{"id":105,"date":"2018-05-31T10:54:21","date_gmt":"2018-05-31T10:54:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/sunycorning1020elec201819\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=105"},"modified":"2018-05-31T10:54:21","modified_gmt":"2018-05-31T10:54:21","slug":"should-i-use-i","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/sunycorning1020elec201819\/chapter\/should-i-use-i\/","title":{"raw":"Should I Use \"I\"?","rendered":"Should I Use &#8220;I&#8221;?"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"page-header\">\r\n<h1>Should I Use \u201cI\u201d?<\/h1>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h2>What this handout is about<\/h2>\r\nThis handout is about determining when to use first person pronouns (\u201cI\u201d, \u201cwe,\u201d \u201cme,\u201d \u201cus,\u201d \u201cmy,\u201d and \u201cour\u201d) and personal experience in academic writing. \u201cFirst person\u201d and \u201cpersonal experience\u201d might sound like two ways of saying the same thing, but first person and personal experience can work in very different ways in your writing. You might choose to use \u201cI\u201d but not make any reference to your individual experiences in a particular paper. Or you might include a brief description of an experience that could help illustrate a point you\u2019re making without ever using the word \u201cI.\u201d So whether or not you should use first person and personal experience are really two separate questions, both of which this handout addresses. It also offers some alternatives if you decide that either \u201cI\u201d or personal experience isn\u2019t appropriate for your project. If you\u2019ve decided that you do want to use one of them, this handout offers some ideas about how to do so effectively, because in many cases using one or the other might strengthen your writing.\r\n<h2>Expectations about academic writing<\/h2>\r\nStudents often arrive at college with strict lists of writing rules in mind.\u00a0<strong>Often these are rather strict lists of absolutes, including rules both stated and unstated:<\/strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Each essay should have exactly five paragraphs.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Don\u2019t begin a sentence with \u201cand\u201d or \u201cbecause.\u201d<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Never include personal opinion.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Never use \u201cI\u201d in essays.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nWe get these ideas primarily from teachers and other students. Often these ideas are derived from good advice but have been turned into unnecessarily strict rules in our minds. The problem is that overly strict rules about writing can prevent us, as writers, from being flexible enough to learn to adapt to the writing styles of different fields, ranging from the sciences to the humanities, and different kinds of writing projects, ranging from reviews to research.\r\n\r\nSo when it suits your purpose as a scholar, you will probably need to break some of the old rules, particularly the rules that prohibit first person pronouns and personal experience. Although there are certainly some instructors who think that these rules should be followed (so it is a good idea to ask directly), many instructors in all kinds of fields are finding reason to depart from these rules. Avoiding \u201cI\u201d can lead to awkwardness and vagueness, whereas using it in your writing can improve style and clarity. Using personal experience, when relevant, can add concreteness and even authority to writing that might otherwise be vague and impersonal.\r\nBecause college writing situations vary widely in terms of stylistic conventions, tone, audience, and purpose, the trick is deciphering the conventions of your writing context and determining how your purpose and audience affect the way you write. The rest of this handout is devoted to strategies for figuring out when to use \u201cI\u201d and personal experience.\r\n<h2>Effective uses of \u201cI\u201d:<\/h2>\r\n<strong>In many cases, using the first person pronoun can improve your writing, by offering the following benefits:<\/strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Assertiveness:<\/strong>\u00a0In some cases you might wish to emphasize agency (who is doing what), as for instance if you need to point out how valuable your particular project is to an academic discipline or to claim your unique perspective or argument.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Clarity:<\/strong>\u00a0Because trying to avoid the first person can lead to awkward constructions and vagueness, using the first person can improve your writing style.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Positioning yourself in the essay:<\/strong>\u00a0In some projects, you need to explain how your research or ideas build on or depart from the work of others, in which case you\u2019ll need to say \u201cI,\u201d \u201cwe,\u201d \u201cmy,\u201d or \u201cour\u201d; if you wish to claim some kind of authority on the topic, first person may help you do so.