Many reporting verbs are followed by ‘that’.
Example: Wallis (2019) argues that the policy failed to protect children.
However, some reporting verbs follow other patterns.
Example: Papadopoulos (2016) rejects the idea that the policy was a failure.
Check a dictionary if you are not sure how to use a particular reporting verb.
Tense
Reporting verbs are usually written in the present tense.
Example: Playing golf appears to have significant benefits for a person’s physical and mental health (Woods & Norman, 2018).
Use the past tense when reporting specific findings of a previous study or describing how the study was conducted.
Example: The authors examined the relationship between golf and heart disease. Fifty professional golfers participated in the study.
Use the present perfect tense when summarising research with general subjects (e.g., “Researchers have found…”).
Example: Several studies have found that playing golf can reduce the risk of falls in the elderly (Brown, 2018; Green, 2019; White, 2018).