In Sister Molly Heine’s article,‘”I need you to say ‘I’: Why First Person Is Important in College Writing,” she discusses the importance of allowing your personality to shine through your literary works as it makes us better writers once we have created a connection with our work. When writers use first-person pronouns, or ‘I’ in this case, it facilitates the discovery of their voices in their writing. Throughout high school, my peers and I were to avoid personal pronouns entirely as it was informal or too inappropriate for the contexts of their writings. However, Heine makes a compelling point as she notes how, despite our decision to exclude personal pronouns, our writing style that reflects us is still relevant as it defines us as a person.
As someone who took formal writing very seriously in high school, I resonated with the author when describing the time she found her voice. In school, my English teacher assigned our very first argumentative essay, and when I selected my topic for the first time, I found enjoyment throughout the writing process. As it was the first time she had assigned the class anything with complete control over our work, it proved who I could be as a writer, giving me newfound confidence.
Heine mentions the limitations of including personal opinions with topics such as research and that we should understand the appropriate times to exert our writing style. However, she clarifies that we should not entirely remove our personalities from professional papers as it is still an opportunity for writers to demonstrate their qualities and discover their personal writing styles.
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