How to Write a Results Section (With Tables, Figures & Examples)

The results section is the core of your research paper. It's where you finally get to show what you found. But “showing what you found” is harder than it sounds. You have to present your data clearly, use the right tables and figures, report statistics correctly, and do it all without slipping into interpretation.

If you've ever gotten feedback like “this belongs in the discussion” or “where are the numbers?” or “why isn't this table referenced in the text?”, this guide is for you.

I'll walk you through what the results section actually does, how to structure it, when to use tables versus figures, how to report statistical results, and the mistakes that trip students up the most. Practical advice, no hand-waving.

(If you haven't written your methodology section yet, start there. The results section comes right after it.)

What Does a Results Section Do?

The results section has one job: present your findings objectively. No interpretation, no opinion, no commentary on what the numbers mean. Just the data.

That sounds simple, and in theory it is. But students constantly blur the line between reporting and interpreting. The results section should answer the question “what did you find?”, not “what does it mean?” or “why does it matter?” Those questions belong in the discussion section.

Think of the results section as a factual report. You're a journalist describing what happened, not an analyst explaining why. Your reader should be able to look at your results and form their own conclusions before you guide them through yours in the discussion.

A strong results section does four things:

• Presents findings in a logical order that mirrors your research questions or hypotheses
• Uses tables and figures to display data efficiently
• Reports statistical tests with the appropriate values (test statistic, p-value, effect size, confidence interval)
• Describes key patterns and trends without explaining why they occurred

If your results section does all four, you're in good shape. The trick is restraint, saying what happened without saying what it means.

Results vs Discussion: What Goes Where?

This is the single most common point of confusion, and getting it wrong is one of the fastest ways to lose marks. Many students either interpret too much in their results or dump raw numbers into their discussion. Here's the clearest way to think about the divide:

See the difference? The results entry reports what happened: the numbers, the test, the significance level. The discussion entry interprets what those numbers mean, connects them to existing research, and draws out implications.

One exception: some disciplines (particularly in the sciences) use a combined Results and Discussion section. If your department or journal requires this format, you present each finding followed immediately by its interpretation. Even then, keep the reporting and interpreting clearly distinct within each paragraph.

How to Structure Your Results Section

The best results sections are organized around your research questions or hypotheses, not around the order you happened to run your analyses. Your reader should be able to follow a logical thread from one finding to the next.

Here is a structure that works for most research papers. You don't need all of these subsections for every paper, but this gives you a framework to work from:

For each subsection, follow this pattern: state what analysis you ran, report the result (with the relevant statistics), and briefly describe the pattern. Then move to the next analysis. Keep it tight.

Notice how that example states the analysis, reports the numbers, and references a table, all without interpreting what the result means. That interpretation belongs in the discussion.

How to Present Tables and Figures

Tables and figures are the backbone of a strong results section. Used well, they let your reader see patterns at a glance that would take paragraphs of text to describe. Used poorly, they clutter your paper and confuse the reader.

When to Use a Table vs a Figure

Use a table when your reader needs to see exact numbers. Tables are ideal for presenting precise values, means, standard deviations, p-values, regression coefficients, frequencies. If someone might want to look up a specific value, put it in a table.

Use a figure (chart, graph, plot) when you want to show a pattern, trend, or relationship. Figures are better for communicating the shape of your data, distributions, changes over time, comparisons between groups, interactions between variables. If the takeaway is visual, use a figure.

Numbering and Captions

Every table and figure needs a number and a caption. Tables and figures are numbered separately in sequence: Table 1, Table 2, Table 3 and Figure 1, Figure 2, Figure 3.

Table captions go above the table. Figure captions go below the figure. This is a universal convention in academic writing and your supervisor will notice if you get it wrong.

A good caption is self-explanatory. Someone should be able to understand the table or figure without reading the surrounding text. Include what the data represents, the sample or conditions, and any important notes (e.g., “* p < .05”).

Referencing Tables and Figures in Text

This is a rule that students break constantly: every table and figure must be referenced in the body text. You cannot just drop a table into your paper and hope the reader notices it. Guide them to it and tell them what to look for.

The reference should come before or at the point where the table or figure appears, never after. And it should add value , don't just say “see Table 1.” Instead, highlight the key pattern: “As shown in Table 1, participants in the treatment group scored consistently higher across all three time points.”

How to Report Statistical Results

Reporting statistics correctly is non-negotiable. Reviewers and supervisors will check. The exact format depends on your citation style and discipline, but here are the essentials that apply almost universally.

