I've been getting this question a lot from the students and I wanted to share my thoughts on it. Throughout college and graduate school my professors always allowed for the use of "I" in papers - everything from my most difficult literary papers, to the more personal response papers. It seems that academia has moved to a place where the student voice is respected and acknowledged, and I think that is the most important thing to learn about writing. When I realized that my English papers could actually be about what I thought was important or interesting in a text, my writing improved immensely and my grades soared; the study of literature became less mysterious and more manageable.
Putting a distance between yourself and the paper you are writing sometimes results in writing that sounds forced or unnatural. It is my goal to make student writing feel more natural, and as a result, important to student and teacher alike.
That is why in my class I allow for the use of "I" in writing.
Check out this link to the writing center at Dartmouth College. Here is what they have to say about using the word "I" in an academic paper:
Watch your personal pronouns. Students often wonder if it's OK to use the pronouns "I" and "you" in a paper. In fact, it is OK - provided you use them with care. Overusing the "I" might make the reader feel that the paper was overly subjective. In fact, when a writer too often invokes himself in the first person, he may be doing so to avoid offering proof: "It's my own personal opinion, and I have a right to it. I don't have to defend it." But of course, he does.
Here is another link to an article on the same subject by Rebecca Feldbusch, for the National Writing Project. Seeing Academic Writing with a New “I”
Advice from University Writing Centers:
The University of North Carolina Writing Center: "Should I Use 'I'?"
Duke University: "Because I Said So: Effective Use of the First-Person Perspective and the Personal Voice in Academic Writing"
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