{"id":5413,"date":"2017-08-25T05:40:57","date_gmt":"2017-08-25T05:40:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/comic_strip\/the-secret-to-using-tenses-in-scientific-writing\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T16:49:55","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T11:19:55","slug":"the-secret-to-using-tenses-in-scientific-writing","status":"publish","type":"comic_strip","link":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/the-secret-to-using-tenses-in-scientific-writing","title":{"rendered":"The secret to using tenses in scientific writing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The use of tenses in a language as versatile as English can be rather confusing. The situation gets even more muddled when you have to decide which tense to use while writing a scientific research paper. In <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/scientific-editing-service\/?utm_source=editageinsights&amp;utm_medium=article&amp;utm_campaign=tenses-in-scientific-writing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">scientific writing<\/a><\/strong>, tense usage depends upon the section of the paper being written. Different sections of the IMRaD format warrant the use of different tenses. These variations within tense usage get even finer and more complex depending upon which aspect of the research process is being discussed. This infographic will help you choose the correct tenses while writing your research paper and take you one step closer to preparing a publication-ready manuscript.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Feel free to download a PDF version of this infographic and print it out as handy reference.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive\" title=\"The secret to using tenses in scientific writing\" src=\"http:\/\/insights.cactusglobal.com\/sites\/default\/files\/The%20secret%20to%20using%20tenses%20in%20scientific%20writing.png\" alt=\"The secret to using tenses in scientific writing\" data-file_info=\"%7B%22fid%22:%225498%22,%22view_mode%22:%22default%22,%22fields%22:%7B%22format%22:%22default%22,%22field_file_image_alt_text%5Bund%5D%5B0%5D%5Bvalue%5D%22:%22The%20secret%20to%20using%20tenses%20in%20scientific%20writing%22,%22field_file_image_title_text%5Bund%5D%5B0%5D%5Bvalue%5D%22:%22The%20secret%20to%20using%20tenses%20in%20scientific%20writing%22,%22field_image_tags%5Bund%5D%5Btextfield%5D%22:%22%22,%22field_image_tags%5Bund%5D%5Bvalue_field%5D%22:%22%5C%22%5C%22%5C%22%5C%22%20%22%7D,%22type%22:%22media%22%7D\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>References:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/using-past-and-present-tenses-in-research-writing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Using past and present tenses in research writing<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/what-tense-should-i-use-when-writing-a-literature-review\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">What tense should I use when writing a literature review?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/getting-the-tenses-right-materials-and-methods-section\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Getting the tenses right: Materials and methods section<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/which-tense-should-be-used-in-the-results-and-discussion-section-of-a-paper\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Which tense should be used in the results and discussion section of a paper?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/owl.english.purdue.edu\/owl\/resource\/601\/01\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sequence of Tenses<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/services.unimelb.edu.au\/__data\/assets\/pdf_file\/0009\/471294\/Using_tenses_in_scientific_writing_Update_051112.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Using tenses in scientific writing<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"author":144,"featured_media":33313,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false},"categories":[2375],"new_categories":[],"new_tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-5413","comic_strip","type-comic_strip","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-grammar-language"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The secret to using tenses in scientific writing | Editage Insights<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The use of tenses in scientific writing can be rather confusing. Learn how to choose the correct tenses while writing your research paper.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/the-secret-to-using-tenses-in-scientific-writing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The secret to using tenses in scientific writing [Infographic]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The use of tenses in scientific writing can be rather confusing. While writing a research paper, tense usage depends upon the section of the paper being written. You must use different tenses for different sections of the IMRaD format. But how are you to decide between various tenses and avoid grammatical errors? 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