My only problem with this would be the editors in APA journals who may say that this appears in a non-psych journal.
Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 619-260-4006 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---- Original message ---- >Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2008 12:06:48 -0400 >From: "Helweg-Larsen, Marie" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: RE: [tips] APA style: active voice >To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <[email protected]> > >That is a terrific article. Thanks for sending that along (I'm going to give >it to my students). >Marie >http://www.amstat.org/publications/JCGS/sci.pdf > > > >________________________________________ >From: David Epstein [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Sent: Monday, April 14, 2008 11:30 AM >To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) >Subject: Re: [tips] APA style: active voice > >On Mon, 14 Apr 2008, [EMAIL PROTECTED] went: > >> However, I agree it is awkward. Getting through the method section >> in particular seems to be hard because of the seemingly constant >> need to use an active agent for each step of the process and quite >> frankly sometimes it's a constant stream of "I" (or "we") did this >> or that. >> >> I have had two recent manuscripts corrected on every single eensy >> teensy tiny slip I made, so I know it's being rigidly enforced by >> editors. > >If that happened to me, I would refer the editors to "The Science of >Scientific Writing" <http://www.amstat.org/publications/JCGS/sci.pdf>: > >|The information that begins a sentence establishes for the reader a >|perspective for viewing the sentence as a unit: Readers expect a unit >|of discourse to be a story about whoever shows up first. "Bees >|disperse pollen" and "Pollen is dispersed by bees" are two different >|but equally respectable sentences about the same facts. The first >|tells us something about bees; the second tells us something about >|pollen. The passivity of the second sentence does not by itself >|impair its quality; in fact, "Pollen is dispersed by bees" is the >|superior sentence if it appears in a paragraph that intends to tell >|us a continuing story about pollen. Pollen's story at that moment is >|a passive one. > >If they need to hear it from the APA Manual itself, they can turn to >page 42: > >|The passive voice is acceptable in expository writing and when you >|want to focus on the object or recipient of the action rather than on >|the actor. For example, "The speakers were attached to either side >|of the chair" emphasizes the placement of the speakers, not who >|placed them--the more appropriate focus in the Method section. "The >|President was shot emphasizes the importance of the person shot." > >--David Epstein > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >--- >To make changes to your subscription contact: > >Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) > >--- >To make changes to your subscription contact: > >Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
