Generally, many of us are taught in school that avoiding passive voice is essential to writing any paper, be it an essay, a speech, a report, an article, a journal, or a research paper. This is often because the active voice emphasizes the subject providing quick sentences and clearer arguments.

Avoiding passive voice and using only active voice in research papers can be difficult. So we’ll take you through some guidelines on how to get rid of passive voice and create stronger sentences.

Passive voice in research papers

As we mentioned earlier, using passive voice in general writing is commonly frowned upon. However, numerous research papers still use passive voice in writing. And while a general rule against passive writing exists, there are subtle differences in application.

Surprisingly, using only one voice pattern or construction can make research papers awkward to read and digest. This can also confuse readers about the crucial aspects of a study. So, in essence, there are times when an author must choose the passive voice over the active voice and vice versa.

How to change passive voice to active voice

The subtle changes in the subject and object position of a sentence give birth to the active and passive voice. The active voice controls the agent of the action, which can be the subject or object performing the action.

Here’s an example of the active voice: “We bought the gray umbrellas.”

The subject pronoun “we” begins the sentence, preceding a strong action and leading straight to the object action, “the gray umbrellas“. This sentence format places more emphasis on the agent of the action than the object, “the gray umbrellas“.

The passive voice, in comparison, emphasizes the object receiving the action. For example: “Gray umbrellas were bought by us.”

In this example, “gray umbrellas” stand out as the major element in the sentence. When learning how to fix passive voice sentences, you need to understand the positions of the object and subject and their strengths.

To change the passive to active voice in this case, simply revert to the original sentence. This means we’ll emphasize “we” instead of “gray umbrellas“. This method can be applied to changing various passive sentences to active ones when writing.

In rare cases, passive voice constructions are shorter and even stronger than active ones. That’s why many scientific manuscripts still increasingly favor passive-voice construction. The aim, in truth, is to pass a clear message to the reader. However, more often than not, the active voice is the better option.

How to avoid writing in passive voice

You’re probably wondering how to get rid of passive voice or avoid passive voice in your writing practice. And now that we’ve covered how to distinguish between passive vs. active voice, it’ll be easier to avoid it in your research writing.

Certain measures can be used to eliminate passive voice in academic writing. Here are some of them below:

• Always identify the voice of the sentence

This is the most straightforward method to avoid writing in a passive voice. You must always confirm whether a sentence’s voice is active or passive. Identification is the initial step to fixing a passive voice construction. It helps you know if you need to change passive voice to active voice in the first place, as well as aid the changing process.

You can identify the voice of a sentence by checking if the verb in the sentence is a ‘to be’ verb and a past participle.

• Compare the sentence with your writing purpose

This is another important method that can help deal with the most passive voice in your writing. You may not completely remove all aspects of passive voice in your paper, but you can evaluate all sentences against the purpose of your essay. Sometimes, not every passive voice limits the fluidity of your work.

• Use writing tools to change passive voice to active voice where needed

If a sentence is stronger in the active voice, you should always use it. However, if you make a few slip-ups from time to time, you can use quality writing tools to change passive voice sentences to active voice.

Conclusion

Like most processes in the writing world, mastering the act of active voice writing comes down to practice. As you continue to write and review your work, you’ll naturally get better and better at limiting passive voice usage. And if you need some help through the process, you can use grammar checker tools that offer a passive voice checker.

However, there are many information sources, and not all of them are credible. Therefore, credible research sources are the only sources allowed when writing a research paper because they provide reliable information.

How do you determine which sources are reliable? Lucky for you, in this article, we show you just that. You will also learn the importance of credible sources with the “where” and “how” to find them. Let’s get started.

What are credible sources?

Before we teach you how to locate credible sources, let’s understand a bit more about them. Credible sources of data materials that are considered reliable and unbiased. They often have information based on evidence, and they’re usually materials published within the past ten years.

The nature of the organization or a particular auto can be an important factor in considering the credibility of a source. For example, if such an organization is well recognized and the author is well-known for their expertise in a particular field, then they have good information credibility.

Why is it important to use credible sources?

Credible sources are critical for research papers because their findings are based on evidence and reliable information. No matter the research pattern, structure, and organization of a research paper, if its findings are considered unreliable, they will be unhelpful.

That’s why research papers and research, in general, are time-consuming affairs needing enough room to search for credible information sources. As the author of a reliable paper, you not only provide valuable information but also gain distrust and support from your field and its audience.

Furthermore, when arguments are backed up by credibility, they hold more value and are understood without doubts, which can undermine your research. Besides that, unreliable information sources usually contain errors, which are particularly harmful to critical research projects.

Credible vs. non-credible sources

Non-credible sources are the polar opposite of credible information sources. They should not be utilized, mainly when working on important pieces of research and writing. An untrustworthy source would almost certainly be obsolete and error-prone. They also usually come from sources with no meaningful qualifications.

Below is a brief outline of the disparities between credible and non-credible information sources.

Credible sources feature:

• information published around the last decade
• articles and blogs from Google Scholar
• recognized academic databases.
• Articles by respected and qualified authors
• websites belonging to governmental and reputable educational institutions.

Non-credible sources feature:

• outdated information
• regular blog posts
• texts written by regular authors
• commercial websites
• articles without citations

Credible Sources Examples

Learning how to find reliable sources for research is not as easy as it can appear. However, below are good examples of websites and locations where you can find credible sources.

• Google Scholar

This is the most recognized and easy-to-use search engine. Google scholar provides scholarly pieces of writing on any field and topic of your choice. It is free to use, and there are various publishing formats available.

• JSTOR

JSTOR is an online library with various credible sources like journals, books, and articles. It isn’t free to use, but it is a great help for students conducting research. And because of its exclusivity and unique selection of information, it is one of the most reliable databases.

• Microsoft Academic

This is another free web search engine. It helps you find accurate information and tracks your chosen niche’s most recent academic publications and research.

• Science Direct

ScienceDirect is a vast database of scientific and medical data accessible with subscription packages. With over 18 million pieces published there, it is an important information source. Also, every bit of information published on the database is credible.

How to identify reliable sources

Understanding the differences between legitimate and untrustworthy sources is not always easy, with vast information on the Internet. Fortunately, you can follow some straightforward guidelines to guarantee that you are constantly conducting research from reliable sources. Here are some of them below.

• Understand the depth of the source

Always examine the depth of an article, not only its surface content. See how lengthy it is, understand the topic and check if it contains the necessary information structure. If there’s any problem with your evaluation, the source is probably untrustworthy.

• Know its audience

When grading a source’s credibility, it’s crucial to always know its target audience. This is because, most times, sources have a goal in mind, and it can materialize into a bias.

• Know its author

Knowing who wrote the information and how reputable they are will help you determine its credibility. You can also examine other published works they have as well to confirm.

• Authority

A source is likely to be more reputable when it is posted on a well-recognized platform for publishing credible information. Conversely, when information appears in an untrustworthy location, chances are such information isn’t reliable.

• Relevancy

Examine the dates of the article and evaluate if it’s still relevant to modern research or if it has become outdated articles that are more than a decade old tend to be less relevant to current research.

• Examine its accuracy

Many information sources can sound incredibly convincing, but is the source supported by evidence? Are the claims expressed correctly? If you can find satisfactory answers rotten in evidence, then your source is credible.

Conclusion

Several factors go into determining the credibility of an information source. First, you’ll need to understand the characteristics of credible and non-credible information sources to locate and distinguish between them properly. By following our easy-to-understand guide, finding credible information sources should come easy.