Using the active and passive voice in research writing
3 mins. The active voice refers to a sentence format that emphasizes the doer of an action. For example, in the sentence "The mice inhaled the tobacco-infused aerosol," the doer, i.e., "the mice" seem important. On the other hand, in the passive voice, the action being performed is emphasized, and the doer may be omitted, e.g.,
PDF Let's Get Active: Active Voice Writing Guide
Directions: The following sentences are written in passive voice. Rewrite each sentence in active voice in the space provided. The toy was assembled by Julian and Oliver. The soccer ball was kicked by Kia after her teammate rolled it to her. Four specialty cakes were made by Mr. Mars, the baker, for his favorite customers.
Academic Guides: Scholarly Voice: Active vs. Passive Voice
Generally, in scholarly writing, with its emphasis on precision and clarity, the active voice is preferred. However, the passive voice is acceptable in some instances, for example: if the reader is aware of who the actor is; in expository writing, where the goal of the discussion is to provide background, context, or an in-depth explanation;
PDF Scientific Writing-Active and Passive Voice
The terms active and passive voice refer to the way subjects and verbs are used in sentence construction. In scientific writing, we use both voices to write clear and coherent research articles. Although many scientists overuse the passive voice, most scientific journals (e.g. Science and Nature) actually encourage active voice.
Use the active voice
Visitors are not allowed after 9:00 p.m. Generally, try to use the active voice whenever possible. Passive voice sentences often use more words, can be vague, and can lead to a tangle of prepositional phrases. Active vs. passive voice In a sentence written in the active voice, the subject of sentence performs the action.
How to Use Active or Passive Voice in Research Papers
When you use active voice in research papers, the agent—a person or object—doing the stated "action"—receives emphasis. E.g., CRISPR is a new gene editing tool that edits the DNA (Active) The use of CRISPR as the agent in this sentence serves to highlight the significance of CRISPR as a tool for gene editing.
Active and Passive Voice
Voice describes the relationship between a verb and the subject and object associated with it.. Active voice: the subject of a sentence is followed by the verb and then the object of the verb (e.g., "the children ate the cookies"). Passive voice: the object of the verb is followed by the verb (usually a form of "to be" + past participle + the word "by") and then the subject (e.g ...
PDF Active and Passive Voice
Active and Passive Voice In many college papers, your professors will encourage you to write in something called ... though we tend to encourage writing in the active voice, passive voice is not always "bad." In some fields, such as science writing, passive voice tends to be the norm. In research papers, using passive voice is purposeful ...
Using Active or Passive Voice in Research Papers
1) When the agent of the action is unimportant, unknown, or obvious to readers. Choose the passive voice when the agent of the action is unknown or unimportant to the action being discussed, or when it is quite clear who is performing the action. In some cases, you may identify the agent using a "by" clause, but it is often unnecessary to ...
Mastering Active and Passive Voice in Academic Writing
Active and passive voice are two distinct ways of structuring sentences in English, each with its unique character and effect. Active voice occurs when the subject of the sentence performs the action, resulting in a direct, clear, and concise expression. An example could be: "Researchers conducted a thorough study." On the other hand, passive voice transpires when the subject of the sentence ...
The Active Voice in Scientific Articles: Frequency and Discourse
This article examines the frequency and discourse functions of 752 active transitive clauses in a 66,500-word corpus of sixteen research articles in the physical sciences. The overall rate of actives was only 34 percent; the rates were lowest in the Methods (12%) and Abstracts (27%), higher in Introductions (41%) and Results (40%), and highest ...
How to Effectively Use Active and Passive Voice in Academic Writing
A sentence is considered to be in passive voice when the subject of a sentence is the object being acted on. Active voice, on the other hand, is where the subject is the one doing the acting. In the 20 th century, passive voice was a dominant characteristic of scientific writing; however, there has been a discernible shift in consensus in ...
Passive and Active Voice
Passive voice is used sometimes in scientific writing to draw attention to processes and results, instead of the individual researcher. Passive voice sometimes makes more sense than active voice if the agent performing the action is unimportant, obvious, or unknown, or if the writer wants to avoid mentioning the agent altogether.
Academic Guides: Scholarly Voice: Active and Passive Voice
Active and Passive Voice. Active voice and passive voice are grammatical constructions that communicate certain information about an action. Specifically, APA explains that voice shows relationships between the verb and the subject and/or object (see APA 7, Section 4.13). Writers need to be intentional about voice in order to ensure clarity.
