Point of view and verb tense in academic writing

• Writers of analytical or research essays in the humanities usually use the third-person point of view: Austen presents . . . or Castel describes the battle as. . . .
• Scientists and most social scientists, who depend on quantitative research to present findings, tend to use the third-person point of view: The results indicated. . . .
• Writers in the humanities and in some social sciences occasionally use the first person in discussing their personal experience or in writing a personal narrative: After spending two years interviewing families affected by the war, I began to understand that . . . or Every July as we approached the Cape Cod Canal, we could sense. . . .

• Literature scholars use the present tense to discuss a text: Hughes effectively dramatizes different views of minority assertiveness.
• Science and social science writers use the past tense or present perfect tense (explained or has explained) to introduce source material; they use present tense to discuss applications of their own work or clearly established knowledge: In 2003, Berkowitz released the first double-blind placebo study. . . . These results paint a murky picture.
• Writers in history use the present tense or the present perfect tense to discuss a text: Shelby Foote describes the scene like this . . . or Shelby Foote has described the scene like this . . . .

Go to related page: Becoming familiar with a discipline's language conventions