(no subject)

[labellementeuse]

Hi folks! Question: how do we feel about the use of "I" in humanities papers? Someone (not a prof) has just read an essay for me and edited out every use of the first person. I understand that this is a valid response, but I personally find it frustrating. I think the passive voice is awkward, takes the life out of a text, and furthermore find it a dishonest attempt to obscure the context of the piece and its origin*; I find structures like "The rest of this essay will explore A, B, and C" idiotic. I have read plenty of articles that use "I" in the same way I do. Is this one of those "Do as I say not as I do until you have a PhD and tenure" things? I know it can be used badly, and sometimes I do (and then try to catch it on an editing pass), but I don't think every use of it ever is bad.

*This, if you were wondering, is What Is Wrong With Science Today.

Comments

[jo-nzl.livejournal.com]

I'm essentially in agreement with you here, especially about obscuring the origin of a piece. There is an author behind our essays, we all know this; trying to hide that fact seems to me a little silly. To me a lot of this ties into my general literary-critical leaning; I have a large soft spot for pomo, feminist stuff. It becomes an ideological issue at a certain point.

Of course, those who are marking your essays will all have their own opinions on the issue. Some of them will be vehemently against it, mostly because a lot of students really don't do it right (I have read a lot of undergrad writing making banal "I feel that..." or "I think that..." comments). But at a postgraduate level, as a signposting of argument, based on a lot of scholarly reading which has shown you how it is done, I don't see how a marker could really object to it.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Yep, I think we totally agree. I guess I'll find out if he has a problem, because it's in now and I didn't change it. :P