Hi,

Which tense are you supposed to use in your Methodology. I am writing up one of my pilot studies and I'm not sure which tense I'm supposed to be writing in? I've had a look at a few thesis and they seem to have been written in the past tense?

Thanks

Chococake

I have always written methods in the past tense, ie this is what I did. Likewise, the results are also past tense, ie this is what I found. Hope that helps!

Thanks! That does help :) I think I'm confused because I've written parts of the literature review in the present/active tense.

Yes, parts of lit review and discussions will be in present tense, ie your thoughts will be current, but referencing what someone else has published would be in past tense, ie 'Smith et al (1990) previously found that x enhanced y but when taken in the context of this work x would only enhance y in these particular circumstances'. It is confusing when writing up to get the tense correct, I would recommend someone proof-read for this aswell as for spelling!