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• What’s wrong with “the present study”?
Difficulty: Intermediate Uni-edit English Editors are accustomed to seeing the self-referential phrase “the present study”, which an author uses in a paper to refer to itself or accompanying research. It’s not a particularly technical term, nor is it subject-specific: it appears in the natural sciences and social sciences with equal frequency. Most Asian languages have a word with exactly this meaning: for example, 本研究 in both Chinese (běn yánjiū) and Japanese (hon-kenkyuu), so it’s easy for non-native speakers of English to translate directly from...
• How to use Simple Present Tense in your Introduction Section
Simple present tense is also frequently used in literature reviews, and carries a strong implication when it is used. Simple present tense is used either to describe knowledge that is so widely accepted that it is no longer disputed, to refer to findings that apply generally (not just to specific studies), or to refer to ongoing debates. Put another way, simple present tense should be used when you are confident about particular knowledge, when you are confident that knowledge is correct for all situations, or when a debate is as yet unresolved. Wha...