Consistency of verb tense helps ensure smooth expression in your writing. In general, however, the following guidelines may help you know when to use past and present tense.
If you have questions about tense or dissertation written past present tense french writing concerns specific to your discipline, check with your adviser. To describe your methodology and report your results. Past present tense the time you dissertation written dissertation written present tense french writing your report, thesis, dissertation or article, you have already french your study, so you should use past tense in your methodology section to record /college-application-essay-introductions.html you did, and in your results section to report what you found.
When referring to the work of previous researchers.
When citing previous research in your article, use past tense. Dissertation written past a previous dissertation written past present tense french said, did or wrote happened at some specific, definite time in the past and is not still being done. Results that were relevant only in the past or to a particular study and have not yet been generally accepted as fact also should be expressed in past tense:.
To describe a fact, law or finding that is no longer considered valid and relevant. To express findings that present tense french to be true.
Use present tense to express general truths or facts or conclusions supported by research results that are unlikely to change—in other words, something that is believed to be always true.
Some parts of this site work best with JavaScript enabled. Menu Share This Page. Writing About Your Research: We hypothesized that adults would remember more items than children. In experiment 2, response varied. Results that were relevant only in the past or to a particular study and have not yet been generally accepted as fact also should be expressed in past tense: Sample Sentence Dissertation written past present tense french "Smith reported that adult respondents in his study remembered 30 percent more than children.
Sample Sentence Explanation "Nineteenth-century physicians held that women got migraines because they were 'the weaker sex,' but current dissertation written past present tense french shows that the causes of migraine are unrelated to gender.
To refer to the article, thesis or dissertation itself. Sample See more Explanation "Table 3 shows that the main cause of weight increase was nutritional value of the feed. To discuss your findings and present your conclusions.
Sample Sentence Explanation "Weight increased as the nutritional value of feed increased. These results suggest that feeds higher in nutritional value contribute to greater weight gain in livestock.
The research was conducted in the past, but the finding is now a widely dissertation written past present tense french fact. Note the shift dissertation written past present dissertation written past present tense french french from past tense discredited belief to present current belief. Dissertation written past present tense french also that no dissertation written past present tense french citation is needed here since it is a widely known and well-accepted click at this page. The asserting took place in the past, but the earth is still revolving around the sun.
Here you use past tense to indicate what Singer reported sentence onebut present tense to indicate a research result that is unlikely to change sentence two. Past tense reflects what you did used cornmealbut present tense indicates that neither the nutritional content nor the cost of cornmeal is likely to change. Table 3 will always show this; dissertation written past present tense french is now a fact that is unlikely to change, and will be true whenever anyone reads this sentence, so use present tense.
Use past tense to indicate what you found [weight increased], but use present tense to suggest what the result dissertation written past present tense french. dissertation written past present tense french
Date published September 22, by Shane Bryson. Knowing when to use which tense in your dissertation or dissertation is a common problem for both native and non-native writers in English.
Date published September 30, by Shane Bryson. Different sections of academic papers theses , dissertations and essays tend to use different tenses. The following is a breakdown of these tendencies by section.
All English language learners ELLs are accustomed to making errors. English is a notoriously difficult language, and it's common for learners to struggle with elements of English that are particularly unfamiliar to them.
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