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h2>Deciding whether \u201cI\u201d will help your style<\/h2>\r\nHere is an example of how using the first person can make the writing clearer and more assertive:\r\n\r\nOriginal example:\r\n<ul>In studying American popular culture of the 1980s, the question of to what degree materialism was a major characteristic of the cultural milieu was explored.<\/ul>\r\nBetter example using first person:\r\n<ul>In our study of American popular culture of the 1980s, we explored the degree to which materialism characterized the cultural milieu.<\/ul>\r\nThe original example sounds less emphatic and direct than the revised version; using \u201cI\u201d allows the writers to avoid the convoluted construction of the original and clarifies who did what.\r\n\r\nHere is an example in which alternatives to the first person would be more appropriate:\r\n\r\nOriginal example:\r\n<ul>As I observed the communication styles of first-year Carolina women, I noticed frequent use of non-verbal cues.<\/ul>\r\nBetter example:\r\n<ul>A study of the communication styles of first-year Carolina women revealed frequent use of non-verbal cues.<\/ul>\r\nIn the original example, using the first person grounds the experience heavily in the writer\u2019s subjective, individual perspective, but the writer\u2019s purpose is to describe a phenomenon that is in fact objective or independent of that perspective. Avoiding the first person here creates the desired impression of an observed phenomenon that could be reproduced and also creates a stronger, clearer statement.\r\n\r\nHere\u2019s another example in which an alternative to first person works better:\r\n\r\nOriginal example:\r\n<ul>As I was reading this study of medieval village life, I noticed that social class tended to be clearly defined.<\/ul>\r\nBetter example:\r\n<ul>This study of medieval village life reveals that social class tended to be clearly defined.<\/ul>\r\nAlthough you may run across instructors who find the casual style of the original example refreshing, they are probably rare. The revised version sounds more academic and renders the statement more assertive and direct.\r\n\r\nHere\u2019s a final example:\r\n\r\nOriginal example:\r\n<ul>I think that Aristotle\u2019s ethical arguments are logical and readily applicable to contemporary cases, or at least it seems that way to me.<\/ul>\r\nBetter example\r\n<ul>Aristotle\u2019s ethical arguments are logical and readily applicable to contemporary cases.<\/ul>\r\nIn this example, there is no real need to announce that that statement about Aristotle is your thought; this is your paper, so readers will assume that the ideas in it are yours.\r\n<h2>Determining whether to use \u201cI\u201d according to the conventions of the academic field<\/h2>\r\nWhich fields allow \u201cI\u201d?\r\n\r\nThe rules for this are changing, so it\u2019s always best to ask your instructor if you\u2019re not sure about using first person. But here are some general guidelines.\r\n\r\n<strong>Sciences:<\/strong>\u00a0In the past, scientific writers avoided the use of \u201cI\u201d because scientists often view the first person as interfering with the impression of objectivity and impersonality they are seeking to create. But conventions seem to be changing in some cases\u2014for instance, when a scientific writer is describing a project she is working on or positioning that project within the existing research on the topic. Check with your science instructor to find out whether it\u2019s o.k. to use \u201cI\u201d in his\/her class.\r\n\r\n<strong>Social Sciences:<\/strong>\u00a0Some social scientists try to avoid \u201cI\u201d for the same reasons that other scientists do. But first person is becoming more commonly accepted, especially when the writer is describing his\/her project or perspective.\r\n\r\n<strong>Humanities:<\/strong>\u00a0Ask your instructor whether you should use \u201cI.\u201d The purpose of writing in the humanities is generally to offer your own analysis of language, ideas, or a work of art. Writers in these fields tend to value assertiveness and to emphasize agency (who\u2019s doing what), so the first person is often\u2014but not always\u2014appropriate. Sometimes writers use the first person in a less effective way, preceding an assertion with \u201cI think,\u201d \u201cI feel,\u201d or \u201cI believe\u201d as if such a phrase could replace a real defense of an argument. While your audience is generally interested in your perspective in the humanities fields, readers do expect you to fully argue, support, and illustrate your assertions. Personal belief or opinion is generally not sufficient in itself; you will need evidence of some kind to convince your reader.\r\n\r\n<strong>Other writing situations:<\/strong>\u00a0If you\u2019re writing a speech, use of the first and even the second person (\u201cyou\u201d) is generally encouraged because these personal pronouns can create a desirable sense of connection between speaker and listener and can contribute to the sense that the speaker is sincere and involved in the issue. If you\u2019re writing a resume, though, avoid the first person; describe your experience, education, and skills without using a personal pronoun (for example, under \u201cExperience\u201d you might write \u201cVolunteered as a peer counselor\u201d).