| Underline the significance of the findings |
| Clarify contributions of the study to filling the gap of knowledge |
| Provide related literature to show how the findings can be supported (or rejected) |
| Be creative to offer alternative explanations to illuminate unexpected findings |
| Discuss in the context provided in the introduction |
| Clarify distinguished facts from speculations |
| Generate new hypothesis rather than providing simple descriptions |
| Deal appropriately with the complex bias issues (e.g. external validity, selection bias, potential misclassifications) |
| Close the discussion with a brief revisiting of the most important findings in terms of their implications and impact along with a new perspective |
|
Don’ts
|
| Reiterate or over-interpret the findings |
| Make one-sided or biased interpretations |
| Discuss findings without supporting data (in results, tables, or figures) |
| Ignore any unexpected findings |
| Misinterpret non-significant findings as true null results |
| Ignore data available in the literature negating/counteracting the findings |
| Distort the magnitude or direction of available literature to confirm the findings |
| Provide ambiguous comments for future studies, e.g., “there is a need for further research” |
| Generalize implications excessively |
| Close the last paragraph using over assertive statements |
