Ex Post Facto

We historians usually avoid using the first person “I” or “we” in our formal writing. We do so for the very good reason that the first person pronoun so often distracts the reader (and the writer) from the historical issues at hand.

More specifically:

There is no need to repeatedly state “I think” or “I argue” in a historical essay. You can simply state your points directly and concisely. The fact that you are the author implies that you believe what you are writing.

Historians generally strive to inhabit and represent the (often very alien) points of view of people from the past. We recognize that we cannot achieve objectivity, but we nevertheless need to make every effort to avoid conflating our own assumptions and values with those of other people from distant times and places. Avoiding the first person often plays a role in achieving this disciplined perspective.

The first person plural “we,” which I am using appropriately in this post, should also be avoided in most cases. For instance, it confuses the historical issue to say that “we” invented a new form of republican government (in the 1780s) or to say that “we” liberated African American slaves (in the 1860s). The fact is that “we” also opposed the American Revolution and “we” fought to expand and preserve slavery. The “we” — in all of these contexts — is so imprecise as to be meaningless.

Developing writers frequently lapse into the first person when they are struggling to articulate a main point or to create a transition. In such cases, the first person “I” is literally an evasion of the writing challenge at hand.

None of this is to say that you should never use the first person in a historical essay. Historians do routinely use the first person in prefaces and introductions when they are discussing why and how they did their research. Furthermore, historians do sometimes need to write about personal experiences. The first person should be reserved for such special occasions, rather than interjected into analyses of the far removed past.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 25th, 2007 at 7:48 pm and is filed under Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

One Response to “The First Person Distraction”

Cal Rastall Says:
March 22nd, 2007 at 7:26 pm
back in the greatest city in the world, aka baraboo, aka the motherland, it was taught at a tender age that using personalized words such as the pronouns of “I” and “me” is to be off limits as it would usher to the reader that the writer is either a)uncivilized b)not professional or most importantly c) a twit. we barabooians, okay me, take writing formal papers seriously (cough) at least in terms of writing poetically and milking the english language for all it has to offer. i cant remember using the last time i used the word “got.” but that is straying from off topic. the post speaks truth, a well delivered report can stand without the writer chiming in what he/she thinks. that should be implied that the piece written upon is written with a certain perspective and that should that of the writer.

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The First Person Distraction

One Response to “The First Person Distraction”

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