\r\n\r\n<strong>A note on the second person \u201cyou\u201d:<\/strong>\r\n\r\nIn situations where your intention is to sound conversational and friendly because it suits your purpose, as it does in this handout intended to offer helpful advice, or in a letter or speech, \u201cyou\u201d might help to create just the sense of familiarity you\u2019re after. But in most academic writing situations, \u201cyou\u201d sounds overly conversational, as for instance in a claim like \u201cwhen you read the poem \u2018The Wasteland,\u2019 you feel a sense of emptiness.\u201d In this case, the \u201cyou\u201d sounds overly conversational. The statement would read better as \u201cThe poem \u2018The Wasteland\u2019 creates a sense of emptiness.\u201d Academic writers almost always use alternatives to the second person pronoun, such as \u201cone,\u201d \u201cthe reader,\u201d or \u201cpeople.\u201d\r\n<h2>Personal experience in academic writing<\/h2>\r\nThe question of whether personal experience has a place in academic writing depends on context and purpose. In papers that seek to analyze an objective principle or data as in science papers, or in papers for a field that explicitly tries to minimize the effect of the researcher\u2019s presence such as anthropology, personal experience would probably distract from your purpose. But sometimes you might need to explicitly situate your position as researcher in relation to your subject of study. Or if your purpose is to present your individual response to a work of art, to offer examples of how an idea or theory might apply to life, or to use experience as evidence or a demonstration of an abstract principle, personal experience might have a legitimate role to play in your academic writing. Using personal experience effectively usually means keeping it in the service of your argument, as opposed to letting it become an end in itself or take over the paper.\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s also usually best to keep your real or hypothetical stories brief, but they can strengthen arguments in need of concrete illustrations or even just a little more vitality.\r\n\r\n<strong>Here are some examples of effective ways to incorporate personal experience in academic writing:<\/strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Anecdotes: In some cases, brief examples of experiences you\u2019ve had or witnessed may serve as useful illustrations of a point you\u2019re arguing or a theory you\u2019re evaluating. For instance, in philosophical arguments, writers often use a real or hypothetical situation to illustrate abstract ideas and principles.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>References to your own experience can explain your interest in an issue or even help to establish your authority on a topic.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Some specific writing situations, such as application essays, explicitly call for discussion of personal experience.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<strong>Here are some suggestions about including personal experience in writing for specific fields:<\/strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Philosophy:<\/strong>\u00a0In philosophical writing, your purpose is generally to reconstruct or evaluate an existing argument, and\/or to generate your own. Sometimes, doing this effectively may involve offering a hypothetical example or an illustration. In these cases, you might find that inventing or recounting a scenario that you\u2019ve experienced or witnessed could help demonstrate your point. Personal experience can play a very useful role in your philosophy papers, as long as you always explain to the reader how the experience is related to your argument. (See our handout on\u00a0<a title=\"Philosophy\" href=\"https:\/\/writingcenter.unc.edu\/tips-and-tools\/philosophy\/\">writing in philosophy<\/a>\u00a0for more information.)\r\n\r\n<strong>Religion:<\/strong>\u00a0Religion courses might seem like a place where personal experience would be welcomed. But most religion courses take a cultural, historical, or textual approach, and these generally require objectivity and impersonality. So although you probably have very strong beliefs or powerful experiences in this area that might motivate your interest in the field, they shouldn\u2019t supplant scholarly analysis. But ask your instructor, as it is possible that he or she is interested in your personal experiences with religion, especially in less formal assignments such as response papers. (See our handout on\u00a0<a title=\"Religious Studies\" href=\"https:\/\/writingcenter.unc.edu\/tips-and-tools\/religious-studies\/\">writing in religious studies<\/a>\u00a0for more information.)