Foundational Concepts for Transitioning Writers: Point of View

Whether you are new to APA style and academic writing, or are returning to this type of writing and considering some refresher tips, there are some core aspects of academic writing that are important. Topics such as establishing context for your paper and the use of evidence. Another important aspect for academic writing is establishing a formal point-of-view. 

Point-of-view is important in academic writing as it relates to scholarly voice and tone. Point-of-view refers to ways that information is presented to an audience such as via first-, second-, and third-person pronouns. Thus, one consideration for adhering to appropriate scholarly voice and tone is how pronoun use represents the writers’ point-of-view.

First-Person Point-of-View

Writing from a first-person point-of-view means using pronouns such as “I,” “we,” and “our.” Use of first-person “I” is acceptable in some instances. For example, when an assignment calls for a personal reflection on the writer’s own experience the use of “I” is needed as the subject of a sentence to avoid passive voice. As well, the use of “I” would be appropriate in other instances to avoid passive voice, such as when discussing what will be covered in a paper or what research steps will be taken. That said, the use of “I” should not be used when making claims since doing so presents claims from a 

biased point-of-view.

Examples of acceptable uses of “I”:

• Reflecting upon my classroom practices, I plan to improve my knowledge of multimodal classroom activities 
• In this paper, I will discuss x, y, and z
• I will interview 20 writing instructors who teach writing online

Examples of unacceptable uses of “I”:

• I believe that multimodal classroom practices should xxxx
• I disagree with Winston’s (2017) argument because xxx
• Now that I have discussed [x topic], I will now discuss [y topic]

While the use of “I” can be used in certain instances and not in others, the use of other first-person pronouns such as “we” or “our” should be avoided because they assume who the audience is and are too casual in tone. 

Examples of why first-person use of “We” and “Our” should be avoided:

• As nurses, we should support patients’ concerns
• As teachers, it is our responsibility to incorporate multimodal learning tools

These examples illustrate not only how the use of “we” and “our” produces a casual tone, but also how the use of these pronouns can alienate members of the writer’s audience. To be clear, when a writer uses “we” as a pronoun to represent a group of people (such as nurses or teachers), some audience members might feel alienated because they are not part of that group. So, use first-person “I” when appropriate and avoid using “we” or “our.”

Second-Person Point-of-View

What about second-person point-of-view? Like first-person use of “we” or “our,” second-person should not be used in academic writing.  Second-person point-of-view includes the pronouns “you” and “your” which, like first-person “we” or “our,” are too casual in tone and assume the audience.

Example of why second-person use should be avoided:

• You should consider if and how multimodal classroom delivery affects students with disabilities

Like the use of first-person “we” or “our, the tone in this example is too casual as the audience is directly addressed. As well, since the audience is directly addressed, the use of “You” here assumes something about the audience.  

Third-Person Point-of-View

Third-person point-of-view includes pronouns such as “he,” “she,” and “it.” Generally, third-person pronouns such as “he” and “she” are casual in tone; thus, using specific nouns would be more appropriate for scholarly tone and voice.

Example of third-person use:

• She stated xxxx (Watson, 2017)
• Revision: Watson (2017) stated xxxx

In the first example, the use of “she” not only produces a casual tone, it also makes it unclear who “she” refers to (does this refer to Watson or someone cited in Watson?). In the second, revised, example, the tone is more formal and the author is clearly attributed. With this in mind, “it” is another pronoun that should be avoided for clarity since using “it” as a pronoun creates a lack of clarity regarding the subject of the sentence and or what “it” refers to.

Adhering to acceptable use of pronouns and point-of-view is an important part of scholarly voice and tone. Have any questions about point-of-view use?  Let us know! 

Veronica Oliver is a Writing Instructor in the Walden Writing Center. In her spare time she writes fiction, binge watches Netflix, and occasionally makes it to a 6am Bikram Yoga class.

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