Academic essay writing in first person

Colleagues and students,Due date for submissions for the 5th international conference on writing analytics: 11/l of writing 5th international conference on writing analytics (north american meeting). By jenna pack category: hed: 25 april times, high school students are told not to use first person (“i,” “we,” “my,” “us,” and so forth) in their essays. As a college student, you should realize that this is a rule that can and should be broken—at the right time, of now, you’ve probably written a personal essay, memoir, or narrative that used first person. After all, how could you write a personal essay about yourself, for instance, without using the dreaded “i” word? Academic essays differ from personal essays; they are typically researched and use a formal tone. Because of these differences, when students write an academic essay, they quickly shy away from first person because of what they have been told in high school or because they believe that first person feels too informal for an intellectual, researched text. Yet while first person can definitely be overused in academic essays (which is likely why your teachers tell you not to use it), there are moments in a paper when it is not only appropriate, but it is actually effective and/or persuasive to use first person. The following are a few instances in which it is appropriate to use first person in an academic essay:Including a personal anecdote: you have more than likely been told that you need a strong “hook” to draw your readers in during an introduction. Sometimes, the best hook is a personal anecdote, or a short amusing story about yourself. In this situation, it would seem unnatural not to use first-person pronouns such as “i” and “myself. For more information about incorporating personal anecdotes into your writing, see "employing narrative in an essay. Oftentimes, the best way to do that is to get personal—tell the reader a little bit about yourself. For instance, let’s say you are writing an essay arguing that dance is a sport. Using the occasional personal pronoun to let your audience know that you, in fact, are a classically trained dancer—and have the muscles and scars to prove it—goes a long way in establishing your credibility and proving your argument. And this use of first person will not distract or annoy your readers because it is ying passive constructions: often, when writers try to avoid using first person in essays, they end up creating confusing, passive instance, let’s say i am writing an essay about different word processing technologies, and i want to make the point that i am using microsoft word to write this essay.

If i tried to avoid first-person pronouns, my sentence might read: “right now, this essay is being written in microsoft word. To most people, this sentence sounds better: “right now, i am writing this essay in microsoft word. In this case, using first person makes your writing g your position in relation to others: sometimes, especially in an argumentative essay, it is necessary to state your opinion on the topic. Readers want to know where you stand, and it is sometimes helpful to assert yourself by putting your own opinions into the essay. Use personal pronouns enough to get your point across clearly without inundating your readers with this , the above list is certainly not exhaustive. Ultimately, if you feel that using first person has a purpose or will have a strategic effect on your audience, then it is probably fine to use first-person pronouns. Just be sure not to overuse this language, at the risk of sounding narcissistic, self-centered, or unaware of others’ opinions on a colleagues and students,Welcome to writing commons, an open-education resource for instructors and students of writing across the disciplines. Our mission is to provide a high-quality, cost free resource to support students in the development of writing, research, and critical thinking summer, we have been working on a site redesign in an effort to increase the usability of our site for both instructors and students. Or altering words in a direct first person in an academic essay: when is it okay? This handout is handout is about determining when to use first person pronouns (“i”, “we,” “me,” “us,” “my,” and “our”) and personal experience in academic writing. First person” and “personal experience” might sound like two ways of saying the same thing, but first person and personal experience can work in very different ways in your writing. So whether or not you should use first person and personal experience are really two separate questions, both of which this handout addresses. It also offers some alternatives if you decide that either “i” or personal experience isn’t appropriate for your project. If you’ve decided that you do want to use one of them, this handout offers some ideas about how to do so effectively, because in many cases using one or the other might strengthen your ations about academic ts often arrive at college with strict lists of writing rules in mind. Often these are rather strict lists of absolutes, including rules both stated and unstated:Each essay should have exactly five ’t begin a sentence with “and” or “because.

