This document provides information on using active and passive voice when describing procedures and methods in academic writing. It discusses: - Using passive voice in the methodology section to report activities in simple past or present perfect tense. - The differences between active and passive voice, with examples showing how the subject and object are positioned differently. - How verbs change when converting between active and passive voice, such as adding "been" after "have" in the present perfect passive form. - Ways to express reasons and explanations in the methods section, including using transitions and subordinators/conjunctions to connect ideas. - The importance of clearly expressing the development and changes in methods.

1. LANGUAGE TO
DESCRIBE
PROCEDURES
AND METHOD
USING ACTIVE VOICE &
PASSIVE VOICE

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. ACTIVE VOICE (SIMPLE PAST)
• Example:
Peter kicked the chair.
Subject Verb Object
Sentence begins with a
subject
Sentence ends with an
object
Simple
past

5. • 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

6. 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.

7. PASSIVE VOICE (SIMPLE PAST)
• Example:
The chair was kicked by Peter
Subject Verb Object/Doer
OPTIONAL
The thing that receives
the action becomes the
subject of the
sentence
Simple
past

8. • Example:
Subject Verb Object/Doer
The book has been edited by Peter
PASSIVE VOICE (PRESENT
PERFECT)
OPTIONAL

9. 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

10. • 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

11. 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:

12. 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).

13. MORE LANGUAGE TO
DESCRIBE PROCEDURES
AND METHODS
A. Expressing reasons and explanation
•Transitions:
Subordinators
Conjunctions
B. Expressing development and changes

14.  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

15. 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).

16. 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
universities
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

17. 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.

18. 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 areas
as are the statistics pertaining to age and gender
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

19. 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.

20. 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:

21. 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.

22. Cont..d
The 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.

23. 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

24. 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…….

25. The End
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