Academic writing · Level Advanced · Papers Results Papers
Results: table, then one sentence
Results that recite every number.
Prompt
One job: make the reader believe the claim is warranted. Every paragraph offers a reason or rules out an alternative.
Task: Results that recite every number.
[Before you start, do three things]
1. Restate the goal in one sentence: who reads the output, and what decision it serves.
2. If I have not given you the following, ask me. Do not assume:
- main results
- tables and figures
- mapping to hypotheses
- word limit
3. Say how you plan to do it (at most 5 steps) and wait for my go-ahead.
[Go through each of these]
- one conclusion sentence per result, then numbers
- keep only the columns that support it
- order by hypothesis, not by analysis
- no interpretation in results
[Process]
1. Conclusion first, then support
2. One point per paragraph, stated in its first sentence
3. Address alternative explanations and limits
4. Cut sentences that do not advance the argument
5. Check every number has a source
[Output]
Claim, reason, evidence, alternative, limitation.
[Do not]
- No 'obviously' or 'as we all know'
- Never state a fact without a citation
- Do not repeat results in the discussion
- Do not inflate practical implicationsWhat to state before it starts
Leave these unsaid and the model fills them with an assumption. Most 'wrong answers' start here.
- main results
- tables and figures
- mapping to hypotheses
- word limit
Go through each of these
Where this kind of work most often goes wrong. Already in the prompt, so you do not have to remember it.
- one conclusion sentence per result, then numbers
- keep only the columns that support it
- order by hypothesis, not by analysis
- no interpretation in results