Three things to avoid in academic writing
One of the primary questions that academic writers—specifically, doctoral students—bring to me is if their writing is “academic enough.” What they are asking is if the tone of their writing is appropriate.
Unfortunately, an “academic tone” often remains elusive. Writers are told that their writing needs to be “academic in tone” but they are not told what that should look like (for this reason, I’ve written elsewhere about how unhelpful the phrase “academic enough” is).
So, what is this elusive “academic tone”?
One in-house style guide for dissertation writers that I recently worked with specifically listed three things for their doctoral students to avoid in their writing: the unattributed “we” (also called the “royal we”), first-person point of view (unless the immediate context called for it), and rhetorical questions. Below, I unpacked how these three characteristics are related to tone and why they should be avoided in academic writing.
Why avoid the “royal we” in academic writing?
Academic audiences are increasingly diverse. I’m not only referring to their social, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds, but also the increased number of interdisciplinary spaces and the professionalization of higher education. This situation means that writers can’t assume that all their readers share their immediate disciplinary contexts, hold their academic role, or espouse their perspective.
Because it is highly likely that your audience does not belong to any of the immediate groups with which you, the writer, identify, the unattributed “we” isolates your audience and makes them increasingly skeptical of your argument. You may be making assumptions about them that are untrue.
Fortunately, revising writing that relies on the unattributed “we” can be easy. Use your word processing program’s “find all” function to search for “we” and then go through and ask yourself the following question: to whom am I referring? You can then re-write the sentences with more specific subjects. In some cases, simply omitting “we” reveals an existing noun in the sentence that would work better as a subject.
When do I use first person in academic writing?
Contrary to popular understanding, singular first person is quite academic. For example, singular first person is an expected attribute of ethnographic writing. If a self-proclaimed ethnographer does not use first person, I would become skeptical of their data and consequent argument, for ethnographic research and writing require the researcher to be present and participate in the so-called research situations. If the writer is not using first person, then I begin to wonder, what are they trying to hide? Ethnographic research is not entirely about the researcher, but their experience is the primary window through which the reader enters a particular world.
Increasingly, other social science disciplines find the use of first person acceptable for reasons of transparency and clarity. For this reason, the APA 7th edition prefers that first-person be used if it means a simpler written style. However, unless the situation includes multiple researchers or a research team, first person plural can usually be avoided—especially since it easily slips into the unattributed we.
That being said, first person is not always appropriate. I spend quite a bit of time in writing center sessions showing students how they can phrase statements to make it clear to their readers that an idea, opinion, or understanding is their own without using phrases like “in my opinion,” or “as I understand it” and “I believe that.” In these cases, first person adds wordiness to a writing style and shifts the focus to the writer themselves rather than the ideas or argument they’re making.
In short, knowing when first person is effective and expected and when it should be left out takes discernment on the writer’s part. The writer needs to know what the conventions are for their discipline and the genre in which they are writing in addition to keeping in mind transparency and clarity for the reader.
Why avoid rhetorical questions?
Rhetorical questions make a point instead of seek an answer, or they’re asked for dramatic effect. While appropriate for popular writing styles or oratory styles, generally, they’re not acceptable in academic writing because an argument provides answers to a research question or pervading issue. The writer is expected to remain in control of their argument; they are not supposed to start an open-ended discussion with the reader. Instead, it is often more effective to simply state what you want to say.
I find that many writers will use rhetorical questions to transition between ideas in writing. For example, after listing several attributes or facts about a research area, a writer might start a new paragraph with the question “Why am I listing all these things? Because they all point towards xxx.” It is often more effective to just write “All of these attributes point towards xxx.”
Conclusion
Using the unattributed “we,” excessive first person, and rhetorical questions are legitimate parts of other rhetorical styles. In and of themselves, none of these choices are wrong. However, for academic writing, especially in the social sciences, these rhetorical choices are usually not the best ones. Nevertheless, if you find these characteristics in your writing, don’t panic— they served the purpose of getting your ideas down in the first place, and once identified, they’re easy to revise.
Certainly, these three things are not the only aspects of academic tone, but hopefully, these attributes give you a good starting place for things to look for in your writing.
