how to write a hypothesis without personal pronouns

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How To Avoid Using “We,” “You,” And “I” in an Essay

• Posted on October 27, 2022 October 27, 2022

Maintaining a formal voice while writing academic essays and papers is essential to sound objective. 

One of the main rules of academic or formal writing is to avoid first-person pronouns like “we,” “you,” and “I.” These words pull focus away from the topic and shift it to the speaker – the opposite of your goal.

While it may seem difficult at first, some tricks can help you avoid personal language and keep a professional tone.

Let’s learn how to avoid using “we” in an essay.

What Is a Personal Pronoun?

Pronouns are words used to refer to a noun indirectly. Examples include “he,” “his,” “her,” and “hers.” Any time you refer to a noun – whether a person, object, or animal – without using its name, you use a pronoun.

Personal pronouns are a type of pronoun. A personal pronoun is a pronoun you use whenever you directly refer to the subject of the sentence. 

Take the following short paragraph as an example:

“Mr. Smith told the class yesterday to work on our essays. Mr. Smith also said that Mr. Smith lost Mr. Smith’s laptop in the lunchroom.”

The above sentence contains no pronouns at all. There are three places where you would insert a pronoun, but only two where you would put a personal pronoun. See the revised sentence below:

“Mr. Smith told the class yesterday to work on our essays. He also said that he lost his laptop in the lunchroom.”

“He” is a personal pronoun because we are talking directly about Mr. Smith. “His” is not a personal pronoun (it’s a possessive pronoun) because we are not speaking directly about Mr. Smith. Rather, we are talking about Mr. Smith’s laptop.

If later on you talk about Mr. Smith’s laptop, you may say:

“Mr. Smith found it in his car, not the lunchroom!” 

In this case, “it” is a personal pronoun because in this point of view we are making a reference to the laptop directly and not as something owned by Mr. Smith.

Why Avoid Personal Pronouns in Essay Writing

We’re teaching you how to avoid using “I” in writing, but why is this necessary? Academic writing aims to focus on a clear topic, sound objective, and paint the writer as a source of authority. Word choice can significantly impact your success in achieving these goals.

Writing that uses personal pronouns can unintentionally shift the reader’s focus onto the writer, pulling their focus away from the topic at hand.

Personal pronouns may also make your work seem less objective. 

One of the most challenging parts of essay writing is learning which words to avoid and how to avoid them. Fortunately, following a few simple tricks, you can master the English Language and write like a pro in no time.

Alternatives To Using Personal Pronouns

How to not use “I” in a paper? What are the alternatives? There are many ways to avoid the use of personal pronouns in academic writing. By shifting your word choice and sentence structure, you can keep the overall meaning of your sentences while re-shaping your tone.

Utilize Passive Voice

In conventional writing, students are taught to avoid the passive voice as much as possible, but it can be an excellent way to avoid first-person pronouns in academic writing.

You can use the passive voice to avoid using pronouns. Take this sentence, for example:

“ We used 150 ml of HCl for the experiment.”

Instead of using “we” and the active voice, you can use a passive voice without a pronoun. The sentence above becomes:

“150 ml of HCl were used for the experiment.” 

Using the passive voice removes your team from the experiment and makes your work sound more objective.

Take a Third-Person Perspective

Another answer to “how to avoid using ‘we’ in an essay?” is the use of a third-person perspective. Changing the perspective is a good way to take first-person pronouns out of a sentence. A third-person point of view will not use any first-person pronouns because the information is not given from the speaker’s perspective.

A third-person sentence is spoken entirely about the subject where the speaker is outside of the sentence.

Take a look at the sentence below:

“In this article you will learn about formal writing.”

The perspective in that sentence is second person, and it uses the personal pronoun “you.” You can change this sentence to sound more objective by using third-person pronouns:

“In this article the reader will learn about formal writing.”

The use of a third-person point of view makes the second sentence sound more academic and confident. Second-person pronouns, like those used in the first sentence, sound less formal and objective.

Be Specific With Word Choice

You can avoid first-personal pronouns by choosing your words carefully. Often, you may find that you are inserting unnecessary nouns into your work. 

Take the following sentence as an example:

“ My research shows the students did poorly on the test.”

In this case, the first-person pronoun ‘my’ can be entirely cut out from the sentence. It then becomes:

“Research shows the students did poorly on the test.”

The second sentence is more succinct and sounds more authoritative without changing the sentence structure.

You should also make sure to watch out for the improper use of adverbs and nouns. Being careful with your word choice regarding nouns, adverbs, verbs, and adjectives can help mitigate your use of personal pronouns. 

“They bravely started the French revolution in 1789.” 

While this sentence might be fine in a story about the revolution, an essay or academic piece should only focus on the facts. The world ‘bravely’ is a good indicator that you are inserting unnecessary personal pronouns into your work.

We can revise this sentence into:

“The French revolution started in 1789.” 

Avoid adverbs (adjectives that describe verbs), and you will find that you avoid personal pronouns by default.

Closing Thoughts

In academic writing, It is crucial to sound objective and focus on the topic. Using personal pronouns pulls the focus away from the subject and makes writing sound subjective.

Hopefully, this article has helped you learn how to avoid using “we” in an essay.

When working on any formal writing assignment, avoid personal pronouns and informal language as much as possible.

While getting the hang of academic writing, you will likely make some mistakes, so revising is vital. Always double-check for personal pronouns, plagiarism , spelling mistakes, and correctly cited pieces. 

 You can prevent and correct mistakes using a plagiarism checker at any time, completely for free.

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The “no first-person” myth

• First-Person Pronouns
• Research and Publication

In this series, we look at common APA Style misconceptions and debunk these myths one by one.

Many writers believe the “no first-person” myth, which is that writers cannot use first-person pronouns such as “I” or “we” in an APA Style paper. This myth implies that writers must instead refer to themselves in the third person (e.g., as “the author” or “the authors”). However, APA Style has no such rule against using first-person pronouns and actually encourages their use to avoid ambiguity in attribution!

When expressing your own views or the views of yourself and fellow authors, use the pronouns “I” or “we” and the like . Similarly, when writing your paper, use first-person pronouns when describing work you did by yourself or work you and your fellow authors did together when conducting your research. For example, use “we interviewed participants” rather than “the authors interviewed participants.” When writing an APA Style paper by yourself, use the first-person pronoun “I” to refer to yourself. And use the pronoun “we” when writing an APA Style paper with others. Here are some phrases you might use in your paper:

“I think…” “I believe…” “I interviewed the participants…” “I analyzed the data…” “My analysis of the data revealed…” “We concluded…” “Our results showed…”

This guidance can be found in Section 4.16 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition and in Section 2.16 of the Concise Guide to APA Style, Seventh Edition . It represents a continuation of a long-standing APA Style guideline that began with the second edition of the manual, in 1974.

Keep in mind that you should avoid using the editorial “we” to refer to people in general so that it is clear to readers to whom you are referring. Instead, use more specific nouns such as “people” or “researchers.”

As always, defer to your instructors’ guidelines when writing student papers. For example, your instructor may ask students to avoid using first-person language. If so, follow that guideline for work in your class.

Now that we’ve debunked another myth, go forth APA Style writers, using the first-person when appropriate!

What myth should we debunk next? Leave a comment below.

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How to Avoid Using Personal Language in Writing

Last Updated: June 14, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Tristen Bonacci . Tristen Bonacci is a Licensed English Teacher with more than 20 years of experience. Tristen has taught in both the United States and overseas. She specializes in teaching in a secondary education environment and sharing wisdom with others, no matter the environment. Tristen holds a BA in English Literature from The University of Colorado and an MEd from The University of Phoenix. There are 13 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 138,981 times.

Learning how to write without using personal language can be tough. It’s especially tricky to find alternatives to clauses such as “I think” or “I will argue,” but don't worry if you're stuck. There are lots of ways to make your point without using personal pronouns. Additionally, you might use slang and other informal expressions without even realizing it. Check your work, and replace casual, subjective words with objective language. With a little practice, you’ll know the rules of formal academic writing like the back of your hand.

Following General Rules

• For example, replace “I think the most important part of your day is having a good breakfast,” with “A nutritious breakfast is an important part of a healthy diet.”

• Slang words and colloquialisms are casual expressions shared by a region or social group, like “photobomb,” “kick the bucket,” or “Bob’s your uncle.” Instead of, "He kicked the bucket in a doozy of a wreck," write, "He was killed in a serious car accident."
• Clichés are overused expressions that have become meaningless or boring, such as “only time will tell” or “cream of the crop.” Alternatives for these phrases could be "remains to be seen" and "the best."
• Examples of contractions include “don’t,” “wouldn’t,” hasn’t,” and “it’s.” Instead of using them, spell out the words in full.

• Additionally, avoid casual estimates, such as “a couple of studies,” “a lot of time,” or “a bunch of research.” Instead, use specific numbers, such as “The team spent 17 days collecting samples.”

• For instance, “An expert witness debunked the defense’s argument” is stronger than “The witness made an extremely convincing testimony that made the defendant look absolutely guilty.”
• Replace "to be" verbs like is", "am", "are", "were", "was", and "will be", with stronger verbs. For example, instead of saying, "The defense's argument was wrong because it was based on speculation" say, "The argument failed because it relied on speculative evidence."

Finding Alternatives to Personal Pronouns

• Compare the examples, “I think the nations’ economic relationship prevented war,” and “The nations’ economic relationship prevented war.” The second example is objective and sounds authoritative.
• Even if the other side presents a strong argument, keep an authoritative tone throughout. While you should acknowledge the other side, avoid using personal pronouns, as this could weaken your stance.

• Consider the sentence, “I strongly disagree with the defense’s attempt to blame the accident on a vehicle defect.” Stronger phrasing could be, “According to expert testimony from the manufacturer, the defense’s claims regarding a vehicle defect had no basis in reality.”

• For the example, “I will argue that market volatility led to the industry’s collapse,” just cut “I will argue that.”
• Tweak the phrasing for the sentence, “I will examine letters and journal entries to show how Charles Baudelaire’s life in Paris influenced his views of modernity.” You could start the sentence with “Examining letters and journal entries will show," and leave out “I will.”