How to use Active and Passive voice in academic writing?
Summary. The subject of a passive sentence has the action performed on it; in an active sentence, the subject performs the action. Using the active voice changes the emphasis of a sentence, and usually makes it shorter; it also often means that it will contain 'I' or 'we'. The passive voice can be appropriate in the Methods and Results ...
How to write a research paper
Then, writing the paper and getting it ready for submission may take me 3 to 6 months. I like separating the writing into three phases. The results and the methods go first, as this is where I write what was done and how, and what the outcomes were. In a second phase, I tackle the introduction and refine the results section with input from my ...
Active Versus Passive Voice
This passive voice sentence is more wordy than an active voice version. This active voice sentence is more concise than the passive voice version (above) because the subject directly performs the action. This handout will explain the difference between active and passive voice in writing. It gives examples of both, and shows how to turn a ...
How to write your paper
Writing for a Nature journal. Before writing a paper, authors are advised to visit the author information pages of the journal to which they wish to submit (see this link for a full list of Nature ...
Actively Passive: Understanding Voice in Academic Writing
Prefer the active voice [bold in original]." (Publication Manual, 2001, p41) And advice to authors from the British Medical Journal concurs. Guiding prospective authors about their house style, they state that to "write in a clear, direct, and active style" is "essential"('BMJ house style,' 2006 ).
Changing Passive to Active Voice
Changing Passive to Active Voice. If you want to change a passive-voice sentence to active voice, find the agent in a "by the..." phrase, or consider carefully who or what is performing the action expressed in the verb. Make that agent the subject of the sentence, and change the verb accordingly. Sometimes you will need to infer the agent from ...
Academic Guides: Scholarly Voice: Writing in the First Person
APA prefers that writers use the first person for clarity and self-reference. To promote clear communication, writers should use the first person, rather than passive voice or the third person, to indicate the action the writer is taking. Example of passive voice: In this study, data were collected using intensive interviews.
Should I Use Active or Passive Voice in a Research Paper?
One decision that gives pause to thousands of research writers every time they start a new paper is whether to use the active or passive voice in their resea...
Active Voice
How to Write in Active Voice. Identify the Subject and Verb: Start by identifying the subject (who or what is performing the action) and the verb (the action itself) in your sentence. The subject should be doing the action. Place the Subject Before the Verb: In an active voice sentence, the subject comes before the verb.
Gut microbiome remodeling and metabolomic profile improves in ...
Here, in a follow-up of a clinical study, the authors show that protein pacing and intermittent fasting improves gut symptomatology and microbial diversity, as well as reduces visceral fat ...
Evidence of ongoing volcanic activity on Venus revealed by ...
Abstract. The surface of Venus has undergone substantial alterations due to volcanic activity throughout its geological history, and some volcanic features suggest that this activity persisted ...
COMMENTS
3 mins. The active voice refers to a sentence format that emphasizes the doer of an action. For example, in the sentence "The mice inhaled the tobacco-infused aerosol," the doer, i.e., "the mice" seem important. On the other hand, in the passive voice, the action being performed is emphasized, and the doer may be omitted, e.g.,
Directions: The following sentences are written in passive voice. Rewrite each sentence in active voice in the space provided. The toy was assembled by Julian and Oliver. The soccer ball was kicked by Kia after her teammate rolled it to her. Four specialty cakes were made by Mr. Mars, the baker, for his favorite customers.
Generally, in scholarly writing, with its emphasis on precision and clarity, the active voice is preferred. However, the passive voice is acceptable in some instances, for example: if the reader is aware of who the actor is; in expository writing, where the goal of the discussion is to provide background, context, or an in-depth explanation;
The terms active and passive voice refer to the way subjects and verbs are used in sentence construction. In scientific writing, we use both voices to write clear and coherent research articles. Although many scientists overuse the passive voice, most scientific journals (e.g. Science and Nature) actually encourage active voice.
Visitors are not allowed after 9:00 p.m. Generally, try to use the active voice whenever possible. Passive voice sentences often use more words, can be vague, and can lead to a tangle of prepositional phrases. Active vs. passive voice In a sentence written in the active voice, the subject of sentence performs the action.
When you use active voice in research papers, the agent—a person or object—doing the stated "action"—receives emphasis. E.g., CRISPR is a new gene editing tool that edits the DNA (Active) The use of CRISPR as the agent in this sentence serves to highlight the significance of CRISPR as a tool for gene editing.
