METHODS SECTIONS

This Chapter has four sections:

1. Best Practices for methods sections
2. Grammar Guide: Active and passive sentence structure
3. Methods section checklist
1. Best Practices for methods sections
1.1. Use transitions to sequence the steps in your methods section
• Use transitions words to sequence the steps in your methods section so that
the reader can follow your method.
• If a methods section only consists of a series of sentences in the passive
without clear transitions, it is sometimes hard to tell how the steps are
sequenced and the relationship between each step.
• Common transitions for methods sections include words such as first, then,
also, after, next, finally, while, as soon as, consecutively, simultaneously, and
sequentially.
• Examples:
• Prior to the deposition of X, …
• … before adding the X …
• In the next step, we determine …
• After X was complete, …
1.2. Also indicate why methods were used
• In addition to having good transitions, it is also good writing to explain the
purpose of your methods or procedures especially if the methods are not
standard.
• The structures [To +Verb] or [In order to +Verb] enable the author to explain
why methods were used.
• Examples
• In order to determine …
• To estimate/ To measure/ To calculate/ To verify/ To evaluate/ To define/ To
obtain/ To model/ To ensure the reliability of/ To check the validity of/
• In order to determine the effect of DFS-block size on the performance, and to
justify our choice of default block size, we ran the following experiments
2. Grammar Guide : Active and passive sentence structure

• Most textbooks and general writing tips advise writers to avoid using passive
sentences and to write actively. However, the use of the passive is common
as well as necessary in science writing. Unfortunately, it can be quite complex
to use properly.

2.1 Structure of the passive

• The basic passive is formed using [Verb be +ed].
• EXAMPLES
• Active sentence: I completed the experiment.
• Passive sentence: The experiment was completed
2.2 Use active sentence structure to put emphasis on
methodology decisions
• “There is a tendency for passive sentences to indicate routine procedures while
active sentences indicate new, deliberately chosen, important, or unexpected
procedures” (Swales & Feak, 1994 p. 161).
• Use active sentences using “we” or “our” if you want to emphasize YOUR
decisions, YOUR method, or YOUR innovation. For standard procedures,
generally use the passive structure.
• In this example, the researchers are explaining why they thought it was important
to include a material in their analysis. When they explain their choice they shift to
the active tense using we and emphasize that they are doing the analysis by
using the key words “our analysis.”
• EXAMPLE
• The infill material considered was mainly concrete: several concrete qualities
were studied in order to investigate the influence of variation of the elastic
modulus of the infill; moreover the C20 lightweight concrete (LWC) and
polyurethane (PUR) were considered as alternatives. As these two materials,
especially PUR, offer the advantage of low weight we thought it worthy to include
them in our analysis. In addition, PUR seems to be drawing the attention of other
researchers as a possible hollow sections infill material [22].
2. 3. Be careful when using the passive in describing methods or
results
• These two sentences can have very different meanings in English.
• The temperature was increased by 50 C.
• The temperature increased by 50 C.
• The passive is used when the researcher changes the conditions of the
experiment, but it is not used when a result that is not known before
measurement is just observed. In this first example, it is clear that the
researcher is constantly manipulating the temperature.
3. Methods section checklist