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S3. One limitation of our research was the sample size. Clearly 200 Xs are not enough to
make generalizations about Y. However, from the results of those limited number of Xs,
a clear pattern emerged which …
S4. Two of our samples were contaminated. This occurred because … We thus plan to repeat
our experiments in future work. However, our analysis of the uncontaminated samples
(24 in total) supported our initial hypothesis that …

The important thing is to be (i) honest, (ii) clear, and, if appropriate, (iii) discuss
possible remedies.

9.6 Avoid losing credibility

Dr Maggie Charles is a Tutor in English for Academic Purposes at the Oxford
University Language Centre. She explains the importance of admitting limitations,
but doing so in a way that does not undermine your credibility:

As a young researcher you want your scientific community to see you as credible, profes-
sional and honest, and also reasonably modest. This means that you can, and should, draw
attention to limitations in your research. The community needs to know what went wrong in
your research, not just for ethical reasons, but also so that others can learn from your ‘mis-
takes’. It also means that others will see you as a reliable and honest researcher. In fact,
because you have drawn attention to the problems you have had in your research, the com-
munity is more likely to accept the validity and reliability of what you describe in your paper.

However, you can present these limitations in such a way that you do not have to take direct
responsibility for them. You can do this by using impersonal forms. These impersonal
forms distance you from the limitations of your study and at the same time they highlight
for the community that you can evaluate your ‘performance’ in accordance with the stan-
dards of that community.

The passive form is very useful when you don’t want to assume complete responsi-
bility for what you are saying. This is because no agent is necessary with a
passive.

It was found that the containers for the samples had become contaminated.

This fraction is assumed to originate from…
It might be speculated that…