apa tense literature review

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Q. According to the APA Style (7th ed.) rules, which verb tense should I use in the different sections of my major research paper?

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Answered By: Theresa Bell (she/her/hers) Last Updated: Nov 04, 2021     Views: 3761

The 7th edition style manual of the American Psychological Association (APA) provides suggestions on which verb tense is appropriate for various sections of a thesis, major project or journal article:

• Past or present perfect tense: "Literature review (or whenever discussing other researchers' work)" (APA, 2020, p. 118), "method" (APA, 2020, 118), and "description of procedure" (APA, 2020, 118)
• Past tense: "Reporting of results" (APA, 2020, p. 118)
• Present tense: "Discussion of implications of results" (APA, 2020, p. 118) and "presentation of conclusions, limitations, future directions, and so forth" (APA, 2020, p. 118).

As much as possible, try to be consistent with your chosen verb tense within a section "to ensure smooth expression" (APA, 2020, p. 118). If the verb tenses suggested above don't make sense for the purposes of your document, please check with your instructor or academic supervisor to get their recommendation on the best approach for your document.

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association  (7th ed.).  https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

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APA 7: Verb Tense and Reporting Verbs

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The past tense or present perfect tense are appropriate when discussing a researcher’s work. Use the past or present perfect tenses in your in-text citations.

Berry (2022) and Gimmel et al. (2020) discovered that young people in foster care are at high risk for psychiatric disorders and poor long-term functional outcomes.

Wood (2018) and Winter (2008) used tribal critical race theory to explore the necessity and importance of letting Native people be the authority on their culture’s representation and allowing them to center their lived experiences and speak for themselves.

Present Perfect

Researchers have discovered that young people in foster care are at high risk for psychiatric disorders and poor long-term functional outcomes ( Berry, 2022; Gimmel et al., 2020) .

Other scholars have used tribal critical race theory to explore the necessity and importance of letting Native people be the authority on their culture’s representation and allowing them to center their lived experiences and speak for themselves (Wood, 2018; Writer, 2008).

Common Verbs (Reporting Verbs) Used in Academic Writing

Reporting verbs are used to convey what someone else has said or written. We use these in in-text citations to describe the ideas we are citing from authors’ works.

Tentative Reporting Verbs

Reporting verb handout.

• Verb Tense & Reporting Verbs

The information on this page formatted as a handout that can be printed for convenient reference as you write.

Neutral Reporting Verbs

Strong reporting verbs.

Adapted from American Psychological Association publication manual (7th ed.).

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Capstone Form and Style

Grammar and mechanics: verb tenses, most common verb tenses in academic writing.

According to corpus research, in academic writing, the three tenses used the most often are the simple present , the simple past , and the present perfect (Biber et al., 1999; Caplan, 2012). The next most common tense for capstone writers is the future ; the doctoral study/dissertation proposal at Walden is written in this tense for a study that will be conducted in the future. The blog post on What Verb Tenses Do You Need to Master for Academic Writing addresses these ideas as well.

Biber, D., Johansson, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S., & Finegan, E. (1999). Longman grammar of written and spoken English . Pearson. https://doi.org/10.1162/089120101300346831

Caplan, N. A. (2012). Grammar choices for graduate and professional writers . University of Michigan Press.

Simple present: Use the simple present to describe a general truth or a habitual action. This tense indicates that the statement is generally true in the past, present, and future.

• Example: Research methods include qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods.

Simple past : Use the simple past tense to describe a completed action that took place at a specific point in the past (e.g., last year, 1 hour ago, last Sunday). In this example, the specific point of time in the past is 1998.

• Example: Zimbardo (1998) researched many aspects of social psychology.

Present perfect: Use the present perfect to indicate an action that occurred at a nonspecific time in the past. This action has relevance in the present. The present perfect is also sometimes used to introduce background information in a paragraph. After the first sentence, the tense shifts to the simple past.

• Example: Numerous researchers have used this method.
• Example: Many researchers have studied how small business owners can be successful beyond the initial few years in business. They found common themes among small business owners.

Future: Use the future to describe an action that will take place at a particular point in the future (at Walden, this is used especially when writing a proposal for a doctoral capstone study).

• Example: I will conduct semistructured interviews.

Keep in mind that verb tenses should be adjusted after the proposal after the research has been completed. See Verb Tense Considerations: Proposal to Final Study farther down on this page and this blog post about Revising the Proposal for the Final Capstone Document for more information.

APA Style Guidelines on Verb Tense

APA calls for consistency and accuracy in verb tense usage. In other words, avoid unnecessary shifts in verb tense within a paragraph or in adjacent paragraphs to help ensure smooth expression.

