High school teachers, college tutors, and university professors often frown assignments that include personal pronouns. That’s so because writing in first, second, or third person demonstrates an author’s point of view, which, in many cases, tends to be unacceptable.
With the exception of college admission essays, personal statements, and persuasive essays, the use of personal pronoun in academic writing is something you should avoid completely.
One of the questions we get a lot at Help for Assessment is can I use first person in a research paper?
We understand how difficult choosing the right language for research paper writing can be, particularly because there are many language rules that you need to observe. So our goal with this guide is to help you learn more about personal pronouns in research paper.
By the time you finish reading this article, you will have a very clear picture on the issue of using first person in your research paper assignment.
What’s First Person Pronoun?
In written and spoken communication, the use of first person pronoun refers to incorporating text that refers to oneself in an assignment. The reference can be in singular or plural form. First person singular include “I”, “Me”, “Mine”, and “My” and first person plural are “we”, “us”, “our”, and “ours”.
Can I Use First Person in a Research Paper?
The use of first person in a research paper indicates presentation of information based on what you’ve found from your research.
Unfortunately, you can’t and shouldn’t use first person pronoun in your research assignment. From a scientific and mathematical standpoint, the pronoun presents you to your target audience as a self-serving and arrogant person.
Keep in mind that the purpose of a research paper is to provide a comprehensive analysis and response to the research question. The focus is therefore on the research, not the person conducting the research.
We understand that you might want to persuade readers to consider a certain aspect of your research, especially if it’s a personal opinion you want to give. However, you can do so without necessarily sounding personal.
Another reason why it’s a bad idea to use first person pronouns in your research paper is that they to make your overall assignment. Precisely, the first person pronoun can easily underestimate the findings of your research as readers might wonder whether you based your conclusions on facts or just personal opinions.
What’s Second Person Pronoun?
The second person pronoun is any word that refers to the reader. These pronouns are “you”, “your”, and “yours”.
This point of view is helpful in the context of providing advice, guides, and tutorials to a given audience.
For example, students searching for programming assignment help online will often land on written and video tutorials that use the second person point of view to give direction on setting up projects and writing code.
Using, the goal of using the second person point of view is to engage an audience to a discussion or a guide, and it tends to serve its purpose quite well.
Can I Use Second Person Pronoun in a Research Paper?
The problem with the second person pronoun is that it gives instructions to an audience, which means it’s not quite effective in academic writing. As such, you should not use the second person pronoun in your research paper.
What’s Third Person Pronoun?
This point of view can use pronouns of individuals or groups or a person’s name. Words such as “he”, “she”, and “one” refers to individuals and words such as “everyone”, “they” and “them” refer to a group of people.
Can I Use Third Person Pronoun in a Research Paper?
The third person pronoun is usually the most appropriate option to use in scientific paper. However, you need to be very careful with how you integrate them in your writing.
First, you have to use indefinite pronoun to refer back to the subject. Second, you should avoid using feminine or masculine terminologies when using third person point of view. So instead of using him, her, him, or her in your research paper, make the subject plural.
What are the Exceptions to these Rules?
The argument among academics is that it’s fine to use first person in a research paper. To be precise, you can use the term “I” in the abstract, introduction, discussion, and conclusion in some research papers. However, it’s best to avoid this completely.
If you must use personal pronouns in the assignment, “we” would be the most appropriate.
Also, be careful with how you write the methods and results section. If you must use personal pronouns here, the third person point of view will be most appropriate.
Another important exception that we can’t ignore is the assignment brief. Even if you know certain that personal pronouns are not appropriate in research paper writing, look at the assignment guidelines to figure out what your teacher wants. Your instructor might ask you to use personal pronouns in the assignment, so make sure you don’t skip this part.
When Writing Your Research Paper
The third person point of view, and particularly referring to subjects and entities by their names (or title) is the acceptable option when writing a research paper.
Another important point worth mentioning is that you need to make sure you’re consistent in your writing. Switching from one point of view to another can only make your research paper hard to read since leads to distraction.
Makes sure you check the assignment guideline provided by your teacher to make sure you’re on the right track as far as using first person pronoun in your assignment is concerned.
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