TCE Moodle About Using First Person
Yes, I agree. I don't know how many times I have heard the word "I" and the question, can we use "I" in this paper. But I have only ever heard this question from high school students (perhaps because of my lack of teaching experience in college). I am surprised I haven't come across this question as a tutor, because it is such a common one. I will say that "I" is a little overused in highschool writings. Students, being adolescents, tend to be ego-centric and base all of their ideologies and conclusions on what their opinions and experiences are. "I believe" or "I think" typically weaken a work, but there is nothing wrong with I. It is just a matter of the verb that follows. I concur...I challenge... etc. I would tell students to take out the word you all together. There is nothing worse than hearing someone preach at "you" like you, the reader, are really just the general person you, as in most people. Unless used as a stylistic device, "you" should be avoided and "I" should be discussed as more of a content issue than a style issue. Is the paper about you? No- then the I should be used sparingly, because it is the content and the thoughts, not the subject of the sentence that is important. Obviously, I is essential in personal narrative. I may do the personal narrative assignment in the third person, and mix it up. It is strange to talk of oneself in the third person, but also a means to think outside of oneself and a particular or narrow world view. To watch oneself as a character in a story is much more enlightening than a reporting of events, and it also helps people stay in the present moment of the story (instead of just telling a synopsis).
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