using first person in academic writing

using first person in academic writing

The Importance of Using First Person in Academic Writing

1. Introduction

5. Response to Soles. A. Agreement that academic writing has become less rigid. B. Comparing the poetry of Wilfred Owen to a WW2 chronicle. C. Acknowledgment that students may be discouraged from using an emotional prose. D. A rebuttal to Soles’ point that largely utilizing the third person can be a more effective way of reaching personal prose.

4. The argument against. A. Explanation of how academic writing has been altered according to Soles. B. How this movement has given a greater freedom to select a style of writing. C. The aim to achieve an emotional and personal response. D. Utilizing the purest form of the third person to reach the most personal writing.

3. The tradition of the academic essay. A. Description of traditional views on academic writing. B. How this relates to methods of education.

2. Impersonal writing. A. Definition. B. Examples of impersonal writing. C. Using the third person. D. Using the passive voice. E. Cons of impersonal writing.

A. Explanation of the importance of the first person in academic writing. B. Description of the method of the essay.

2. Benefits of Using First Person

Enables reflective learning: With the use of “I” in describing the feeling or thought of the person involved, someone else’s argument or reaction can be assessed. Enhances empathy and understanding: By writing about the difficulties encountered in an assignment, or about an unsatisfactory grade, people are able to provide support and advice. Third person or passive constructions distance the writer from the event and make empathy difficult. Creates ownership: Through the use of “I,” people are able to directly describe their involvement with an issue in a way that claims ownership over their feelings and actions. This sense of ownership is important in taking control of one’s learning. Encourages active engagement with the task: Whereas describing an event in the second or third person takes on a narrative way of writing about something, the use of the first person can more easily describe the writer’s thought process at the time of the event. This involves the reader more directly in the present-day thoughts and emotions of the writer and can be more intellectually stimulating.

3. Addressing Common Concerns

The problem with using the first person in this instance does not lie in an inevitable misinterpretation or the lack of a clearer alternative. It is with the view that it is always bad to make explicit predictions about results. Science writing would be pretty dull if it consistently evaded hypotheses. Prediction of specific results in a manner which confines them unjustifiably to the status of fact is an issue for science in general, not just an issue created by the use of the first person in writing about it.

The first of many objections to the use of the first person in academic writing by scientists is still under debate: which uses of the first person might be ambiguous and therefore should be avoided? One example of this is the “we may see” variety. Though the writer believes that this assumption would probably be inescapable regardless of what voice is used to express it, it seems that the third person form “may be seen” would not elicit the same concern. If the concern is that the first person form predicts results with too much certainty, then substituting “may be seen” for “we may see” is going in the right direction, though it is still too explicit.

4. Effective Strategies for Incorporating First Person

Connect or reflect on the significance. When you use this strategy, you talk about a past event and then connect it to the present. You can spend a chunk of time giving full background details of an event, then explain how it affects you in your current situation. This strategy is particularly useful when crafting a sequence of events.

Substitute abstract for concrete. When making a general idea specific, think of it in terms of the five senses. Describe what you saw, heard, felt, smelled, or tasted when you’re narrating an event. Use specific adjectives, adverbs, and verbs to give the reader a clear mental picture of what you’re describing. Abstract: I was confident in my decision. Concrete: I felt an overwhelming sense of relief wash over me.

Show, don’t tell. Instead of telling the audience what you’re doing or thinking, show it. Using colorful details and actual events, you can recreate the event and show the reader the nature of what you experienced. Telling: I was happy with my new job at the veterinary clinic. Showing: My smile was immediate; I could feel it spreading across my face as I listened to Dr. Wilson complimenting my work. Content: What it is you were doing or thinking?

Make it active. (Work done) Example: Passive: I was chosen by my capstone instructor to be the new tutor for the research writing program. Active: My capstone instructor chose me to be the new tutor for the research writing program. This strategy makes the writing much more succinct and less awkward. Using action verbs cuts down on wordiness and makes for more lively writing.

5. Conclusion

There is much to be gained by the student who strives to succeed at essay writing. The skill can be improved by instruction, helpful criticism, and practice, but it is essentially a solitary endeavor, requiring the exercise of one’s intelligence, the development of one’s discriminating powers, and the exercise of judgment. Fortunately, this is not a grim prospect, for the student who devotes time to mastering the material will find that the essay enables him to understand and appreciate that material more fully. It will become an outlet for the expression of his own interests, his original concept and insights, his modes of thinking, and even his idiosyncrasies. Finally, the striving student will find it a valuable measure of his abilities as a criterion for judging what he has learned from his courses at McGill.