Quick Takeaways:
The English language has a rich history of borrowing words from other languages, especially from Latin. Latin abbreviations such as ‘a.m.’, ‘p.m.’ and ‘CV’ have become part of our everyday vocabulary. Such abbreviations are also frequently used in academic writing, from the ‘Ph.D.’ in the affiliation section to the ‘i.e.’, ‘e.g.’, ‘et al.’, and ‘QED’ in the rest of the paper.
This guide explains when and how to correctly use ‘et al.’ in a research paper.
Using the correct verb tense in your journal paper can make your writing clearer, and more easily readable and understandable. However, it can be difficult to get right, even for native English speakers.
The use of different verb tenses can even vary between academic disciplines!
Don’t let this heading alarm you; once you understand the purpose of using different tenses and the reasons behind, you will be fine.
Let’s go through the 3 most frequently used tenses in academic writing with examples to explain when and why they are used.
Present tense tends to be used less frequently than past tense in academic writing, except in certain fields such as Business and Accounting.
It is usually used to:
1. describe facts and general truths, mainly in introductions to present background information on the research topic;for example:
“The Reynolds number provides a measure of…”
The Reynolds number is an important dimensionless quantityin fluid mechanics used to help predict flow patterns in different fluid flow situations. It is regarded as a general truth in its corresponding field.
2. describe the contents of the paper or refer to figures, tables or graphs;for example:
“Section 3 presents the results”
“Table 2 above demonstrates the success…”
The simple past tense is used to describe things that happened at a particular time in the past.
So, when reviewing the literature or previous studies, you might write:
“Smith and Olson (2009) reported that…”
“The subjects in the first group scored higher, on average…”
The present perfect tense is used to:
1. describe events that are linked to the present or are continuing;for example:
“Mobile phone use has increased over the past decade”
2. describe general findings when emphasising what has been done instead of what is known to be true;for example:
“Researchers have used this material to manufacture…”
These are the main tenses that you will use. You may use the examples as general guidelines. There are two other points to which you will need to pay attention when writing.
Note the difference between a statement in the past tense and the same statement in the present tense:
“The temperature increased linearly over time” refers to a specific experiment, whereas
“The temperature increases linearly over time” generalises the observation, suggesting that the temperature always increases linearly over time in such circumstances.
In complex sentences, you may have to combine present and past tenses.
For example:
“In 1905, Albert Einstein postulated that the speed of light is constant”
Here, postulated refers to something that happened in the past and is therefore in the past tense, whereas is expresses a general truth and is in the present tense.
Language usage in different fields can vary, so be sure to check how other papers in your field of study or target journal are written.
Wondering why some abbreviations such as ‘et al.’ and ‘e.g.’ use periods, whereas others such as CV and AD don’t? Periods are typically used if the abbreviations include lowercase or mixed-case letters. They’re usually not used with abbreviations containing only uppercase letters.
Our latest online workshop built on the success of face-to-face workshops we developed specifically for local universities. Over 30 faculty members joined the session, presented by our Chief Operating Officer, Mr Nick Case, to learn from our case studies on editing research proposals.
The response to our workshop, which included a constructive and insightful Q&A session, was very positive.Drawing on our extensive experience working with hundreds of Hong Kong researchers targeting the GRF and ECS every year, we used examples of poor and subsequently improved proposals to show the attendees how they can make their applications stand out. The response to our workshop, which included a constructive and insightful Q&A session, was very positive.Drawing on our extensive experience working with hundreds of Hong Kong researchers targeting the GRF and ECS every year, we used examples of poor and subsequently improved proposals to show the attendees how they can make their applications stand out. The response to our workshop, which included a constructive and insightful Q&A session, was very positive.Drawing on our extensive experience working with hundreds of Hong Kong researchers targeting the GRF and ECS every year, we used examples of poor and subsequently improved proposals to show the attendees how they can make their applications stand out.
Wondering why some abbreviations such as ‘et al.’ and ‘e.g.’ use periods, whereas others such as CV and AD don’t? Periods are typically used if the abbreviations include lowercase or mixed-case letters. They’re usually not used with abbreviations containing only uppercase letters.
Rachel first joined us as a freelance editor in 2001, while completing her PhD. After spending a few years as a post-doctoral researcher and then lecturing in psychology, she returned to us in 2010 and focused her career on academic editing. She took on the role of Assistant Chief Editor in 2018, and became co-Chief-Editor in 2020. Unable to leave academia behind completely, she also teaches Psychology at an English-speaking university in Italy, where she is now based. With extensive experience in both academia and publishing, Rachel has an excellent overview of both the client and editor sides of the business.
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