It’s best to avoid personal pronouns when engaged in persuasive writing. Saying I believe is not persuasive enough. It’s also important to avoid the use of you when writing a research paper, since that form of expression is usually implemented when providing instructions or addressing the reader directly.

You can use first-person pronouns in your essays, but you probably shouldn’t. But like I said, it’s complicated. My sense is that teachers usually tell their students to avoid “I” or “me” (or “we,” “us,” “my,” and “our”) because these pronouns are often used poorly.

Informal English Phrases

1. “In my opinion, + [your sentence]”
2. “I believe that + [your sentence]”
3. “In my mind, + [your sentence]”
4. “It would seem that + [your sentence]”
5. “It could be argued that + [your sentence]”
6. “This suggests that + [your sentence]”
7. “This proves that + [your sentence]”

Indeed, “I” and “we” are acceptable in most scientific fields to compare an author’s works with other researchers’ publications. The APA encourages using personal pronouns for this context.

First, Second, and Third Person Pronouns

That is, we use pronouns such as “I” and “we”. This is acceptable when writing personal information, a journal, or a book. However, it is not common in academic writing. Since second person is avoided while writing in academic or scientific papers,the main confusion remains within first or third person.

Most academic papers (Exposition, Persuasion, and Research Papers) should generally be written in third person, referring to other authors and researchers from credible and academic sources to support your argument rather than stating your own personal experiences.

How to avoid using personal language in scholarly writing.

1. Sometimes it is just a matter of eliminating the personal language1.
2. DO NOT refer to what you think; refer instead to what the evidence suggests.
3. Use the 3rd person or ‘It’ constructions2.
4. Use the passive voice3.

The second-person point of view belongs to the person (or people) being addressed. This is the “you” perspective. Once again, the biggest indicator of the second person is the use of second-person pronouns: you, your, yours, yourself, yourselves. You can wait in here and make yourself at home.

Point of view isn’t easy though, since there are so many to choose from: first person, third person limited, third person omniscient, second person.