Category Archives: APA Style

Micro-learning Lesson #2: Powerful Verbs for Scientific Papers

Scientific reviewing. © [Tomas Skopal] / Adobe Stock

Scientific reviewing. © [Tomas Skopal] / Adobe Stock

Are you looking for the perfect verbs to use in your scientific papers? As most researchers know, specific action words are critical for your research manuscripts. As you join the community of scientists, you will gain an understanding of the commonly used conventions in scientific discourse. Remember, your writing goals are to be clear, concise, and informative.

To support your writing endeavors, I created a list of meaningful verbs that are useful in scientific writing.

Adapted
Addressed
Argued
Asserted

Clarified
Collaborated
Collected
Compared
Comprised
Conducted

Decreased
Defined
Demonstrated
Determined
Developed
Displayed
Disputed

Emphasized
Evaluated
Examined
Explained
Explored

Focused
Found

Hypothesized

Identified
Improved
Increased
Indicated
Introduced
Investigated

Linked

Measured

Noted

Observed

Predicted
Proposed

Reported
Researched
Revealed
Reviewed

Solved
Speculated
Stressed
Studied
Suggested
Summarized
Surveyed

Tested

Validated

APA Documentation Style

Figure 1: This word cloud highlights important textual data points from this blog on APA style.

Figure 1: This word cloud highlights important textual data points from this blog on APA style.

Documenting your sources is a critical part of doing research. One common documentation style is known as APA style as creatively featured in Figure 1. APA stands for American Psychological Association; it is sometimes referred to as name-and-date style. APA format is widely used in the following disciplines:

  • social sciences, such as psychology, sociology, criminology, economics, and education
  • business; human resources development
  • nursing
  • engineering
  • technical communication
  • physical sciences
For more details, please consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, sixth edition (2010). This is the latest manual as of today. If you find this manual overwhelming (and many students do), I would recommend that you check out the Concise Rules of APA Style, sixth edition from the American Psychological Association.