Hello everybody! :)
My name is Chidem, and I appreciate this wonderful site of yours.
I am also one of the worrying undergraduate students who is supposed to write an essay for admission.
I am really very scared, your help will going to relieve me.
So, could you please answer:
Is using personal pronouns as "I, me" and using personal examples or talking about personal opinions and thoughts when writing an academic essay inappropriate and wrong?
Or Is it all okay?
Thank you, very much from now :) I will be waiting impatiently ...
I believe that using "I" is not incorrectly if it's asking for your opinion. But don't use it very often that it becomes repetitive. Try to incorporate your ideas. Look at this website to help you more, when to specifically use "I": unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/should_I_use_I.html
You can use "I" when talking about things that happened to you, things you did, and so on, but try to avoid redundant phrases such as "I believe," "in my opinion," etc. It is your essay, after all, so we assume that what you say in it is your opinion.
Know what I read recently? In Cresswell's (2008) Educational Research it says that first person is necessary for qualitative research because you have to disclose the writer's perspective, but for QUANTITATIVE work, you generally should write in the 3rd person to stay objective.
See how it depends on the purpose?
If you are an undergrad, it really depends on your teacher's instruction.
Thank you soooo much :)
