AVOID USING PERSONAL LANGUAGE AND WRITE IN A MORE ACADEMIC STYLE

1. Sometimes it is just a matter of eliminating the personal language .

Example: I think Ned Kelly relied on his Irish heritage to gain local sympathy.
Corrected: Ned Kelly relied on his Irish heritage to gain local sympathy.

2. DO NOT refer to what you think; refer instead to what the evidence suggests.
How to avoid using personal language

AVOID using personal judgement words USE words referring to the evidence
I think From examining the findings,
I feel In light of the evidence,
I believe From previous research,
I am convinced that Considering the results,
I disliked According to the figures,
I liked As shown in the diagram,
I agree It is evident from the data that
I disagree The literature suggests
I am sure that Given this information,
It is my belief that Some theorists argue that

3. Use the 3rd person or 'It' constructions

It could be argued that It has been suggested that
It can be seen that It appears that
It was found that It is generally agreed that
It could be concluded that It seems that
It tends to be It is widely accepted that
It is doubtful that It is evident from the data that

4. Use the passive voice

The passive voice should be used in academic writing when the 'doer' of the action in a sentence is
unknown or irrelevant to the discussion. Passive sentence construction emphasises the events and
processes the sentence is describing.

Active
We cut a segment of the apple
and placed it in agar solution.

Passive
A segment of the apple was
Personal pronouns are avoided
cut and placed in agar solution. The passive verb includes the
when using the passive voice;
past participle of the verb 'to
focus moves off 'doer' and
Active be'
onto the action.
Our loggers transport the
offcuts to the waste station.

Passive
The offcuts are transported to
the waste station.