Citing the literature

(Academic Writing 2)
Use of tenses

2
Past simple (active or passive) for reporting specific single
studies
Jones (2001) investigated a range of catalysts.
Mitchell (2) measured the percentage yield.
A novel synthesis was devised by Chong in 2004 2.

Present perfect (active or passive) reference to single or

multiple studies contributing to the present state of knowledge
in a field:
The causes of this phenomenon have been widely investigated (Jones
2001, Ferrara 2006, Hyon 2008).
Several researchers have suggested novel syntheses for this compound 1-4.
A novel synthesis has been devised by Chong (2).

3
Present simple describing the present state of knowledge with
supporting references, but no citation of research in the text
The regulation mechanisms are complex (Jones 2001, Ferrara 2006).
Global warming is believed to have a number of causes 1-5.
Surfaces can be investigated at the nanoscale using an AFM (1-3).

Present tense for a comment that you believe to be generally true

and not limited to the reported work
Field and Atkins reported that the virus is harmless.

Present simple (the citational present) describing what authors do

in their paper, as opposed to what they did in their lab
Smith and Jones state that their experimental error was + 5%.

NB: The citational present tense is used with knowledge

presentation verbs (e.g. suggest/argue/state) rather than
research activity verbs (e.g. study/find/investigate).

4
Which tenses would you choose?
Addiction to smoking (research) extensively, but little work (carry out)
on its prevalence among doctors. In 2009, Sykes (conduct) an
investigation into the extent of smoking in the medical profession. She
(study) a sample of 250 doctors and nurses in the London area and
(find) that 55% of them (smoke) at least two cigarettes per day. She
(suggest) that the stress associated with busy urban hospitals (be)
probably responsible for this result and (propose) that a further study
on GPs working in rural areas (undertake) before concluding that
doctors in general (smoke) more than average.

5
Examples in context
Addiction to smoking has been researched extensively, but little work
has been done on its prevalence among doctors. In 2009, Sykes
conducted an investigation into the extent of smoking in the medical
profession. She studied a sample of 250 doctors and nurses in the
London area and found that 55% of them smoked at least two
cigarettes per day. She suggests that the stress associated with busy
urban hospitals was probably responsible for this result and proposes
that a further study on GPs working in rural areas should be
undertaken before concluding that doctors in general smoke more
than average.

Present perfect - contributions to current knowledge

Past simple specific studies
Present simple - citational present or general truth
Modal verb (should) - recommendation