3

I decided to use first person ("we") and active voice as the primary style of writing my dissertation in the domain of Computer Science. I have read some discussions about this topic and the people generally agree that we have to be consistent.

Nonetheless I also noticed that are some instances in which the passive voice seems to be a better fit, like when I want to emphasize the action rather than the actor or when I don't know who is the actor (or it doesn't matter).

It seems hard to me in those situations to force the use of active voice (maybe because English is not my first language). To what degree should I force the use of active voice? Are there some guidelines regarding this topic?

Renato Sanhueza
  • 277
  • 4
  • 10
  • Relevant: http://www.lel.ed.ac.uk/~gpullum/passive_loathing.pdf – Mark Meckes Mar 05 '18 at 20:33
  • The guidelines proposed by the University of Toronto also make sense to me. http://advice.writing.utoronto.ca/revising/passive-voice/ – Renato Sanhueza Mar 05 '18 at 21:46
  • In general, one should not be a slave to style rules; clarity comes first, then fluidity and variety, I think. I hope you are working with your campus writing center. – aparente001 Mar 06 '18 at 01:45
  • @aparente001 Thanks for the advice. To my knowledge we don't have a writing center. – Renato Sanhueza Mar 06 '18 at 04:48
  • Also, only use "we" if there are multiple authors. If you are the sole author of your dissertation, then the use of the pluralis maiestatis is a bit too pretentious. – Maarten Buis Mar 06 '18 at 08:49
  • @MaartenBuis It clearly have some advantages and disadvantages, But what are the alternatives? Using "I"?. My idea is to use primarily "we" and only use "I" when I have to empathize that is my opinion or my personal conclusion about something. The other alternative is to use third person... – Renato Sanhueza Mar 06 '18 at 15:52
  • "We" is simply wrong if one person is speaking. What I hate about it is that it tries spread out responsibility for that statement over multiple imaginary persons. If you make a statement, you should take full responsibility for it. You should not hide behind non-existing persons. I am not strict about style, but if I get a paper with "we" in it, I will sent it back immediately. So to answer your question: yes, the alternative is definitely "I". – Maarten Buis Mar 06 '18 at 15:58
  • @MaartenBuis I understand. It makes sense, but sadly there is no consensus about anything regarding writing style. So I fear that regardless the choice I make there always be somebody that will disapprove my decisions. – Renato Sanhueza Mar 06 '18 at 16:11
  • Sure, but that does not mean that all choices are equal. If you want to write a professional scientific piece, you cannot use we for a single authored piece. – Maarten Buis Mar 06 '18 at 18:23
  • 1
    @MaartenBuis Do you have a source to backup that claim? So far I only found different opinions which quality is difficult to quantify. For example in https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/5512/87156 defend your style, but so there are similar posts that say otherwise. – Renato Sanhueza Mar 06 '18 at 18:37
  • Another possibility would be to use the third person, "the author." Old-fashioned, quaint, elegant. I mean, if you are really uncomfortable with "I" -- which to me sounds just perfect for what you're doing. I suggest you reconsider -- try writing a few paragraphs that way and sleep on it. – aparente001 Mar 06 '18 at 18:38
  • In a scientific text it has to be absolutely clear who makes what statement. Unlike other texts there is no room for a "creative" way of handeling the truth. If you make a statement, and refer to it as "we", then you are lying, and lying is bad. – Maarten Buis Mar 06 '18 at 19:25
  • 1
    I decided to follow the approach proposed by @aparente001. I will try to apply the guidelines of https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/5512/87156 (regarding first person usage) and see what happens. – Renato Sanhueza Mar 06 '18 at 19:46
  • 1
    @RenatoSanhueza - Happy writing! The beauty of modern word processing is that you can easily make a sweeping edit. – aparente001 Mar 06 '18 at 21:28
  • I don't think there's anything wrong with "we" in a single-authored paper, especially if it can be understood as referring to the author and the reader, as in "comparing theorems 2 and 7, we find that ...". I'd avoid "we" only in cases where it can only mean "I", as in "In previous work, we and our co-authors proved ...". Returning to the actual question, I wouldn't "force" any stylistic decisions like active versus passive. Write whatever makes your ideas clear. – Andreas Blass Mar 07 '18 at 04:39

1 Answers1

7

The goal of style guides is to give suggestions for how to write well. These are guidelines and suggestions, not immutable rules. Once you understand what the base suggestions are, and why they’re there, you can begin to understand when not to apply them. As you said, if you don’t know who the “actor” is, an active-voice sentence becomes more difficult to make clear without sounding stilted.

(I’ve tried writing a paper entirely in active voice when I was still a student. I wasn’t particularly thrilled with the results.)

aeismail
  • 173,481
  • 34
  • 418
  • 736
  • This. Never let style guides obstruct clarity. There are occasions where passive voice is appropriate and desirable. – Fomite Mar 07 '18 at 06:09