EDDC 701 My Vooice

1. Running head: MY VOICE
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My Voice
Allison Reid
Concordia University Portland

2. MY VOICE 2
The essay that was chosen for this assignment was on the ethics of the mind and was
assigned week three of The Ethical Educator. This was one of the first essays that was assigned
in the doctoral program. For me, it signified the restarting of an academic journey. It was as I
was writing this essay that I first began to learn about first person reserved voice. The voice in
the essay is best described as first person. While writing, it was intended to be first person
reserved. However, this is not how it turned out. It is extremely informal, and in addition to the
numerous grammatical and conventional errors, there are many words that I would change or
omit.
Reading through the essay, a common theme was the addition of unnecessary words that
do not contribute to the writing. While this might be how I speak, it is not appropriate for this
type of writing. At the time, they were added because I did not take my audience into
consideration. Writing, I was typing the thoughts in my head without filtering or writing while
viewing through the lens of academic writing. One example is adding the word really. It was
written, “This really resonated with me” (Reid, 2019, p. 1). By adding the word really, it gives a
feeling of informality and does not enhance the writing. If I were to re-write this essay, I would
omit the word really. Later in the essay, there was another instance of adding words to emphasize
a point that were unnecessary. It states that, “I am very much an introvert” (Reid, 2019, p. 1). In
this case, the word “very” is not needed, and does not add to the writing. Much like the word
really, if I were to re-write this essay, I would omit the word very and the word much. While that
is how I speak normally, it was not appropriate or needed in this writing.
In the essay, there were few everyday expressions that were used. One however stood
out, that is the phrase “hand in hand” (Reid, 2019, p. 1). This is an everyday phrase used in
nonacademic writing and speech. The expression was used in the essay to convey a point in the

3. MY VOICE 3
easiest, most straightforward way I knew how. Again, this was written at an early point in class,
when I was not putting much, if any thought into the audience. Reflecting, I would keep the
phrase in the essay. Graff and Birkenstein (2018) write that “mastering academic writing does
not mean completely abandoning your normal voice for one that’s stiff, convoluted, or pompous,
as students often assume. Instead, it means creating a new voice that draws on the voice you
already have” (p. 118). Keeping this in mind, the phrase adds to the authenticity of my voice in
the essay. Another expression that was used in the essay was “Yes, you can run that extra mile,
go for it” (Reid, 2019, p. 1). In this sentence, the phrase “go for it” is an everyday expression
used to help motivate. It is casual, however, it conveys the point to the reader and allows the
voice to come through in the writing.
In this particular essay, because of the informality of the initial writing, I could not find
where more everyday expressions could be added. When writing scholarly essays, the benefit of
adding these expressions is to help make meaning for the reader (Graff and Birkenstein, 2018).
As stated by Graff and Birkenstein (2018), an author needs to “first state the point in academic
language, then translate the point into everyday language” (p. 120). They continue to explain
that by using this strategy, you are making the text more accessible to the reader. This is the goal
for writers, to express their thoughts clearly, in a way the reader can understand. In this essay,
because I had written in such an informal voice with little thought to the audience, there was not
anywhere that needs to have everyday expressions added to enhance the understanding of the
reader.

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References
Graff, G., & Birkenstein, C. (2018). They say/ I say: The moves that matter in academic writing
(4th ed.). New York, NY: W. W. Norton.
Reid, A. (2019). Ethics of the mind. Unpublished manuscript, Concordia University Portland.