• Use the past tense (e.g., researchers presented ) or the present perfect (e.g., researchers have presented ) for the literature review and the description of the procedure if discussing past events.
• Use the past tense to describe the results (e.g., test scores improved significantly ).
• Use the present tense to discuss implications of the results and present conclusions (e.g., the results of the study show …).

Refer to the work of another researcher in the past.

• Patterson (2017) presented, found, stated, discovered…

However, there can be a shift to the present tense if the research findings still hold true:

• King (2016) found that revising a document three times improves the final grade.
• Smith (2018) discovered that the treatment is effective.

Verb Tense Guidelines When Referring to the Document Itself

To preview what is coming in the document or to explain what is happening at that moment in the document, use the present or future tense:

• In this study, I will describe …
• In this study, I describe …
• In the next chapter, I will discuss …
• In the next chapter, I discuss …

To refer back to information already covered, such as summaries of discussions that have already taken place or conclusions to chapters/sections, use the past tense:

• Chapter 1 included my original discussion of the research questions.
• In summary, in this section, I presented information on…

Simple Past Versus the Present Perfect

Rules for the use of the present perfect differ slightly in British and American English. Researchers have also found that among American English writers, sometimes individual preferences dictate whether the simple past or the present perfect is used. In other words, one American English writer may choose the simple past in a place where another American English writer may choose the present perfect.

Keep in mind, however, that the simple past is used for a completed action. It often is used with signal words such as yesterday, last week, 1 year ago, or in 2015 to indicate the specific time in the past when the action took place.

• I collected data in 2017 .
• All prospective participants signed an informed consent form in a 1-week period before data collection began.

The present perfect focuses more on an action that occurred without focusing on the specific time it happened. Note that the specific time is not given, just that the action has occurred.

• I have examined several possible research designs.

The present perfect focuses more on the result of the action.

• The panel of experts has completed the instrument validation.

The present perfect is often used with signal words such as since, already, just, until now, (not) yet, so far, ever, lately , or recently .

• I have already examined several possible research designs.
• The panel of experts has recently completed the instrument validation.
• Researchers have used this method since it was developed.

Also see the blog post on Choosing the Present Perfect Tense in Academic Writing for more information and examples.

Verb Tense Considerations: Proposal to Final Study

Unlike the proposal , where the writer describes a study not yet conducted, the final study is a report of what actually happened in the research or project study process, so the writer must revise the relevant portions of the proposal accordingly when incorporating them into the final capstone document. One essential step is to determine which verbs require a change in tense for logical and accurate reporting of the completed study. Although many sentences will shift from future to past tense, this shift is not appropriate in all cases. These guidelines address specific considerations for deciding where a shift in tense is necessary during this revision process.   

Future tense verbs that need to shift to past tense in the final study include those representing actions, decisions, or processes that happened after approval of the proposal, such as in the following examples:

Proposal: In this study, I will employ face-to-face interviews with key participants, reflexive notes, and a review of literature… Final study: In this study, I employed face-to-face interviews with key participants, reflexive notes, and a review of literature…

Proposal: The sample will consist of 10 to 20 graduate students who have completed at least three graduate courses in the past year. Final study: The sample consisted of 12 graduate students who had completed * at least three graduate courses in the past year. * Note the related verb tense shift from present perfect to past perfect in the second example.

Not all verbs require a shift in tense. Here are a few such cases:

• In this chapter, I describe … (or will describe … )
• NOT: In this chapter, I described …
• This study’s findings could lead to positive social change by… 
• The results of this study may serve to increase awareness of…
• Researchers have argued that the continued loss of experienced nurses will have negative effects on...
• As technology advances, future researchers will want to focus on…
• This professional development project will address the problem of…
• This systematic review will provide support for evidence-based best practices for…

Strategy for revising verb tense from proposal to final study:

• Use Ctrl+F (or Command+F on a Mac) or click the Find button under the Home tab to search for occurrences of the word will in the document.
• On a case-by-case basis, examine each statement containing will to determine whether revision is needed. Avoid using Replace All in the Find and Replace menu because, as noted above, not all uses of future tense refer to the proposal itself.
• Check the context in which the word will occurs to see if other revisions are warranted nearby.

Keep in mind that, although this strategy can make finding and revising proposal-specific language a bit easier, there is no substitute for careful, systematic proofreading of the document.

Final note and related resources:

Inadequate revision of verb tense and other proposal-specific language is among the Top 10 Reasons for Delays at the F&S Review , so taking the time for this process well before that stage is important.

