Larry Davis AAAL 2007 Costa Mesa, CA April 23, 2007

Background: The “Classic” Research Article Reports of empirical research “IMRD” construction Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion Use of passive voice common Wingard (1981): 40% of all verbs (medical articles) In methods sections passive particularly dominant Heslot (Swales, 1990): 83% of all verbs (plant pathology) Martinez (2001): 63% of all verbs (various fields) first person rare Martinez (2005): 165 of 282,503 words (biology)

Function of Passive Voice in the Methods Section Swales (2004a) Passive emphasizes the steps of a process and de- emphasizes the agent(s): “The problem was identified, then an analysis was done, and finally a solution was found.”

Other Views: Papers Based on Logical Argument Tarone et al. (1981) - astrophysics active voice and first person was used extensively first person -- the author’s original contribution passive -- ‘standard procedures’ White (2005) – mathematics first person used to involve the reader in the calculations “Objectivity” as expressed by impersonal constructions (i.e. passive) was not an issue.