\r\n\r\n<strong>Literature, Music, Fine Arts, and Film:<\/strong>\u00a0Writing projects in these fields can sometimes benefit from the inclusion of personal experience, as long as it isn\u2019t tangential. For instance, your annoyance over your roommate\u2019s habits might not add much to an analysis of \u201cCitizen Kane.\u201d However, if you\u2019re writing about Ridley Scott\u2019s treatment of relationships between women in the movie \u201cThelma and Louise,\u201d some reference your own observations about these relationships might be relevant if it adds to your analysis of the film. Personal experience can be especially appropriate in a response paper, or in any kind of assignment that asks about your experience of the work as a reader or viewer. Some film and literature scholars are interested in how a film or literary text is received by different audiences, so a discussion of how a particular viewer or reader experiences or identifies with the piece would probably be appropriate. (See our handouts on\u00a0<a title=\"Literature (Fiction)\" href=\"https:\/\/writingcenter.unc.edu\/tips-and-tools\/literature-fiction\/\">writing about fiction<\/a>,\u00a0<a title=\"Art History\" href=\"https:\/\/writingcenter.unc.edu\/tips-and-tools\/art-history\/\">art history<\/a>, and\u00a0<a title=\"Drama\" href=\"https:\/\/writingcenter.unc.edu\/tips-and-tools\/drama\/\">drama<\/a>\u00a0for more information.)\r\n\r\n<strong>Women\u2019s Studies:<\/strong>\u00a0Women\u2019s Studies classes tend to be taught from a feminist perspective, a perspective which is generally interested in the ways in which individuals experience gender roles. So personal experience can often serve as evidence for your analytical and argumentative papers in this field. This field is also one in which you might be asked to keep a journal, a kind of writing that requires you to apply theoretical concepts to your experiences.\r\n\r\n<strong>History:<\/strong>\u00a0If you\u2019re analyzing a historical period or issue, personal experience is less likely to advance your purpose of objectivity. However, some kinds of historical scholarship do involve the exploration of personal histories. So although you might not be referencing your own experience, you might very well be discussing other people\u2019s experiences as illustrations of their historical contexts. (See our handout on\u00a0<a title=\"History\" href=\"https:\/\/writingcenter.unc.edu\/tips-and-tools\/history\/\">writing in history<\/a>\u00a0for more information.)\r\n\r\n<strong>Sciences:<\/strong>\u00a0Because the primary purpose is to study data and fixed principles in an objective way, personal experience is less likely to have a place in this kind of writing. Often, as in a lab report, your goal is to describe observations in such a way that a reader could duplicate the experiment, so the less extra information, the better. Of course, if you\u2019re working in the social sciences, case studies\u2014accounts of the personal experiences of other people\u2014are a crucial part of your scholarship. (See our handout on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/writingcenter.unc.edu\/tips-and-tools\/sciences\/\">writing in the sciences<\/a>\u00a0for more information.)","rendered":"<div class=\"page-header\">\n<h1>Should I Use \u201cI\u201d?<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<h2>What this handout is about<\/h2>\n<p>This handout is about determining when to use first person pronouns (\u201cI\u201d, \u201cwe,\u201d \u201cme,\u201d \u201cus,\u201d \u201cmy,\u201d and \u201cour\u201d) and personal experience in academic writing. \u201cFirst person\u201d and \u201cpersonal experience\u201d might sound like two ways of saying the same thing, but first person and personal experience can work in very different ways in your writing. You might choose to use \u201cI\u201d but not make any reference to your individual experiences in a particular paper. Or you might include a brief description of an experience that could help illustrate a point you\u2019re making without ever using the word \u201cI.\u201d So whether or not you should use first person and personal experience are really two separate questions, both of which this handout addresses. It also offers some alternatives if you decide that either \u201cI\u201d or personal experience isn\u2019t appropriate for your project. If you\u2019ve decided that you do want to use one of them, this handout offers some ideas about how to do so effectively, because in many cases using one or the other might strengthen your writing.<\/p>\n<h2>Expectations about academic writing<\/h2>\n<p>Students often arrive at college with strict lists of writing rules in mind.\u00a0<strong>Often these are rather strict lists of absolutes, including rules both stated and unstated:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Each essay should have exactly five paragraphs.<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t begin a sentence with \u201cand\u201d or \u201cbecause.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Never include personal opinion.<\/li>\n<li>Never use \u201cI\u201d in essays.