Can You Use You in a Research Paper

What this handout is about

This handout is well-nigh determining when to use first person pronouns ("I", "nosotros," "me," "us," "my," and "our") and personal experience in academic writing. "First person" and "personal experience" might sound like 2 ways of maxim the same thing, merely beginning person and personal experience tin work in very different ways in your writing. You might choose to utilize "I" but not make whatsoever reference to your private experiences in a particular paper. Or you lot might include a brief description of an experience that could help illustrate a point you're making without ever using the give-and-take "I." So whether or not you should employ first person and personal feel are actually two separate questions, both of which this handout addresses. Information technology also offers some alternatives if you make up one's mind that either "I" or personal experience isn't appropriate for your projection. If you've decided that you practice desire to apply ane of them, this handout offers some ideas near how to do so effectively, considering in many cases using one or the other might strengthen your writing.

Expectations about academic writing

Students often arrive at college with strict lists of writing rules in heed. Oft these are rather strict lists of absolutes, including rules both stated and unstated:

• Each essay should accept exactly five paragraphs.
• Don't begin a judgement with "and" or "because."
• Never include personal opinion.
• Never use "I" in essays.

We get these ideas primarily from teachers and other students. Ofttimes these ideas are derived from skillful advice only have been turned into unnecessarily strict rules in our minds. 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 dissimilar fields, ranging from the sciences to the humanities, and unlike kinds of writing projects, ranging from reviews to research.

So when information technology suits your purpose as a scholar, you will probably need to break some of the onetime rules, particularly the rules that prohibit beginning person pronouns and personal experience. Although there are certainly some instructors who think that these rules should be followed (so it is a good thought to ask direct), many instructors in all kinds of fields are finding reason to depart from these rules. Avoiding "I" can lead to awkwardness and vagueness, whereas using it in your writing can improve way and clarity. Using personal feel, when relevant, can add concreteness and even authority to writing that might otherwise be vague and impersonal.
Because 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 lot write. The residual of this handout is devoted to strategies for figuring out when to use "I" and personal experience.

Effective uses of "I":

In many cases, using the first person pronoun tin 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 item project is to an academic discipline or to claim your unique perspective or argument.
• Clarity: Because trying to avoid the first person can lead to awkward constructions and vagueness, using the offset person can meliorate your writing style.
• Positioning yourself in the essay: In some projects, you lot need to explicate how your enquiry or ideas build on or depart from the work of others, in which instance y'all'll need to say "I," "nosotros," "my," or "our"; if you wish to claim some kind of dominance on the topic, offset person may help you exercise so.

Deciding whether "I" will help your style

Hither is an instance of how using the first person can brand the writing clearer and more assertive:

Original example:

In studying American pop civilization of the 1980s, the question of to what degree materialism was a major characteristic of the cultural milieu was explored.

Amend example using first person:

In our study of American pop culture of the 1980s, we explored the degree to which materialism characterized the cultural milieu.

The 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 what.

Hither is an example in which alternatives to the first person would be more appropriate:

Original example:

Every bit I observed the communication styles of first-year Carolina women, I noticed frequent use of non-exact cues.

Better instance:

A study of the communication styles of showtime-yr Carolina women revealed frequent utilise of non-verbal cues.

In the original example, using the showtime person grounds the experience heavily in the writer's subjective, individual perspective, but the author's purpose is to describe a miracle that is in fact objective or independent of that perspective. Avoiding the first person hither creates the desired impression of an observed phenomenon that could be reproduced and also creates a stronger, clearer argument.

Here'south some other example in which an alternative to beginning person works improve:

Original example:

As I was reading this written report of medieval village life, I noticed that social grade tended to be clearly defined.

Meliorate example:

This written report of medieval village life reveals that social class tended to exist clearly defined.

Although yous may run beyond instructors who find the coincidental way of the original instance refreshing, they are probably rare. The revised version sounds more academic and renders the statement more than believing and straight.

Here's a final example:

Original example:

I call up that Aristotle'due south upstanding arguments are logical and readily applicable to contemporary cases, or at least it seems that way to me.

Better case

Aristotle'due south ethical arguments are logical and readily applicable to contemporary cases.

In 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 information technology are yours.

Determining whether to employ "I" co-ordinate to the conventions of the academic field

Which fields allow "I"?

The rules for this are irresolute, then it's e'er all-time to ask your teacher if you're not sure about using starting time person. But here are some general guidelines.

Sciences: In the past, scientific writers avoided the employ of "I" because scientists oftentimes view the showtime person every bit interfering with the impression of objectivity and impersonality they are seeking to create. But conventions seem to be irresolute in some cases—for example, when a scientific writer is describing a project she is working on or positioning that project inside the existing enquiry on the topic. Check with your science instructor to observe out whether it's o.m. to use "I" in his/her class.

Social Sciences: Some social scientists try to avert "I" for the same reasons that other scientists do. Merely outset person is becoming more unremarkably accepted, especially when the author is describing his/her project or perspective.

