How to Write a Limitations Section Without Tanking Your Paper
5 min read · For Canadian students
Acknowledging weakness without undermining credibility.
Too short looks defensive; too long undermines credibility.
Acknowledge real limitations: sample size, generalisability, method-specific weaknesses.
Frame each with how you mitigated it or how future research could address it.
Don't invent limitations to look humble.
Avoid catastrophic limitations.
Qualitative limitations address reflexivity, transferability, positionality.
Three to five well-explained limitations beat a checklist of ten.
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