Writer Visibility: Use of Personal Pronouns, Passive & 'Proxy' Nouns

In academic writing, writers use three common approaches to refer to themselves. The decision about which style one uses, or whether one can combine styles, may be a personal one or it may be dictated by the conventions of your discipline. The three common language patterns for writers to refer to themselves, or their work, are:

  • Personal Pronouns (e.g. 'I', 'me', 'my', 'we'):

    • The use of personal pronoun 'I' is used more prevalently in the Social Sciences and Humanities than in the Natural Sciences. The plural 'we' (referring to co-writers or members of a lab) is, however, commonly used in the the MSD and MPLS divisions. In some departments, it is not conventional to use specific personal pronouns (such as 'I'), as it is thought to make the writing sound too speculative.

  • Impersonal, or 'Proxy', Nouns (e.g. 'this study', 'the following discussion', 'the table above'):

    • Proxy nouns are used in all disciplines and strike a good balance between personal pronouns and passive constructions. Put another way, personal pronouns clearly define ownership of academic output (e.g. that an idea belongs to the writer, or work was carried out by the writer), while passive constructions sound sufficiently professional or academic in tone. Proxy nouns do both of these by clearly articulating ownership while not adversely impacting the tone, or register, of the writing. 

  • Passive Voice (e.g. 'the sample was prepared', 'the research was carried out'):

    • Passive voice removes the 'agent' (i.e. noun doing the verb) from the sentence. This effectively anonymises the sentence, so that it is not overtly stated who or what is doing the action. While this can have obvious drawbacks, passive constructions allow the writer to maintain a formal (or 'academic') register while discussing the writer's output (e.g. interpretations, work carried out). 

Depending on the typical writing style in your department, writers will typically use personal pronouns and proxy nouns, or passive constructions and proxy nouns.  

Oxford Examples

Please follow the links below examples of how these three approaches are applied in texts written by Oxford students, and the limitations of each approach:

Personal Pronouns, Passive & Impersonal Nouns

Personal Pronouns, Passive & Impersonal Nouns Conventions