Guest Posted April 24, 2011 Share Posted April 24, 2011 Hi, having finally settled on my research topic I am torn between whether to write my report in 1st or 3rd person! It has been an action research project focused on can keeping a reflective journal (in the setting) improve practitioners practice? Carried out a questionnaire to gauge practitioners understanding of reflective practice, how they did it, how often etc. We then all reflected in journal on 3 types of interaction, with children, colleagues and parents. This has been followed by a questionnaire on how effective this process was in aiding reflection, is it considered a useful tool, should it be adopted in practice. As I have participated and have fallen a little bit in love with this style of research I'm very tempted to keep it purist and write it up in the 1st person Certainly have plenty of material to back this up as being appropriate for participatory action research, however, my uni guidelines say it should be in the 3rd Has anybody else written up in the 1st person? Do I risk it and stay true or do I go with uni requirements??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_8466 Posted April 24, 2011 Share Posted April 24, 2011 Has anybody else written up in the 1st person? Do I risk it and stay true or do I go with uni requirements??? I'm a bit confused - what do you mean about 'staying true' and keeping it 'purist'? After two solid years of writing in the third person when we were told to write one of our assignments in the first person, I found it really difficult. Ultimately it has to be your choice, but I'd think carefully about whether to deliberately ignore a uni guideline. How many marks will you lose if you write it in the first person? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 24, 2011 Share Posted April 24, 2011 Sorry HappyMaz, prattling again It's just the more I've read about action research, especially as I'm a participant, the more writing up in the first person seems to fit more naturally! Your right though, have started writing up in the 3rd until I can get hold of my tutor! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_1195 Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 I think you should follow your Uni guidelines otherwise you will affect your marks. I'd double check that they mean 3rd person for Action Research though. I think it is rather strange to be a participant in Action Research and not have 'I' at the centre, as Action Research is your personal journey based on what question you want to ask, what others have said about the issue, what you have tried and found out, and your reflection on what you have discovered or not discovered, the outcomes and what you might do in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_8466 Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 My guess is that if the assignment guidance says it must be written in the third person, you're pretty much limited in what you can do (although I do think one of my study colleagues just decided that writing in the third person felt too alien, and just took the loss of marks on the chin!). However if you want to see if you can get a dispensation, or get the guidnce changed then can you find examples of academic papers that have been written in the first person? This would help back up your arguments. I think I'd make a distinction between books that have been written about the action research in the first person and research papers because their audience is somewhat different. This is an interesting thread, so please let us know how you get on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TinklePrincess Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 I'm in the middle of my action research project dissertation and I'm really struggling not to write in the first person, as it's all things that I've done and my own reasons etc, but my tutors were very clear that in an academic document, unless otherwise stated(as in a reflective account) you must not write in the first person. It's really difficult and I'm sure I've slipped up somewhere but that's my experience. I think if you're not sure, just do it in the third person to be on the safe side! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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