12.8 obligation and recommendation should 1. Should (not) is used to make strong recommendations (rather than giving direct orders. 2. Should is often found in Conclusions, when authors give their recommendations to other authors regarding possible directions for future work. 3. To avoid sounding arrogant, be careful how you use should when saying how your findings, applications, methodologies might be useful for other people – prefer may.Alternatively, precede your affirmation with we believe that. 4. In situations other than in papers, should is used to give friendly recommendations and to express opinions. 5. The form ought to , which has the same meaning as should , is rarely used in research. It often suggests amoral obligation. YES AVOID 1 Special glasses should be worn in the lab. Computers should not be turned off without first being prepared for shutdown Future work should address the need to … Future work must address the need to … 3 Our approach may also be useful for those working in the field of medicine. Those working in the field of medicine should also use our approach. 3 We believe that an important feature of any future work should bean attempt to … An important feature of any future work should bean attempt to … 4 You should try using another search engine – it would be much quicker. You must try using another search engine – it would be much quicker. 4 I think the third world debt should be cancelled. I think the third world debt has t o be cancelled. 5 There is a huge gap between what we feel web ought to do to help the third world, and what we actually do.
