Literature reviews in present or past tense?

quarkz · May 1, 2009, 04:10

Hi,

I have this confusion about literature reviews in papers. Should they be writtenin present or past tense? or mixed?

Can someone shed some light?

Thanks!

mettler · May 1, 2009, 08:16

Past tense..it has already been done. Your technical paper should be past tense as well, since, I am assuming your experiments have already been run and data gathered. You might have a section at the end of the paper, FUTURE WORK, where you can use future tense. Also, you have to be sure not to give away too much information in a literature review. It is basically just a paragraph summary of what was going on in the paper, and it should be related to your work. The author's of the papers you are citing would be happy to know that you didn't give away enough info so that no one would have to read their paper.

quarkz · May 2, 2009, 05:01

Thanks mettle. However what about some theories which the author discovered?

For eg., "He discovered that air is/was very light"

Should I use "is" or "was"?

TIA!

mettler · May 4, 2009, 08:15

The air IS still very light, but he discoverED it. Unless it was only for his experiment in which the air was light.."He discovered that during low humidity the air WAS very light."

quarkz · May 4, 2009, 10:37

Thanks again for the clarification mettler!

May 1, 2009, 04:10	Literature reviews in present or past tense?	#1
quarkz Senior Member TWB Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 400 Rep Power: 19	Hi, I have this confusion about literature reviews in papers. Should they be writtenin present or past tense? or mixed? Can someone shed some light? Thanks!

May 1, 2009, 08:16		#2
mettler Senior Member Andrew Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Washington, DC Posts: 209 Rep Power: 18	Past tense..it has already been done. Your technical paper should be past tense as well, since, I am assuming your experiments have already been run and data gathered. You might have a section at the end of the paper, FUTURE WORK, where you can use future tense. Also, you have to be sure not to give away too much information in a literature review. It is basically just a paragraph summary of what was going on in the paper, and it should be related to your work. The author's of the papers you are citing would be happy to know that you didn't give away enough info so that no one would have to read their paper. Last edited by mettler; May 1, 2009 at 14:04.

May 2, 2009, 05:01		#3
quarkz Senior Member TWB Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 400 Rep Power: 19	Thanks mettle. However what about some theories which the author discovered? For eg., "He discovered that air is/was very light" Should I use "is" or "was"? TIA!

May 4, 2009, 08:15		#4
mettler Senior Member Andrew Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Washington, DC Posts: 209 Rep Power: 18	The air IS still very light, but he discoverED it. Unless it was only for his experiment in which the air was light.."He discovered that during low humidity the air WAS very light."

May 4, 2009, 10:37		#5
quarkz Senior Member TWB Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 400 Rep Power: 19	Thanks again for the clarification mettler!