Capstone writers should consult the Form and Style Checklist for this and other important aspects of revising the final study or project in preparation for the Form and Style Review .

Summary of English Verb Tenses

The 12 main tenses:

• Simple present : She writes every day.
• Present progressive: She is writing right now.
• Simple past : She wrote last night.
• Past progressive: She was writing when he called.
• Simple future : She will write tomorrow.
• Future progressive: She will be writing when you arrive.
• Present perfect : She has written Chapter 1.
• Present perfect progressive: She has been writing for 2 hours.
• Past perfect: She had written Chapter 3 before she started Chapter 4.
• Past perfect progressive: She had been writing for 2 hours before her friends arrived.
• Future perfect: She will have written Chapter 4 before she writes Chapter 5.
• Future perfect progressive: She will have been writing for 2 hours by the time her friends come over.

Conditionals:

Zero conditional (general truths/general habits).

• Example: If I have time, I write every day.

First conditional (possible or likely things in the future).

• Example: If I have time, I will write every day.

Second conditional (impossible things in the present/unlikely in the future).

• Example : If I had time, I would write every day.

Third conditional (things that did not happen in the past and their imaginary results)

• Example : If I had had time, I would have written every day.

Subjunctive : This form is sometimes used in that -clauses that are the object of certain verbs or follow certain adjectives. The form of the subjective is the simple form of the verb. It is the same for all persons and number.

• Example : I recommend that future researchers include other populations in their studies.
• Example: It is important that staff at the study site establish criteria for implementing study findings.
• Previous Page: Relative, Restrictive, and Nonrestrictive Clauses
• Next Page: Subject–Verb Agreement
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How To Write A Literature Review - A Complete Guide

Table of Contents

A literature review is much more than just another section in your research paper. It forms the very foundation of your research. It is a formal piece of writing where you analyze the existing theoretical framework, principles, and assumptions and use that as a base to shape your approach to the research question.

Curating and drafting a solid literature review section not only lends more credibility to your research paper but also makes your research tighter and better focused. But, writing literature reviews is a difficult task. It requires extensive reading, plus you have to consider market trends and technological and political changes, which tend to change in the blink of an eye.

Now streamline your literature review process with the help of SciSpace Copilot. With this AI research assistant, you can efficiently synthesize and analyze a vast amount of information, identify key themes and trends, and uncover gaps in the existing research. Get real-time explanations, summaries, and answers to your questions for the paper you're reviewing, making navigating and understanding the complex literature landscape easier.

In this comprehensive guide, we will explore everything from the definition of a literature review, its appropriate length, various types of literature reviews, and how to write one.

What is a literature review?

A literature review is a collation of survey, research, critical evaluation, and assessment of the existing literature in a preferred domain.

Eminent researcher and academic Arlene Fink, in her book Conducting Research Literature Reviews , defines it as the following:

“A literature review surveys books, scholarly articles, and any other sources relevant to a particular issue, area of research, or theory, and by so doing, provides a description, summary, and critical evaluation of these works in relation to the research problem being investigated.

Literature reviews are designed to provide an overview of sources you have explored while researching a particular topic, and to demonstrate to your readers how your research fits within a larger field of study.”

Simply put, a literature review can be defined as a critical discussion of relevant pre-existing research around your research question and carving out a definitive place for your study in the existing body of knowledge. Literature reviews can be presented in multiple ways: a section of an article, the whole research paper itself, or a chapter of your thesis.

A literature review does function as a summary of sources, but it also allows you to analyze further, interpret, and examine the stated theories, methods, viewpoints, and, of course, the gaps in the existing content.

As an author, you can discuss and interpret the research question and its various aspects and debate your adopted methods to support the claim.

What is the purpose of a literature review?

A literature review is meant to help your readers understand the relevance of your research question and where it fits within the existing body of knowledge. As a researcher, you should use it to set the context, build your argument, and establish the need for your study.

What is the importance of a literature review?

The literature review is a critical part of research papers because it helps you:

• Gain an in-depth understanding of your research question and the surrounding area
• Convey that you have a thorough understanding of your research area and are up-to-date with the latest changes and advancements
• Establish how your research is connected or builds on the existing body of knowledge and how it could contribute to further research
• Elaborate on the validity and suitability of your theoretical framework and research methodology
• Identify and highlight gaps and shortcomings in the existing body of knowledge and how things need to change
• Convey to readers how your study is different or how it contributes to the research area

How long should a literature review be?

Ideally, the literature review should take up 15%-40% of the total length of your manuscript. So, if you have a 10,000-word research paper, the minimum word count could be 1500.

