active vs passive voice in academic writing

in expository writing, where the goal of the discussion is to provide background, context, or an in-depth explanation.if the reader is aware of who the actor is.However, the passive voice is acceptable in some instances, for example: Generally, in scholarly writing, with its emphasis on precision and clarity, the active voice is preferred. In this sentence, it is not clear to the reader who conducted this study.Example: A study was conducted of elementary school teachers.This sentence structure puts the emphasis of the sentence on the subject, clarifying who conducted the study.Example: I conducted a study of elementary school teachers.The order of words in a sentence with active voice is subject, verb, object. In addition, the active voice stresses that the actor (or grammatical subject) precedes the verb, again, putting emphasis on the subject. The reason is that the use of passive voice often makes it difficult for the reader to determine who is taking the action of the verb.

Writing in the active voice means the subject of the sentence clearly performs the action that the verb expresses.ĪPA stresses using the active voice to make it clear to the reader who is taking action in the sentence. Writing for Social Change in the CapstoneĪPA style encourages use of the active voice over passive voice for clarity.Articles and Books on Writing the Capstone.Search website Search Show Menu Hide Menu

Active vs passive voice in academic writing