Quoting from section 1.10 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (Fifth Edition; 2001):

“The Results section summarizes the data collected and the statistical or data analytic treatment used. Report the data in sufficient detail to justify the conclusions. Mention all relevant results, including those that run counter to the hypothesis. Do not include individual scores or raw data, with the exception, for example, of single-case designs or illustrative samples. Discussing the implications of the results is not appropriate here.”

Take note of the sample Results section above. You will notice that the first sentence includes (a) the type of design used, (b) type of statistical test, (c) independent variable, and (d) dependent variable. The second sentence includes the criterion used to reject the null hypothesis along with a statement telling the reader that the null hypothesis was rejected. The third sentence states the direction of the difference between two groups (i.e., “scored significantly higher”). In general, directional statements are preferable to non-directional. Note also that the mean and standard deviation for each group are reported in parentheses immediately after each group is mentioned. In the case of all statistical symbols reported in this particular Results section, italics are used. For more information on the use of statistical symbols, refer to section 3.58 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (Fifth Edition; 2001). At the end of the sentence, the statistical test itself is reported. The final element in this sentence refers the reader to Figure 1. Such figures may be one of several types of graphical representations of the data being reported. In the current case, the figure is a bar graph depicting the means for the two groups. The final sentence reports the effect size for the difference between the two groups. Section 1.10 of the APA Manual states, “it is almost always necessary to include some index of effect size or strength of relationship in your Results section.”