Quick Takeaways:
The English language has a rich history of borrowing words from other languages, especially from Latin. Latin abbreviations such as ‘a.m.’, ‘p.m.’ and ‘CV’ have become part of our everyday vocabulary. Such abbreviations are also frequently used in academic writing, from the ‘Ph.D.’ in the affiliation section to the ‘i.e.’, ‘e.g.’, ‘et al.’, and ‘QED’ in the rest of the paper.
This guide explains when and how to correctly use ‘et al.’ in a research paper.
如能在你的論文中使用到適當的動詞時態 (verb tense)，將可以令你的寫作更清晰及更易被讀懂。但是這一點都不簡單，很多時連母語為英語的人都未必能夠弄清楚呢!
而且更複雜的是不同學科對動詞時態的使用都有不同要求!
當你明白使用不同時態的目的以及其背後原因，這個問題其實並不是很困難，放心吧!
現在請一起看一看3種在學術寫作中最常用的動詞時態，並透過一些例子了解應該在什麼時候使用該時態及為什麼選擇用它。
在一般學術寫作中，除了在如商科或會計科中，現在式相對於過去式是比較少用的。
它多數是用於:
1. 形容事實及一般法則，更多是在引言部分陳述關於研究題目的背景資料。例如:
“The Reynolds number provides a measure of…”
上面句子中的Reynolds number 是一個在流體動力學中重要的無因次質量，用作預測在不同流體流動情況中的流動模式。它在該學科中被定義為一般法則。
2. 形容該論文中的內容或引用圖表等。例如:
“Section 3 presents the results”
“Table 2 above demonstrates the success…”
簡單過去式是用作形容在已過去的某一時間點發生的事物。
所以，當引述評論一些文獻或過去的研究時，你會這樣寫:
“Smith and Olson (2009) reported that…”
“The subjects in the first group scored higher, on average…”
現在完成式用於:
1. 形容一些由過去連繫到現在或仍在繼續的事件。例如:
“Mobile phone use has increased over the past decade”
2. 形容一般結果時強調什麼已經做了，但要留意這裡說的不是一些早已被認知的真理。例如:
“Researchers have used this material to manufacture…”
以上提到的都是你在寫作論文引言時將會經常使用到的時態，你可以多參考上述的例子。另外，你寫作時還需要注意以下兩點。
留意下面同一句子當在使用過去式及現在式時，其表達的意思是有所不同:
“The temperature increased linearly over time” 是在引述某一實驗。 但當使用了現在式時，
“The temperature increases linearly over time” 是在歸納觀察結果，提出溫度上升與時間保持線性關係。
在複雜的句子中，你可以組合使用過去式及現在式。
例如:
“In 1905, Albert Einstein postulated that the speed of light is constant”
在這裡，postulated是在過去發生的，所以用了過去式，但 is 所表達的是一般法則，固用上了現在式。
切記語言運用在不同學科中都會有些許變化，所以要查閱你將要投稿的期刊的其他已發表論文是如何撰寫的，因為以你的論文所在的學科的一貫語言運用風格去寫你的論文是最為重要的。
Wondering why some abbreviations such as ‘et al.’ and ‘e.g.’ use periods, whereas others such as CV and AD don’t? Periods are typically used if the abbreviations include lowercase or mixed-case letters. They’re usually not used with abbreviations containing only uppercase letters.
Our latest online workshop built on the success of face-to-face workshops we developed specifically for local universities. Over 30 faculty members joined the session, presented by our Chief Operating Officer, Mr Nick Case, to learn from our case studies on editing research proposals.
The response to our workshop, which included a constructive and insightful Q&A session, was very positive.Drawing on our extensive experience working with hundreds of Hong Kong researchers targeting the GRF and ECS every year, we used examples of poor and subsequently improved proposals to show the attendees how they can make their applications stand out. The response to our workshop, which included a constructive and insightful Q&A session, was very positive.Drawing on our extensive experience working with hundreds of Hong Kong researchers targeting the GRF and ECS every year, we used examples of poor and subsequently improved proposals to show the attendees how they can make their applications stand out. The response to our workshop, which included a constructive and insightful Q&A session, was very positive.Drawing on our extensive experience working with hundreds of Hong Kong researchers targeting the GRF and ECS every year, we used examples of poor and subsequently improved proposals to show the attendees how they can make their applications stand out.
Wondering why some abbreviations such as ‘et al.’ and ‘e.g.’ use periods, whereas others such as CV and AD don’t? Periods are typically used if the abbreviations include lowercase or mixed-case letters. They’re usually not used with abbreviations containing only uppercase letters.
Rachel於2001年剛在 University of Exeter 取得博士學位的同時以自由編輯的身份首次加入我們。在擔任博士後研究人員數年之後，她專注於大學教授心理學，並於2010年回到AsiaEdit，並專注於學術編輯專業。她於2018年升任助理總編輯，並於2020年繼而成為我們的聯合主編。由於無法完全離開學術界，她還在意大利的一所英語大學教授心理學。
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