Unit 5: Objectivity Filter
Learning Objectives
- Understand the necessity for research writing to avoid appearing subjective
- Know the three subcategories of objectivity errors
- Have practised using the objectivity filter
- Be ready to use the objectivity filter on your draft papers
Introduction to the Objectivity Filter
Scientists, particularly computer scientists, strive to write research articles that are objective. Although the goal of full objectivity may not be realized, it is possible to draft research articles that appear objective. The appearance of objectivity is obtained by avoiding any direct references to subjective items.
When checking your draft using the objectivity filter, there are three error types to look out for:
- Focus on people and feelings rather than things and ideas
- Emotive wording
- Excessive personalization
Introduction to the objectivity filter
Focus on People and Feelings
Corpus example: I will describe the results of our research in section 2.
The first-person pronoun I and the possessive adjective our direct attention to the people involved in the research rather than the research itself. This is in contrast to the expectations of many scientific communities of practice, particularly in computer science and the applied sciences, which focus on things and ideas rather than people and feelings.
The corpus example can be depersonalized and written in just five words: Section 2 describes the results.
Click each corpus example to see the suggested revision.
Revision: ...a lifting method should be considered...
Passive voice removes the second-person pronoun and focuses on the method rather than the reader.
Revision: The state of ... can be understood intuitively.
Revision: In this paper, the state to ... is examined.
Revision: ...users slide photos with their fingertip...
Replacing the second-person possessive your with the third-person their also removes excessive personalization.
Emotive Wording
Corpus example: We are pleased to announce that the results show XXX.
The adjective pleased expresses happiness and, as such, focuses on feelings rather than ideas. The writer may have been attempting to frame the result positively, but in scientific writing this is inappropriate. The emotive sentence stem can simply be omitted:
Revised: Results show XXX.
Which revision of 'We are pleased to announce that the results show XXX' best applies the objectivity filter?
Excessive Personalization
Corpus example: ...such as services to your XXX, to your XXX, and to XXX.
Excessive personalization refers to the overuse of personal pronouns or possessive adjectives in a way that makes the research narrative appear subjective. Hyland (2002) notes that teachers of writing tend to direct learners to depersonalize texts by removing references to themselves.
The corpus example can be revised in two steps:
Replace your with the neutral form:
...such as services to XXX, to XXX, and to XXX.
Apply the brevity filter to remove the repeated word to:
...such as services to XXX, XXX, and XXX.
This combines both the objectivity and brevity filters in a single revision.
Which of these sentences is most appropriate for a computer science research article?
Review
Make sure that you check your writing for the following types of objectivity errors:
- Focus on people and feelings rather than things and ideas
- Emotive wording
- Excessive personalization
Proceed to Unit 6: Formality Filter when ready.