The present tense is used when describing a process in general.

The past tense is used to

report a particular procedure which was carried out in one particular experiment or set of
experiments.
e.g. was used, was added, was extracted, were diluted
e.g. is caught, is internalised
Process
the surface of the tub is coated.
biodegradable caps are used
Procedure
the balloon was fixed/placed around the neck of the bottle.
apparatus was used ..........
The following verbs do not need to be changed because they have non- human subjects.
the gas cools, the cap dissolves, the water evaporates
Word choice: Unnecessary qualifiers
Qualifiers are words that modify or limit the meaning of other words. Qualifiers may be
added justifiably to scientific writing to limit the scope of a statement. 2
Hundreds of words and phrases can be used alone or in combination to express
approximation, probability, or doubt. Common examples include the following:
Adjectives: apparent, certain, consistent with, few, many, most, possible, presumed,
probable, putative, several, some, supposed
Adverbs: about, apparently, arguably, fairly, in general, largely, likely, more or less, mostly,
often, perhaps, possibly, presumably, probably, quite, rather, somewhat, unlikely, usually
Nouns: appearance, indication, inference, likelihood, possibility, probability, suggestion,
tendency, to my knowledge
Verbs: aim, appear, assume, can, could, estimate, indicate, infer, intend, may, might,
presume, propose, seem, seen as, should, speculate, suggest, suppose, tend
When used in moderation, qualifiers temper a researcher's certainty about a method or
observation.
However, double, triple, and quadruple synonyms are unnecessary (e.g., may be possible;
seems to suggest, rather likely to indicate, may be seen as rather likely). Similarly, successive
hedge words pile up within a sentence, depleting it of its strength and meaning:
A possible cause is likely the apparent tendency of a certain number of patients with diabetes
to develop indications of retinopathy.

This sentence can be revised to minimize the number of qualifiers:

A possible cause is the tendency of patients with diabetes to develop retinopathy.
To strengthen your argument and increase clarity, limit the number of qualifiers in each
sentence to only those necessary for accuracythe remaining qualifiers will then do their job
well.3
Do not use:
ambbiguos, vague antecedents,
dangling modifiers.

Have you ever found yourself re-reading a sentence because you came across a word such as
"it" or "them" and could not tell which of two things it referred to?
You probably do not want your readers to puzzle over the same thing. This grammar tip
describes a common error in the use of pronouns to help you avoid this problem.
A pronoun (e.g., you, ours, she, this, whom, which, himself) takes the place of a noun or
another pronoun, often to avoid repetition. The noun, pronoun, or clause that a pronoun refers
to, called an antecedent, usually appears earlier in the sentence, although it can also appear
later.
A pronoun should refer to one specific antecedent. An ambiguous pronoun antecedent occurs
when a pronoun has two or more possible antecedents.
Examples
In the following example, does the pronoun it refer to the first study or to the second study?
Example
The second study was designed to enrol 2000 more participants than the first study. It tested
three dose levels of the study drug.
The corrections show how the sentence can be written more clearly. One way is to rearrange it
and delete the pronoun, as shown in the first correction. In the second correction, shortening
the sentence and deleting the pronoun produces the same result.
Correction

The second study, which tested three dose levels of the study drug, was designed to enrol
2000 more participants than the first study.

Correction

The second study, designed to enrol 2000 more participants than the first study, tested three
dose levels of the study drug.

In the next example, the pronoun them sets up an amusing possibility: McFarlane et al. either
presented their study results or presented the previous researchers!
The pronoun those is not ambiguous because it refers to only one antecedent (results).
Example
McFarlane et al. compared their study results with those of previous researchers and
presented them at the conference.
Correction
At the conference, McFarlane et al. presented their study results, which they had compared
with those of previous researchers.