It makes your paper sound less formal. It takes away from your main argument. It weakens your writing. It sounds repetitive. The reader doesn’t care about your opinion, only the research.   Those are a few pieces of “advice” I heard throughout high school and college in reference to writing with the word “I”.   Don’t get me wrong, I completely agree that there are types of writing where “I” should be left out. And I don’t think the advice I received was totally wrong. Actually, it helped me write strong and quality academic papers.   But now a dilemma has presented itself. I don’t know when to say “I”.   As I pursue

    She looked up at me as I finished reciting poetry I’d scribbled down earlier.   “Wow, I can’t believe you are so creative”.   For years I hid my writing, only to be shown to my sister, the only other soul who placed value in my passion. A critic, a lover, and an honest reviewer, her words mean the most.   When she said those 8 words, I was blown away. Am I creative?    Unknowingly, my sister has given me approval to be creative with my words once again.   The article “You Are Not An Artist”  deeply resonated with me. The author describes a journey much like mine, skewed with opinionated