Which Verb Tenses to Use in a Research Paper

When writing an academic paper, writers should follow the accepted grammar and style conventions: not only to abide by the institutional and domain standards, but to communicate clearly to readers what was studied, when it took place, and from what perspective you are discussing your research (and that of others) in your paper. One crucial writing element that you must consider when composing your paper is verb tense. Which tense you use will determine the flow and coherency of your paper.

You might have found yourself thinking along these lines before: "Everything in this study has already been completed, so shouldn’t I simple write everything in the simple past tense?"
The answer is "no"--at least not in a strict sense. The verb tense you use for a given sentence or phrase depends on your position as author to the material you are discussing. As author, you stand in some distance to each element mentioned in your text in terms of your role: as participant, critic, or messenger, among others.

You must also take into account the chronological reasons for choosing between present and past tenses in a given instance.
Knowing which tense to use requires both knowledge of the exact guidelines set out for you in whichever formatting style you are following (APA, AMA, etc.), as well as some discretion and savvy in choosing the tense that makes the most sense for a given statement in the paper.

While new authors should certainly familiarize themselves with the guidelines of the formatting style they are applying, this article will focus on the most common applications and rules of verb tense among research papers in journals and at academic institutions, reflecting basic verb usage rules in academic English and encompassing all formatting styles.

This video includes:
✔ An overview of three commonly used verb tenses
✔ A detailed explanation of how these verb tenses are applied
✔ Explanation of which verb tense to use by paper section
✔ Realistic sample sentences from research papers

Who should watch this video:
★Research writers writing a paper for a journal or conference
★Students interested in learning how to compose a research paper
★All students and researchers in the hard/social sciences seeking information on which tenses to use in their papers

For more useful writing tips, check out these posts on our “Resources” page:

“How to Write the Best Journal Submissions Cover Letter":
https://wordvice.com/journal-submissi...

“100+ Strong Verbs That Will Make Your Research Writing Amazing”:
https://wordvice.com/recommended-verbs-for-research-writing/

“How to Write an Abstract”:
https://wordvice.com/how-to-write-a-research-paper-abstract/

"How to Create the Perfect Research Paper Title": https://wordvice.com/how-to-write-the-perfect-title-for-your-research-paper/

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