Why to avoid using "you," "we," and "our" in academic writing.

Think about who you might be including and excluding from statements such as:

1a. "As children, we are raised/taught to believe..."

2a. "Our history is littered with..."

3a. "If you subscribe to x theory, you have to agree that..."

1b. All children were not raised to believe the same things, neither about themselves, nor the world. Think about which children you are discussing and name them as specifically as possible.

2b. Whose history are you discussing in your writing? The histories of indigenous people in the United States are far different from immigrant histories or histories of enslavement. Each deserves its own attention. The more specific you are, the easier you can avoid falling into traps of including or excluding people who should be considered in your writing.

2c. In general, avoid making assumptions about your audience's identity or opinions. Your goal is to state your arguments and support them with evidence that you analyze.

The more specific you can be, the better. “Women,” “men,” and “people,” for example, tend to be weak descriptors, as in the following example that leaves open the interpretation that Senator McConnell does not consider African Americans true Americans: “The concern is misplaced, because if you look at the statistics, African American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans.” - Mitch McConnell