At high levels of thinking and writing a good practice for formal “improvisation” to constructing arguments without using “I”. We are more objective and sound more formal when we avoid personal pronouns. But according to this article of Kate McKinney Maddalena writing needs to be more flexible and sophisticated in various professional and academic contexts. According to the article sometimes it’s appropriate to use first-person pronouns in our formal academic writing in college. In text that engage scholarship and report research first person is important and has an irreplaceable place. The conventions and context of the field in which we are writing are are largely determined by our choices about where we place ourself as subjects. What is important is to make sure that the choices we make are appropriate for the context of the paper, and type of information it suppose to communicate.
Some Way in Which First Person Improves Written Argument
The first is objectivity and Integrity. “Because I think so,” or “I know that . . .” should not be part of an academic paper. Sometimes “I” can give an argument more intellectual integrity and objectivity considering some of the higher-level implications of perspective’s effects on argument. First person just makes sense when we are taking
a stance on an issue or though. Readers have context for our stance when we define our perspective. We see why a claim is being made by the subtlety of the subject, who the writer is. It important to clarify who is saying what by a giving clear description of our perspective which becomes even more important when our stance has to incorporate or respond to someone else’s. Ownership, intellectual involvement, and exigency are also important. We need to defer to “experts” for evidence of our claims when we can.
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