• In passive voice, an action was done by someone or something: "This was done by them." Because of this construction, passive voice tends to be wordy. Active voice is crisper and emphasizes the doer: "They did this."
• Keep in mind that you should write in the active voice whenever possible. Write “Charles Baudelaire described modernity” instead of “Modernity was described by Charles Baudelaire. [11] X Research source

• Instead of “The painting overwhelms you with texture and color,” write “The painting overwhelms viewers with texture and color.”
• You can also just replace generalizations with tighter wording. Replace “You can see that the claim is false,” with “The claim is false,” or reword it as “The evidence disproves the claim.”
• Include formal generalizations in moderation. Using “one can see” or “one would think” too often will make your writing feel awkward.

Avoiding Informal Expressions

• For example, “The efficiency audit determined that streamlining the application process will generate interest,” refers to a reliable source and states a fact. “The application process is terrible and confusing,” expresses an opinion.
• If you're trying to make an emotional appeal to your audience, it is acceptable to use more emotional language, although you should still avoid using the first person.

• For example, “That guy was a real hater, so his boss gave him the third-degree,” features slang. “The manager reprimanded the cashier for insubordinate behavior,” is more specific and objective.

• Examples of common expressions include “easier said than done,” “sooner or later,” "at the end of the day", and “reached a happy medium.” Alternatives for these expressions could be “more difficult in practice,” “inevitable,” "ultimately", and “compromised.”

• Additionally, ensure your sentences are always complete and unabbreviated. For example, “The performer gave an excellent performance. Not a dry eye in the theater,” is grammatically incorrect and inappropriate for academic writing. [16] X Research source
• For resume writing, terse, incomplete sentences are actually preferred. Instead of “I reduced purchasing costs by 10%,” write, “Reduced purchasing costs by 10%.”

Expert Q&A

• Every discipline has its own writing standards. For specific advice about writing standards, check your field’s style guide, such as Chicago, MLA , or APA . Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

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• ↑ Tristen Bonacci. Licensed English Teacher. Expert Interview. 21 December 2021.
• ↑ https://www.adelaide.edu.au/writingcentre/ua/media/21/learningguide-objectivelanguage.pdf
• ↑ https://www.grammarly.com/blog/specificity-in-writing/
• ↑ https://www.butte.edu/departments/cas/tipsheets/style_purpose_strategy/writing_clearly.html
• ↑ https://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/academicwriting
• ↑ https://wts.indiana.edu/writing-guides/using-evidence.html
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/should-i-use-i/
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/passive-voice/
• ↑ https://www.cs.columbia.edu/~hgs/etc/writing-bugs.html
• ↑ https://facultyweb.ivcc.edu/rrambo/tip_formal_writing_voice.htm
• ↑ https://www.nus.edu.sg/celc/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/chapter03.pdf
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/mechanics/sentence_fragments.html
• ↑ https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/types-of-english-formal-informal-etc/formal-and-informal-language

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What is the Correct Way to Write a Hypothesis? Expert Tips and Examples

Crafting a solid hypothesis is a crucial step in the scientific research process. A well-formulated hypothesis not only guides your research but also provides a clear focus for your study. This article delves into expert tips and examples to help you write a strong hypothesis, ensuring your research is grounded in a solid theoretical framework.

Key Takeaways

• A hypothesis should be clear and precise, providing a specific prediction that can be tested.
• Preliminary research is essential to formulate a well-informed hypothesis based on existing literature and data.
• A strong hypothesis must be testable and falsifiable, meaning it can be proven or disproven through experimentation or observation.
• It is important to differentiate between null and alternative hypotheses, as both play crucial roles in scientific research.
• Avoid common pitfalls such as overly broad statements and ambiguous language to ensure your hypothesis is effective and meaningful.

Understanding the Fundamentals of a Hypothesis

A hypothesis is a foundational element in scientific research, serving as a preliminary answer to a research question. Understanding its fundamentals is crucial for any researcher. A well-crafted hypothesis not only guides the direction of your study but also provides a basis for statistical storytelling: understanding and applying key stats in experimental research .

Steps to Formulating a Strong Hypothesis

Identifying the research question.

The first step in formulating a strong hypothesis is to identify the main research question . This involves recognizing a pattern or phenomenon that piques your interest and then asking a specific question that your hypothesis will aim to answer. This step is crucial as it sets the direction for your targeted research .

Conducting Preliminary Research

Before you can formulate a hypothesis, you need to conduct preliminary research. This involves gathering as much information as possible about your topic. By reviewing existing literature and studies, you can gain insights into what is already known and identify gaps that your research could fill. This step ensures that your hypothesis is grounded in existing knowledge and is relevant to the field.

Formulating the Hypothesis Statement

Once you have identified your research question and conducted preliminary research, the next step is to formulate your hypothesis statement. A well-crafted hypothesis should be clear, specific, and testable. It should propose a relationship between variables that can be examined through experimentation or observation. Remember, a strong hypothesis not only predicts an outcome but also provides a basis for further investigation.

Characteristics of a Well-Written Hypothesis

A well-written hypothesis is essential for guiding your research and ensuring that your study is both meaningful and scientifically valid. Clarity and precision are paramount; your hypothesis should be articulated in a way that leaves no room for ambiguity. This means using specific language and clearly defining any terms or variables involved. A hypothesis must also be testable and falsifiable, meaning it should be structured in a way that allows for empirical testing and the possibility of being proven wrong. This is crucial for maintaining the scientific integrity of your research. Lastly, your hypothesis should be directly relevant to your research question, providing a focused direction for your study. By adhering to these characteristics, you can formulate a hypothesis that is both robust and reliable.

Types of Hypotheses in Research

Understanding the various types of hypotheses is crucial for any researcher. Each type serves a unique purpose and is used in different contexts to address the research question effectively.

Examples of Effective Hypotheses

Hypotheses in natural sciences.

In the natural sciences, hypotheses often predict relationships between variables based on empirical evidence. For instance, a hypothesis might state, "Plants exposed to higher levels of sunlight will grow faster than those in shaded areas." This hypothesis is clear and testable , making it a strong candidate for scientific investigation.

Hypotheses in Social Sciences

Social science hypotheses frequently address human behavior and societal trends. An example could be, "Individuals who engage in regular physical activity report higher levels of happiness compared to those who do not." This hypothesis is relevant to the research question and can be tested through surveys and observational studies.

Hypotheses in Applied Research

Applied research often focuses on practical problems and solutions. A typical hypothesis might be, "Implementing a four-day workweek will increase employee productivity." This hypothesis is specific and actionable , providing a clear direction for research and potential policy changes.

Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them

When crafting a hypothesis, it's crucial to be aware of common pitfalls that can undermine your research. Avoiding these mistakes will enhance the quality and reliability of your study.

Expert Tips for Writing a Hypothesis

Consulting existing literature.

Before you start formulating your hypothesis, it's crucial to delve into existing literature. This step helps in demystifying the concept of a thesis statement and provides a foundation for your research. By reviewing previous studies, you can identify gaps in the research and build upon them. This not only strengthens your hypothesis but also ensures its relevance in the academic community.

Peer Review and Feedback

Engaging with peers and mentors for feedback is an invaluable part of the hypothesis-writing process. Constructive criticism can help you refine your hypothesis, making it more precise and testable. Don't hesitate to share your drafts and be open to suggestions. This collaborative approach can significantly reduce thesis anxiety and improve the quality of your work.

Iterative Refinement

Writing a hypothesis is not a one-time task; it requires iterative refinement. Start with a broad idea and gradually narrow it down through multiple revisions. This process involves continuously testing and tweaking your hypothesis to ensure it aligns with your research objectives. Remember, a well-crafted hypothesis is the result of meticulous planning and constant improvement.

Crafting a solid hypothesis is crucial for the success of your thesis. Our experts at Research Rebels have compiled essential tips to guide you through this process. Don't let uncertainty hold you back. Visit our website to explore our comprehensive Thesis Action Plan and claim your special offer now !

In conclusion, writing a hypothesis is a fundamental step in the scientific research process that requires careful consideration and precision. By following the expert tips and examples provided in this article, researchers can craft hypotheses that are clear, testable, and relevant to their studies. A well-formulated hypothesis not only guides the direction of the research but also provides a framework for analyzing results and drawing meaningful conclusions. As such, mastering the art of hypothesis writing is essential for any researcher aiming to contribute valuable insights to their field of study.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a hypothesis.

A hypothesis is a tentative statement predicting a relationship between variables, which can be tested through scientific research.

Why is a hypothesis important in scientific research?

A hypothesis provides a focused direction for research, allowing scientists to make predictions and test their validity through experimentation.

What are the key characteristics of a well-written hypothesis?

A well-written hypothesis should be clear, precise, testable, falsifiable, and relevant to the research question.

What is the difference between a null hypothesis and an alternative hypothesis?

A null hypothesis states that there is no effect or relationship between variables, while an alternative hypothesis suggests that there is an effect or relationship.

How can I ensure my hypothesis is testable?

To ensure your hypothesis is testable, it should be specific and measurable, with clearly defined variables and a methodology for testing.

What are common mistakes to avoid when writing a hypothesis?

Common mistakes include making hypotheses that are too broad, using ambiguous language, and failing to ensure the hypothesis is testable.

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How to Write a Strong Hypothesis | Guide & Examples

Published on 6 May 2022 by Shona McCombes .

A hypothesis is a statement that can be tested by scientific research. If you want to test a relationship between two or more variables, you need to write hypotheses before you start your experiment or data collection.

Table of contents

What is a hypothesis, developing a hypothesis (with example), hypothesis examples, frequently asked questions about writing hypotheses.

A hypothesis states your predictions about what your research will find. It is a tentative answer to your research question that has not yet been tested. For some research projects, you might have to write several hypotheses that address different aspects of your research question.

A hypothesis is not just a guess – it should be based on existing theories and knowledge. It also has to be testable, which means you can support or refute it through scientific research methods (such as experiments, observations, and statistical analysis of data).

Variables in hypotheses

Hypotheses propose a relationship between two or more variables . An independent variable is something the researcher changes or controls. A dependent variable is something the researcher observes and measures.

