"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

[lefaym.livejournal.com]

I was taught in high school not to do it, and as a result, I didn't do it as an undergrad either, even though I think that most of my lecturers found it acceptable. When I tutor, I tell my students that it is acceptable.

I've selected the "occasionally acceptable" options for the last two questions, simply because for stylistic reasons, it looks bad if you have too many "I" sentences, in the same way that too much repetition of any word looks bad. However, I think it is good for academics (and students writing academic essays), to claim agency over their work. I use "I" in my thesis, because it is work that I have done, and I don't want to engage in that process of self-effacement.

My mother is currently doing an undergraduate intro course, and she has been taught that "I" is unacceptable in formal writing.