| Course | PHLT 8066 Dissertation Seminar IV |
|---|---|
| Week | Week 7 |
| Paper type | Tense revision |
| Length | About 920 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Walden University |
| Program | PhD in Public Health |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for PHLT 8066 Week 7
Putting the Audit Back in the Future: A Tense Pass on Chapter 3 of a Pharmacy Naloxone Proposal, With the Pilot Kept in the Past and a Change Log Sorted by Rule
Student Name
Walden University
PHLT 8066: Dissertation Seminar IV
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Putting the Audit Back in the Future: A Tense Pass on Chapter 3 of a Pharmacy Naloxone Proposal, With the Pilot Kept in the Past and a Change Log Sorted by Rule
How the Method Started Sounding Finished
In the spring, the author ran a small pilot of the call script with pharmacies outside the sampling frame. Writing up the pilot in the past tense was correct, but the habit spread. Over two revisions, sentences describing the main audit drifted into the past as well, so that chapter 3 now reads as if 400 pharmacies had already been called. A committee member reading "callers asked each pharmacy whether naloxone was available" will reasonably ask where the results are. The pass below restores the future for everything not yet done, keeps the past for what did happen and sets a rule for the literature review.
The Rules Applied
Rule 1: Planned Steps Take the Future
Every step of the main audit that has not occurred is written in the future tense: sampling, calling, coding, analysis. The APA manual notes that tense should signal when an action occurs relative to the writing, and a proposal describes actions that follow it (American Psychological Association, 2020).
Rule 2: The Pilot Stays in the Past
The pilot happened. Its calls were made, its problems were found and the script changed because of them. Rewriting it into the future would hide real work and suggest the script is untested.
Rule 3: Single Studies in the Past, the Field in the Present
In chapter 2, what an individual study did or found takes the past: Graves et al. (2019) conducted a telephone audit. What the evidence as a whole now shows takes the present: audits in several states indicate that availability lags authorization. Swales and Feak (2012) describe this choice as a signal of how firmly the writer holds a claim, with the present reserved for findings treated as currently accepted.
Rule 4: Contingencies Take the Conditional
A few sentences describe what will happen only if something else happens first. These keep "will" in their main clause and use the present in the "if" clause, or move to "would" where the event is hypothetical.
The Change Log
Most entries fall under the first rule and sit in the data collection and analysis sections. The second chapter 2 row also fixes a citation that had lost its year, which the reference check in Week 10 would otherwise have caught.
Table 1
Sentences Changed in Chapter 3, Grouped by Rule
| Section | Before | After | Rule | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sampling | The sample was drawn from the board of pharmacy license list. | The sample will be drawn from the board of pharmacy license list. | 1 | |
| Sampling | Pharmacies were stratified by ownership and county type. | Pharmacies will be stratified by ownership and county type. | 1 | |
| Data collection | Callers asked each pharmacy whether naloxone was available. | Callers will ask each pharmacy whether naloxone nasal spray can be dispensed that day without a prescription. | 1 | |
| Data collection | Calls were placed on weekdays between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. | Calls will be placed on weekdays between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. | 1 | |
| Coding | Responses were coded as yes, no or unclear. | Responses will be coded as yes, no or unclear. | 1 | |
| Analysis | Weighted proportions were calculated for each stratum. | Weighted proportions will be calculated for each stratum. | 1 | |
| Chapter 2 | Audits have found that many pharmacies do not stock naloxone. | Audits in several states indicate that many pharmacies do not have naloxone ready to dispense. | 3 | |
| Chapter 2 | Egan and colleagues find that availability varies by neighborhood. | Egan et al. (2020) found that availability varied with neighborhood characteristics. | 3 | |
Note. The full log lists 37 changed sentences; eight representative rows appear here. Rule numbers refer to the rules above.
The Pilot Paragraph, Left in the Past
The pilot paragraph was not changed, and the log marks it as deliberately past. It reads in part: "In April, the script was tested with 15 pharmacies in a neighboring state, outside the sampling frame. Staff at six pharmacies asked whether the caller wanted the naloxone for personal use, and staff at four asked about insurance before answering. The script was revised to give the caller a prepared answer to each question." Every verb describes something that occurred, and each lesson is stated as an event. Rankin et al. (2022) recommend piloting secret shopper scripts for exactly this reason: staff questions that the caller cannot answer consistently produce noise in the outcome.
Sentences Kept in the Conditional
Three sentences describe contingencies and were left with conditional structure:
1. "If a call goes unanswered, the caller will try again on a different weekday, up to three attempts."
2. "If a pharmacy listed on the license file has closed, it will be recorded as ineligible and replaced from the same stratum."
3. "If staff place the caller on hold for more than five minutes, the call would be ended and repeated on another day."
The third was revised from "will be ended" to "would be ended" after the chair pointed out that a long hold is unusual, so the sentence describes a hypothetical rather than an expected step.
A Note on the Final Dissertation
Once data collection is complete, chapter 3 will move back into the past tense for the final dissertation, and the pilot will remain past. The change log makes that later pass faster, since it lists every sentence that will need to change again.