In this example, the independent variable is exposure to the sun – the assumed cause . The dependent variable is the level of happiness – the assumed effect .

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Step 1: ask a question.

Writing a hypothesis begins with a research question that you want to answer. The question should be focused, specific, and researchable within the constraints of your project.

Step 2: Do some preliminary research

Your initial answer to the question should be based on what is already known about the topic. Look for theories and previous studies to help you form educated assumptions about what your research will find.

At this stage, you might construct a conceptual framework to identify which variables you will study and what you think the relationships are between them. Sometimes, you’ll have to operationalise more complex constructs.

Step 3: Formulate your hypothesis

Now you should have some idea of what you expect to find. Write your initial answer to the question in a clear, concise sentence.

Step 4: Refine your hypothesis

You need to make sure your hypothesis is specific and testable. There are various ways of phrasing a hypothesis, but all the terms you use should have clear definitions, and the hypothesis should contain:

• The relevant variables
• The specific group being studied
• The predicted outcome of the experiment or analysis

Step 5: Phrase your hypothesis in three ways

To identify the variables, you can write a simple prediction in if … then form. The first part of the sentence states the independent variable and the second part states the dependent variable.

In academic research, hypotheses are more commonly phrased in terms of correlations or effects, where you directly state the predicted relationship between variables.

If you are comparing two groups, the hypothesis can state what difference you expect to find between them.

Step 6. Write a null hypothesis

If your research involves statistical hypothesis testing , you will also have to write a null hypothesis. The null hypothesis is the default position that there is no association between the variables. The null hypothesis is written as H 0 , while the alternative hypothesis is H 1 or H a .

Hypothesis testing is a formal procedure for investigating our ideas about the world using statistics. It is used by scientists to test specific predictions, called hypotheses , by calculating how likely it is that a pattern or relationship between variables could have arisen by chance.

A hypothesis is not just a guess. It should be based on existing theories and knowledge. It also has to be testable, which means you can support or refute it through scientific research methods (such as experiments, observations, and statistical analysis of data).

A research hypothesis is your proposed answer to your research question. The research hypothesis usually includes an explanation (‘ x affects y because …’).

A statistical hypothesis, on the other hand, is a mathematical statement about a population parameter. Statistical hypotheses always come in pairs: the null and alternative hypotheses. In a well-designed study , the statistical hypotheses correspond logically to the research hypothesis.

Cite this Scribbr article

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McCombes, S. (2022, May 06). How to Write a Strong Hypothesis | Guide & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved 12 August 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/research-methods/hypothesis-writing/

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How to Write a Hypothesis

Often, one of the trickiest parts of designing and writing up any research paper is writing the hypothesis.

This article is a part of the guide:

• Outline Examples
• Example of a Paper
• Introduction
• Example of a Paper 2

Browse Full Outline

• 1 Write a Research Paper
• 2 Writing a Paper
• 3.1 Write an Outline
• 3.2 Outline Examples
• 4.1 Thesis Statement
• 4.2 Write a Hypothesis
• 5.2 Abstract
• 5.3 Introduction
• 5.4 Methods
• 5.5 Results
• 5.6 Discussion
• 5.7 Conclusion
• 5.8 Bibliography
• 6.1 Table of Contents
• 6.2 Acknowledgements
• 6.3 Appendix
• 7.1 In Text Citations
• 7.2 Footnotes
• 7.3.1 Floating Blocks
• 7.4 Example of a Paper
• 7.5 Example of a Paper 2
• 7.6.1 Citations
• 7.7.1 Writing Style
• 7.7.2 Citations
• 8.1.1 Sham Peer Review
• 8.1.2 Advantages
• 8.1.3 Disadvantages
• 8.2 Publication Bias
• 8.3.1 Journal Rejection
• 9.1 Article Writing
• 9.2 Ideas for Topics

The entire experiment revolves around the research hypothesis (H 1 ) and the null hypothesis (H 0 ), so making a mistake here could ruin the whole design .

Needless to say, it can all be a little intimidating, and many students find this to be the most difficult stage of the scientific method .

In fact, it is not as difficult as it looks, and if you have followed the steps of the scientific process and found an area of research and potential research problem , then you may already have a few ideas.

It is just about making sure that you are asking the right questions and wording your hypothesis statements correctly.

Once you have nailed down a promising hypothesis, the rest of the process will flow a lot more easily.

The Three-Step Process

It can quite difficult to isolate a testable hypothesis after all of the research and study. The best way is to adopt a three-step hypothesis; this will help you to narrow things down, and is the most foolproof guide to how to write a hypothesis.

Step one is to think of a general hypothesis, including everything that you have observed and reviewed during the information gathering stage of any research design . This stage is often called developing the research problem .

An Example of How to Write a Hypothesis

A worker on a fish-farm notices that his trout seem to have more fish lice in the summer, when the water levels are low, and wants to find out why. His research leads him to believe that the amount of oxygen is the reason - fish that are oxygen stressed tend to be more susceptible to disease and parasites.

He proposes a general hypothesis.

“Water levels affect the amount of lice suffered by rainbow trout.”

This is a good general hypothesis, but it gives no guide to how to design the research or experiment . The hypothesis must be refined to give a little direction.

“Rainbow trout suffer more lice when water levels are low.”

Now there is some directionality, but the hypothesis is not really testable , so the final stage is to design an experiment around which research can be designed, i.e. a testable hypothesis.

“Rainbow trout suffer more lice in low water conditions because there is less oxygen in the water.”

This is a testable hypothesis - he has established variables , and by measuring the amount of oxygen in the water, eliminating other controlled variables , such as temperature, he can see if there is a correlation against the number of lice on the fish.

This is an example of how a gradual focusing of research helps to define how to write a hypothesis .

The Next Stage - What to Do with the Hypothesis

Once you have your hypothesis , the next stage is to design the experiment , allowing a statistical analysis of data, and allowing you to test your hypothesis .

The statistical analysis will allow you to reject either the null or the alternative hypothesis. If the alternative is rejected, then you need to go back and refine the initial hypothesis or design a completely new research program.

This is part of the scientific process, striving for greater accuracy and developing ever more refined hypotheses.

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Martyn Shuttleworth (Aug 1, 2009). How to Write a Hypothesis. Retrieved Aug 16, 2024 from Explorable.com: https://explorable.com/how-to-write-a-hypothesis

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First person pronouns and the passive voice in scientific writing

A Concise Guide to Communication in Science and Engineering

• By David H. Foster
• January 18 th 2018

Imagine you are explaining your research to a friend. You might say “I tested this factor” or “We examined that effect”. But when you later prepare a written version for a scientific journal, you would probably eliminate the “I” and “we” in favour of the passive voice, which, unfortunately, can sometimes present a challenge. Here is an example from a chemistry journal, but the discipline is immaterial:

The influence of residual chloride ions on the catalytic activity, the kinetic aspects of the oxidation of methane over these catalysts, the nature of the active sites, the influence of metal particle size and reaction products on the activity, the observed changes in catalytic activity with reaction time and the effect of sulphur containing compounds are examined. ( Appl. Catal., B, 2002; 39: 1)

The 55 words before the verb “are examined” at the end require the reader to maintain an exceptional commitment to the content, and many would fail. Although this example is extreme, unwieldy passive constructions are common in scientific research articles and not peculiar either to native or to non-native English speakers. Yet top-heavy sentences—those with a very long subject and a short predicate—are unnatural in English outside scientific writing. Normal practice, according to the principle of end-weight, is to put the complex material, the detail, towards the end of the sentence, not at the beginning.

Why, then, do authors avoid “I” and “we” and routinely embrace the passive voice? After all, there is firm advice to the contrary. Authoritative style guides such as Day and Sakaduski’s Scientific English and Montgomery’s The Chicago Guide to Communicating Science argue that introducing the first person removes uncertainty about the agent of the action; it reminds the reader of a human presence, the person with whom the knowledge should be associated; and, practically, it avoids having to manage complicated passive sentences. The journal Nature is explicit, insisting that short reports should contain a one-sentence statement starting “Here we show” or an equivalent phrase. And, not to be discounted, using the first person in a string of statements “I compared”, “I tested”, “we found” does make writing easier, even automatic.

One compelling reason for eschewing “I” and “we” is to preserve objectivity, or at least its appearance, as is customary in other areas of writing. Thus, in the influential guide On Writing Well , the journalist and teacher William Zinsser points out that newspapers do not want “I” in their news stories, and magazines do not want it in their articles. Readers expect to read the news and be informed objectively—an aspiration that surely extends to readers of research journals. Intrusion of the first person is a distraction from the content and can distort the message. Consider the following example, which, initially, does not contain the first person:

A random effects meta-regression showed that [the] proportion of women in the sample was not significantly related to gender difference effect size. ( Psychol. Bull . 2014; 140: 165)

Apart from the technical language, the content is clear enough. Now introduce the first person by adding “We”, thus:

We showed in a random effects meta-regression that the proportion of women in the sample was not significantly related to gender difference effect size.

Although the content is preserved, the focus of the sentence shifts from what is important to the reader, the random effects meta-regression, to what is unimportant, the role of the authors. Simultaneously the sentence becomes wordier.

In his essay How to Write Mathematics , the great expositor and mathematician Paul Halmos described the use of “I” as sometimes having “a repellent effect, as arrogance or ex-cathedra preaching”. When it appears in the present rather than past tense, the preachiness of the first person becomes more pointed still, as in this example:

I derive and compare two new estimators that help correct this small-sample bias. ( Ecology 2015; 96: 2056).

The emphasis is on the author’s action: “I derive and compare”. Yet it is unnecessary. In the following rephrasing, the emphasis is on what is important, the new estimators:

Two new estimators are derived and compared that help correct this small-sample bias.

As a device, declarations of the form “I show”, “I derive”, “I compare” do make easy writing, though their repeated use can transform an exposition into a testimonial, not softened by using the plural “we show”, “we derive”, “we compare” instead. When “we” refers to the sole author of an article, the testimonial becomes a regal pronouncement.