The problem is that overly strict rules about writing can prevent us, as writers, from being flexible enough to learn to adapt to the writing styles of different fields, ranging from the sciences to the humanities, and different kinds of writing projects, ranging from reviews to when it suits your purpose as a scholar, you will probably need to break some of the old rules, particularly the rules that prohibit first person pronouns and personal experience. Avoiding “i” can lead to awkwardness and vagueness, whereas using it in your writing can improve style and clarity. Using personal experience, when relevant, can add concreteness and even authority to writing that might otherwise be vague and e college writing situations vary widely in terms of stylistic conventions, tone, audience, and purpose, the trick is deciphering the conventions of your writing context and determining how your purpose and audience affect the way you write. The rest of this handout is devoted to strategies for figuring out when to use “i” and personal ive uses of “i”:In many cases, using the first person pronoun can improve your writing, by offering the following benefits:Assertiveness: in some cases you might wish to emphasize agency (who is doing what), as for instance if you need to point out how valuable your particular project is to an academic discipline or to claim your unique perspective or y: because trying to avoid the first person can lead to awkward constructions and vagueness, using the first person can improve your writing oning yourself in the essay: in some projects, you need to explain how your research or ideas build on or depart from the work of others, in which case you’ll need to say “i,” “we,” “my,” or “our”; if you wish to claim some kind of authority on the topic, first person may help you do ng whether “i” will help your is an example of how using the first person can make the writing clearer and more assertive:In studying american popular culture of the 1980s, the question of to what degree materialism was a major characteristic of the cultural milieu was example using first person:In our study of american popular culture of the 1980s, we explored the degree to which materialism characterized the cultural original example sounds less emphatic and direct than the revised version; using “i” allows the writers to avoid the convoluted construction of the original and clarifies who did is an example in which alternatives to the first person would be more appropriate:As i observed the communication styles of first-year carolina women, i noticed frequent use of non-verbal cues. Study of the communication styles of first-year carolina women revealed frequent use of non-verbal the original example, using the first person grounds the experience heavily in the writer’s subjective, individual perspective, but the writer’s purpose is to describe a phenomenon that is in fact objective or independent of that perspective. Avoiding the first person here creates the desired impression of an observed phenomenon that could be reproduced and also creates a stronger, clearer ’s another example in which an alternative to first person works better:As i was reading this study of medieval village life, i noticed that social class tended to be clearly study of medieval village life reveals that social class tended to be clearly gh you may run across instructors who find the casual style of the original example refreshing, they are probably rare. The revised version sounds more academic and renders the statement more assertive and ’s a final example:I think that aristotle’s ethical arguments are logical and readily applicable to contemporary cases, or at least it seems that way to tle’s ethical arguments are logical and readily applicable to contemporary this example, there is no real need to announce that that statement about aristotle is your thought; this is your paper, so readers will assume that the ideas in it are ining whether to use “i” according to the conventions of the academic fields allow “i”? Rules for this are changing, so it’s always best to ask your instructor if you’re not sure about using first person. But here are some general es: in the past, scientific writers avoided the use of “i” because scientists often view the first person as interfering with the impression of objectivity and impersonality they are seeking to create. But first person is becoming more commonly accepted, especially when the writer is describing his/her project or ties: ask your instructor whether you should use “i. The purpose of writing in the humanities is generally to offer your own analysis of language, ideas, or a work of art. Writers in these fields tend to value assertiveness and to emphasize agency (who’s doing what), so the first person is often—but not always—appropriate. Sometimes writers use the first person in a less effective way, preceding an assertion with “i think,” “i feel,” or “i believe” as if such a phrase could replace a real defense of an argument. Personal belief or opinion is generally not sufficient in itself; you will need evidence of some kind to convince your writing situations: if you’re writing a speech, use of the first and even the second person (“you”) is generally encouraged because these personal pronouns can create a desirable sense of connection between speaker and listener and can contribute to the sense that the speaker is sincere and involved in the issue. If you’re writing a resume, though, avoid the first person; describe your experience, education, and skills without using a personal pronoun (for example, under “experience” you might write “volunteered as a peer counselor”).

