A-manual-for-writers-of-research-papers-theses-and-dissertations

Most instructors and editors do agree that two uses of I should be avoided:Insecure writers begin too many sentences with I think or I believe (or their equivalent, Inmy opinion). Readers assume that you think and believe what you write, so you don't haveto say you do.Inexperienced writers too often narrate their research: First, I consulted . . ., then Iexamined . . ., and so on. Readers care less about the story of your research than about itsresults.But we believe, and most scholarly journals agree, that the first person is appropriate ontwo occasions. That last sentence illustrates one of them: we . . . believe that the first person ...An occasional introductory I ( or we) believe can soften the dogmatic edge of astatement. Compare this blunter, less qualified version:13. But we believe, and most scholarly journals agree, that the first person is appropriate on two occasions.The trick is not to hedge so often that you sound uncertain or so rarely that you sound smug.A first person I or we is also appropriate when it's the subject of a verb naming an actionunique to you as the writer of your argument: Verbs referring to such actions typicallyappear in introductions: I will show/argue/prove/claim that X, and in conclusions: I havedemonstrated/concluded that Y. Since only you can show, prove, or claim what's in yourargument, only you can say so with I:14. In this report, I will show that social distinctions at this university are . . .On the other hand, researchers rarely use the first person for an action that others must repeatto replicate the reported research. Those words include divide, measure, weigh, examine, andso on. Researchers rarely write sentences with active verbs like this:15a. I calculated the coefficient of X.Instead, they're likely to write in the passive, because anyone can do that:15b. The coefficient of X was calculated.Those same principles apply to we, if you're one of two or more authors. But manyinstructors and editors object to two other uses of we:Not this:the royal we used to refer reflexively to the writerthe all-purpose we that refers to people in general16. We must be careful to cite sources when we use data from them. When we read writers who fail to do that,www.itpub.net