There has been much debate in the academic community as to whether or not the first person pronoun is acceptable in academic writing. Although you should certainly be getting across your own interpretation and analysis in your paper rather than simply summarising and recounting the opinions of others, overuse of ‘I’, ‘me’ and ‘my’ should be avoided.
The first person pronoun can sound clunky and unprofessional and often it isn’t actually necessary. It is likely to be clear that what you are expressing is your opinion, without you having to explicitly state that it is. Asserting something as fact is a much simpler way to express your own opinion and much better than bogging down every other sentence with ‘I think…’.
Writing ‘I think’ or ‘I believe’ also invites an unwelcome question from the reader: ‘but why should I believe you?’. Bringing your authority into question in this way makes your interpretation or argument much less persuasive than it could have been if presented as unquestionable fact. For example,
‘I believe that Abraham Lincoln is the most important figure in the history of America’
means much the same thing as,
‘Abraham Lincoln is the most important figure in the history of America’.
Both sentences make the interpretation of the author of the paper clear but the second is much more compelling and emphatic. Be confident enough in your own interpretation to write it without the first person pronoun.
Constantly repeating the refrain, ‘in my opinion’, adds nothing to your argument, unless it is used to highlight a difference of opinion with the author being referred to. Stating that something is your opinion does not give it more weight or credibility, but backing it up with relevant supporting evidence does.
Use ‘I’ sparingly so that when you do use it, it is more conspicuous and has more of an impact. The conclusion is an appropriate time to use the first person pronoun when summing up any differences of interpretation with authors or sources used. To highlight your own, possibly innovative, interpretation, you might write:
‘Whilst the respected historian X has set out the case that Lincoln was irrelevant, I believe that he was in fact integral…’.
Be persuasive, confident and assertive in your writing by only using the first person pronoun sparingly.
Writing ‘I think’ or ‘I believe’ also invites an unwelcome question from the reader: ‘but why should I believe you?’. Bringing your authority into question in this way makes your interpretation or argument much less persuasive than it could have been if presented as unquestionable fact. For example,
‘I believe that Abraham Lincoln is the most important figure in the history of America’
means much the same thing as,
‘Abraham Lincoln is the most important figure in the history of America’.
Both sentences make the interpretation of the author of the paper clear but the second is much more compelling and emphatic. Be confident enough in your own interpretation to write it without the first person pronoun.
Constantly repeating the refrain, ‘in my opinion’, adds nothing to your argument, unless it is used to highlight a difference of opinion with the author being referred to. Stating that something is your opinion does not give it more weight or credibility, but backing it up with relevant supporting evidence does.
Use ‘I’ sparingly so that when you do use it, it is more conspicuous and has more of an impact. The conclusion is an appropriate time to use the first person pronoun when summing up any differences of interpretation with authors or sources used. To highlight your own, possibly innovative, interpretation, you might write:
‘Whilst the respected historian X has set out the case that Lincoln was irrelevant, I believe that he was in fact integral…’.
Be persuasive, confident and assertive in your writing by only using the first person pronoun sparingly.