Note on the second person “you”:In situations where your intention is to sound conversational and friendly because it suits your purpose, as it does in this handout intended to offer helpful advice, or in a letter or speech, “you” might help to create just the sense of familiarity you’re after. But in most academic writing situations, “you” sounds overly conversational, as for instance in a claim like “when you read the poem ‘the wasteland,’ you feel a sense of emptiness. Academic writers almost always use alternatives to the second person pronoun, such as “one,” “the reader,” or “people. Experience in academic question of whether personal experience has a place in academic writing depends on context and purpose. In papers that seek to analyze an objective principle or data as in science papers, or in papers for a field that explicitly tries to minimize the effect of the researcher’s presence such as anthropology, personal experience would probably distract from your purpose. Or if your purpose is to present your individual response to a work of art, to offer examples of how an idea or theory might apply to life, or to use experience as evidence or a demonstration of an abstract principle, personal experience might have a legitimate role to play in your academic writing. Using personal experience effectively usually means keeping it in the service of your argument, as opposed to letting it become an end in itself or take over the ’s also usually best to keep your real or hypothetical stories brief, but they can strengthen arguments in need of concrete illustrations or even just a little more are some examples of effective ways to incorporate personal experience in academic writing:Anecdotes: in some cases, brief examples of experiences you’ve had or witnessed may serve as useful illustrations of a point you’re arguing or a theory you’re evaluating. For instance, in philosophical arguments, writers often use a real or hypothetical situation to illustrate abstract ideas and nces to your own experience can explain your interest in an issue or even help to establish your authority on a specific writing situations, such as application essays, explicitly call for discussion of personal are some suggestions about including personal experience in writing for specific fields:Philosophy: in philosophical writing, your purpose is generally to reconstruct or evaluate an existing argument, and/or to generate your own. Personal experience can play a very useful role in your philosophy papers, as long as you always explain to the reader how the experience is related to your argument. But most religion courses take a cultural, historical, or textual approach, and these generally require objectivity and impersonality. But ask your instructor, as it is possible that he or she is interested in your personal experiences with religion, especially in less formal assignments such as response papers. Music, fine arts, and film: writing projects in these fields can sometimes benefit from the inclusion of personal experience, as long as it isn’t tangential. However, if you’re writing about ridley scott’s treatment of relationships between women in the movie “thelma and louise,” some reference your own observations about these relationships might be relevant if it adds to your analysis of the film. Personal experience can be especially appropriate in a response paper, or in any kind of assignment that asks about your experience of the work as a reader or viewer. So personal experience can often serve as evidence for your analytical and argumentative papers in this field.

This field is also one in which you might be asked to keep a journal, a kind of writing that requires you to apply theoretical concepts to your y: if you’re analyzing a historical period or issue, personal experience is less likely to advance your purpose of objectivity. Because the primary purpose is to study data and fixed principles in an objective way, personal experience is less likely to have a place in this kind of writing. Of course, if you’re working in the social sciences, case studies—accounts of the personal experiences of other people—are a crucial part of your scholarship. May reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout (just click print) and attribute the source: the writing center, university of north carolina at chapel you enjoy using our handouts, we appreciate contributions of to use first-person writing in your dreaded “i” word. S likely that many of your teachers and professors have drilled it into your head that using first-person writing in your essays will immediately result in another unrelenting letter of the alphabet: “f. A curious student, you may be thinking that surely there must be some instances where using first-person writing is that’s you, you’re asking all the right questions. This post will cover when it’s okay to use first-person writing in your essays and when it’s better to stick with exactly is first-person writing? You could also use plural first-person pronouns such as we, our, us, ours, instance, this adorable kitten is talking primarily in first-person perspective (the “you” and “your” there is second-person perspective, which could be another blog topic entirely). If your professor wants you to write an essay about president obama, he or she probably doesn’t want to hear about what you (or the president for that matter) ate for is first-person writing ineffective or unwarranted? The problem with first-person perspective in academic writing is that it can your instructor wants you to write a 15-page research paper about the problems in the middle east, exclusively talking about your opinions on the matter is going to be an d, you should look for unbiased sources, search through the material, and use that in your research paper to make it more credible. Yes, that might sound like a lot more work, but it will pay off when you get your mes, it can be difficult to take out first-person writing altogether. If you have the impulse to write in first-person perspective a lot, that’s okay! It’s still a great way to get your thoughts out on example, pretend that this is one of my main points for a poem analysis i am writing:Using words such as “melancholy” and “frustration,” the poem made me feel this case, the first-person “me” would not be appropriate because the focus needs to be on the poem itself and not on what i think about it. Can rewrite this idea in my second draft using third-person perspective:Using words such as “melancholy” and “frustration,” the poem employs a mournful tone to demonstrate the difficulty that comes with the loss of a loved times, you’re the only one who will see your first draft, so go ahead and throw first-person perspective in if it helps you get your thoughts on paper. Make sure, however, that you go through and take it out in your or break your academic career: when is first-person writing okay?