Of course, there are circumstances where the first person is entirely appropriate, for example, in articles comprising reminiscences (“I first met”), in position statements (“We believe”), and in reviews reflecting a personal view (“I interpret”). In all of these uses, the author is central to the account. The use of “we” is also apposite in referring to the research community (“How can we explain?”) and to humankind (“How do we perceive?”). It is also deployed to effect in mathematical and related expositions, where it does not mean the authors alone but the authors and reader in joint activity to develop the argument (“If we substitute x for y , we see”). Other special uses of “we” are enumerated by Quirk and his colleagues in A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language .

What of the rationale that the first person avoids top-heavy passive constructions? The example at the beginning of this article can indeed be rescued by introducing “We” and moving the verb from the end to the beginning, thus:

We examine the influence of residual chloride ions on the catalytic activity, the kinetic aspects of the oxidation of methane over these catalysts, the nature of the active sites, the influence of metal particle size and reaction products on the activity, the observed changes in catalytic activity with reaction time and the effect of sulphur containing compounds.

But, as elsewhere, the cost is the shift in focus. Since the material in the sentence is essentially a list, that fact can be exploited in a rephrasing that avoids “We” and better prepares the reader for what comes next:

Several effects were examined: the influence of residual chloride ions on the catalytic activity, the kinetic aspects of the oxidation of methane over these catalysts, the nature of the active sites, the influence of metal particle size and reaction products on the activity, the observed changes in catalytic activity with reaction time, and the effect of sulphur containing compounds.

The moral of all this is that explaining your research to a friend is not the same as reporting it in a scientific journal. Your friend is interested in you, whereas the reader is interested in what you have found, in other words, the “news”. The two audiences for your account are different, and so is the need for “I” and “we”. Eliminating the first person from a written report does not, though, require top-heavy passive constructions, just rephrasing that goes beyond the merely automatic.

Featured image credit: Hand by nattanan23. Public domain via Pixabay . 

David H. Foster is Professor of Vision Systems at the University of Manchester and formerly Director of Research in the School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering. He has served as journal editor or editor in chief for over thirty years and has taught communication in science and engineering at undergraduate, postgraduate, and postdoctoral levels in the UK and elsewhere. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics, the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, and the Optical Society of America. David is the author of A Concise Guide to Communication in Science and Engineering .

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Recent Comments

This explains one of the very fundamentals in writing scientific reports in a very logical manner extremely well !!

Very enlightening indeed!

right. next paper i’m using the second person. YOU’RE not going to believe this but…

Nice read. One argument I’ve heard and that is not explicitly mentioned here for using the “we” form is that it establishes a sense of ownership (both in writer and through attribution, also in the reader) of the presented work. Which would enhance the writing and reading experience (and it does, in my personal experience).

The sole use of passive voice in Methods sections can get pretty clumsy and tedious? At least there, I prefer to mix up active and passive. (And often elsewhere.)

Nice reflection and very true. In Spanish all the arguments works similarly.

Very helpful examples, here. In scientific writing one often sees use of “this study” as a substitute for “we”, putting the agency into a project or activity rather than a person or persons. For example, “This study addressed the role of …” This compromise allows more fluid sentence construction while avoiding the first person. We didn’t do it. The study did. :-)

the final comma in the last re-write is critical for understanding. Thanks to David Foster for leaving it there, and resisting the copy-editor who (no doubt) tried to remove it.

Excellent article! I (first person) also feel that writing in first person favours established researchers. When fairly junior scientists, someone new to the field writes in first person, a certain amount of unconscious bias creeps in from the readers end.

Nice article. Good writing in English with avoidance of strange constructions and passive voice is enthusiastically and personally endorsed.

Great examples and a wonderful read!

The post is very helpful. I passed it to my students and some colleagues. Passive sentences are much less often used in Chinese. The sentence “Two new estimators are derived and compared that help correct this small-sample bias” would sound very odd if translated literally in Chinese. Most likely it would be translated as “We derived and compared two new estimators that help correct this small-sample bias”. Plus there is no past tense in Chinese. I am not sure whether Chinese scientists would use less passive sentences in their writings though.

One possible risk of the passive voice is that it relieves the author of some responsibility for the work. But maybe the passive voice raises the moral bar, since we are aiming to report “news”? I wonder if articles using the passive voice are any more likely to be those in which we find scientific misconduct. Or rather, is it conceivable that scientific misconduct is found in articles that use the passive voice? In the first formulation, you can discount the query because it’s just me asking.

Very useful article specially for new researchers.

Great article. Having spent many years working in the bureaucracy, I am now in a role with a research institute, not as a researcher, but a manager and find research writing interesting. In a few weeks, we will screen abstracts for papers that are going to be presented at a consortium conference we are organizing. A good read and tip in preparation for that task ahead.

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Are the words "I, we, us, his, her, he, she" all prohibited in thesis writing? [duplicate]

I am writing my masters thesis. My instructor told me not to use "I, we, us, his, her, he, she" in the thesis anywhere. Are all these words prohibited in thesis writing?

I am writing my thesis in cloud security (computer science), specifically homomorphic encryption in the cloud.

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• 6 Related questions: academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11659/… and english.stackexchange.com/questions/48/… –  badroit Commented Jun 25, 2016 at 21:43
• 2 It is indeed a common view in academic writing. There is a significant minority opposed to it. I personally prefer to write in whatever way happens to be the easiest to understand. –  Superbest Commented Jun 25, 2016 at 22:04
• 2 @Superbest In certain fields, presumably. Try writing philosophy without using any personal pronouns! –  cfr Commented Jun 26, 2016 at 0:44
• 1 Has your instructor seriously told you to avoid not only first-person pronouns (‘I/me’, ‘we/us’), but also third-person pronouns (‘he/him’, ‘she/her’, etc.)? That is absolutely insane, ludicrous, bonkers, ridiculous, and utterly useless advice. It is completely impossible to write any kind of even reasonably grammatical, readable, or normal English without using third-person pronouns. Such a requirement (if that is indeed what your advisor requires) ought to be enough to file a complaint against the advisor, or at least to consider switching advisors if possible/feasible. –  Janus Bahs Jacquet Commented Jun 26, 2016 at 12:56
• 1 You don't need standard guidelines for every field. Just look at the papers in your field. Indeed, how are you going to write a thesis without looking at papers? –  David Richerby Commented Jun 26, 2016 at 13:18

4 Answers 4

These words are not necessarily prohibited, but there is an old norm in academic writing to avoid personal pronouns (the pronouns you listed). The reasoning behind the norm is that it makes for more objective writing, but it can also lead to the use of quite awkward passive voice phrasing. Because avoiding these pronouns does not necessarily make writing better , there is a counter-trend today which emphasizes writing clearly, even if that means you occasionally use "I" or "we".

Your supervisor will ultimately be one of the people evaluating your thesis, so it is important to take their preferences into account, but if you feel that writing without pronouns leads to too many awkward phrasings or otherwise makes your writing less clear, then I think it is worth pointing that out to your professor.

Note that this also tends to vary by discipline. In some fields, for example, the use of "we" to refer to the author (and collaborators or the readers) is entirely normal. In other fields, though, I have heard that it sounds pretentious. Try asking your colleagues and other mentors what they think the norms are in your field as well.

• 18 "In some fields, for example, the use of we' ... is entirely normal." Indeed. It's ubiquitous in theoretical computer science and pure mathematics, to the extent that not using it would look like bizarre circumlocution. To paraphrase somebody who may have been Churchill, the passive voice is the sort of bloody nonsense up with which ... er, I can't even work out how to write that sentence in the passive voice. –  David Richerby Commented Jun 25, 2016 at 20:45
• 4 In Literature, too, one had better be able to refer to characters with "he", "she", "his" and "hers"... ;-P –  Dronz Commented Jun 25, 2016 at 20:58
• 6 @DavidRicherby: Presumably "nonsense up with which should not be put". (Cf. the standard "nonsense that should not be put up with".) –  ruakh Commented Jun 25, 2016 at 21:01
• 2 @ruakh Something like that, yeah. I kept trying to insert a "that" that wasn't ever going to work. –  David Richerby Commented Jun 26, 2016 at 1:35
• 3 @DavidRicherby I am the sort of person up with this sort of nonsense will not be put by. –  Janus Bahs Jacquet Commented Jun 26, 2016 at 12:50

This is highly field dependent. Actually, in certain social fields such as women/gender studies, African American studies, ethnography, etc. it is required to use "I", to disclose any biases. "I am a 30 year old white male" etc.

I know advisers that would outright reject a thesis that doesn't explicitly use "I" in this manner (or at least something like "the author is ___").

The particulars vary incredibly by field and by journal. It's a fairly old practice to try and use passive form instead of active form, which appears to be what your instructor is suggesting. There is no "list" so much as the idea is to talk from the standpoint of what was being done (The experiment was conducted vs. I conducted the experiment). It has been suggested that the former passive form is harder to understand and the latter active form is preferred for clarity, but many academics (typically older professors, set in their ways) like the "traditional" passive style.

• 3 In my opinion, there is no reason to avoid those words in your field. However, as @dmh said, you should do what your instructor asks even if it doesn't make sense. Later, when you get to journal submission, the journal authorship guidelines will help you improve clarity and may encourage active voice. –  Mekki MacAulay Commented Jun 25, 2016 at 18:36
• 3 In mathematics publications 'we' is used all the time. I recently read a new paper with 5 uses in the abstract, and 78 uses overall. –  Forever Mozart Commented Jun 25, 2016 at 19:56
• 1 @vivek I suggest you look at some journal publications in your area. If they often use "we", there's no reason you shouldn't. I'd suggest that you discuss it with your professor, though -- don't just hand him your finished thesis with a note saying, "The passive voice was used throughout." –  David Richerby Commented Jun 25, 2016 at 20:46
• 1 I read research paper fully homomorphic encryption over integers with shorter public keys in which author use ' we' often. –  user3464093 Commented Jun 26, 2016 at 8:56
• 1 This 'passive form' business derives ultimately from Strunk & White. Unfortunately it isn't what they actually said . –  user207421 Commented Jun 27, 2016 at 1:53

There are two potential problems in using we .

