This lesson is one of our full screen interactive learner experiences from our course IELTS Writing Task 2 Preparation (coming soon! (passive) 2. If you want to draw attention to the subject of the action, you will use passive voice. Passive voice is often preferred in lab reports and scientific research papers, most notably in the Materials and Methods section: The sodium hydroxide was dissolved in water. Often in academic writing, we don't want to focus on who is doing an action, but on who is receiving or experiencing the action. This … The passive voice can be useful for making writing sound more formal and objective.For example, science reports are often written using the passive voice. For example: “The dog was trained by his owner in two weeks.” It is clear that we are emphasizing the dog, not the owner. (active) Kant’s philosophical theories will be discussed in this essay. John Geare provides a specific example for clarity. In scientific writing Examples. In this way, passive voice allows the writer to create distance between themselves and what they are writing … ).For mobile and tablet users, use your phone in the horizontal position. Academic writing traditionally uses the passive voice so that the use of pronouns is minimised… There is, however, no hard-and-fast rule that says you can never use the active voice in academic writing. The passive voice is thus extremely useful in academic writing because it allows writers to highlight the most important participants or events within sentences by placing them at the beginning of the sentence. It will depend on what you, the writer, want to convey: if you want to draw attention to the doer, use the passive voice; if your intent is to put the focus on the action, then you should go for the active voice. To avoid the first person I will discuss Kant’s philosophical theories in this essay. In academic writing, passive voice is used to describe a process, the results of study, or similar material which is objective in nature. In writing, always consider whether you should use the passive or active voice. For all users, we recommend you view the interactive presentation in full screen mode (see the bottom right corner of the presentation). Instead, your choice of active or passive voice should be determined by the focus of your sentence, and by the conventions of your discipline. Scientific writing often uses passive voice expressions¾‘was performed’, ‘were observed’, ‘was achieved’¾to remove the actor from the action and consequently create a more objective tone. You are writing in a scientific genre that traditionally relies on passive voice. DCU Writing Centre 2 When to Use the Passive Voice in Academic Writing The passive voice can be useful in academic writing in the following ways: 1. The passive voice. In the following sentences, the passive construction is … But active voice is used to describe actions. Passive voice has its uses in academic writing.