Voice describes the relationship between a verb and the subject and object associated with it.. Active voice: the subject of a sentence is followed by the verb and then the object of the verb (e.g., "the children ate the cookies"). Passive voice: the object of the verb is followed by the verb (usually a form of "to be" + past participle + the word "by") and then the subject (e.g ...
Active and Passive Voice In many college papers, your professors will encourage you to write in something called ... though we tend to encourage writing in the active voice, passive voice is not always "bad." In some fields, such as science writing, passive voice tends to be the norm. In research papers, using passive voice is purposeful ...
1) When the agent of the action is unimportant, unknown, or obvious to readers. Choose the passive voice when the agent of the action is unknown or unimportant to the action being discussed, or when it is quite clear who is performing the action. In some cases, you may identify the agent using a "by" clause, but it is often unnecessary to ...
Active and passive voice are two distinct ways of structuring sentences in English, each with its unique character and effect. Active voice occurs when the subject of the sentence performs the action, resulting in a direct, clear, and concise expression. An example could be: "Researchers conducted a thorough study." On the other hand, passive voice transpires when the subject of the sentence ...
This article examines the frequency and discourse functions of 752 active transitive clauses in a 66,500-word corpus of sixteen research articles in the physical sciences. The overall rate of actives was only 34 percent; the rates were lowest in the Methods (12%) and Abstracts (27%), higher in Introductions (41%) and Results (40%), and highest ...
A sentence is considered to be in passive voice when the subject of a sentence is the object being acted on. Active voice, on the other hand, is where the subject is the one doing the acting. In the 20 th century, passive voice was a dominant characteristic of scientific writing; however, there has been a discernible shift in consensus in ...
Passive voice is used sometimes in scientific writing to draw attention to processes and results, instead of the individual researcher. Passive voice sometimes makes more sense than active voice if the agent performing the action is unimportant, obvious, or unknown, or if the writer wants to avoid mentioning the agent altogether.
Active and Passive Voice. Active voice and passive voice are grammatical constructions that communicate certain information about an action. Specifically, APA explains that voice shows relationships between the verb and the subject and/or object (see APA 7, Section 4.13). Writers need to be intentional about voice in order to ensure clarity.
Summary. The subject of a passive sentence has the action performed on it; in an active sentence, the subject performs the action. Using the active voice changes the emphasis of a sentence, and usually makes it shorter; it also often means that it will contain 'I' or 'we'. The passive voice can be appropriate in the Methods and Results ...
Then, writing the paper and getting it ready for submission may take me 3 to 6 months. I like separating the writing into three phases. The results and the methods go first, as this is where I write what was done and how, and what the outcomes were. In a second phase, I tackle the introduction and refine the results section with input from my ...
This passive voice sentence is more wordy than an active voice version. This active voice sentence is more concise than the passive voice version (above) because the subject directly performs the action. This handout will explain the difference between active and passive voice in writing. It gives examples of both, and shows how to turn a ...
Writing for a Nature journal. Before writing a paper, authors are advised to visit the author information pages of the journal to which they wish to submit (see this link for a full list of Nature ...
Prefer the active voice [bold in original]." (Publication Manual, 2001, p41) And advice to authors from the British Medical Journal concurs. Guiding prospective authors about their house style, they state that to "write in a clear, direct, and active style" is "essential"('BMJ house style,' 2006 ).
Changing Passive to Active Voice. If you want to change a passive-voice sentence to active voice, find the agent in a "by the..." phrase, or consider carefully who or what is performing the action expressed in the verb. Make that agent the subject of the sentence, and change the verb accordingly. Sometimes you will need to infer the agent from ...
APA prefers that writers use the first person for clarity and self-reference. To promote clear communication, writers should use the first person, rather than passive voice or the third person, to indicate the action the writer is taking. Example of passive voice: In this study, data were collected using intensive interviews.
One decision that gives pause to thousands of research writers every time they start a new paper is whether to use the active or passive voice in their resea...
How to Write in Active Voice. Identify the Subject and Verb: Start by identifying the subject (who or what is performing the action) and the verb (the action itself) in your sentence. The subject should be doing the action. Place the Subject Before the Verb: In an active voice sentence, the subject comes before the verb.
Here, in a follow-up of a clinical study, the authors show that protein pacing and intermittent fasting improves gut symptomatology and microbial diversity, as well as reduces visceral fat ...
Abstract. The surface of Venus has undergone substantial alterations due to volcanic activity throughout its geological history, and some volcanic features suggest that this activity persisted ...