Page 56 - Modul Academic Writing

Now that you have identified three sentences belong to Discussion section, what
tenses you think is appropriate to use?
… Tip …
 Result and Discussion can either be combined into one section or be organized in
two separate sections*.
 Discussion section is to explain the significance of the result. Therefore, it mostly
employs Present tense.
 Past tense** and Future tense***, however, are possible to use.

*It depends on the requirements of the journal where your article is submitted.
**Past tense is to summarize findings.
***Future tense is to make recommendations for further research or to indicate a
future course of action based on the result of your paper.

… Practice …
Here are some excerpts taken from the Discussion chapter of Early Coverage,
Access, Utilization, and Health Effects of the Affordable Care Act Medicaid
Expansions: A Quasi-Experimental Study by Laura R. Wherry and Sarah
Miller (2016). Analyze the tenses used in their Discussion chapter. Why did they
use that tenses?

1 We also provide new evidence of a significant increase in rates of diagnosis of
chronic health conditions among low-income adults under the Medicaid
expansions. We observed increases in respondent reports of ever being
2
diagnosed with diabetes and high cholesterol associated with the expansions,
although we found no significant change in the diagnosis of hypertension. In
3
comparison, the OHIE found no change in rates of diagnosis of hypertension
and high cholesterol but a substantial increase in diabetes diagnoses (10). In
4
addition, an early study of diabetes diagnoses following the ACA Medicaid
expansions based on laboratory data found evidence of an increase in the
number of Medicaid enrollees with newly identified diabetes in states expanding
Medicaid compared with non-expansion states (21). The increased detection of
5
chronic health conditions under the Medicaid expansions, if it leads to
improved management and control of these conditions, could have important
implications for both population health and national health care spending (22).

Sentence: Tenses used: The possible reason to use the tenses:
1
2

3

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