: Re: Is using first person in academic/technical essays always bad? For as long as I can remember, my teachers have taught me never to use first person in an essay. Yet, some of the examples

@Carla500

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This depends on your style guide and potentially your teacher/school/boss/etc.'s guidelines. If your teacher (for example) says to avoid using the first person you may be able to negotiate to change their position, but ultimately they are the ones evaluating your work so you need to follow their rules.

None of the three major American style guides forbids using first person.

This is what the APA Blog has to say about the first person:

I am often asked why APA Style prohibits the use of I or we. I love this question, because the answer is always a pleasant surprise: I or we is perfectly acceptable in APA Style! In fact, the Publication Manual actually recommends using first person, when appropriate, to avoid ambiguity.

(Another APA blog post also addresses this issue.)

According to a Q&A on the CMOS website, the CMOS says this:

Please see CMOS 5.220, s.v. I; me: “When you need the first person, use it. It’s not immodest to use it; it’s superstitious not to.”

Another Q&A on their site says:

Avoiding the first person used to be considered proper, but now it’s considered very formal, if not old-fashioned. It’s not a question of correctness, however; both styles are correct. If you feel strongly that the first person is out of place in your work, don’t use it.

MLA, on their webpage, says:

Let the first-person singular be, instead, a tool that you take out when you think it’s needed and that you leave in the toolbox when you think it’s not.

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