"I" in academic and scholarly writing

[rm]

This is not a search for advice. This is a point of curiosity to me, because my education was sort of extreme and obsessive on this point, and it occurs to me that perhaps other fifth-graders were not scarred for life by writing papers that said things like "this author feels that Disney World would be an idea summer vacation destination for her family."

So, inquiring minds and all that....

[Poll #1563413]

Comments

[phonoirlex.livejournal.com]

Pre-college, I was told emphatically that using "I" in formal writing, with the exception of the personal essay, was a sign of a lack of imagination and an overbearing ego and that it would weaken any argument I made.

In college as an English major, it depended on the professor's area of expertise. The professors who focused on older works generally wanted "I" used sparingly if at all.

My postmodern literature professor, however, told me that not using "I" weakened my argument by indicating a lack of confidence in my work. She also said not using "I" exhibited a lack of understanding of postmodernism itself by pretending to objectivity when, of course, there can be none.

I had real issues with that; I had it too ingrained that using "I" in formal writing is just not done.

My professors outside the English department never addressed the matter, at least not to the class as a whole.

On the other hand, I've never had any teacher or professor suggest using "this writer" or "the author." Pre-college teachers didn't want students to refer to themselves at all. My professors preferred "I" to referring to oneself in the third person.