• It can be ambiguous.
• It can place undue emphasis on the researcher.

A sensible rule for we in science is that you can use it if and only if you mean " we, the author and the reader ".

So you can't say " we did experiment X " in chemistry but you can say " we differentiate this function to obtain fact A " in a mathematical proof. The latter use does not suffer from the ambiguity and egotism of the first.

From the same rule it follows that you can never use I . Unless you really have to . This would be very rare in computer science.

Some people have lists banning the use of words like we . These people should be ignored unless they are your professor.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged thesis masters writing-style .

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Using active voice without personal pronouns

When writing scientific research proposals I have been advised to try and stick to active voice because passive tends to sound indirect and to imply doubt. However, when writing in active voice, I find it difficult to not use personal pronouns. Does anyone have any tips for maintaining active voice without using personal pronouns?

• personal-pronouns
• active-voice

• Very good question. But it might be a duplicate of this one: english.stackexchange.com/questions/9986/… –  Cerberus - Reinstate Monica Commented Feb 20, 2011 at 4:25
• 1 @Cerberus That person was asking which personal pronoun to use whereas I'm asking how their use can be avoided all together. –  John Berryman Commented Feb 20, 2011 at 4:43
• Hmm I agree that it isn't a complete duplicate; that is why I didn't vote to close it. In fact I'd like to hear some more tips on this myself. I just suspect that the answers you will get might not differ a geat deal from the ones to that other question. But we'll see! –  Cerberus - Reinstate Monica Commented Feb 20, 2011 at 5:24
• My supervisor advised me that "papers are likely to be rejected in part due to use of personal pronouns" –  R. Cox Commented Oct 9, 2019 at 13:25

2 Answers 2

Well, if you're that bothered about avoiding personal pronouns, you can always say "The author", "The researcher" etc. It's really a matter of preference; not all scientists think there's anything terribly wrong with good old-fashioned words like "I" and "we"...

You may also want to see if you can actually find a scientific study attesting to the perceived indirectness or doubt of the passive.

This is an old question, but I was looking for new tips so I'll add a few of my own for the benefit of other readers.

When we use personal pronouns in scientific writing, we're trying to either emphasize that we did something cool (as in a journal paper) or that we're going to do something cool (as in a proposal).

For a paper, it would read something like, "we developed a model of system resiliency that improves ..." Even though your purpose in writing the paper is to show off what you accomplished, the reader's purpose to learn about the model and its properties. In that case, you'd re-write the paper to talk about what the model can do rather than that you made a model. Sometimes this is hard to do because you've probably thought about this in terms of your own actions and tasks for a long time. The final result would be something like "The model has three primary analytical uses, the first of which improves ..." It should allow you to write in more detail about the cool thing you did and generally use fewer words to do so.

In the case of writing a research proposal, a sentence would read something like "We plan to reduce the number of defects in the XYZ process to ..." Again in this case, you're talking about what you are going to do, which is somewhat more appropriate for a proposal, but the reader / evaluator wants to learn about the research plan as quickly as possible so he or she can decide if it's sound and feasible. You can use the research plan, sub-tasks in the plan, and their properties as subjects of your sentences. This would go something like "Work under Task 1 will reduce defects from 42% to 22% in milestone A."

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• Are first-person pronouns acceptable in scientific writing?

February 23, 2011 Filed under Blog , Featured , Popular , Writing  

Interestingly, this rule seems to have originated with Francis Bacon to give scientific writing more objectivity.

In Eloquent Science (pp. 76-77), I advocate that first-person pronouns are acceptable in limited contexts. Avoid their use in rote descriptions of your methodology (“We performed the assay…”). Instead, use them to communicate that an action or a decision that you performed affects the outcome of the research.

NO FIRST-PERSON PRONOUN: Given option A and option B, the authors chose option B to more accurately depict the location of the front. FIRST-PERSON PRONOUN: Given option A and option B, we chose option B to more accurately depict the location of the front.

So, what do other authors think? I have over 30 books on scientific writing and have read numerous articles on this point. Here are some quotes from those who expressed their opinion on this matter and I was able to find from the index of the book or through a quick scan of the book.

“Because of this [avoiding first-person pronouns], the scientist commonly uses verbose (and imprecise) statements such as “It was found that” in preference to the short, unambiguous “I found.” Young scientists should renounce the false modesty of their predecessors. Do not be afraid to name the agent of the action in a sentence, even when it is “I” or “we.”” — How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper by Day and Gastel, pp. 193-194 “Who is the universal ‘it’, the one who hides so bashfully, but does much thinking and assuming? “ It is thought that … is a meaningless phrase and unnecessary exercise in modesty. The reader wants to know who did the thinking or assuming, the author, or some other expert.” — The Science Editor’s Soapbox by Lipton, p. 43 “I pulled 40 journals at random from one of my university’s technical library’s shelves…. To my surprise, in 32 out of the 40 journals, the authors indeed made liberal use of “I” and “we.” — Style for Students by Joe Schall, p. 63 “Einstein occasionally used the first person. He was not only a great scientist, but a great scientific writer. Feynman also used the first person on occasion, as did Curie, Darwin, Lyell, and Freud. As long as the emphasis remains on your work and not you, there is nothing wrong with judicious use of the first person.” — The Craft of Scientific Writing by Michael Alley, p. 107 “One of the most epochal papers in all of 20th-century science, Watson and Crick’s article defies nearly every major rule you are likely to find in manuals on scientific writing…. There is the frequent use of “we”…. This provides an immediate human presence, allowing for constant use of active voice. It also gives the impression that the authors are telling us their actual thought processes.” — The Chicago Guide to Communicating Science by Scott L. Montgomery, p. 18 “We believe in the value of a long tradition (which some deplore) arguing that it is inappropriate for the author of a scientific document to refer to himself or herself directly, in the first person…. There is no place for the subjectivity implicit in personal intrusion on the part of the one who conducted the research—especially since the section is explicitly labeled “Results”…. If first-person pronouns are appropriate anywhere in a dissertation, it would be in the Discussion section…because different people might indeed draw different inferences from a given set of facts.” — The Art of Scientific Writing by Ebel et al., p. 79. [After arguing for two pages on clearly explaining why the first person should not be used…] “The first person singular is appropriate when the personal element is strong, for example, when taking a position in a controversy. But this tends to weaken the writer’s credibility. The writer usually wants to make clear that anyone considering the same evidence would take the same position. Using the third person helps to express the logical impersonal character and generality of an author’s position, whereas the first person makes it seem more like personal opinion.” — The Scientist’s Handbook for Writing Papers and Dissertations by Antoinette Wilkinson, p. 76.

So, I can find only one source on my bookshelf advocating against use of the first-person pronouns in all situations (Wilkinson). Even the Ebel et al. quote I largely agree with.

Thus, first-person pronouns in scientific writing are acceptable if used in a limited fashion and to enhance clarity.

Isn’t it telling that Ebel et al begin their argument against usage of the first person with the phrase ““We believe …”?

That is a reall good point, Kirk. Thanks for pointing that out!

This argument is approximately correct, but in my opinion off point. The use of first person should always be minimized in scientific writing, but not because it is unacceptable or even uncommon. It should be minimized because it is ineffective, and it is usually badly so. Specifically, the purpose of scientific writing is to create a convincing argument based on data collected during the evaluation of a hypothesis. This is basic scientific method. The strength of this argument depends on the data, not on the person who collected it. Using first person deemphasises the data, which weakens the argument and opens the door for subjective criticism to be used to rebut what should be objective data. For example, suppose I hypothesized that the sun always rises in the east, and I make daily observations over the course of a year to support that hypothesis. I could say, “I have shown that the sun always rises in the east”. A critic might respond by simply saying that I am crazy, and that I got it wrong. In other words, it can easily become an argument about “me”. However, if I said “Daily observations over the course of a year showed that the sun always rises in the east”, then any subsequent argument must rebut the data and not rebut “me”. Actually, I would never say this using either of those formulations. I would say, “Daily observations over the course of a year were consistent with the hypothesis that the sun always rises in the east.” This is basic scientific expository writing.

Finally, if one of my students EVER wrote “it was found that …”, I would hit him or her over the head with a very large stick. That is just as bad as “I found that …”, and importantly, those are NOT the only two options. The correct way to say this in scientific writing is, “the data showed that …”.

In general, I agree with you. We should omit ourselves from our science to emphasize what the data demonstrate.

My only qualification is that, as scientists, the collection, observation, and interpretation of data is difficult to disconnect from its human aspects. Being a human endeavor, science is necessarily affected by the humans themselves who do the work.

Thanks for your comment!

i could not understand why 1st person I is used with plural verb

Not sure that I completely understand your question, but grammatically “I” should only be used with a singular verb. If you use “I” in scientific writing, only do so with single-authored papers.

Does that answer your question?

why do we use ‘have’ with ‘i’ pronoun?

I wouldn’t view it as “I” goes with the plural verb “have”, but that “have” can be used with a number of different persons, regardless of whether it is singular or plural.

First person singular: “I have” Second person singular: “You have” Third person singular: “He/She/It has”

First person plural: “We have” Second person plural: “All of you have” Third person plural: “They have”

I know it perhaps doesn’t make sense, but that is the way English works.

I hope that helps.

I think there are a few cases where personal pronouns would be acceptable. If you are introducing a new section in a thesis or even an article, you might want to say “we begin with a description of the data in section 2” etc, rather than the cumbersome “this paper will begin with …”. Also in discussions of future work, it would make sense to say “we intend to explore X, Y and Z”.

I loved reading this, my Prof. and I were debating about this. He wants me to say “I analyzed” and I want to say “problem notification database analysed revealed that…”

I’m writing a paper for a conference. I wonder if I can defy a Professor in Korea:)

I disagree that writing in the 3rd person makes writing more objective. I also disagree that it “opens the door for subjective criticism to be used to rebut what should be objective data”. In fact, using the 3rd person obstructs reality. There are people behind the research who both make mistakes and do great things. It is no less true for science than it is for other subjects that 3rd person obstructs the author of an action and makes the idea being conveyed less clear. I find it odd that scientific writing guides instruct authors to BOTH use active voice AND use only the 3rd person. It is impossible to do both. Active voice means that there is a subject, a strong verb (not a version of the verb “to be”) and an object. When I say “The solution was mixed”, it is BOTH 3rd person and passive voice. The only way to construct that sentence without passive voice is to say “We mixed the solution”. Honestly, after spending most of the first part of my life in English classes and then transitioning to science, I find most scientific writing an abomonination.

