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Side comment: the author is using first person in his paper, which is slightly odd. I know he is the only author, but would it be more suitable to use some othe
by haddr 10y ago
Side comment: the author is using first person in his paper, which is slightly odd. I know he is the only author, but would it be more suitable to use some other form?
- KZeillmann 10y agoI often find it more distracting when people avoid the first person than when they use it. If it makes sense, why not use it?
- ethan_g 10y agoTo be clear, "we" is first person, plural. I take it your comment and gp to mean "I" by "first person" and not "we". Anyway, it's standard in scientific writing to use "we" instead of "I". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We#The_author.27s_.22we.22 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We#The_author.27s_.22we.22
- fragsworth 10y agoIt is also a very subtle way to make it sound more credible, because it gives the reader a sense that multiple people did the work.
- jkot 10y agoOr it was written by king :-) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_we https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_we
- grondilu 10y agoOn the other hand it can also some kind of proof of honesty and transparency. "Hey, I did that work alone, which is slightly odd, but hey at least I'm not hiding this fact." I agree with haddr above. People should not be ashamed of using "I" instead of "we" when it's relevant.
- dekhn 10y agoFor single author papers, I see many papers that switch from "we" to "I". We are probably observing a trend in the process.
- CuriouslyC 10y agoI actually had a professor in graduate school who won multiple awards for his papers. His advice to us was: * Write in first person * Use the active rather than passive voice * Structure papers in narrative form