Choosing the right tense for your journal article or thesis

I always seem to have trouble remembering what tense should be used for what section of a thesis or journal article (makes for interesting proof-reading of student work!).  I sat down this weekend, as part of an academic writing workshop to finally pull some resources together that I can refer to in future.

So...

1.  The AJE has produced a short PDF detailing tense expectations for Scientific Manuscripts: http://www.aje.com/en/arc/dist/docs/AJE-Choosing-the-Right-Verb-Tense-for-Your-Scientific-Manuscript-2015.pdf   Its useful but quite detailed.

2.  This overview from Scitable was very helpful:

'In your scientific paper, use verb tenses (past, present, and future) exactly as you would in ordinary writing. Use the past tense to report what happened in the past: what you did, what someone reported, what happened in an experiment, and so on. Use the present tense to express general truths, such as conclusions (drawn by you or by others) and atemporal facts (including information about what the paper does or covers). Reserve the future tense for perspectives: what you will do in the coming months or years. Typically, most of your sentences will be in the past tense, some will be in the present tense, and very few, if any, will be in the future tense.'

Past tense 

Work done 
We collected blood samples from . . .
Groves et al. determined the growth rate of . . .
Consequently, astronomers decided to rename . . .

Work reported 
Jankowsky reported a similar growth rate . . .
In 2009, Chu published an alternative method to . . .
Irarrázaval observed the opposite behavior in . . .

Observations 
The mice in Group A developed, on average, twice as much . . .
The number of defects increased sharply . . .
The conversion rate was close to 95% . . .

Present tense 

General truths 
Microbes in the human gut have a profound influence on . . .
The Reynolds number provides a measure of . . .
Smoking increases the risk of coronary heart disease . . .

Atemporal facts 
This paper presents the results of . . .
Section 3.1 explains the difference between . . .
Behbood's 1969 paper provides a framework for . . .

Future tense 

Perspectives 
In a follow-up experiment, we will study the role of . . .
The influence of temperature will be the object of future research . . .

Those pesky conclusions

I've always found finishing a chapter or paper to be somewhat problematic.  This blog post is a nice way of thinking through your concluding options.

https://medium.com/advice-and-help-in-authoring-a-phd-or-non-fiction/seven-questions-to-ask-about-how-your-chapter-ends-262d5ad5e653

New paper on setting up the MGIS just out!

Opportunities across boundaries: lessons from a collaboratively delivered cross-institution Master's programme
Mairead de Roiste, Gregory Breetzke and Femke Reitsma

Advances in technology have created opportunities for collaborative multi-institution programme delivery which are increasingly attractive within a constrained financial environment. This paper details the development of a cross-institution collaboratively delivered masters and postgraduate diploma programme in Geographical Information Science in New Zealand. We explore the benefits of such an approach as well as the lessons learnt from its implementation. The recommendations presented will be of interest to teaching faculty considering specialized collaborative programmes as well as more senior staff who are keen to combine institutional resources to meet new and emerging demands for skills.

Paper available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03098265.2015.1010145#abstract

Happy new year and helpful hints for those writing resolutions

I hope you had a great start to 2015.  I've finally managed to catch up on the MGIS admissions this year and it looks like it's a bumper year for really interested and enthusiastic students.

And just because every post should have a photo...

 

Rory McPherson (MGIS student) and Roger Smith (Geographx) looking at Roger's award winning rock printed map at the Dominion Observatory in the Botanic Gardens, Wellington.

I've also been working though my feedly backlog and found two useful writing resources.

1. Style checks for academic and non fiction writing: https://medium.com/advice-and-help-in-authoring-a-phd-or-non-fiction/top-ten-style-checks-for-phds-or-creative-non-fiction-writers-9ca63542f5d

Particularly good if you need to think about sentence and paragraph construction.

2. How to get published in academia: http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/jan/03/how-to-get-published-in-an-academic-journal-top-tips-from-editors

Includes hints on dealing with reviewers as well as picking a journal.
 

The Geospatial Skills Shortage in New Zealand

My paper on the geospatial skills shortage in New Zealand has just been published.  See: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nzg.12054/abstract

If you are interested in applying for a GIS or geospatial job in New Zealand, the paper is worth a read as it details the dimensions of the skills shortage and identifies the skills geospatial employers are seeking in New Zealand.

Summary of the paper:

Geospatial technologies span governmental, academic and private commercial sectors, and their potential for growth is considerable. The USA and Australia have trouble meeting demand for geospatial skills. This paper reports on a national survey of 157 organisations that identified a similar geospatial shortage in New Zealand. The paper also details dimensions of the shortage and the current frameworks for meeting the shortfall of skilled professionals. Arising from this skills gap, key challenges facing both the geography and geospatial communities are identified and discussed: raising student numbers, gaining experience, up-skilling current professionals and raising awareness of the value of the geospatial skillset.

Importance of geospatial academic qualifications and prior experience for most recently advertised position by New Zealand geospatial employer.

Paper available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nzg.12054/abstract

Writing Productivity: 1

I started a postgraduate research and writing group last year (Space) for my postgraduate students.  We schedule a meeting every two weeks to discuss people's projects and to work on our writing.  As a resource, I want to highlight different writing and writing related methods which may help others too!

Writing tip 1: Get yourself a calendar