The Impersonal 'it'

Academic Writer

The impersonal 'it'
An objective or neutral tone is good news in academic writing. The impersonal 'it' can be used in order to take the focus off yourself (recommended!).
For example, a phrase such as 'I would argue that' could be replaced by 'It can be argued that...'
This signals that you are going to argue something. In this way it points forward in the text. By contrast see backward referring it. It also has the effect of reducing your personal profile (a positive thing) by avoiding the use of 'I'.

Recommendation: Learn a few of the following phrases to use at sentence and paragraph beginnings.
EXAMPLE 1

It can be argued that...	It is important to recognize that...	It is only to be expected that...
It is also worth noting that...	It is likely that...	It is possible that...
It is anticipated that...	It is not clear whether...	It is significant that...
It is assumed that...	It is not surprising then, that...	It is sometimes suggested that...
It is clear that...	It is not surprising to find that…	It is unlikely that...
It is difficult to see...	It is not unreasonable to suggest that...	It is worth pointing out that...
It is essential, therefore, that...	It is not, however, simply a matter of...	It may seem surprising to say that…
It is evident that...	It is noteworthy that...	It seems that...
It is for this reason that...	It is now clear that...	It would seem clear that...
It is important to note that...	It is often argued that...

EXAMPLE 2

It was impossible now to conceive of a great power that was not a great economy.

Thus it was easy for the leaders to dominate the organization.

It was the arrival of Lenin, which changed everything in Russia.

It was also difficult politically, when the new parties refused to cooperate with the old governments.

It would seem clear that the traditional lecture/tutorial methods would not be able to cope easily with the demand unless there was a large increase in numbers of academic staff.

Academic Writer 2000