Your literature review format depends heavily on the kind of manuscript you are writing — an entire chapter in case of doctoral theses, a part of the introductory section in a research article, to a full-fledged review article that examines the previously published research on a topic.

Another determining factor is the type of research you are doing. The literature review section tends to be longer for secondary research projects than primary research projects.

What are the different types of literature reviews?

All literature reviews are not the same. There are a variety of possible approaches that you can take. It all depends on the type of research you are pursuing.

Here are the different types of literature reviews:

Argumentative review

It is called an argumentative review when you carefully present literature that only supports or counters a specific argument or premise to establish a viewpoint.

Integrative review

It is a type of literature review focused on building a comprehensive understanding of a topic by combining available theoretical frameworks and empirical evidence.

Methodological review

This approach delves into the ''how'' and the ''what" of the research question —  you cannot look at the outcome in isolation; you should also review the methodology used.

Systematic review

This form consists of an overview of existing evidence pertinent to a clearly formulated research question, which uses pre-specified and standardized methods to identify and critically appraise relevant research and collect, report, and analyze data from the studies included in the review.

Meta-analysis review

Meta-analysis uses statistical methods to summarize the results of independent studies. By combining information from all relevant studies, meta-analysis can provide more precise estimates of the effects than those derived from the individual studies included within a review.

Historical review

Historical literature reviews focus on examining research throughout a period, often starting with the first time an issue, concept, theory, or phenomenon emerged in the literature, then tracing its evolution within the scholarship of a discipline. The purpose is to place research in a historical context to show familiarity with state-of-the-art developments and identify future research's likely directions.

Theoretical Review

This form aims to examine the corpus of theory accumulated regarding an issue, concept, theory, and phenomenon. The theoretical literature review helps to establish what theories exist, the relationships between them, the degree the existing approaches have been investigated, and to develop new hypotheses to be tested.

Scoping Review

The Scoping Review is often used at the beginning of an article, dissertation, or research proposal. It is conducted before the research to highlight gaps in the existing body of knowledge and explains why the project should be greenlit.

State-of-the-Art Review

The State-of-the-Art review is conducted periodically, focusing on the most recent research. It describes what is currently known, understood, or agreed upon regarding the research topic and highlights where there are still disagreements.

Can you use the first person in a literature review?

When writing literature reviews, you should avoid the usage of first-person pronouns. It means that instead of "I argue that" or "we argue that," the appropriate expression would be "this research paper argues that."

Do you need an abstract for a literature review?

Ideally, yes. It is always good to have a condensed summary that is self-contained and independent of the rest of your review. As for how to draft one, you can follow the same fundamental idea when preparing an abstract for a literature review. It should also include:

• The research topic and your motivation behind selecting it
• A one-sentence thesis statement
• An explanation of the kinds of literature featured in the review
• Summary of what you've learned
• Conclusions you drew from the literature you reviewed
• Potential implications and future scope for research

Here's an example of the abstract of a literature review

Is a literature review written in the past tense?

Yes, the literature review should ideally be written in the past tense. You should not use the present or future tense when writing one. The exceptions are when you have statements describing events that happened earlier than the literature you are reviewing or events that are currently occurring; then, you can use the past perfect or present perfect tenses.

How many sources for a literature review?

There are multiple approaches to deciding how many sources to include in a literature review section. The first approach would be to look level you are at as a researcher. For instance, a doctoral thesis might need 60+ sources. In contrast, you might only need to refer to 5-15 sources at the undergraduate level.

The second approach is based on the kind of literature review you are doing — whether it is merely a chapter of your paper or if it is a self-contained paper in itself. When it is just a chapter, sources should equal the total number of pages in your article's body. In the second scenario, you need at least three times as many sources as there are pages in your work.

Quick tips on how to write a literature review

To know how to write a literature review, you must clearly understand its impact and role in establishing your work as substantive research material.

You need to follow the below-mentioned steps, to write a literature review:

• Outline the purpose behind the literature review
• Search relevant literature
• Examine and assess the relevant resources
• Discover connections by drawing deep insights from the resources
• Structure planning to write a good literature review

1. Outline and identify the purpose of  a literature review

As a first step on how to write a literature review, you must know what the research question or topic is and what shape you want your literature review to take. Ensure you understand the research topic inside out, or else seek clarifications. You must be able to the answer below questions before you start:

• How many sources do I need to include?
• What kind of sources should I analyze?
• How much should I critically evaluate each source?
• Should I summarize, synthesize or offer a critique of the sources?
• Do I need to include any background information or definitions?

