What are Stance & Voice and How to Apply them in Academic Writing
This Resource Page will help you:
- Understand the meaning of stance and voice in academic writing
- Learn when and why stance and voice are relevant for graduate students
- Learn strategies for utilizing stance and voice effectively in your writing
- Learn how to take a stance and balance your voice with those of other authors
What is Stance?
Stance means taking a position or showing what you think in relation to ideas, theories, findings, etc. Taking a stance is important for showing both your understanding of and opinion on an idea or claim. This also helps you demonstrate your critical thinking and analysis skills and is one of the first steps to producing original academic work.
How to Take a Stance
You can use the following phrases and examples to take a stance in academic writing. This includes expressing the degrees of likelihood of a claim and showing distance or closeness to a claim.
Express degrees of likelihood of a claim:
It is clear that...
It is rather clear that...
It is very probable/highly likely that...
It is probably/likely that...
It is possible that...
It is unlikely that...
There is a definite/strong/good/slight/small possibility that...
Show your distance from a claim:
Based on the limited data available...
According to a preliminary study...
According to some historical studies...
In the view of earlier scholars...
Modal verbs:
Mental health education can/may/might help students’ quality of life.
Softening verbs:
Mental health education seems to/appears to/tends to help students’ quality of life.
Weaker reporting verbs: claims, suggests, assumes
Recent research suggests that poverty contributes to children’s low academic achievement.
Weaker main verbs:
Recent research suggests that poverty contributes to children’s low academic achievement.
Frequency words:
Children living in poverty generally/often perform poorly in school.
Limit the subject:
Many/Some children living in poverty perform poorly in school.
Add restrictions/conditions/exceptions:
In many areas of the world, children living in poverty perform poorly in school, but parental involvement can make a difference.
Show your closeness to a claim:
In the view of many scholars...
It is well established that...
There is a general consensus about...
According to recent research...
Adverbs: clearly, definitely, surely
Mental health education clearly helps students’ quality of life.
Adjectives: valuable, impressive, positive, significant
Study X has provided valuable insight into the issue of mental health education
Stronger reporting verbs: finds, confirms, asserts
Recent studies have confirmed that poverty causes children's low academic achievement.
Stronger main verbs:
Recent studies have confirmed that poverty causes children's low academic achievement.
Tip 1: Choose purposefully among these strategies based on what you want to express. Rather than choosing a phrase or expression randomly or because "it sounds good", start with what you are trying to communicate (e.g., how close /distant your stance is from a certain idea) and then find a phrase that expresses that.
Tip 2: You can combine strategies, but don’t overdo it! Use only one strategy in the main claim part of the sentence.
Good example: According to recent studies, it is highly likely that mental health education helps students’ quality of life.
Poor example: According to recent studies, it is possible that in some cases mental health education seems to help students’ quality of life.
What is Voice?
Academic voice refers to the differentiation of your own words, thoughts, and ideas from those of others. This is important because you want to use the voices of other scholars to support your voice and stance, rather than have other voices dominate your own. Making the range of academic voices clear to your reader is an integral part of effective academic writing.
How to Use your own Voice
Generally, a sentence without a citation or the use of strategies to signal other voices (see below) will be assumed to be the voice of the student writer. The exception is when you are expressing common knowledge, which do not need citations (e.g. “K-12 education systems in Canada are run by each provincial government”).
In a paragraph or section, you can start with a point or main idea (your voice), then back it up with evidence (other voices) and then end with an explanation or evaluation (your voice). Check the model below to understand how different voices appear in a paragraph.
In: Kathy Bickmore, Ruth Hayhoe, Caroline Manion, Karen Mundy & Robyn Read (Editors), 2017, _Comparative and International Education: Issues for Teachers_, 2nd edition (pp. 268-299). Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press.
For users with accessibility needs: this example shows how different voices are used within a paragraph.
Tip: Don’t be afraid to take a stance in relation to published research and other scholars. As you are now grad students, you have the authority to enter these scholarly debates.
Examples
Main Idea:
School uniforms benefit students by eliminating competition based on designer labels.
A competitive, efficiency-based development model has not considered the rate at which natural resources are being exploited.
If current trends continue, the likelihood of species extinction in Australia continues to increase unless more stringent measures are adopted.
For several reasons, the Supreme court should have...
In light of the research findings, it is recommended that...
Explanation/Evaluation:
In other words...
A possible explanation for this might be...
This [data] means that…
This [study] shows…
This is why…
This is important because..
The main weakness with this theory is that …
The key problem with this explanation is that …
However, this theory does not fully explain why …
The study would have been more relevant if the researchers had asked …
One major drawback of this approach is that …
How to Incorporate the Voice(s) of Others
Here is where the evidence comes in in the model presented in the image above. Bringing other voices into your text may involve direct voice (quotations) or indirect voice (paraphrases and summaries). Make sure that these voices are clearly labelled with correct APA citations or strategies for maintaining voice so that you do not make another’s voice seem like your own.
Here are some examples of strategies to introduce evidence from other sources:
In discussing the importance of teaching study skills, Jordan (1997) comments that “study skills are not something acquired instinctively” (p. 8).
For more information, check our Resource Page on How to Use Direct Quotes.
As students do not obtain study skills automatically, it is very important to teach them these skills (Jordan, 1997).
For more information, check our Resource Pages on How to Paraphrase and Citations & APA Style.
It is important to teach study skills to students (Jordan, 1997).
For more information, check our Resource Page on How to Summarize.
For more information on how to integrate others' research into your paper, check our Resource Page How to Integrate Others' Research into your Writing.
How to Maintain Others’ Voices
You do not need to cite every single sentence to maintain the voice of another author. In addition, avoid simply citing at the end of a paragraph as it will be unclear where the different voices start and finish. Rather, cite at the beginning of a new voice and then use phrases such as the following to maintain that voice throughout the section:
The authors go on to state that...
(Name of author) continues by arguing that...
He/she also mentions that ...
The article concludes that...
Example:
Lattuca (2002) maintains that interdisciplinary work results in productive engagements and innovative scholarship. At the same time, she recognizes the conflicts that it can create as it confronts the entrenched assumptions and practices of the traditional academic world.
Taken from MICUSP: Diversifying Communities of Practice in Higher Education
How to Shift between Others’ Voices
When moving from an author’s voice to another author’s voice in your writing, a new citation is the primary way to signal the shift. Likewise, the use of transition words can explicitly show the relationships between voices (agreement, contrast, etc.).
Common transition words include:
According to (citation),
Similarly, (citation) argues that...
On the contrary, (citation) points out that...
Example:
Lattuca (2002) maintains that interdisciplinary work results in productive engagements and innovative scholarship. John-Steiner and Meehan (2002) also stress the role that transformation plays in the appropriation of technologies, psychological tools, and scientific and artistic symbols.
Taken from MICUSP: Diversifying Communities of Practice in Higher Education
Tip: Make sure that your own voice is the primary voice in the text. Remembering to start and end paragraphs with your voice, with evidence from other voices in the middle, will help you achieve this.
Putting it All Together
This example with annotations shows how a student writer takes a stance and shifts between voices in a paragraph about Mathematics programs.