Will's Revised Topic Proposal

For the research project, I will focus on the writing construct of objectivity in articles written for an academic context. In English classes throughout high school and especially my undergraduate studies, I repeatedly heard that I must avoid using the first person in my papers. Phrases such as “I think” or “I believe” were strictly verboten. One of my professors often said that he simply didn’t care what we thought, only what we could argue based on evidence drawn from supporting texts. While I concede that such rules may force students to write stronger arguments and use more relevant quotations for evidence, nevertheless instructors ought to accept that “objectivity” in writing is a construct and a myth. Furthermore, I argue that if students consider this construct to be a fact about academic writing, then it may do more harm than good. Students following this rule may believe there is no room for their personalities and voices in formal writing assignments, and they may be more likely to find the academic articles we read and write to be boring. For evidence that objectivity is merely a construct and should not be strictly enforced, I will draw upon studies of the uses of first-person pronouns in professional academic writing, readings such as “All Writing is Autobiography” by Donald Murray, and Peter Elbow’s articles on voice in writing.