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We get these ideas primarily from teachers and other students. Often these ideas are derived from good advice but have been turned into unnecessarily strict rules in our minds. The problem is that overly strict rules about writing can prevent us, as writers, from being flexible enough to learn to adapt to the writing styles of different fields, ranging from the sciences to the humanities, and different kinds of writing projects, ranging from reviews to research.<\/p>\n<p>So when it suits your purpose as a scholar, you will probably need to break some of the old rules, particularly the rules that prohibit first person pronouns and personal experience. Although there are certainly some instructors who think that these rules should be followed (so it is a good idea to ask directly), many instructors in all kinds of fields are finding reason to depart from these rules. Avoiding \u201cI\u201d can lead to awkwardness and vagueness, whereas using it in your writing can improve style and clarity. Using personal experience, when relevant, can add concreteness and even authority to writing that might otherwise be vague and impersonal.<br \/>\nBecause college writing situations vary widely in terms of stylistic conventions, tone, audience, and purpose, the trick is deciphering the conventions of your writing context and determining how your purpose and audience affect the way you write. The rest of this handout is devoted to strategies for figuring out when to use \u201cI\u201d and personal experience.<\/p>\n<h2>Effective uses of \u201cI\u201d:<\/h2>\n<p><strong>In many cases, using the first person pronoun can improve your writing, by offering the following benefits:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Assertiveness:<\/strong>\u00a0In some cases you might wish to emphasize agency (who is doing what), as for instance if you need to point out how valuable your particular project is to an academic discipline or to claim your unique perspective or argument.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Clarity:<\/strong>\u00a0Because trying to avoid the first person can lead to awkward constructions and vagueness, using the first person can improve your writing style.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Positioning yourself in the essay:<\/strong>\u00a0In some projects, you need to explain how your research or ideas build on or depart from the work of others, in which case you\u2019ll need to say \u201cI,\u201d \u201cwe,\u201d \u201cmy,\u201d or \u201cour\u201d; if you wish to claim some kind of authority on the topic, first person may help you do so.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Deciding whether \u201cI\u201d will help your style<\/h2>\n<p>Here is an example of how using the first person can make the writing clearer and more assertive:<\/p>\n<p>Original example:<\/p>\n<ul>                        <\/ul>\n<p>Better example using first person:<\/p>\n<ul>                    <\/ul>\n<p>The original example sounds less emphatic and direct than the revised version; using \u201cI\u201d allows the writers to avoid the convoluted construction of the original and clarifies who did what.<\/p>\n<p>Here is an example in which alternatives to the first person would be more appropriate:<\/p>\n<p>Original example:<\/p>\n<ul>                <\/ul>\n<p>Better example:<\/p>\n<ul>               <\/ul>\n<p>In the original example, using the first person grounds the experience heavily in the writer\u2019s subjective, individual perspective, but the writer\u2019s purpose is to describe a phenomenon that is in fact objective or independent of that perspective. Avoiding the first person here creates the desired impression of an observed phenomenon that could be reproduced and also creates a stronger, clearer statement.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s another example in which an alternative to first person works better:<\/p>\n<p>Original example:<\/p>\n<ul>                   <\/ul>\n<p>Better example:<\/p>\n<ul>              <\/ul>\n<p>Although you may run across instructors who find the casual style of the original example refreshing, they are probably rare. The revised version sounds more academic and renders the statement more assertive and direct.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a final example:<\/p>\n<p>Original example:<\/p>\n<ul>                      <\/ul>\n<p>Better example<\/p>\n<ul>          <\/ul>\n<p>In this example, there is no real need to announce that that statement about Aristotle is your thought; this is your paper, so readers will assume that the ideas in it are yours.<\/p>\n<h2>Determining whether to use \u201cI\u201d according to the conventions of the academic field<\/h2>\n<p>Which fields allow \u201cI\u201d?<\/p>\n<p>The rules for this are changing, so it\u2019s always best to ask your instructor if you\u2019re not sure about using first person. But here are some general guidelines.