"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

[mawaridi.livejournal.com]

In high school, I learned that "I" is never, ever, ever appropriate in an essay. In my undergraduate years I was told various things, from "I" is never, ever acceptable through "I" is okay sometimes to you should always use "I" and never "this paper" or passive constructions that erase the author. Currently, in my Honours year (in Sociology), it is being hammered into us constantly that we should use "I" whenever we share our opinions and that we should practice embodied research and take ownership of our own analysis. Which is kind of awesome :)