How to write and publish a scientific paper - Barbara Gastel, Robert A. Day 2022

Significance of the paper
How to write the discussion
Preparing the text

Too often, the significance of the results is not discussed or not discussed adequately. If readers of the paper finds themselves asking “So what?” after reading the discussion, the chances are that the authors became so engrossed with the trees (the data) that they didn’t really notice how much sunshine had appeared in the forest.

The discussion should end with a short summary or conclusion regarding the significance of the work. We like the way Anderson and Thistle (1947) said it: “Finally, good writing, like good music, has a fitting climax. Many a paper loses much of its effect because the clear stream of the discussion ends in a swampy delta.” Or, in the words of T. S. Eliot, many scientific papers end “Not with a bang but a whimper.”