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sciences:<\/strong>\u00a0In the past, scientific writers avoided the use of \u201cI\u201d because scientists often view the first person as interfering with the impression of objectivity and impersonality they are seeking to create. But conventions seem to be changing in some cases\u2014for instance, when a scientific writer is describing a project she is working on or positioning that project within the existing research on the topic. Check with your science instructor to find out whether it\u2019s o.k. to use \u201cI\u201d in his\/her class.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Social Sciences:<\/strong>\u00a0Some social scientists try to avoid \u201cI\u201d for the same reasons that other scientists do. But first person is becoming more commonly accepted, especially when the writer is describing his\/her project or perspective.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Humanities:<\/strong>\u00a0Ask your instructor whether you should use \u201cI.\u201d The purpose of writing in the humanities is generally to offer your own analysis of language, ideas, or a work of art. Writers in these fields tend to value assertiveness and to emphasize agency (who\u2019s doing what), so the first person is often\u2014but not always\u2014appropriate. Sometimes writers use the first person in a less effective way, preceding an assertion with \u201cI think,\u201d \u201cI feel,\u201d or \u201cI believe\u201d as if such a phrase could replace a real defense of an argument. While your audience is generally interested in your perspective in the humanities fields, readers do expect you to fully argue, support, and illustrate your assertions. Personal belief or opinion is generally not sufficient in itself; you will need evidence of some kind to convince your reader.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Other writing situations:<\/strong>\u00a0If you\u2019re writing a speech, use of the first and even the second person (\u201cyou\u201d) is generally encouraged because these personal pronouns can create a desirable sense of connection between speaker and listener and can contribute to the sense that the speaker is sincere and involved in the issue. If you\u2019re writing a resume, though, avoid the first person; describe your experience, education, and skills without using a personal pronoun (for example, under \u201cExperience\u201d you might write \u201cVolunteered as a peer counselor\u201d).<\/p>\n<p><strong>A note on the second person \u201cyou\u201d:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In situations where your intention is to sound conversational and friendly because it suits your purpose, as it does in this handout intended to offer helpful advice, or in a letter or speech, \u201cyou\u201d might help to create just the sense of familiarity you\u2019re after. But in most academic writing situations, \u201cyou\u201d sounds overly conversational, as for instance in a claim like \u201cwhen you read the poem \u2018The Wasteland,\u2019 you feel a sense of emptiness.\u201d In this case, the \u201cyou\u201d sounds overly conversational. The statement would read better as \u201cThe poem \u2018The Wasteland\u2019 creates a sense of emptiness.\u201d Academic writers almost always use alternatives to the second person pronoun, such as \u201cone,\u201d \u201cthe reader,\u201d or \u201cpeople.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Personal experience in academic writing<\/h2>\n<p>The question of whether personal experience has a place in academic writing depends on context and purpose. In papers that seek to analyze an objective principle or data as in science papers, or in papers for a field that explicitly tries to minimize the effect of the researcher\u2019s presence such as anthropology, personal experience would probably distract from your purpose. But sometimes you might need to explicitly situate your position as researcher in relation to your subject of study. Or if your purpose is to present your individual response to a work of art, to offer examples of how an idea or theory might apply to life, or to use experience as evidence or a demonstration of an abstract principle, personal experience might have a legitimate role to play in your academic writing. Using personal experience effectively usually means keeping it in the service of your argument, as opposed to letting it become an end in itself or take over the paper.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also usually best to keep your real or hypothetical stories brief, but they can strengthen arguments in need of concrete illustrations or even just a little more vitality.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Here are some examples of effective ways to incorporate personal experience in academic writing:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Anecdotes: In some cases, brief examples of experiences you\u2019ve had or witnessed may serve as useful illustrations of a point you\u2019re arguing or a theory you\u2019re evaluating. For instance, in philosophical arguments, writers often use a real or hypothetical situation to illustrate abstract ideas and principles.<\/li>\n<li>References to your own experience can explain your interest in an issue or even help to establish your authority on a topic.