Finding Your Voice
Introduction
In writing, just as in life, you’re selective when choosing words and the tone of voice you use in various situations. When writing a thank-you to Great-Aunt Millie for the socks she sent you for your birthday, you probably use a polite, respectful voice. When you are having a fight with your partner or are gossiping with a friend, both your vocabulary and tone will be quite different. Likewise, you’ll use a more formal voice in a research paper compared to a personal essay, an email, or a journal entry.
Deciding what kind of voice to use in writing depends entirely on who will be reading what you write and what your purpose is in writing. Are you writing about the first time you ever drove a car? Explaining your theory about why yoga is such a popular exercise regimen and spiritual practice? Putting forth your informed opinion of why hybrid cars are problematic for the environment despite their increased gas mileage?
What creates voice is simply the words you choose and the way you use them. What kind of voice you use in a paper depends on the assignment and the audience, as well as the effect you want to create. By making conscious choices about the words you use to communicate to your reader, you establish a voice.
Tone
Most college essays should be written in formal English, suitable for an academic situation. Follow these principles to be sure that your word choice is appropriate.
- Avoid slang. Find alternatives to “bummer,” “kewl,” and “rad.”
- Avoid language that is overly casual. Write about “men and women” rather than “girls and guys” unless you are trying to create a specific effect. A formal tone calls for formal language.
- Avoid contractions. Use “do not” in place of “don’t,” “I am” in place of “I’m,” “have not” in place of “haven’t,” and so on. Contractions are considered casual speech.
- Avoid clichés. Overused expressions, such as “green with envy,” “face the music,” and “better late than never,” are empty of meaning and may not appeal to your audience.
- Watch out for Homophones. Be careful when you use words that sound alike but have different meanings. Some examples are allusion/illusion, complement/compliment, council/counsel, concurrent/consecutive, founder/flounder, and historic/historical. When in doubt, check a dictionary. Don’t use words you don’t know. Remember: bigger words don’t make you look smarter if you don’t know what they mean.
- Choose words with the connotations you want. Choosing a word for its connotations is as important in formal essay writing as it is in all kinds of writing. Compare the positive connotations of the word “proud” and the negative connotations of “arrogant” and “conceited.”
- Use specific words rather than overly general words. Find synonyms for “thing,” “people,” “nice,” “good,” “bad,” “interesting,” and other vague words, or use specific details to make your exact meaning clear.
Notice the different tones in the two passages. Tone is part of the voice and reveals the attitude of the writer, which can range from friendly to angry to cold to intimate.
If you’re writing a personal essay, about an experience in your life, then the voice you use will reveal how you feel about the experience. You’ll most likely write using the personal pronouns I or we. You’ll let your personality emerge in the language you choose.
If you want to convey a humorous or outrageous event, then your words and your tone will reflect that. You might exaggerate, use informal, even silly sounding words or use acerbic, or understated language. Your sentences might be short and convey energy. If, on the other hand you are writing about a loss, your words will be more serious, your tone somber and your sentences might be longer, more thoughtful and reflective. As the writer, you get to decide how you want to describe your experience.
Boss 1:
It has come to my attention that computers are not being turned off at the end of the workday. This is a possible security breach, as well as a waste of electricity, and failure to shut down electronic equipment will not be tolerated. Please ensure that your computers are off before you leave each night or there will be consequences for individuals who do not comply.
Boss 2:
Hello, everyone! I know that here at Plants, Inc., we’re all committed to a green work environment. So I’m asking for your help with respect to computers. We’ve seen a number of computers inadvertently left on in the evenings. I want to ask for your cooperation in turning off your computer before you leave, which helps conserve electricity. Thanks for your help!
Academic Voice
Assuming that your audience is a teacher of some sort, your main purpose is to demonstrate your ability to articulate knowledge and experience. When writing a research paper and other academic writing (what is called academic discourse) you’ll want to use what is called the academic voice, which is meant to sound objective, authoritative, and reasonable. While a research paper will be based on your opinion on a topic, it will be an opinion based on evidence (from your research) and one that has been argued in a rational manner in your paper.
You use the academic voice because your opinion is based on thinking; in your paper you’re revealing your thought process to your reader. Because you’ll be appealing to reason, you want to use the voice of one intellectual talking to another intellectual.
If the subject matter for your academic writing isn’t personal, as in the case of a formal research paper, you would take on a more detached, objective tone. While you may indeed feel strongly about what you’re writing about, you should maintain a professional tone, rather than a friendly or intimate one.
However, it’s important to note that even the most formal academic voice does not need to include convoluted sentence structure or abstract, stilted language, as some believe. As with all writing, you should strive to write with clarity and an active voice that avoids jargon. All readers appreciate a vigorous, lively voice.
Instead of:
The utilization of teams as a way of optimizing our capacity to meet and prioritize our goals will impact the productivity of the company.
Write:
Teams will execute the goals and enhance the company’s output.
Summary
Determining your audience is a great initial step in finding the appropriate voice to use in your writing. Depending on assignment type, you may have freedom to be more informal and creative. For example, writing a research paper to your professor will likely result in a formal tone. A journaling assignment on a topic of your choice would elicit a more informal, friendly tone.
Using conscious decisions with your word choice will shape your writing to have a stronger voice. You may consider coming back to your writing a second time to pay close attention to your voice and change up your word choice for a softer tone.
Emerging as a reader will also contribute to your own voice as a writer. Consuming different styles of writing (both as a student and in the professional workplace) will also help you consider different approaches to conveying a specific voice as a student.
“Academic Voice.” By Excelsior Online Writing Lab. Retrieved from: https://owl.excelsior.edu/writing-process/finding-your-voice/finding-your-voice-academic-voice/ Licensed under: CC-BY
“Different Voices.” By Excelsior Online Writing Lab. Retrieved from: https://owl.excelsior.edu/writing-process/finding-your-voice/finding-your-voice-different-voices/ Licensed under: CC-BY
“Tone.” by GSU Perimeter College English Department. Retrieved from: http://gsuideas.org/SCC/Revising/Tone.html Licensed under: CC-BY 4.0
“Finding Your Voice.” By Excelsior Online Writing Lab. Retrieved from: https://owl.excelsior.edu/writing-process/finding-your-voice/ Licensed under: CC-BY
