First or third person?

Carrying on from an earlier post (here), should we write in the first or the third person in academic writing? Ah, this is such a great question! 

In the social sciences, we pretty much have two options from which to explore "processes, institutions, and events: One is from the outside, from a third person perspective", where "the observer stands apart from what is observed and remains, as much as possible, unaffected by what" we see (de Vaujany, 2023, p. v).  The alternative viewpoint "is from the inside, from a first person perspective. Here, the observer takes the impressions, affections, and intentions that connect her with the observed phenomena precisely as the starting point for social or philosophical analysis" (p. v). 

When we think about power in words, we could take the same first person paragraph I used in the last post:

"...we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender" (Churchill, 1940, s. 796).

And compare it to the same paragraph amended into a third person format:

The people will defend their island, whatever the cost may be. They will fight on the beaches, they will fight on the landing grounds, they will fight in the fields and in the streets, they will fight in the hills; they will never surrender.

Using the third person loses much of the punch and immediacy that the first person version contained. However, when writing academically, we may not want punch or immediacy. We may instead want to convey caution, care, deliberation, and judiciousness: in which case, the third person would work well for our needs. 

Some instructors specify that students adopt the "third person at all times (e.g., refer to yourself as 'the researcher')", relating that "There is no room for you or I in a master's thesis" (Bui, 2014, p. 95). When we come to science, the third person POV is more embedded: "Scientific writing is not of a personal or conversational nature and for this reason the third person is commonly used", with "I, we, you, me, my, our and us [...only appearing] in quotations" (Coffin et al., 2003, pp. 29-30). 

Others find the 'third person must be used' approach contrived, artificial, and dull (Becker, 2007).

If we are uncertain, we could experiment, as I have done here with the Churchill piece, in writing a snippet both ways to see which version may meet our need (Aitchison et al., 2010). Having a quid each way - so to speak - gives us the ability to consider "how students might find their voice" (McDowall & Ramos, 2017, p. 56). In using an immediate, direct narrative, i.e. our voice, our "reader [can] recognise it was not a robot that had done the research, but a living breathing person" who is telling the story (p. 56). That has value.

American sociologist and professor Howard Becker explains that he "began searching for alternatives to the third person (too pompous) and the first person (tiresome in excess and often inappropriate). That led to an orgy of second persons, stage whispers to the reader: 'You can see how this would lead to...'" (2007, p. 104) without explaining where - if anywhere - this would lead to. We appear to lack a 'one right answer' to the academic writing voice. If we are writing a report which will be submitted in our own name, writing in the first person may seem more logical. If we are writing reflection, trying to write that in the third person would feel disingenuous and clumsy. If we are writing a research article with others, or a solo literature review, third person may feel more appropriate; more objective... even though that objectivity is artificial as we humans are all biased to a greater or lesser degree (Basthomi et al., 2015). 

While I have a few other blog posts on this topic (here); it is over to each of us to use our judgement, and to chose our format to suit the channel, the audience, and sense of self.

Sam

References:

Aitchison, C., Kamler, B., & Lee, A. (Eds.). (2010). Publishing Pedagogies for the Doctorate and Beyond. Routledge.

Basthomi, Y., Wijayanti, L. T., Yannuar, N., & Widiati, U. (2015). Third Person Point of View in EFL Academic Writing: Ventriloquizing. Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities, 23(4), 1099-1114. https://www.academia.edu/64167595/Third_Person_Point_of_View_in_EFL_Academic_Writing_Ventriloquizing

Becker, H. S. (2007). Writing for social scientists: How to start and finish your thesis, book, or article (2nd ed.). University of Chicago Press.

Bui, Y. N. (2014). How to Write a Master's Thesis (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications Ltd.

Churchill, W. L. S. (1940, June 4). "We shall fight on the beaches". In His Majesty's Government, House of Commons Debates (Vol. 361). Hansard. https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1940/jun/04/war-situation

Coffin, C., Curry, M. J., Goodman, S., Hewings, A., Lillis, T., & Swann, J. (2005). Teaching academic writing: A toolkit for higher education. Routledge.

de Vaujany, F.-X., Aroles, J., & Perézts, M. (2023). The Oxford Handbook of Phenomenologies and Organization Studies. Oxford University Press.

McDowall, A., & Ramos, F. (2017). Doing decoloniality in the writing borderlands of the PhD. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 47(1), 54–63. https://doi.org/10.1017/jie.2017.23