The general guidelines vary. Space has so much value in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, that authors are asked to restrict their discussion to four pages or less, double spaced, and typed. This all works out to be one printed page. While you learn to write effectively, the limit would be extended to five typed pages. If you practice an economy of words that should provide you with plenty of space within which to say all that you need to say.
General intent
The objective is to basically provide an interpretation of your results and support all your conclusions, using your experiment for evidence and generally accepted knowledge, if appropriate. The significance should be clearly described of all your findings.
Writing a discussion
Always interpret your data in the discussion in appropriate depth. Which means while explaining a phenomenon you must describe mechanisms that account for the observations. If for instance your results differ from what you expect, explain why that may have happened. If your results are correct, then describe the theory that supports your evidence. It is never appropriate to state that the data agrees with the expectations, and let it drop at that.
- Describe whether the hypothesis is supported, or rejected, or even if you cannot make a decision with confidence. Do not dismiss a study or part of a study as "inconclusive".
- If the work is incomplete, research papers are never accepted. Draw conclusions that you can make based upon the results that you have, and treat the study as finished and completed work.
- If you want, you may suggest future directions, such as how can an experiment are modified to accomplish another objective.
- Explain all your observations as much as possible, focusing on the mechanisms.
- Decide whether the experimental design addressed the hypothesis and whether it was properly controlled or not.
- Try to always give alternative explanations if reasonable alternatives do exist.
- One experiment will never answer an overall question, so keeping the big picture in mind, where do you exactly go next? The best studies always open up new ways of research. What question remains?
- Specific papers with recommendations will always provide additional suggestions.
Style:
- While referring to information, always try to distinguish the data generated by your own studies from published information or from the information that you obtained from other students. (Verb tense is a very important tool that is used to accomplish the purpose.)
- Refer to the work that has been done by specific individuals (including you) always in past tense.
- Refer to the generally accepted facts and principles in present tense in your research paper.
The biggest and the most common mistake that students always make in their discussions are to present a superficial interpretation that re-states the results to some extent. It is necessary to tell that why results came out as they did, focusing specifically on the mechanisms that are behind the observations.
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