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First Person, Second Person or Third Person?

The person question concerns which of the three basic forms of the pronoun you should use when you write. Here are the three forms, with brief examples.

First person: I believe Heraclitus is an underrated philosopher.

Second person: You should believe that Heraclitus is an underrated philosopher.

Third person: He or she believes that Heraclitus is an underrated philosopher.

Which person to use is a stylistic concern because it involves a writer’s choices as regards to level of formality, the varying expectations of different audiences, and overall tone.

As a general rule, in academic writing you should discuss your subject matter in the third person and avoid the first and second person. There is logic to this rule: most academic analysis focuses on the subject matter rather than on you as you respond to it. If you use the third person, you keep the attention where it belongs.

“I”: Pro and Con

Using the first-person “I” can throw the emphasis on the wrong place. Repeated assertions of “in my opinion” actually distract your readers from what you have to say. Omit them except in the most informal cases. You might, however, consider using the first person in the drafting stage if you are having trouble bringing your own point of view to the forefront. In this situation, the “I” becomes a strategy for loosening up and saying what you really think about a subject rather than adopting conventional and faceless positions. In the final analysis, though, most analytical prose is more precise and straightforward in the third person. When you cut “I am convinced that” from the beginning of any claim, what you lose in personal conviction you gain in concision and directness by keeping the focus on the main idea in a main clause.

Using the First-Person “I”: Three Professors Speak

Are there cases when you should use “I”? Contrary to the general rule, some professors actually prefer the first-person pronoun in particular contexts, as noted in the accompanying Voices from Across the Curriculum. It is a general rule, however, in the formal products of science and social science writing, to avoid personal pronouns. (See Chapter 15, Forms and Formats Across the Curriculum.)

Voices From Across the Curriculum

Avoid phrases like “The author believes (or will discuss).” Except in the paper’s abstract, “I believe (or will discuss)” is okay, and oft en best.

—Alan Tjeltveit, Professor of Psychology

I prefer that personal opinion or voice (for example, “I this” or “I that”) appear throughout. I like the first person. No “the author feels” or “this author found that,” please! Who is the author? Hey, it’s you!

—Frederick Norling, Professor of Business

The biggest stylistic problem is that students tend to be too personal or colloquial in their writing, using phrases such as the following: “Scientists all agree,” “I find it amazing that,” “The thing that I find most interesting.” Students are urged to present data and existing information in their own words, but in an objective way. My preference in writing is to use the active voice in the past tense. I feel this is the most direct and least wordy approach: “I asked this,” “I found out that,” “These data show.”

—Richard Niesenbaum, Professor of Biology

Note that these are not blanket endorsements; they specify a limited context within which “I” is preferred. The biology professor’s cautioning against using an overly personal and colloquial tone is also probably the consensus view.

Although a majority of professors may prefer the first-person “I think” to the more awkward “the writer (or ‘one’) thinks,” we would point out that, in the service of reducing wordiness, you can often avoid both options. For example, in certain contexts and disciplines, the first-person-plural, we, is acceptable usage: “The president’s speech assumes that we are all dutiful but disgruntled taxpayers.” The one case in which the first person is particularly appropriate occurs when you are citing