Additionally, you should know that the narrower your research topic is, the swifter it will be for you to restrict the number of sources to be analyzed.

2. Search relevant literature

Dig deeper into search engines to discover what has already been published around your chosen topic. Make sure you thoroughly go through appropriate reference sources like books, reports, journal articles, government docs, and web-based resources.

You must prepare a list of keywords and their different variations. You can start your search from any library’s catalog, provided you are an active member of that institution. The exact keywords can be extended to widen your research over other databases and academic search engines like:

• Google Scholar
• Microsoft Academic
• Science.gov

Besides, it is not advisable to go through every resource word by word. Alternatively, what you can do is you can start by reading the abstract and then decide whether that source is relevant to your research or not.

Additionally, you must spend surplus time assessing the quality and relevance of resources. It would help if you tried preparing a list of citations to ensure that there lies no repetition of authors, publications, or articles in the literature review.

3. Examine and assess the sources

It is nearly impossible for you to go through every detail in the research article. So rather than trying to fetch every detail, you have to analyze and decide which research sources resemble closest and appear relevant to your chosen domain.

While analyzing the sources, you should look to find out answers to questions like:

• What question or problem has the author been describing and debating?
• What is the definition of critical aspects?
• How well the theories, approach, and methodology have been explained?
• Whether the research theory used some conventional or new innovative approach?
• How relevant are the key findings of the work?
• In what ways does it relate to other sources on the same topic?
• What challenges does this research paper pose to the existing theory
• What are the possible contributions or benefits it adds to the subject domain?

Be always mindful that you refer only to credible and authentic resources. It would be best if you always take references from different publications to validate your theory.

Always keep track of important information or data you can present in your literature review right from the beginning. It will help steer your path from any threats of plagiarism and also make it easier to curate an annotated bibliography or reference section.

4. Discover connections

At this stage, you must start deciding on the argument and structure of your literature review. To accomplish this, you must discover and identify the relations and connections between various resources while drafting your abstract.

A few aspects that you should be aware of while writing a literature review include:

• Rise to prominence: Theories and methods that have gained reputation and supporters over time.
• Constant scrutiny: Concepts or theories that repeatedly went under examination.
• Contradictions and conflicts: Theories, both the supporting and the contradictory ones, for the research topic.
• Knowledge gaps: What exactly does it fail to address, and how to bridge them with further research?
• Influential resources: Significant research projects available that have been upheld as milestones or perhaps, something that can modify the current trends

Once you join the dots between various past research works, it will be easier for you to draw a conclusion and identify your contribution to the existing knowledge base.

5. Structure planning to write a good literature review

There exist different ways towards planning and executing the structure of a literature review. The format of a literature review varies and depends upon the length of the research.

Like any other research paper, the literature review format must contain three sections: introduction, body, and conclusion. The goals and objectives of the research question determine what goes inside these three sections.

Nevertheless, a good literature review can be structured according to the chronological, thematic, methodological, or theoretical framework approach.

Literature review samples

1. Standalone

2. As a section of a research paper

How SciSpace Discover makes literature review a breeze?

SciSpace Discover is a one-stop solution to do an effective literature search and get barrier-free access to scientific knowledge. It is an excellent repository where you can find millions of only peer-reviewed articles and full-text PDF files. Here’s more on how you can use it:

Find the right information

Find what you want quickly and easily with comprehensive search filters that let you narrow down papers according to PDF availability, year of publishing, document type, and affiliated institution. Moreover, you can sort the results based on the publishing date, citation count, and relevance.

Assess credibility of papers quickly

When doing the literature review, it is critical to establish the quality of your sources. They form the foundation of your research. SciSpace Discover helps you assess the quality of a source by providing an overview of its references, citations, and performance metrics.

Get the complete picture in no time

SciSpace Discover’s personalized suggestion engine helps you stay on course and get the complete picture of the topic from one place. Every time you visit an article page, it provides you links to related papers. Besides that, it helps you understand what’s trending, who are the top authors, and who are the leading publishers on a topic.

Make referring sources super easy

To ensure you don't lose track of your sources, you must start noting down your references when doing the literature review. SciSpace Discover makes this step effortless. Click the 'cite' button on an article page, and you will receive preloaded citation text in multiple styles — all you've to do is copy-paste it into your manuscript.

Final tips on how to write a literature review

A massive chunk of time and effort is required to write a good literature review. But, if you go about it systematically, you'll be able to save a ton of time and build a solid foundation for your research.

We hope this guide has helped you answer several key questions you have about writing literature reviews.

