LANGUAGE TO DESCRIBE PROCEDURES AND METHOD

USING ACTIVE VOICE & PASSIVE VOICE

ACTIVE VOICE VERSUS PASSIVE VOICE

•For the methodology section, use the passive voice of simple past tense or present perfect tense to report your activities.

IN THE ACTIVE VOICE

• The thing or person doing an action is called the subject. Meanwhile, the thing receiving the action is called the object. • The subject is stated clearly at the beginning of a sentence whereas the object is placed at the end of the sentence. • The sentence begins with a subject and ends with an object.

ACTIVE VOICE (SIMPLE PAST)

• Example:

Peter kicked the chair.

Subject Verb Object

Sentence begins with a subject

Sentence ends with an object

Simple past

• Example:

ACTIVE VOICE (PRESENT PERFECT)

Subject Verb Object

Peter has completed the project.

Sentence begins with a subject

Sentence ends with an object

Present Perfect Tense

IN THE PASSIVE VOICE

• The thing receiving an action becomes the subject of a sentence whereas the thing doing the action can be included at the end of the sentence as an object but this is optional unless you feel the importance of emphasizing the doer of the action.

PASSIVE VOICE (SIMPLE PAST)

• Example:

The chair was kicked by Peter Subject Verb Object/Doer

OPTIONALThe thing that receives the action becomes the subject of the sentence

Simple past

• Example:

Subject Verb Object/Doer

The book has been edited by Peter

PASSIVE VOICE (PRESENT PERFECT)

OPTIONAL

Change in Verb

• When an active sentence which uses the simple past tense is converted into a passive sentence, add the relevant (depending on whether the subject is singular or plural) be-verb and change the verb from simple past to past participle

• Example:

Active: Peter flew the plane.

Passive: The plane was flown (by Peter)

The relevant be-verb

the past participle of fly

• However, when an active sentence which uses the present perfect tense is converted into a passive sentence, add ‘been’ after the ‘have’ verb without changing the main verb

Example:

Active: Peter has completed the project.

Passive: The project has been completed (by Peter)

Change in Verb

‘been’ added after the ‘have’ verb

The form of the main verb remains unchanged

ACTIVE VERSUS PASSIVE VOICE(SIMPLE PAST TENSE)

•Here is an example of an active sentence converted into a passive sentence in the method of a research paper:

ACTIVE VERSUS PASSIVE VOICE(SIMPLE PAST TENSE)

Active sentence

Harris and Williams (2012) designed a structured observational record sheet to

gather data from whole class observations.

PAssive sentence

A structured observational record sheet was designed to gather data from whole

class observations (Harris & Williams, 2012).

MORE LANGUAGE TO DESCRIBE PROCEDURES

AND METHODS A. Expressing reasons and explanation•Transitions:Subordinators Conjunctions

B. Expressing development and changes

when you describe procedures and methods, you explain how to do something or how something works

it must be informative in which it should include necessary information because it tells readers something they want or need to know

A. Expressing Reasons And Explanation in the section

on Method

A part of Method extracted from a research paper (RP)

This study uses two survey instruments to collect data, one for students and one for academic staff of four universities in Queensland. The staff surveys were distributed by mail with a covering letter introducing the project and the research team. A total of 772 surveys were distributed to academic staff with 190 responses received, giving a response rate of 25 per cent, which is seen as sufficient for this project. Of those that responded, slightly more were male (57 per cent) than female (43 per cent), with age skewed toward the higher end (with 40 per cent of respondents aged 50 or over).

How the phrase in red is explained in the Method of an RP

two survey instruments:one for students and one for academic staff of four universitiesstaff surveys were distributed by mail with a covering letter introducing the project and the research teamA total of 772 surveys were distributed to academic staff with 190 responses received, giving a response rate of 25 per cent, which is seen as sufficient for this projectOf those that responded, slightly more were male (57 per cent) than female (43 per cent), with age skewed toward the higher end

Another part of Method extracted from a research paper (RP)

While the sample was not evenly distributed across disciplines (with 24 per cent from business, 41 per cent from the arts, 29 per cent from science and 6 per cent from other areas), this distribution is broadly consistent with the academic population at the institutions surveyed, as are the statistics pertaining to age and gender. Additionally, most respondents (58 per cent) had taught more than 2000 students across their academic teaching career, and a larger majority (87 per cent) were teaching predominantly undergraduate students.

How the phrase in red is explained in the Method of an RP

While the sample was not evenly distributed across disciplines, this distribution is broadly consistent with the academic population at the institutions surveyed:with 24 per cent from business, 41 per cent from the arts, 29 per cent from science and 6 per cent from other areasas are the statistics pertaining to age and gendermost respondents (58 per cent) had taught more than 2000 students across their academic teaching career, and a larger majority (87 per cent) were teaching predominantly undergraduate students

Transitions Transition signals are connecting words or phrases that

act like bridges between parts of your writing.

Transition signals act like signposts to indicate to the reader the order and flow of your writing and ideas.

They strengthen the internal cohesion of your writing. Using transitions makes it easier for the reader to follow your ideas.

They help carry over a thought from one sentence to another, from one paragraph to another, or from one idea to another.

Subordinators/conjunctions

signal words that will help you to identify the two parts of a cause/effect relationship. The most common signal words are: because, if, when, so, then.

Two Types of Transition signals:

A part of Method extracted from a research paper (RP)

The student surveys were administered in class across the four institutions, so this enabled the person administering the survey to explain the importance of the project with a view to soliciting more accurate responses from the students.

Cont..dThe survey was administered to 1206 students with thirty-two responses eliminated from the sample due to the survey being incomplete, giving a final sample of student responses of 1174. Of these, 59 per cent were female and 41 per cent male. Over 90 per cent of students were undergraduates, with 79 per cent being engaged in tertiary education for two or more years. In terms of age, the majority (71 per cent) were aged 25 or younger. With respect to discipline, since our sample is skewed toward business students (78 per cent), it may explain the reason why generally larger class sizes found in business programs compared to other disciplines.

B. Expressing Development And Changes in Method

Be sure to identify the relationships among the specific causes and effects you want to discuss the Methodology:• plan well• put them in the right sequence• emphasize causes and effects, and explain

reasons clearly

Examples of “expressing development and changes”

The third section of both surveys included an additional question in relation to the reasons for students committing academic misconduct. Students were asked to nominate from a list of twenty-one reasons for instance why they committed academic misconduct if they had admitted to it in section two, while staff were asked to indicate (from the same list) the reasons that students had given them when caught engaging in academic misconduct. Then, they were…….However, it was…….

The End

All the best!!!!