3/19/2020 Which Tense Should be Used in Abstracts: Past or Present?

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Which Verb Tenses to Use in a Research Paper gures/)

Many of you have asked us questions about seemingly con icting rules about which tense to use in a research article abstract, so we wrote this
article to clarify the issue.

When writing an abstract for a research article, several tenses can be used. The tense you would use largely depends on the subject of your
sentence. As a general rule:

Any statements of general fact should be written using the present tense.

Any discussion about prior research should be explained using the past tense.
If the subject of your sentence is your study or the article you are writing (e.g. “Our study demonstrates…,” or “Here, we show…”), then
you should use the present tense.
If you are stating a conclusion or an interpretation, use the present tense.
If the subject of your sentence is an actual result or observation (e.g. “Mice in Group B developed…”), you would use the past tense.

In the case of the abstract, you may have been taught to use the present tense because your professors want you to focus on sharing your
interpretations in your abstract rather than simply stating what the results are. (And we agree since the main reason for reading your research
papers is to understand the signi cance of your ndings!)

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3/19/2020 Which Tense Should be Used in Abstracts: Past or Present? | Wordvice
To illustrate the di erent use of tenses in an abstract, let’s take a look at this abstract from an article published in Nature
(http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v539/n7629/full/nature20152.html).

The present tense is used for general facts (“The anaerobic formation and oxidation of methane involve…”).
The present tense is used when the study or article is either the subject of the sentence or the thing to which you are referring (“Here [this
article] we show that an anaerobic thermophilic enrichment culture …”).
When talking about an actual observation, however, the past tense is used (“Genes encoding 16S rRNA…were repeatedly retrieved from
marine subsurface sediments…”).

As you can see from the example we linked above, most of this abstract is written in the present tense. This is because it focuses on the authors’
interpretations and not on speci c observations and methods. We hope this addresses any questions you have about tense use. We know how
complicated these grammar rules can be!

For rules about what tense to use in other parts of your research paper (http://wp.me/p6A37e-2Uf), check out our infographic! For additional
information about how to write a strong research paper, make sure to check out our full research writing series
(http://wordvice.com/category/research-writing/)! You can also nd these resources plus information about the journal submission process in
our FREE downloadable e-book (http://wp.me/p6A37e-2Vk): Research Writing and Journal Publications.

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