: Re: Can I use the passive voice to avoid referring to myself in a scientific report? I'm writing a report for a piece of University coursework, but I understand that I should avoid referring to

@Candy753

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You've pretty much got the 3 choices. Use first person with active voice, use passive voice, or use 3rd person stating "the author" (or "the writer," "the researcher," etc).

I will say it depends on the field. I too was taught that only the latter two were acceptable (and mostly the passive voice one). But I've seen plenty of academic papers that use first person (mostly I've seen it in plural, but not entirely). As long as it's done sparingly and very professionally, it can work. But it really depends on what your peers have done.

In your case, it depends on what your professor thinks is okay. You can always ask!

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