Really, if you mess up on choosing whether to use first-person writing or not, you don’t have to forever hang your head in shame. You might get a slap on the wrist (in the form of some red marks on your paper), but it’s not the end of the r, it never hurts to educate yourself on the dos and don’ts of first-person essays about you require first-person, other types of essays (e. Research papers) usually should not include first-person about you require first-person pov, other types of essays usually don’ are some examples of types of essays that, by their nature, require first-person writing:Personal narrative /reflective al statements (e. Writing an essay about the first time you went to the dentist (narrative essay) without using first-person writing. It would probably sound something like this:One time, someone’s mom took a person to the dentist, and that person did not like the dentist because the person had g using “i”  just makes more sense for the context:One time, my mom took me to the dentist, and i did not like the dentist because i had better, right? There, you already have ammo to use against your teacher when he or she says “no” to first-person you would like to look at more examples of essays that require first-person writing, check out these sample personal narrative essays! Down and dirty with first-person we get to the more complicated bit: knowing when to use first-person writing in other types of academic a failsafe, i would suggest that you stay away from first-person writing in most instances. As long as you are not writing personal essays, it would be hard to go wrong with leaving yourself out of  are cases where first-person writing is appropriate in other types of academic writing, but i would highly suggest discussing it with your professor first. Here are a couple of those cases:Case #1 – replacing passive voice with first-person e voice is another no-no that professors and teachers pound into students’ heads, and one way to fix it is to use first-person perspective. We” would also be appropriate an appropriate pronoun if there were more than one researcher and you were one of used the flask to combine the liquids and observe the #2 – personal some essays, adding a personal experience or anecdote can make your essay more successful. For instance, talking about an experience you had when you went to a public forum might be pertinent in a persuasive essay about why more people need to attend public being said, don’t go crazy with the first-person writing like this these types of essays, limit your use of first-person writing to maybe one short paragraph, and make sure that the writing is relevant to your topic. If you are writing an essay about how important doctors are, for example, you might not want to talk about how your dog has verdict on first-person writing: many hard-and-fast rules, there are instances when using first-person pronouns (or even running red lights) is er that personal essays (essays about you) need first-person writing. Research papers, literary analyses, and other academic papers, on the other hand, can include first-person writing on a situational basis as long as it is relevant and does not occur all the way through the you need help taking the first-person pronouns out of your essay, you can always get help from our talented kibin editors. Juggles editing for kibin as well as content writing and tutoring for other companies, though she’s an editor at heart. Good information…i am currently writing a paper on a seminar i went to and this helped very much!

Essay writing in the first person: a guide for this article, conal hamill aims to contribute to the on-going debate about the appropriate use of first person writing in academic nursing assignments and provide guidance for nursing need a subscription to read the full article. Have a personal £25 to access this end to your nursing ce-based ng disability health g children and young article: academic essay writing in the first person: a guide for ic essay writing in the first person: a guide for this article, conal hamill aims to contribute to the on-going debate about the appropriate use of first person writing in academic nursing assignments and provide guidance for nursing need a subscription to read the full article. Have a personal £25 to access this end to your nursing ce-based ng disability health g children and young article: academic essay writing in the first person: a guide for undergraduates.