Humanities: Ask your instructor whether you lot should use "I." The purpose of writing in the humanities is more often than not to offer your own analysis of linguistic communication, ideas, or a work of art. Writers in these fields tend to value assertiveness and to emphasize bureau (who'southward doing what), and so the outset 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 existent defense of an argument. While your audience is more often than not interested in your perspective in the humanities fields, readers do expect you to fully argue, support, and illustrate your assertions. Personal belief or opinion is mostly not sufficient in itself; you lot volition need evidence of some kind to convince your reader.

Other writing situations: If you're writing a speech communication, utilise of the offset and fifty-fifty the second person ("you") is generally encouraged considering these personal pronouns can create a desirable sense of connection betwixt speaker and listener and can contribute to the sense that the speaker is sincere and involved in the upshot. If you're writing a resume, though, avoid the first person; describe your experience, education, and skills without using a personal pronoun (for instance, under "Experience" yous might write "Volunteered as a peer advisor").

A annotation on the second person "yous":

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 communication, or in a alphabetic character or speech, "you" might assistance to create merely the sense of familiarity you're after. Only in most academic writing situations, "you" sounds overly conversational, as for example in a claim like "when you read the verse form 'The Wasteland,' you experience a sense of emptiness." In this case, the "y'all" sounds overly conversational. The statement would read amend equally "The poem 'The Wasteland' creates a sense of emptiness." Academic writers almost e'er use alternatives to the second person pronoun, such as "one," "the reader," or "people."

Personal experience in academic writing

The question of whether personal feel has a identify 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 issue of the researcher'south presence such as anthropology, personal experience would probably distract from your purpose. But sometimes you might need to explicitly situate your position equally researcher in relation to your bailiwick of study. Or if your purpose is to present your private response to a work of fine art, to offering examples of how an thought or theory might apply to life, or to employ experience as testify or a sit-in of an abstract principle, personal feel might have a legitimate office to play in your academic writing. Using personal feel finer usually ways keeping it in the service of your statement, every bit opposed to letting it become an cease in itself or take over the paper.

It's likewise commonly best to keep your existent or hypothetical stories brief, but they can strengthen arguments in need of concrete illustrations or even just a piddling more vitality.

Here are some examples of constructive ways to incorporate personal experience in academic writing:

• Anecdotes: In some cases, brief examples of experiences yous've had or witnessed may serve as useful illustrations of a point yous'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 principles.
• References to your own experience tin explicate your interest in an issue or fifty-fifty help to constitute your authority on a topic.
• Some specific writing situations, such as application essays, explicitly phone call for discussion of personal experience.

Here 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. Sometimes, doing this effectively may involve offering a hypothetical example or an analogy. In these cases, y'all might find that inventing or recounting a scenario that you've experienced or witnessed could assist demonstrate your point. Personal experience can play a very useful office in your philosophy papers, as long as you lot always explicate to the reader how the experience is related to your statement. (Run across our handout on writing in philosophy for more than information.)

Religion: Organized religion courses might seem like a identify where personal experience would exist welcomed. Simply near organized religion courses take a cultural, historical, or textual arroyo, and these generally require objectivity and impersonality. And so although you probably accept very potent behavior or powerful experiences in this expanse that might motivate your interest in the field, they shouldn't supercede scholarly analysis. 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 every bit response papers. (See our handout on writing in religious studies for more information.)

Literature, Music, Fine Arts, and Pic: Writing projects in these fields can sometimes benefit from the inclusion of personal experience, as long equally it isn't tangential. For example, your annoyance over your roommate's habits might not add much to an analysis of "Denizen Kane." However, if you're writing about Ridley Scott's treatment of relationships between women in the picture show "Thelma and Louise," some reference your own observations about these relationships might be relevant if information technology adds to your analysis of the film. Personal experience tin can be especially appropriate in a response paper, or in any kind of assignment that asks nigh your feel of the work as a reader or viewer. Some film and literature scholars are interested in how a pic or literary text is received by different audiences, then a discussion of how a item viewer or reader experiences or identifies with the piece would probably exist appropriate. (Run into our handouts on writing nigh fiction, fine art history, and drama for more information.)

Women's Studies: Women's Studies classes tend to be taught from a feminist perspective, a perspective which is by and large interested in the ways in which individuals experience gender roles. So personal experience can often serve as evidence for your analytical and belligerent papers in this field. This field is also one in which you lot might be asked to keep a journal, a kind of writing that requires y'all to apply theoretical concepts to your experiences.

History: If yous're analyzing a historical period or event, personal feel is less likely to accelerate your purpose of objectivity. However, some kinds of historical scholarship exercise involve the exploration of personal histories. So although you lot might not be referencing your own experience, yous might very well be discussing other people'due south experiences as illustrations of their historical contexts. (Meet our handout on writing in history for more information.)

Sciences: Because the primary purpose is to study data and fixed principles in an objective fashion, personal experience is less probable to have a identify in this kind of writing. Ofttimes, as in a lab written report, your goal is to depict observations in such a way that a reader could duplicate the experiment, so the less extra data, the better. Of class, if y'all're working in the social sciences, case studies—accounts of the personal experiences of other people—are a crucial part of your scholarship. (Run across our handout on writing in the sciences for more than information.)

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This work is licensed under a Artistic Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 License.
You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Source: https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/should-i-use-i/

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