Hi Kathleen,

I think it is great that you have had your feet in both English and science. For many of us who have struggled as writers, those people are great role models to aspire to.

An anecdote: my wife’s research student turned in a brief report on his work to date. She was showing me how well written his work was, really pretty advanced for an undergrad physics student. Later, she found out that he was trying to decide between majoring in physics and majoring in English.

Hi David. Thanks very much for your tips. Very interesting article. Did you just tweet that you should keep “I” and “We” out of the abstract? I am translating a psychology article from Spanish into English, and I’ve come up against an unwieldly sentence (the very last one in the abstract) that basically wants to say “We propose a number of strategies for improving the impact of the psychological treatments[…]” Would you say it’s a no-no? I tend to avoid personal pronouns in academic articles as much as poss, but it just sounds like the most natural option in this case. Perhaps I could put, “This article proposes a number of treatments…”? Strictly speaking it’s not the article that’s doing the proposing, obviously. I’d be very grateful to have your opinion. Thanks a lot. Best regards. Louisa

Yes, it’s difficult. How about going passive? “A number of treatments are proposed….”?

The comments against using first person, which are rampant in science education, are silly. Go read Nature or Science. I believe Kathleen makes a fantastic point.

Just happened across this blog while searching for something else, and procrastination rules, ok?

My pet hate is lecturers who uncritically criticise students for using the third person. Close behind is institutional guidance/insistence on third person ‘scientific writing’. Both are hugely ironic, the first because it is typically uncritical and purely traditional (we are employed to teach others to be critical and challenge tradition), the second because there is so little empirical evidence to suggest that the scientific method is third person.

I very much appreciated Bill Lott’s response because a) it was critical and b) it discussed the issue of good and bad writing as opposed to first and third person. However I would still suggest that the way he would report his exemplar data is all but first person:

“Daily observations over the course of a year were consistent with the hypothesis that the sun always rises in the east.”

Who did the observations if not the first person? All that is missing is My or Our at the beginning of the sentence and hey presto

Another facet of writing is that it disappears if not frequently watered and tended to.

Even though this is an old article, I’d like to add my 2c to the thread.

I think the use of the 3rd person is pompous, verbose and obtuse – it uses many words to say the same thing in a flowery way.

“It is the opinion of the author that” as opposed to “I think that”

Anybody reading the article knows that it’s written by a person / persons who did the research on the topic, who are either presenting their findings or opinion. The whole 3rd person thing seems to be a game, and I for one, HATE writing about myself in the 3rd person.

That being said, it seems to be the convention that the 3rd person is used, and I probably will write my paper in the 3rd person anyway, just to not rock the boat.

But I wish that the pomposity would stop and we would get more advocates for writing in plain English.

Hi, i was wondering… can “We” be said in a scientific school report?

Depends on the context, I guess. I would follow the same advice as above.

Thanks for all the tips. Don’t forget that in the future historians are going to want to know who did what and when. Scientists may not think it important, but historians will (especially if it is a significant contribution). Furthermore, by not revealing particulars regarding individual contributions opens the door for many scientists to falsify the historical record in their favor (I have experienced this first hand in a recent publication).

i think it is soo weird to use first person in reports…….third persons will be more effective when used and that will give a clear explanations to the audience

Even Nature journals are encouraging “we” in the manuscript.

“Nature journals prefer authors to write in the active voice (“we performed the experiment…”) as experience has shown that readers find concepts and results to be conveyed more clearly if written directly.”

https://www.nature.com/authors/author_resources/how_write.html

[…] Is trouwens iets dat blijkbaar al lang voor discussies zorgt, als je deze links bekijkt: Are first-person pronouns acceptable in scientific writing? : eloquentscience.com Use of the word "I" in scientific papers Zelfs wikipedia heeft er een artikel over: […]

[…] There was some discussion on Twitter about whether or not to write in the 1st person. The Lab & Field pointed out that Francis Bacon may have been responsible for the movement to avoid it in scientific writing…  […]

[…] ¿Son aceptables los pronombres en primera persona en publicaciones científicas? [ENG] […]

[…] do discuss this among themselves. For example, see Yateendra Joshi and Professor David M. Schultz. Professor Schultz notes that the use of the first person in science appears to be as common among […]

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[…] There’s no rule about the passive voice in science. People seem to think that it’s “scientific” writing, but it isn’t. It’s just bad writing. There’s actually no rule against first person pronouns either! Read this for more on the use of the first-person in scientific writing. […]

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Guidelines for writing formal lab reports

• Guidelines for writing formal lab…

In high school and university, I spent an extensive amount of time writing lab reports, and as a teacher and tutor, I have edited and marked hundreds of student lab reports. In this blog post, I’m going to share what teachers expect to see in formal lab reports and common mistakes that I have observed students make when writing lab reports.

Why do science teachers like to make high school students write lab reports? Lab reports are a great tool for teachers to assess their students’ writing abilities as well as their knowledge of a particular topic being covered. Lab reports require students to analyze gathered data and are, thus, a great tool for assessing a student’s analytical thinking skills and ability to convey information and ideas. Moreover, teachers love various assessment formats apart from tests and presentations. Furthermore, teachers want to prepare their students for science courses in university, where students would be required to write formal lab reports on a weekly basis.

In many genres of writing, the active voice is encouraged over the passive, but this is not the case when writing lab reports. All of the sections of the lab report should be written using passive voice. That means that no personal pronouns are to be used when writing a lab report. So instead of writing “we determined the coefficient of friction to be 0.31,” one would write “the coefficient of friction was determined to be 0.31.” Pronouns such as ‘I’ and ‘we’ should never be used in lab reports. And since lab reports are written after an experiment, the past tense should be used. Unlike other forms of writing, technical writing such as a lab report should never contain slang and colloquial expressions. A lab report is not to be treated like a creative piece of writing. It is not intended to entertain or evoke humour.

Just like a good essay, a good lab report begins with a good title. A lab report title should be descriptive, but not too long. Oftentimes, I see students that haven’t written lab reports before, write something like “Friction lab report” for the title. A much better title would be something like “Determining the coefficient of static friction between a calculator and a textbook.” The title needs to relate to the purpose of the lab.

After a descriptive title, a formal lab report needs to have an introduction. The introduction needs to be in paragraph form (never use point form for a formal lab report). The introduction needs to include the purpose for carrying out the experiment. It also common to include a hypothesis and what was predicted before carrying out the experiment. A crucial component of an introduction is background information. A person that knows very little about the topic of the lab experiment needs to be able to understand what the lab is about from the introduction. Oftentimes, the most common mistake that I notice when reading student lab reports is that there isn’t enough background information given. When reading this section of the lab report, a teacher is assessing if the student understands the underlying concepts behind the experiment. Since background information is a major part of the introduction, including diagrams and figures can help convey ideas. A reference should be included for images taken from an external source such as a website.

The materials section comes after the instruction. This is generally the shortest section of the lab report since all that is require is to list the materials that were used. Complete sentences are not required for this section, just a list.  Following the materials section is the procedure or methods section. At times, the materials and methods are placed into one section. The methods or procedures section should list in chronological order the steps that were carried during the experiment. A numbered list is often used in this section. Paragraphs are not necessary. Just like other sections of the report, the procedure should be written in passive voice without the use of personal pronouns, such as ‘I’ and ‘we’. Here is an example of one step of a procedure: “1. Each test tube was filled with 100 mL of water.” The procedure needs to be clear; a person that wasn’t there when the experiment was performed should be able to replicate what was done and should be able to get similar results.

The results section comes after the procedure. All gathered data is placed in the results section. The results section can include observation tables and graphs. It should contain raw and processed data. Raw data is the data that was gathered while performing the experiment, and processed data is data that was generated using the raw data such as a percent error. All tables, figures and graphs in the results section should have a descriptive title and should be numbered. This would be an example of a table title: “Table 1. Displacements of a physics cart.” Results from experimental trials should be put in tables. It is often useful to present gathered data graphically. When creating graphs, place the independent variable, such as time, on the horizontal axis, and the dependent variable, such as displacement, on the vertical axis. Axes should be labeled and should include the units for each variable. A line or curve of best fit also needs to be drawn or generated used software, such as excel. The line or curve of best fit shows the trend of the data. The biggest mistake students make in the results section is to discuss the results. The results section is only meant to display the data – no analysis or interpretation of the data should be there. Brief calculations can be included in the results section, but long calculations should be placed in the appendix section (placed at the end of the report).

The discussion section is where the data in the results section should be discussed and analyzed. The discussion is usually the longest section of a formal lab report because it is where most of the questions that were raised before and during the experiment should be answered. The discussion section should refer to the tables and graphs in the results section. For instance, one would write “According to table 1,…” or “Referring to figure 2, it can be seen…”  If the results that were obtained did not match predictions, explanations should be provided as to why that might have been the case. It is important to address uncertainties and sources of error. For instance, when launching a projectile and measuring its acceleration, oftentimes not taking air resistance into account could be considered a source of error. Another common source of error is measurement error – the equipment that is used to measure has a finite precision. Moreover, measurements made by one person may be different than those made by another. The end of the discussion should include a conclusion unless there is a separate conclusion section. The conclusion should relate back to the purpose of the experiment and the hypothesis. It should answer if the results that were obtained matched what was predicted before carrying out the experiment.

One final note: proper grammar and spelling matters as much when writing a lab report as it does when writing an essay for English. Sometimes students hold the misconception that they don’t have to pay as much attention to how they write when writing a lab report. A lab report might have good ideas, but if they are not conveyed clearly, one is less likely to receive full credit for them when the report is being marked. Grammar and spelling are included in the communication mark for the report. How clearly one writes matters in science as much as it does in other subjects.

