Converting Ideas to Third Person for College Level Writing by Professor Adri-anne Jones

In most instances, college freshmen enter college knowing how to write their ideas in first person, I and second person, you but have had little if any experience with third person writing. Therefore, many first-year college students are not prepared to write the typical academic essay and research paper. For the most part, the purpose of writing in the academic environment is to inform, to report, and to persuade. Therefore, the writing style is expected to be formal since students will be engaged in writing research papers, essays, book reports, critiques, proposals, and responses to literary writings. In these formal and academic writing situations—in most cases—the focus is on the subject and not the writer. Therefore, it is crucial that college freshmen learn to master third person writing before they complete their course requirements for freshman composition.

Even though argument and persuasive writing is based on the writer’s personal opinion or position on an issue, the writer’s opinion is most often presented in third person. Rather than to write I think . . . or I believe . . . or I feel . . ., the writer should simply state his or her opinion without making a first person reference. For example, the academic writer should avoid such statements like I feel that the restoration of prayer in public schools could likely remedy the lack of discipline in classrooms. Instead, the writer should simply state his personal opinion to third person: The restoration of prayer in public schools could likely remedy the lack of discipline in classrooms.

The usage of second person reference pronouns (you, your, yours) should be avoided in academic writing as well. However, these references are admissible if the writer is quoting a source. Second