There is a misconception that all verbs in a paragraph should be in the same tense. The choice of the appropriate verb tense depends on context and meaning.

One’s tense will vary depending on what one is trying to convey within their paper or section of their paper. For example, the tense may change between the methods section and the discussion section.

The word 'tense' comes from 'tempus', the Latin word for time. Some languages like Mandarin Chinese don’t have verb tenses but express time in different ways. When writing, it’s important to ...