The ability to write academic papers using the right voice is a vital skill that students acquire after a long during the course of their studies considering that academic writing can pose to be challenging endeavour that requires students to understand that it may take time for them to master. Academic writing can be referred to as the formal type of writing used by scholars for assessed work as it expresses knowledge, and in terms of assessment, interaction, and comprehension of the topic. Learning to write correctly in academic writing requires that an individual reads plenty of journals articles so that he or she can see or develop a better sense of what entails academic writing, in addition to the style of writing that is mostly used. Generally, most articles and papers in academic writing a written using second or third person voice with the example of the article on 21St Century Skills: Social and Cultural Police AND Detectives by Lazaros that s written in the third voice among many others.
It has been a struggle for most academic writers regarding the manner in which to integrate the effective use of first person voice to academic work considering that most of them have been discouraged from using personal voice by their tutors. However, in some situations, using of first person in academic writing may help to strengthen one’s writing which may refer to many things than simply identifying oneself. The use of first voice in academic writing can imply the use of language that appears naturally; hence, helping a scholar to effectively express personal ideas regarding a topic considering that writing while excluding personal statements may lead to less compelling arguments. Moreover, failure of using first person in academic writing may indicate lack of ownership of the ideas being presented that is vital to the success of academic papers because the main aim of such papers is to attain a balance between showing a personal investment on a topic while at the same time observing a sense of objectivity. Therefore, scholars not only need to follow the rules of first-voice references but also ask themselves what their personal investment on the academic writing is and the determiner on whether to include the first voice in academic papers needs to be addressed based on such a wide context. Academic scholars needs to be aware that the use of first voice can greatly offer strength to an academic paper especially when it us used selectively and carefully; hence, on should not be discouraged on the use.
In conclusion, the use of first voice in academic writing has simple been discouraged without consideration with the reason that eradicating it will allow scholars to address topic with objectivity, but scholars like Gesa believe that it only served to silence the minority in the community like women (382). However, rhetorical instances in academic writing may require the use of first voice selectively as a way of strengthening the argument and making it more direct, convincing, and alive but one must first ask himself whether the use of first voice will offer increase support for the argument. Additionally, personal voice may be in the introductory part of an academic paper to serve as a hook of drawing readers into the argument but in most instances, it may appear after showing a scholarly approach to a topic.
Works Cited
Kirsch, Gesa. “The Politics of I-Dropping.” College Composition and Communication 45:3 (Oct 1994): 381-383. Print.
Lazaros, Edward J. "21St Century Skills: Social and Cultural Police AND Detectives." Children's Technology & Engineering 20.3 (2016): 7-9. Print.