Would you like to explore SciSpace Discover and kick off your literature search right away? You can get started here .

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. how to start a literature review.

• What questions do you want to answer?

• What sources do you need to answer these questions?

• What information do these sources contain?

• How can you use this information to answer your questions?

2. What to include in a literature review?

• A brief background of the problem or issue

• What has previously been done to address the problem or issue

• A description of what you will do in your project

• How this study will contribute to research on the subject

3. Why literature review is important?

The literature review is an important part of any research project because it allows the writer to look at previous studies on a topic and determine existing gaps in the literature, as well as what has already been done. It will also help them to choose the most appropriate method for their own study.

4. How to cite a literature review in APA format?

To cite a literature review in APA style, you need to provide the author's name, the title of the article, and the year of publication. For example: Patel, A. B., & Stokes, G. S. (2012). The relationship between personality and intelligence: A meta-analysis of longitudinal research. Personality and Individual Differences, 53(1), 16-21

5. What are the components of a literature review?

• A brief introduction to the topic, including its background and context. The introduction should also include a rationale for why the study is being conducted and what it will accomplish.

• A description of the methodologies used in the study. This can include information about data collection methods, sample size, and statistical analyses.

• A presentation of the findings in an organized format that helps readers follow along with the author's conclusions.

6. What are common errors in writing literature review?

• Not spending enough time to critically evaluate the relevance of resources, observations and conclusions.

• Totally relying on secondary data while ignoring primary data.

• Letting your personal bias seep into your interpretation of existing literature.

• No detailed explanation of the procedure to discover and identify an appropriate literature review.

7. What are the 5 C's of writing literature review?

• Cite - the sources you utilized and referenced in your research.

• Compare - existing arguments, hypotheses, methodologies, and conclusions found in the knowledge base.

• Contrast - the arguments, topics, methodologies, approaches, and disputes that may be found in the literature.

• Critique - the literature and describe the ideas and opinions you find more convincing and why.

• Connect - the various studies you reviewed in your research.

8. How many sources should a literature review have?

When it is just a chapter, sources should equal the total number of pages in your article's body. if it is a self-contained paper in itself, you need at least three times as many sources as there are pages in your work.

9. Can literature review have diagrams?

• To represent an abstract idea or concept

• To explain the steps of a process or procedure

• To help readers understand the relationships between different concepts

10. How old should sources be in a literature review?

Sources for a literature review should be as current as possible or not older than ten years. The only exception to this rule is if you are reviewing a historical topic and need to use older sources.

11. What are the types of literature review?

• Argumentative review

• Integrative review

• Methodological review

• Systematic review

• Meta-analysis review

• Historical review

• Theoretical review

• Scoping review

• State-of-the-Art review

12. Is a literature review mandatory?

Yes. Literature review is a mandatory part of any research project. It is a critical step in the process that allows you to establish the scope of your research, and provide a background for the rest of your work.

But before you go,

• Six Online Tools for Easy Literature Review
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Use of verb tenses in APA, Chicago and MLA styles

APA, Chicago and MLA are the three main referencing systems/writing styles used at Massey. Re commendations they make in relation to verb tenses are summarized below. Implementing these recommendations may be especially important if you are planning to publish work in a journal that requires certain style guidelines to be followed. However, for assignments or theses at Massey, it is important to be guided by any advice your lecturer or supervisor may provide in relation to use of tenses.  

Referring to the ideas of other researchers (e.g. in a literature review)

Simple past tense

• Brown (2019) argued that… However, Small (2020) suggested that…

Present perfect tense

• Doñoso (1992) has demonstrated that…

Note : A shift of tense may be used to indicate that the research findings are still relevant.

• Molland (2018) discovered that educational outcomes improve when….

Describing a method or procedure

• The participants were interviewed…
• Other researchers have followed a similar procedure.

Reporting results (your own or those of others)

• The results supported the hypothesis

Personal reactions

Simple present tense

• I believe …
• I sensed a need for…
• I have encountered challenges…

Commenting on the implications of results or findings

• The findings indicate that…

Presenting limitations

• The limitations of this case study are …

Conclusions

• We can conclude that…

Suggesting future directions

• This is an area for future research

Chicago and MLA

Both Chicago and MLA recommend the use of the simple present tense (e.g. ‘argues’) or present perfect tense (e.g. ‘has argued’) in the following situations:

No matter how long ago the work was published, the present tense is used, and even a deceased author ‘argues’ or ‘claims’.

