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Writing objectively: how to create an objective tone in academic English writing
Feb 24, 2024
Academic writing is generally impersonal and objective in tone. This video considers what objective writing is, how objective academic writing is, then presents five ways to make your writing more objective.
▬ Contents of this video ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
00:00 Intro
00:41 What is objective writing?
01:27 How objective is academic writing?
02:17 How to write objectively
02:39 Use passive
04:41 Focus on the evidence (findings, data, etc.)
05:20 Use evidence from sources
06:02 Use impersonal phrases ('It...' and 'There...')
07:24 Personify the writing ('This report has shown...')
08:07 Summary
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Video created using VideoScribe software [affiliate link]:
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For more information on this topic, see:
https://www.eapfoundation.com/writing/skills/passive/
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0:00
This video is brought to you by eapfoundation.com, the website for all your academic English
0:05
needs. In the video on what is academic writing, we looked at different features of academic
0:09
writing, namely that it is structured, evidenced, critical, precise, balanced, objective and
0:17
formal. This video will focus on just one of those aspects, namely objectivity in academic
0:23
writing. We'll look at three areas. First we'll answer the question, what is objective
0:28
writing? Then we'll consider how objective academic writing actually is. Then in the
0:33
main part of the video we'll see different ways to write objectively. First then, what
0:38
is objective writing? So objective writing places the emphasis on information and arguments
0:49
And it can be contrasted with subjective writing, which relates to personal feelings, personal
0:56
experience and therefore shows your personal biases. Since objective writing is the opposite
1:02
of personal writing, it's often described as impersonal writing. It tends to use third
1:07
person pronouns, it, he, she, they, them, unlike subjective writing which uses first
1:14
person pronouns, I, we, my, or sometimes second person pronouns, you and your. Next let's
1:23
consider how objective academic writing is. To some extent this depends on the discipline
1:34
If we're talking about natural sciences such as biology or chemistry or physics, objective
1:39
writing is essential. For these subjects the writer is seen as an impartial observer with
1:44
no emotional connection to what they're writing about. It's easy to be objective for these
1:49
subjects because they deal with quantitative data, in other words numbers. A more subjective
1:56
tone may be acceptable in some disciplines, especially naturalist research that seeks
2:01
to study things in their natural environment, for example by using case studies. Subjectivity
2:06
is of course essential for reflective writing, which is used increasingly as a form of assessment
2:11
at university. Finally let's take a look at how to write objectively. There are five
2:21
different ideas we'll consider here. First, use passive voice. Second, focus on the evidence
2:28
Third, use evidence from sources. Fourth, use impersonal phrases. And finally, personify
2:36
the writing. When people think about objective writing, the use of passive is normally the
2:42
first thing that comes to mind. This removes the actor from the sentence. Most expert academic
2:48
writers would agree that passive should not be overused. An active voice is preferred
2:53
wherever possible. However, sometimes this is unavoidable. For example, if you're writing
2:57
the method of a report, you'll normally need to use passive in order to avoid first person
3:02
pronouns. For example, rather than I conducted the experiment, we can make the experiment
3:08
the subject. The experiment was conducted. And that uses passive. In the second sentence
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we don't know who conducted the experiment. We assume it's the impartial observer. And
3:20
the focus therefore is very much the experiment itself. A second example, rather than I measured
3:26
the length of the string with a ruler, we make the length of the string the subject
3:31
The length of the string was measured using a ruler. So again, this is passive. And the
3:37
actor, the impartial observer, has been removed from the sentence. When studying passive for academic writing, it's useful to be aware of a special class
3:46
of verb called ergative verbs. These are used without the actor, but also without using
3:52
passive voice. Sometimes ergative is referred to as the middle voice between active and
3:57
passive. Examples of ergative verbs, which can be used quite commonly in academic writing
4:01
are dissolve, increase, decrease, lower, and start. For example, the white powder dissolved
4:10
in the liquid. So even though the white powder is not doing the dissolving, we don't need
4:15
to use passive, because dissolve is an ergative verb. Another example, the tax rate increased
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in 2010. So here we use increased, not was increased. A third example, construction work
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started six months ago. Those are just a few examples. There's actually many ergative
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verbs, and you can find more of those in a more detailed explanation on the website
4:40
So that's use of passive. Let's turn now to focusing on the evidence. So here we make
4:44
the evidence the subject of the sentence. So in other words, results, data, research
4:50
figures, and so on. And this generally uses active voice. For example, the findings show
4:57
The data illustrate. Data is actually a Latin plural, so that uses plural verb. The graph
5:03
displays. The literature indicates. The conclusions are. So by making the evidence the subject
5:11
of the sentence, we can avoid using I, but retain the active voice
5:17
Thirdly, use evidence from sources. So citing sources is an essential part of academic writing
5:24
and intake citations usually use the third person, which we saw as a feature of objective
5:28
writing, and are normally in the active voice. For example, Newbold, 2021, shows that this
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is not always the case. He further demonstrates the relationship between. Another example
5:41
Green and Atwood, 2013, suggest that. So these are author-date citations, as used by APA
5:48
and Harvard. Although a similar method works for other referencing systems, such as MLA
5:53
So the authors being cited are the subject of the sentence, and the verb is in the active voice
6:00
Another common way to make your writing objective is by using impersonal phrases. This generally
6:05
means constructions with the word it and the word there, and these are often used with
6:10
hedges, which softens the information, and boosters, which strengthen the information. Hedges and boosters are a way to show the strength of your feeling about a topic without
6:20
using emotive language, which is very subjective and should be avoided in academic writing
6:24
For example, it is clear that, so that's a phrase with it, which uses a booster, clear
6:31
It appears that, another phrase with it, which uses a hedge, appear. And those mean the same
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thing as I believe that, or we must. So for example, rather than I believe that this is
6:43
harmful for health, and we must avoid it, we can say it appears that this is harmful
6:48
for health and should be avoided. Or if we want to be stronger, we can say it is clear
6:53
that this is harmful for health and must be avoided. A couple of other examples, this time using the word there, rather than I have identified
7:03
three reasons for this, we can say there are three reasons for this. And rather than this
7:10
is a terrible idea, which is very emotive, we can say there are several disadvantages
7:16
to this approach, which is not emotive and would be much more objective
7:21
Finally, we can personify the writing. So personify means to treat something as if it
7:27
were human, as if it were a person. And in this case we make the writing, the essay
7:32
the report and so on, the subject of the sentence. For example, rather than I will consider the
7:37
role of diesel emissions in global warming, we can say this essay will consider the role
7:43
of diesel emissions in global warming. Rather than I have shown that, we can say this report
7:51
has shown that. So by personifying the writing and making it the subject of the sentence
7:56
we again avoid the use of I and also keep the sentence in the active rather than the
8:01
passive voice. So in this video we've seen what objective writing is, we've considered how objective
8:11
academic writing is, and we've also seen five ways to write objectively, by using passive
8:16
focusing on the evidence, using evidence from sources, using impersonal phrases, and by
8:21
personifying the writing. For more information on this and other topics, please visit the
8:26
website eapfoundation.com, where you can also find a worksheet for this and other videos
8:32
in the series
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