Author:  Jeff Gadjiev

Jeff Gadjiev is an Ontario Certified Math and Science Teacher that works for the York Region District School Board. He has been tutoring for the past decade. His tutoring approach is structured and is catered to a student's learning style and needs. Jeff has experience working with English language learners and students with special needs.

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• Writing Tips

Can You Use I or We in a Research Paper?

4-minute read

• 11th July 2023

Writing in the first person, or using I and we pronouns, has traditionally been frowned upon in academic writing . But despite this long-standing norm, writing in the first person isn’t actually prohibited. In fact, it’s becoming more acceptable – even in research papers.

 If you’re wondering whether you can use I (or we ) in your research paper, you should check with your institution first and foremost. Many schools have rules regarding first-person use. If it’s up to you, though, we still recommend some guidelines. Check out our tips below!

When Is It Most Acceptable to Write in the First Person?

Certain sections of your paper are more conducive to writing in the first person. Typically, the first person makes sense in the abstract, introduction, discussion, and conclusion sections. You should still limit your use of I and we , though, or your essay may start to sound like a personal narrative .

 Using first-person pronouns is most useful and acceptable in the following circumstances.

When doing so removes the passive voice and adds flow

Sometimes, writers have to bend over backward just to avoid using the first person, often producing clunky sentences and a lot of passive voice constructions. The first person can remedy this. For example: 

Both sentences are fine, but the second one flows better and is easier to read.

When doing so differentiates between your research and other literature

When discussing literature from other researchers and authors, you might be comparing it with your own findings or hypotheses . Using the first person can help clarify that you are engaging in such a comparison. For example: 

 In the first sentence, using “the author” to avoid the first person creates ambiguity. The second sentence prevents misinterpretation.

When doing so allows you to express your interest in the subject

In some instances, you may need to provide background for why you’re researching your topic. This information may include your personal interest in or experience with the subject, both of which are easier to express using first-person pronouns. For example:

Expressing personal experiences and viewpoints isn’t always a good idea in research papers. When it’s appropriate to do so, though, just make sure you don’t overuse the first person.

When to Avoid Writing in the First Person

It’s usually a good idea to stick to the third person in the methods and results sections of your research paper. Additionally, be careful not to use the first person when:

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●  It makes your findings seem like personal observations rather than factual results.

●  It removes objectivity and implies that the writing may be biased .

●  It appears in phrases such as I think or I believe , which can weaken your writing.

Keeping Your Writing Formal and Objective

Using the first person while maintaining a formal tone can be tricky, but keeping a few tips in mind can help you strike a balance. The important thing is to make sure the tone isn’t too conversational.

 To achieve this, avoid referring to the readers, such as with the second-person you . Use we and us only when referring to yourself and the other authors/researchers involved in the paper, not the audience.

It’s becoming more acceptable in the academic world to use first-person pronouns such as we and I in research papers. But make sure you check with your instructor or institution first because they may have strict rules regarding this practice.

 If you do decide to use the first person, make sure you do so effectively by following the tips we’ve laid out in this guide. And once you’ve written a draft, send us a copy! Our expert proofreaders and editors will be happy to check your grammar, spelling, word choice, references, tone, and more. Submit a 500-word sample today!

Is it ever acceptable to use I or we in a research paper?

In some instances, using first-person pronouns can help you to establish credibility, add clarity, and make the writing easier to read.

How can I avoid using I in my writing?

Writing in the passive voice can help you to avoid using the first person.

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5 Ways How to Avoid Using Personal Pronouns in an Essay

Pronouns are used to replace nouns in writing. Some of them may refer to non-specific objects and people. For instance, such pronouns are “each,” “some,” “everybody,” etc. Personal pronouns are more specific — these are such words as “I,” “we,” “you,” “she,” “he,” etc. When writing college essays, as well as other writing assignments and academic papers, you should be very careful with your pronouns. The academic tone of writing should be impersonal and objective. Avoiding personal pronouns in academic writing is not just a tradition but one of the most important requirements that have a significant influence on your grades.

Some types of essays allow you to use personal pronouns. For example, you may write in the first person when dealing with narrative essays. However, when writing more formal papers, you should stick with an impersonal tone. Given that we use personal pronouns in informal writing and conversations all the time, many students don’t know how to write an essay without using personal pronouns. Mastering the academic style of writing may take some time. Therefore, we decided to share some useful tips that will help you make sure that your essays meet academic requirements.

How to Avoid Using Personal Pronouns

Use strong verbs and adjectives.

Most essays that contain personal pronouns also have another thing in common: they are imprecise and unspecific. The reason is that if you use such words as “I” or “we,” you will deliver a subjective message and your content will tend to be one-sided. If you write “I think,” it means that you’re expressing an opinion, and academic writing is not about opinions but facts and evidence. We recommend that you express your ideas as precisely as possible, using strong verbs and adjectives. You should stay objective and support all your claims with evidence instead of writing about your opinions and assumptions.

Use a scholarly tone

Academic writing is formal and objective. When writing essays and other academic papers, you should avoid contractions, colloquialisms, clichés, and slang words. If you’re used to an informal style of conversation, you should choose a completely opposite approach when working on your academic papers. If you pay attention to your tone, you will feel less tempted to use personal pronouns and other elements of informal language.

Use formal generalizations

We often use personal pronouns when making generalizations. Here’s an example of such a generalization: “If you use personal pronouns, you’ll get a lower grade.” In this case, “you” sounds completely natural but such wording is inappropriate in the context of academic writing. A better solution would be to write “using personal pronouns can lead to receiving a lower grade.” You may also replace informal generalizations with formal ones by simply replacing “you” with “one”: “one can,” “one does,” etc. However, even when using formal generalizations, make sure to use them in moderation because the abundance of generalizations will make your essay sound awkward.

Use the passive voice

You may use personal pronouns in many types of writing but such words shouldn’t be used in academic writing. When it comes to the passive voice, the situation is the opposite: while it’s considered inappropriate in other types of writing, academic writing allows you to use it. For instance, instead of writing “I tested the hypothesis,” you can write “the hypothesis was tested.” However, you should try to use the active voice whenever you can. The excessive use of the passive voice can make your essay difficult to read and damage the overall clarity.

Replace slang with specific wording

Another way to avoid personal pronouns in academic writing is to replace all slang words with more specific phrases. We recommend that you always read and edit your essays before submitting them. First, such an approach will help you fix grammar and spelling mistakes. Secondly, this way, you’ll be able to spot informal language and replace it with better alternatives. Keep in mind that clarity should be one of your main priorities.

Imagine a non-native speaker reading your essay and think of whether or not they’ll be able to understand it. There are many alternatives to personal pronouns. For example, instead of writing “I found out,” you can write “it was determined that.” You can also replace personal pronouns with specific nouns, like “the author,” “the researcher,” “the reader,” etc.

Wrapping Up

Academic writing is different from many other styles of writing. One of the distinctive features of academic writing is the use of formal, impersonal language. We hope that our tips will help you learn how to avoid personal pronouns in your essays and other academic assignments. Make sure to read your essays before submitting them and replace any informal and inappropriate phrases with formal alternatives. Stick with an objective tone and support all of your claims with evidence. This way, it will be easier for you to avoid emotional and subjective language, making your paper more professional and less biased.

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Lab Report Writing

• Lab Report Style

Concise Language

Test yourself (concise language), third person, past tense, test yourself (third person, past tense).

• Lab Report Format
• Introduction
• Materials and Methods
• Discussion/Conclusion

The main reason for writing a lab report or scientific paper is to communicate the results of a scientific study to the public (or your teacher). Keeping this purpose in mind, there are some important things you want to remember when writing your lab report. Use concise language that clearly communicates what you are trying to say. Scientists like to get straight to the facts without any distractions, so there is no need for the kind of "flowery" language you might use in a short story, poem, or personal essay. The sentences should provide enough detail so the reader knows what happened, but not so much detail that it gets overwhelming. Answer the quiz question below to see if you can spot good scientific language.

Which of the following examples do you think best illustrates the concise lanuage you should use in a lab report?

a. The plants exposed to full sunlight showed amazing amounts of growth after a couple weeks. b. The entire lab group laughed when the water spilled out of the test tube. c. The plants exposed to full sunlight grew an average of 3 cm in 14 days, while the plants left indoors grew only 0.5 cm on average. d. The plants grew.

C The language is straight forward with specific details.

Click on the question, to see the answer.

Another important point about lab reports is that they should usually be written in third person, past tense. This means you should not use personal pronouns like "I" or "we." And all the procedures you used in your study should be written about as if they happened in the past. It can be a little awkward writing in the "passive voice" like this because most English classes teach that this style of writing is incorrect. But in science, we try to use language that is impersonal and objective. Some scientists are not as concerned about this rule as they used to be, but your instructor may require your lab reports to be written this way. Test yourself to see if you can spot the best use of third person, past tense.

You did an experiment in which you added 20 mL of water to a test tube.  How would you describe this inyour lab report?

a. I added 20 mL of water to a test tube. b. 20 mL of water is added to a test tube. c. 20 mL of water was added to a test tube.

C That's the only one that is written in past tense and does not use personal pronouns like "I" or "we." details.

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• Knowledge Base
• Nouns and pronouns
• Personal Pronouns | Definition, List & Examples

Personal Pronouns | Definition, List & Examples

Published on October 15, 2022 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on February 24, 2023.

Personal pronouns are words like “you” that refer to the person speaking or writing, to the person they’re addressing, or to other people and things.

Like other pronouns , they are used in place of nouns to allow us to speak and write more concisely. For example, without the first-person pronoun “I,” you would have to use your name every time you wanted to make a statement about yourself.

Personal pronouns change form based on person , number , gender , and case , as shown in the table below, which you can also download.

Download this table

Table of contents

Person, number, gender, and case.

• First-person pronouns

Second-person pronouns

Third-person pronouns, impersonal pronouns, other personal pronouns, other interesting language articles, frequently asked questions about personal pronouns.