• Vasquez and Lopez argue that…
• Bailey has outlined …

Discussing the actions of characters in literature

• In Episode 4 of James Joyce’s Ulysses , Leopold Bloom walks to the butchers and buys a pork kidney

Narrating a fictional work’s plot

• The plot of Ulysses centres on the wanderings and encounters of Leopold Bloom in Dublin, Ireland, over the course of a single day (16 June 1904)

Discussing a literary work, author or theme.

• James Joyce structures Ulysses around 18 episodes that loosely mirror episodes in Homer's Odyssey
• The themes of Ulysses include compassion and remorse

Note : If the context is clearly historical (rather than textual), use of the past tense is acceptable.

• Ulysses was published on 2 February 1922, James Joyce’s 40th birthday.

These pages are provided as a guide to proper referencing. Your course, department, school, or institute may prescribe specific conventions, and their recommendations supersede these instructions. If you have questions not covered here, check in the style guide listed above, ask your course coordinator, or ask at Academic Q+A .

Page authorised by Director - Centre for Learner Success Last updated on 17 November, 2020

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To help you understand active and passive voice use, watch this video below by lund university:.

American Psychological Association. (2010).  Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association  (6th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Azar, B. S.; & Hagen, S. A. (2009). Understanding and Using English Grammar (4th ed.). Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall Regents.

English verbs have:

• Two voices: active and passive.
• Three moods: indicative, subjunctive, imperative.
• Two tenses and one time (in the indicative mood): past and present (tenses), future (time).
• Four aspects (in the indicative mood): simple, progressive, perfect, perfect progressive. 

A few examples were created by us   at Ontario Tech University.

Active and passive voice

We   chose   a semi-structured approach (active).

was chosen   (passive).  

Most of the time we use the active voice in speaking. APA recommends that we use the active voice in academic writing as much as possible.

The passive is most frequently used when it is not important to know exactly who performs an action or when the speaker or writer wants to focus attention “on the recipient of the action rather than on the actor” (p. 77). 

Indicative, subjunctive, and imperative mood

 to provide   guidance for the researcher conducting case studies (indicative).

Be   mindful of APA formatting , style and usage issues! (imperative)

be interpreted   properly (subjunctive).

Most of the time,   in both speaking and writing, we use the   indicative   mood. For example, to ask questions and make factual statements.

When we want to express commands and requests, however, we use the imperative mood.

)   and in the verb to be (which remains ‘be’ in the present for all persons and becomes ‘were’ in the past for all persons).

Past, present, and future in the indicative mood

Evaluation feedback  identified   a need for a more condensed checklist for readers and reviewers (past).

constitutes   a case study   varies   (present).

A case study  will  never   provide   conclusions with statistical significance (future).

Simple, progressive, perfect, and perfect progressive aspects in the indicative mood

methodology   for software engineering research   (simple).

The acceptance of empirical studies in software engineering and their contributions to increasing knowledge   is  continuously  growing  (progressive).

We  have found  interviews, observations, archival data and metrics being applicable to software engineering case studies   (perfect).

For the past few years, researchers  have been investigating  the effectiveness of the use of case studies in engineering (perfect progressive).

There are twelve combinations of tenses and aspects in the indicative mood:

• The simple present:   Researchers  investigate  the effectiveness of the use of case studies in engineering.
• The simple past:   Researchers  investigated  the effectiveness of the use of case studies in engineering.
• The simple future:   Researchers  will investigate  the effectiveness of the use of case studies in engineering.
• The present progressive:   Researchers  are investigating  the effectiveness of the use of case studies in engineering.
• The past progressive:   researchers  were investigating  the effectiveness of the use of case studies in engineering.
• The present perfect:   Researchers  have investigated  the effectiveness of the use of case studies in engineering.
• The past perfect:   Researchers  had investigated  the effectiveness of the use of case studies in engineering.
• The future perfect:   Researchers  will have investigated  the effectiveness of the use of case studies in engineering.
• The present perfect progressive:   Researchers  have been investigating  the effectiveness of the use of case studies in engineering.
• The past perfect progressive:   Researchers  had been investigating  the effectiveness of the use of case studies in engineering.
• The future perfect progressive:   Researchers  will have been investigating  the effectiveness of the use of case studies in engineering.

The most commonly used verb tenses in academic writing, however, are the   simple present, simple past, present perfect, and simple future tenses .

APA (2010) says that, in an academic paper:

• The simple past tense is appropriate to describe the results (p. 66).
• The simple present tense is appropriate to discuss implications of the results and to present the conclusions (p. 66).

Note: For more information on verb tenses, see the overview of   past tenses ,   present tenses , and   future times   pages.

