Using “We,” “Our,” and “Us,” in English Papers?

by jwotis

Question by Dani G: Using “We,” “Our,” and “Us,” in English papers?
Is it a cardinal sin to use “we” terminology in papers, or is that rule outdated? My paper has a lot of references to society, which makes it difficult to refrain from using “we” since society is made up of “us” not “one.” A peer reviewer told me to switch my “we”s to “one”s but it is proving quite difficult and making the paper very passive. What are the modern rules of paper writing regarding this situation?

Best answer:

Answer by lotm309
Unless your mind is drifting off to a place somewhere in the year 1776, you shouldn’t be using those terms. Sounds pretentious.

Answer by cb41984
Well, saying “we” is often used to further an argumentative narrative, as in “Having reviewed the benefits of daily drug abuse, we now turn to the question of supplementing such drug abuse with alcohol”

But if you are talking about “society” I have two problems with we. First, when you say “we are a society” it doesn’t sound very focused. You don’t know me, or your audience. It sounds like you haven’t really defined what PART of society you’re writing about. Try other plurals that are more descriptive of your topic.
On a second, related note, don’t try and argue for a complete picture of “society.” If you had it all in your paper, we wouldn’t need academics. “We” don’t all necessarily agree with what you’ve presented as facts about “us”.

In some places you’ll be stuck, and you’ll have to use we, but most of the time, you can think of a better, more focused, more descriptive pronoun/noun that makes your paper seem on topic.

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