References
American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000
Egan, K. L., Foster, S. E., Knudsen, A. N., & Lee, J. G. L. (2020). Naloxone availability in retail pharmacies and neighborhood inequities in access. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 58(5), 699-702. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2019.11.009
Graves, R. L., Andreyeva, E., Perrone, J., Shofer, F. S., Merchant, R. M., & Meisel, Z. F. (2019). Naloxone availability and pharmacy staff knowledge of standing order for naloxone in Pennsylvania pharmacies. Journal of Addiction Medicine, 13(4), 272-278. https://doi.org/10.1097/ADM.0000000000000492
Rankin, K. A., Mosier-Mills, A., Hsiang, W., & Wiznia, D. H. (2022). Secret shopper studies: An unorthodox design that measures inequities in healthcare access. Archives of Public Health, 80, 226. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-022-00979-z
Swales, J. M., & Feak, C. B. (2012). Academic writing for graduate students: Essential tasks and skills (3rd ed.). University of Michigan Press.
What the PHLT 8066 Week 7 instructions ask for
The seventh week typically asks candidates to review the tense of their proposal and correct sentences that describe planned work as completed or completed work as planned. Faculty expect the student to state the rules being applied, often drawing on the APA manual, and to document the changes, for example in a log grouped by rule. Pilot work, feasibility checks or other steps that actually occurred should stay in the past. The literature review usually receives attention too, distinguishing what individual studies found from what the evidence collectively indicates. Conditional sentences for contingencies deserve separate handling. Submissions often consist of the revised chapter 3 with a change log of two to four pages, plus a brief note on any deliberate exceptions. Citations to style guidance support each rule.
How this PHLT 8066 Week 7 example is built
The paper opens by explaining how the drift happened after the spring pilot. Four rules follow under their own subheadings, citing the APA manual on tense and timing and Swales and Feak on present tense for accepted findings. Table 1 shows eight representative changes from a log of 37, giving each sentence before and after with its section and rule; most sit in data collection and analysis, and one chapter 2 row also restores a missing citation year. A section quotes the pilot paragraph unchanged, with its 15 pharmacies and the questions staff asked, and cites Rankin and colleagues on piloting secret shopper scripts. Three conditional sentences are listed, one revised from will to would after the chair's comment. A note on the final dissertation closes the paper.
Where the marks sit in the PHLT 8066 Week 7 rubric
Graders assess a tense pass on correctness, consistency and documentation. Every planned step must read as planned; a single surviving past-tense procedure undermines the rest. The sample earns credit for stating its rules before applying them and for citing authoritative guidance. Keeping the pilot in the past is assessed as a mark of accuracy, since rewriting it would misrepresent work done. The change log allows instructors to verify the pass without rereading the chapter. Handling conditionals separately shows command of the grammar of contingency. Accuracy in the literature review distinction, past for individual studies and present for accepted findings, earns marks under scholarly writing. A clear table, an organized structure and correct references to the APA manual and methods sources make up the rest.
PHLT 8066 Week 7 help: mistakes that cost marks
Tense passes often stop halfway. A candidate fixes the obvious sentences in the data collection section and misses the analysis plan, the sampling description or the timeline, where past tense hides in phrases like "were stratified." Search for common past-tense verbs as a check, then read every sentence. Another frequent error is overcorrecting, pushing the pilot into the future and hiding real work. Decide which events actually occurred and protect them. The review needs a lighter touch: keep the past for what a single study did and use the present only for findings the field treats as settled. Watch conditionals, too; a contingency written as a certainty sounds like a planned step. If chapter 3 of your own proposal has drifted, ask us for a tense pass on it as a free custom sample.
Get a PHLT 8066 Week 7 example written to your instructions
Include chapter 3, and chapter 2 if it mixes tenses, along with the Week 7 tense prompt and rubric; mention any pilot work already done. Every sentence is placed under a stated tense rule, completed work kept in the past and planned steps returned to the future. The first pass is free, within 24 to 48 hours. Pilot calls and pharmacies are invented.
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PHLT 8066 Week 7 questions, answered
Why did my method start sounding finished?
Usually because something happened between drafts: a pilot, a feasibility check, a conversation with a site. Once part of the work is real, sentences start reporting instead of planning. The example's drift began after the pilot calls. Knowing the cause helps, because the event that caused the drift should stay in the past while everything still planned returns to the future.
Is present tense ever right in a proposal?
Yes, for three things: what the literature collectively shows, what the document itself contains, and standing facts about the setting. Chapter 3 describes the sampling frame; naloxone reverses opioid overdose; the state board maintains a license list. Present tense is wrong for planned procedures, where it reads as routine practice. The example uses the present only in those three roles.
Will I have to change it all back later?
At the final study stage the method is rewritten to report the work as performed, so planned steps will move to the past and deviations will be reported alongside them. That later conversion is easier when the proposal was consistent, because every future sentence maps onto a past one. A proposal already mixing tenses makes it much harder to see what changed between plan and performance.
Where can I find a free PHLT 8066 Week 7 sample paper?
The full Week 7 tense pass is on this page, with the four rules, a change log of representative edits to a composite naloxone audit method, the pilot paragraph left in the past and three conditional sentences explained. The references are real.
Why keep the pilot in the past tense?
Because it happened. Its calls were made and its lessons changed the script, so writing it in the future would hide finished work and suggest the script is untested. The sample marks the pilot paragraph as deliberately past in its change log so reviewers know it was not overlooked.