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Answered By: Linda Kern Last Updated: Dec 12, 2016     Views: 135076

The APA manual discusses tense in the section on Smoothness of Expression on Page 65. The lit review of an APA style paper should be in past tense (The researchers found...) or present perfect (The researchers have shown...). The methodology should be in past tense if it has already happened. The results section of the paper should also be in past tense, and implications of the results and conclusions in present tense.

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Note:  This page reflects APA 6, which is now out of date. It will remain online until 2021, but will not be updated. There is currently no equivalent 7th edition page, but we're working on one. Thank you for your patience. Here is a link to our APA 7 "General Format" page .

Writing in APA is more than simply learning the formula for citations or following a certain page layout. APA also includes the stylistics of your writing, from point of view to word choice.

Point of View and Voice

When writing in APA Style, you can use the first person point of view when discussing your research steps ("I studied ...") and when referring to yourself and your co-authors ("We examined the literature ..."). Use first person to discuss research steps rather than anthropomorphising the work. For example, a study cannot "control" or "interpret"; you and your co-authors, however, can.

In general, you should foreground the research and not the researchers ("The results indicate ... "). Avoid using the editorial "we"; if you use "we" in your writing, be sure that "we" refers to you and your fellow researchers.

It is a common misconception that foregrounding the research requires using the passive voice ("Experiments have been conducted ..."). This is inaccurate. Rather, you would use pronouns in place of "experiments" ("We conducted experiments ...").

APA Style encourages using the active voice ("We interpreted the results ..."). The active voice is particularly important in experimental reports, where the subject performing the action should be clearly identified (e.g. "We interviewed ..." vs. "The participants responded ..."). 

Consult the OWL handout for more on the distinction between  passive and active voice .

Switching verb tenses can cause confusion for your readers, so you should be consistent in the tense you use. When discussing literature reviews and experimental procedures that have already happened, use past tense ("Our study  showed" ) or present perfect tense ("studies  have proven" ). Also use past tense when discussing results ("students’ concentration increased" ), but use present tense when discussing what your results mean and what conclusions you can draw from them ("Our study illustrates" ).

Clarity and Conciseness

Clarity and conciseness in writing are important when conveying research in APA Style. You don't want to misrepresent the details of a study or confuse your readers with wordiness or unnecessarily complex sentences. 

For clarity, be specific rather than vague in descriptions and explanations. Unpack details accurately to provide adequate information to your readers so they can follow the development of your study.

Example: "It was predicted that marital conflict would predict behavior problems in school-aged children."

To clarify this vague hypothesis, use parallel structure to outline specific ideas:

"The first hypothesis stated that marital conflict would predict behavior problems in school-aged children. The second hypothesis stated that the effect would be stronger for girls than for boys. The third hypothesis stated that older girls would be more affected by marital conflict than younger girls."

To be more concise, particularly in introductory material or abstracts, you should eliminate unnecessary words and condense information when you can (see the OWL handout on  Conciseness  in academic writing for suggestions).

Example: The above list of hypotheses might be rephrased concisely as: "The authors wanted to investigate whether marital conflict would predict behavior problems in children and they wanted to know if the effect was greater for girls than for boys, particularly when they examined two different age groups of girls."

Balancing the need for clarity, which can require unpacking information, and the need for conciseness, which requires condensing information, is a challenge. Study published articles and reports in your field for examples of how to achieve this balance.

Word Choice

You should even be careful in selecting certain words or terms. Within the social sciences, commonly used words take on different meanings and can have a significant effect on how your readers interpret your reported findings or claims. To increase clarity, avoid bias, and control how your readers will receive your information, you should make certain substitutions:

• Use terms like "participants" or "respondents" (rather than "subjects") to indicate how individuals were involved in your research
• Use terms like "children" or "community members" to provide more detail about who was participating in the study
• Use phrases like "The evidence suggests ..." or "Our study indicates ..." rather than referring to "proof" or "proves" because no single study can prove a theory or hypothesis

As with the other stylistic suggestions here, you should study the discourse of your field to see what terminology is most often used.

Avoiding Poetic Language

Writing papers in APA Style is unlike writing in more creative or literary styles that draw on poetic expressions and figurative language. Such linguistic devices can detract from conveying your information clearly and may come across to readers as forced when it is inappropriately used to explain an issue or your findings.

Therefore, you should:

• Minimize the amount of figurative language used in an APA paper, such as metaphors and analogies unless they are helpful in conveying a complex idea,
• Avoid rhyming schemes, alliteration, or other poetic devices typically found in verse
• Use simple, descriptive adjectives and plain language that does not risk confusing your meaning.