For every statistical test, report at minimum:

• The test used (t-test, ANOVA, chi-square, regression, etc.)
• The test statistic (t, F, χ², r, β)
• Degrees of freedom where applicable
• The p-value (exact value preferred, e.g., p = .003 rather than p < .05)
• Effect size (Cohen's d, η², r², odds ratio)
• Confidence intervals where relevant (increasingly expected by journals)

A few formatting notes. Italicize statistical symbols (p, t, F, d, M, SD) when writing in APA style. Report p-values to three decimal places (p = .003, not p = 0.003, no leading zero in APA). For very small p-values, use p < .001 rather than writing out many decimal places. Always match your formatting to the citation style your paper requires.

Step-by-Step Writing Process

Here's how to actually sit down and write your results section. This process works whether you have five tables or fifty.

Step 1: Organize Your Analyses by Research Question

Before you write anything, list your research questions or hypotheses. Under each one, note which analyses you ran and what the key outputs were. This gives you a natural structure for the section. Each research question becomes a subsection or a logical block of paragraphs.

Step 2: Start With Descriptive Statistics

Open your results section by describing your sample and the basic properties of your data. How many participants? What were the demographics? What are the means and standard deviations for your main variables? This grounds the reader before you start testing hypotheses. A table is usually the most efficient way to present descriptive statistics.

Step 3: Report Each Analysis Systematically

For each analysis, follow a consistent pattern: state what you tested, report the result with the full statistical output, and briefly describe the direction and magnitude of the effect. Do not interpret it. Repeat this pattern for every analysis. Consistency makes the section easy to read and shows that you understand the conventions.

Step 4: Create Your Tables and Figures

Build your tables and figures as you go. For each analysis, ask: would the reader benefit from seeing this visually? If you're presenting regression coefficients, a table is usually better than listing them in the text. If you're showing a trend over time, a line chart communicates the pattern instantly. Give every table and figure a clear, self-explanatory caption.

Step 5: Reference Every Table and Figure in the Text

Go back through your text and make sure every table and figure is referenced. Do not just say “see Table 2” , highlight what the reader should notice. The text should tell the story, and the tables and figures should provide the supporting evidence.

Step 6: Include Negative and Null Results

Report analyses where you did not find a significant effect with the same level of detail as your significant findings. Leaving out null results is a form of reporting bias and reviewers will ask about it. A non-significant result is still a result. Report it, give it its statistics, and move on. The interpretation of why it might be non-significant belongs in the discussion.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

These are the errors that show up in results sections over and over. Avoid them and you'll be ahead of most students.

1. Interpreting your results instead of reporting them

This is the most common mistake by far. If you find yourself writing “this suggests that” or “this may be because” in your results section, stop. That language belongs in the discussion. The results section reports facts: the group scored higher, the correlation was significant, the model explained 31% of the variance. Save the “why” and “so what” for later.

2. Hiding negative or null results

Students often bury or omit non-significant results because they feel like failures. They're not. Non-significant findings are informative and journals increasingly require them. If you tested a hypothesis and it was not supported, report it. Trying to hide null results is a red flag for reviewers and undermines the credibility of your entire paper.

3. Inconsistent formatting of statistics

If you report one t-test as “t(58) = 5.12, p < .001” and another as “the p value was 0.04 and the t was 2.1”, you look sloppy. Pick a format that matches your citation style (APA, for example, has very specific rules) and use it consistently for every single test. Consistency signals competence.

4. Wall of text without visuals

A results section that is nothing but dense paragraphs of numbers is exhausting to read. Tables and figures exist to make your data accessible. If you have more than three or four statistical results, at least some of them should be in a table. If you have any kind of trend, comparison, or distribution, consider a figure. Break up the text. Let the visuals do the heavy lifting for complex data.

5. Not referencing tables and figures in the text

A table or figure that sits in your paper without being mentioned in the text is an orphan. The reader does not know when to look at it or what to take away from it. Every single table and figure must be explicitly referenced in the body text, ideally with a sentence that highlights the key finding it shows. If a table or figure is not worth referencing in the text, ask yourself whether it needs to be in the paper at all.

How Long Should a Results Section Be? (Word Count Guide)

The length of your results section depends on how much data you have and how many research questions you're addressing. Here are realistic benchmarks:

As a rough guide, the results section typically accounts for about 15 to 25 percent of your total paper length. It's usually shorter than the discussion and literature review but longer than the introduction or conclusion.

Keep in mind that tables and figures add to the effective length without adding to the word count. A results section with 1,000 words of text plus four well-constructed tables and two figures is substantially more information-dense than 1,000 words of text alone. Focus on clarity over length.