<\/li>\n<li>Some specific writing situations, such as application essays, explicitly call for discussion of personal experience.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Here are some suggestions about including personal experience in writing for specific fields:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Philosophy:<\/strong>\u00a0In philosophical writing, your purpose is generally to reconstruct or evaluate an existing argument, and\/or to generate your own. Sometimes, doing this effectively may involve offering a hypothetical example or an illustration. In these cases, you might find that inventing or recounting a scenario that you\u2019ve experienced or witnessed could help demonstrate your point. Personal experience can play a very useful role in your philosophy papers, as long as you always explain to the reader how the experience is related to your argument. (See our handout on\u00a0<a title=\"Philosophy\" href=\"https:\/\/writingcenter.unc.edu\/tips-and-tools\/philosophy\/\">writing in philosophy<\/a>\u00a0for more information.)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Religion:<\/strong>\u00a0Religion courses might seem like a place where personal experience would be welcomed. But most religion courses take a cultural, historical, or textual approach, and these generally require objectivity and impersonality. So although you probably have very strong beliefs or powerful experiences in this area that might motivate your interest in the field, they shouldn\u2019t supplant scholarly analysis. But ask your instructor, as it is possible that he or she is interested in your personal experiences with religion, especially in less formal assignments such as response papers. (See our handout on\u00a0<a title=\"Religious Studies\" href=\"https:\/\/writingcenter.unc.edu\/tips-and-tools\/religious-studies\/\">writing in religious studies<\/a>\u00a0for more information.)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Literature, Music, Fine Arts, and Film:<\/strong>\u00a0Writing projects in these fields can sometimes benefit from the inclusion of personal experience, as long as it isn\u2019t tangential. For instance, your annoyance over your roommate\u2019s habits might not add much to an analysis of \u201cCitizen Kane.\u201d However, if you\u2019re writing about Ridley Scott\u2019s treatment of relationships between women in the movie \u201cThelma and Louise,\u201d some reference your own observations about these relationships might be relevant if it adds to your analysis of the film. Personal experience can be especially appropriate in a response paper, or in any kind of assignment that asks about your experience of the work as a reader or viewer. Some film and literature scholars are interested in how a film or literary text is received by different audiences, so a discussion of how a particular viewer or reader experiences or identifies with the piece would probably be appropriate. (See our handouts on\u00a0<a title=\"Literature (Fiction)\" href=\"https:\/\/writingcenter.unc.edu\/tips-and-tools\/literature-fiction\/\">writing about fiction<\/a>,\u00a0<a title=\"Art History\" href=\"https:\/\/writingcenter.unc.edu\/tips-and-tools\/art-history\/\">art history<\/a>, and\u00a0<a title=\"Drama\" href=\"https:\/\/writingcenter.unc.edu\/tips-and-tools\/drama\/\">drama<\/a>\u00a0for more information.)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Women\u2019s Studies:<\/strong>\u00a0Women\u2019s Studies classes tend to be taught from a feminist perspective, a perspective which is generally interested in the ways in which individuals experience gender roles. So personal experience can often serve as evidence for your analytical and argumentative papers in this field. This field is also one in which you might be asked to keep a journal, a kind of writing that requires you to apply theoretical concepts to your experiences.<\/p>\n<p><strong>History:<\/strong>\u00a0If you\u2019re analyzing a historical period or issue, personal experience is less likely to advance your purpose of objectivity. However, some kinds of historical scholarship do involve the exploration of personal histories. So although you might not be referencing your own experience, you might very well be discussing other people\u2019s experiences as illustrations of their historical contexts. (See our handout on\u00a0<a title=\"History\" href=\"https:\/\/writingcenter.unc.edu\/tips-and-tools\/history\/\">writing in history<\/a>\u00a0for more information.)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sciences:<\/strong>\u00a0Because the primary purpose is to study data and fixed principles in an objective way, personal experience is less likely to have a place in this kind of writing. Often, as in a lab report, your goal is to describe observations in such a way that a reader could duplicate the experiment, so the less extra information, the better. Of course, if you\u2019re working in the social sciences, case studies\u2014accounts of the personal experiences of other people\u2014are a crucial part of your scholarship. 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