, could, would, 情态动词)
• Hedges of the “possible or likely” variety (e.g., possibly, perhaps)
• Hedges of the “substantially or partly” variety
• Frequency adverbs (never (0%) --> seldom, rarely --> at times, occasionally --> sometimes (50%) --> often --> usually àalways (100%))