Four factors indicate which personal pronoun you should use in a particular grammatical context to refer to a particular person or thing. These are:

• Person (first, second, or third)
• Number (singular or plural)
• Gender (masculine, feminine, neuter, or epicene)
• Case (subject, object, possessive, or reflexive)

To demonstrate correct pronoun-antecedent agreement , a personal pronoun must match its antecedent (the person or thing it refers back to) in person, number, and gender. Case is determined by how the pronoun is used in the sentence, not by the antecedent.

Personal pronouns are called “personal” not because they always refer to people (“it,” for example, doesn’t) but because they indicate a grammatical feature called person . There are three possibilities:

• First-person pronouns are used to refer to the person speaking or writing.
• Second-person pronouns are used to refer to the person being addressed.
• Third-person pronouns are used to refer to anyone or anything else.

Number indicates whether the personal pronoun refers to an individual person or thing or to a group of two or more.

• Singular pronouns refer to an individual person or thing.
• Plural pronouns refer to two or more people or things.

Gender is how personal pronouns indicate the gender of the person referred to—or the lack of gender of objects and concepts.

• Masculine pronouns refer to men and boys.
• Feminine pronouns refer to women and girls.
• Gender-neutral pronouns , also referred to as epicene , refer to people who identify as neither male nor female, or to people whose gender is not considered relevant in context.
• Neuter pronouns refer to things that are not people: objects, concepts, places, and sometimes animals.

Case means the grammatical role that the pronoun plays in a sentence. Personal pronouns can play four different roles in a sentence:

• Subject pronouns act as the subject of a verb —the person or thing that performs the action described.
• Object pronouns act as the object of a verb or preposition —the person or thing that is acted upon.
• Possessive pronouns indicate ownership—they stand for something or someone that belongs to someone or something else. These are slightly different from possessive determiners .
• Reflexive pronouns are used instead of object pronouns when when the object of the sentence is the same as the subject. The same words double as intensive pronouns .

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The first-person pronouns don’t vary based on gender, but they do vary based on number and case, as shown in the table below. The first-person singular subject pronoun “I” is the only English pronoun that is always capitalized .

Note that there is ongoing debate about the use of first-person pronouns in academic writing .

If we work hard, the prize could be ours .

The second-person pronouns also do not vary based on gender, only the reflexive form varies based on number, and the subject and object forms are the same. This makes them the least variable set of personal pronouns but can occasionally lead to ambiguity.

Second-person pronouns should almost never be used in academic writing , as addressing the reader directly is seen as too informal.

May I ask you a question? Is this jacket yours ?

The third-person pronouns are much more variable than the first- and second-person pronouns, since they also change form based on gender, in addition to number and case.

As well as forms for the masculine and feminine, there is a neuter (or inanimate) form that’s used to refer to things other than people (e.g., ideas, objects, animals).

There’s also an increasingly widely used gender-neutral (or epicene) form, the singular “they.” This is largely identical to the plural form (which is always gender-neutral), except that the reflexive “themself” is sometimes used instead of “themselves” (though it’s often considered nonstandard).

I’m glad she can be herself now.

Participants assessed themselves in terms of performance.

The impersonal pronoun “one,” as the name suggests, doesn’t vary based on person—it’s not in the first, second, or third person.

Rather, like an indefinite pronoun , it refers to a nonspecific, generic individual, usually for the purpose of making a generalization or stating a principle. It’s considered quite formal and often replaced with “you,” or otherwise avoided, in informal contexts.

The impersonal pronoun doesn’t vary based on number or gender, and it has the same form whether used as a subject or object. It does have a separate form for the reflexive, but no possessive pronoun form.

There are a few other personal pronouns that are rarely used, nonstandard, or archaic (no longer used). These generally shouldn’t show up in your academic or formal writing, but it’s worth knowing they exist.

Archaic second-person pronouns

The lack of variety in English second-person pronouns is somewhat unusual, as other languages (e.g., French) make clearer distinctions between singular and plural and between formal and informal ways of addressing someone.

Early Modern English used a larger set of second-person pronouns to convey this kind of distinction. The “th” pronouns were used for informal address, while the “y” pronouns were used for both formal address and plurals.

These additional pronouns are not used in contemporary standard English unless a deliberate attempt is being made to imitate old-fashioned or biblical language in a humorous or literary context. Some of them have survived in certain dialects of English.

“Y’all” and other nonstandard second-person plural pronouns

The lack of distinction between singular and plural in the standard second-person pronouns has given rise to various ways of expressing the plural in different dialects.

Though some of these are very widely used in everyday speech, they are all still regarded as nonstandard and not used in formal or academic writing. Some examples are given in the table below.

In some contexts, an individual might refer to themselves as “we” and therefore use the alternative reflexive pronoun ourself .

This commonly occurs with the royal we (used by monarchs), the editorial we (used by an individual speaking for a publication or organization), and the generic we (used to make generalizations). It’s not advisable to use any of these, or the word “ourself,” in academic writing.

“Hisself,” “theirselves,” and “theirself”

Other nonstandard reflexive pronouns are hisself (replacing “himself”), theirselves (replacing “themselves”), and theirself (replacing “themself”). These are all widely regarded as mistakes and should be avoided in writing generally, whether formal or informal.

The third-person plural object pronoun “them” is often replaced by ’em in informal contexts. It’s older than you’d expect, believed to actually be an abbreviation of the Middle English pronoun “hem” rather than the current pronoun “them.” But it’s not used in formal or academic writing.

Capitalized pronouns in a religious context

The second- and third-person pronouns He/Him/His/Himself , She/Her/Hers/Herself , and You/Yours/Yourself are sometimes capitalized in a religious context when they are used to refer to a deity.

This is commonly encountered in sacred works such as the Bible or the Quran and in the writing of other religious figures, though it’s not always done consistently. It’s not necessary to imitate this usage in a nonreligious context.

If you want to know more about nouns , pronouns , verbs , and other parts of speech , make sure to check out some of our other language articles with explanations and examples.

Nouns & pronouns

• Common nouns
• Types of nouns
• Collective nouns
• Uncountable and countable nouns
• Verb tenses
• Phrasal verbs
• Types of verbs
• Active vs passive voice
• Subject-verb agreement
• Interjections
• Determiners
• Conjunctions

Personal pronouns are words like “he,” “me,” and “yourselves” that refer to the person you’re addressing, to other people or things, or to yourself. Like other pronouns, they usually stand in for previously mentioned nouns (antecedents).

They are called “personal” not because they always refer to people (e.g., “it” doesn’t) but because they indicate grammatical person ( first , second , or third person). Personal pronouns also change their forms based on number, gender, and grammatical role in a sentence.

In grammar, person is how we distinguish between the speaker or writer (first person), the person being addressed (second person), and any other people, objects, ideas, etc. referred to (third person).

Person is expressed through the different personal pronouns , such as “I” ( first-person pronoun ), “you” ( second-person pronoun ), and “they” (third-person pronoun). It also affects how verbs are conjugated, due to subject-verb agreement (e.g., “I am” vs. “you are”).

In fiction, a first-person narrative is one written directly from the perspective of the protagonist . A third-person narrative describes the protagonist from the perspective of a separate narrator. A second-person narrative (very rare) addresses the reader as if they were the protagonist.

The term preferred pronouns is used to mean the (third-person) personal pronouns a person identifies with and would like to be referred to by. People usually state the subject and object pronoun (e.g., “she/her”) but may also include the possessive (e.g., “she/her/hers”).

Most people go by the masculine “he/him,” the feminine “she/her,” the gender-neutral singular “they/them,” or some combination of these. There are also neopronouns used to express nonbinary gender identity, such as “xe/xem.” These are less common than the singular “they.”

The practice of stating one’s preferred pronouns (e.g., in a professional context or on a social media profile) is meant to promote inclusion for transgender and gender-nonconforming people. The first- and second-person pronouns (“I” and “you”) are not included, since they’re the same for everyone.

Sources in this article

We strongly encourage students to use sources in their work. You can cite our article (APA Style) or take a deep dive into the articles below.

Caulfield, J. (2023, February 24). Personal Pronouns | Definition, List & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved August 13, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/nouns-and-pronouns/personal-pronouns/

Aarts, B. (2011).  Oxford modern English grammar . Oxford University Press.

Butterfield, J. (Ed.). (2015).  Fowler’s dictionary of modern English usage  (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.

Garner, B. A. (2016).  Garner’s modern English usage (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.

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Using personal pronouns in research writing

15 October 2009

Should you use “I” or “we” or neither in your thesis or paper?

Thoughts on this have changed over the years. Traditionally, using personal pronouns like “I” and “we” was frowned on. Instead of saying “In Section 3, I have compared the results from method X with those of method Y”, you were expected to write “In section 3, the results from method X are compared with those from method Y”. This is known as writing in the “passive voice” , and for many years it has been considered the “academic” way of doing things. I think it is favoured because of the tone of detachment and impersonality that it helps establish.

Sometimes the passive voice is awkward. For example

In studying ARIMA models, the effect of the estimation method on forecast accuracy was explored.

This is easier to express using “I”:

In studying ARIMA models, I explored the effect of the estimation method on forecast accuracy.

In my exponential smoothing monograph , one of the coauthors preferred to write everything in the passive voice, which led to some rather awkward phrasing. (I edited all chapters to consistently use “we” before it went to print.)

There are still some journals and research supervisors who insist that research writing must be in the passive voice. However, the situation is slowly changing and now many journals accept, or even encourage, the use of personal pronouns. The International Journal of Forecasting which I edit allows authors to use whichever approach they prefer.

A related issue for research students writing a thesis is whether to use “I” or “we”, especially when the material has previously appeared in a co-authored paper. In general, I prefer students to use “I” when they mean the author, as it is their thesis. (The royal “we” should only be used by monarchs.) However, it is very important to include a statement at the front of the thesis clarifying the role of co-authors involved with any parts of the thesis. If a chapter is essentially a co-authored paper, many universities require a signed statement from all authors.

One area where “we” is useful is in referring to the reader and author together. For example,

In the following theorem, we see that …

This is particularly common in mathematics.

In summary:

• Write in the most natural way. It is ok if that means using “I”.
• Use “we” if you mean “the reader and I”, or if you are writing a coauthored paper.
• Don’t use “we” if you only mean yourself.