COMMON VERBS IN TECHNICAL RESEARCH REPORTING

 

You will find below some examples of verbs which appear to be commonly used in writing up research:

 DESCRIBING THE AIMS OF THE RESEARCH

DESCRIBING THE PURPOSE OF THE REPORT

REPORTING THE WORK OF OTHER RESEARCHERS

DISCUSSING METHODS

REFERRING TO DIAGRAMS

PRESENTING RESULTS

DISCUSSING FINDINGS

 

 

DESCRIBING THE AIMS OF THE RESEARCH

 In English, there is a tendency to PERSONIFY the study:

This study sets out to quantify the performance of various centrifuges for the separation of fat globules in suspension (intro)
The current review focuses on the use of new methods for the measurement of heat transfer through windows. (intro)
In this research, we investigate the use of fluxes in a modern iron-smelting furnace. (intro)
The present work studies the selection of anti-virus software in small companies in Scandinavia. (intro)
This work attempted to establish a correlation between the chemical composition of pulp and quality of the finished product.

 We do, however, also find examples of the pattern “the aim is to (verb)…..”:

The objective of this report in the series was to investigate the chemistry of the liquor produced during pulping of recycled newsprint. (intro)
The purpose of the study was to establish the boundary conditions for calculating thermal stresses in diswashers. (intro)
The experimental goal was to visualize the mechanisms of fluid penetration. 

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DESCRIBING THE PURPOSE OF THE REPORT

This paper presents a selection of data from an investigation on heat transfer.
This paper demonstrates how thermal stress in dishwashers can be controlled.
In the remainder of this note, we restrict our attention to PID control.
In this section, some recent advances in the field are reviewed.
The present paper is concerned with the heat transfer between component parts.
To understand several observed phenomena, we consider the structure of a paper web.

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REPORTING THE WORK OF OTHER RESEARCHERS

Publications in the recent literature indicate that both standard and heavily-adapted techniques are widely used.
Collins and DuBartell (1997) have shown that accurate values can be obtained by simulating the process in the laboratory.
Skärevik [8] presented the most thorough and complete review of recent innovations in the field.
Wallington [6] observed that the third model performed best in more extreme conditions.
Dehmann [13] investigated the phenomenon using a series of experiments involving pressure measurements.
In [4], Kessner explored the adhesive properties of kaolin.
 

See also REPORTING VERBS 

 

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DISCUSSING METHODS

Samples were taken simultaneously from the inner and outer streams.
A set of trials was performed on a casting ladle.
Data was obtained by taking digital photographs at 1-second intervals.
For each case, a flow chart of activity was developed.
Pressures were calculated using the Antoine equation.
A large amount of data was collected over a range of conditions.
Experiments were performed with the nozzle diameter set at 30mm.
Experiments were conducted with with a row of tightly packed tubes representing the wall of a boiler.
Calculations were made of the heat transfer from the radiator to the plastic valve components.
Pretreatment and cooking were carried out in a multi-unit stainless steel vessel.
In the first set of experiments, a standard fermentation vessel was employed.
The process was modelled using the Stepney-Redman technique.
The feedback controllers were tuned before the experiment started.

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REFERRING TO DIAGRAMS

Fig. 1 shows the flow pattern within a centrifuge.
Figure 2 shows the relationship between the temperature and the pressure.
Table 1 gives the measurements of the chlorine levels in the pool.
Table 4 lists the temperatures recorded during successive tests.
The experimental findings are summarized in the table below.
The source of the leak is illustrated in Fig. 3.
The flow pattern was as depicted in the upper half of Fig. 4.
Figure 5 suggests that recycling of plastics has gone through three distinct phases.
Fig. 6 plots the values taken during shear strength tests.

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PRESENTING RESULTS

The results show that the expression given in Equation (8) accurately describes the temperature-pressure relationship.
These results show that the process can be controlled directly from the cab of the crane.
Using the modified approach resulted in improved control performance compared to the traditional approach.
The chlorine-free samples were found to perform best.
It was found that the highest values were obtained from the contaminated samples.
The results suggest that the higher yield is derived mainly from addition of fluxes.
The data demonstrate that the pretreatment prior to pulping enhances pulp quality.
The result indicates that acid treatment results in greater cost-effectiveness.
The result demonstrates the possibility of employing a lower water pressure during rinsing.
From laboratory experiments, we were able to determine that soaking in a saline solution is a viable solution.

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DISCUSSING FINDINGS

The reduced shear strength of the components may be attributed to the brittleness which increases as a function of age.
However, it can be deduced that the flow within the pipe is a function of the operating pressure and the viscosity of the liquid.
These results reinforce the need for tight monitoring when variables are manipulated.
The results obtained from the field studies were generally consistent with previous simulation studies.
The technique presented is limited in its effectiveness by the fact that it improves on earlier techniques along one dimension only.
From the experimental results we can conclude that leaching is the main mechanism for the changes in the pH levels.

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© S.McAnsh 2003