How to use "I", "WE" and "YOU" in academic texts

1. How to use "I"

1.1. Use "I":

• to describe research steps;
• to state what you will do in a chapter or section

1.2. Do not use "I":

• to state opinions;
• to support an argument

2. How to use "WE"

2.1. Use "WE":

• to refer to coauthors as a group

2.2. Do not use "WE":

• to group yourself with your readers

3. How to use "YOU"

Never use "YOU"

• replace "YOU" with a concrete noun

4. Rationale

Use the first person rather than the third person when describing the work you did as part of your research and when expressing your own views. If you are writing a paper by yourself, use the pronoun "I"; do not use the pronoun "we" to refer to yourself if you do not have coauthors.

(American Psychological Association, 2020, p. 120).

References

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

Shelton, K. (2015). Writing in the first person for academic and research publication. In 2015 Proceedings of the Conference on Information Systems and Computing Education (EDSIG). Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283637469

Sword, H. (2012). Stylish academic writing. Harvard, USA: Harvard University Press.