LNC Writing Center
Scientific Voice
Use Passive Voice to Avoid Personal Pronouns
Why? Scientific writing often de-emphasizes the individuals behind the science because it
highlights the objectivity of that scientific work. Science’s goal is to be objective, and passive voice
helps show that. Make sure to avoid any language that identifies you as an individual, not just the
pronouns themselves.
How? Avoid these pronouns: I, you, me, he, she, we, him, her, us, them
On most word processing documents, you can click Control+F or use the “Find” function
to search for these words one by one.
Active voice reveals and emphasizes the actor: I drove the car
Passive voice hides or de-emphasizes the actor: The car was driven or The car was driven by me
We performed the experiment and experienced disappointing results.
↓
We performed the experiment and found that the results did not support our initial
hypothesis.
↓
The experiment was performed, and the results did not support the initial hypothesis.
Avoid Being Too Certain or Too Hesitant
Be aware of what you can and cannot know for certain and reflect that in your word choices.
Words like may, might, appear, suggests and phrases like it would seem or it is possible show that
you are not 100% certain.
Words like always, never, or referring to all of something will communicate that you are
100% certain.
Avoid Informal Vocabulary
Avoid using informal adverbs (really, clearly, so much).
Avoid qualifiers (a little, definitely).
Avoid using emotional or exaggerated words (amazing, obvious, terrible).
Use formal synonyms for informal words
o deals with → addresses
o about/around → approximately
o big → large or considerable
o nowadays → currently
o done → performed or conducted
o like → such as
o seen/saw → observed
o take place → occur
o get → obtain or acquire
o often→ frequently
o sometimes → occasionally
o more and more → increasingly
Practice
Are these sentences objective or subjective? Explain your reasoning.
1. Although the shark population has dwindled over time, evidence suggests that their
numbers will increase within the next few years.
2. The newest installment in this historic franchise puts all the previous movies to
shame.
Rewrite these sentences from active to passive voice while also making vocabulary changes for
formality and accuracy.
1. We did not attempt to reach out to non-responders because we thought they were
unimportant to the analysis.
2. We agreed that the experiment should be done within a couple hours.
3. I put on the first coat of primer paint right after the acid rinse.
4. Our results prove that all high school students enjoy repeating bass lines in songs.
5. These findings are truly confounding.
