Sahel Ebrahimi (Beacon College)
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Marc Roberts (Lake-Sumter State College)
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Demanding that student writers maintain an objective, third-person stance when writing academic essays persists in the academy. However, we hold that providing students with strategies that help them develop a hospitable mindset in the writing process, one in which they aim to make a meaningful connection with their readers through the use of both first person and personal experience, does not diminish the scholarly rigor of college-level work. Moreover, by adopting the attitude that student writing is not immediately designed for publication, educators can focus on helping students find ways to connect with readers while cultivating their own writing styles.

AI continues to encroach into the territory that was once sacrosanct as original academic output, making authenticity in academic writing an area that demands instructional evaluation. However, in order to evaluate what we might consider authentic, students deserve the opportunity to learn strategies that shift their writing away from formulation and back to creation, or the making of meaning rather than only the organizing of others' ideas. Our panel will explore various ways that students can develop an authentic style, focusing on the value of being true to themselves while hospitably inviting others to take part in their written explorations. Students need to feel confident that they truly matter in the writing process and that their ideas are considered a contribution to meaningful conversation taking place with their audience. Opening the door to the use of the first person is one valuable step, and another would be to encourage students to share personal experiences in their writing.

While the debate regarding the use of first person in submitted, final drafts will persist, this panel aims to explore the variety of ways educators introduce students to the use of first-person approaches in the development of formal academic writing. This could involve strategies related to note taking, methods of drafting or revision, peer review, etc. that assume the reality of the writer’s presence in the writing process. We are interested in and open to learning about any first-person approaches related to college composition.

Please submit your 150 to 200-word abstract by September 1, 2026.