Establishing Point of View in Academic Writing: A Question of Focus

Each paragraph below contains the "same" information, simply organized differently. The subjects, or topics of each sentence are underlined; information that has been moved is in bold. Ask students: What is each paragraph "about"? How do the changes in subject change the point of view? Which paragraph is more likely to have been written by a scientist? Who is the imagined audience for each passage? How can they tell?

Sample One
Equally important, Clark's practice of carefully mapping every fossil made it possible to follow the evolutionary development of various types through time. Beautiful sequences of antelopes, giraffes, and elephants were obtained - new species evolving out of old ones and appearing in younger strata, then dying out as they were replaced by still others in still young strata. In short, evolution was taking place before the eyes of the Omo surveyors . And it could be timed. The finest examples of this process were in several lines of pigs which had been extremely common at Omo and had evolved rapidly. Unsnarling the pig story was turned over to paleontologist Basil Cooke . He produced family trees for pigs who various types were so accurately dated that pigs themselves became measuring sticks that could be applied to finds of questionable age in other places that had similar pigs.

Sample Two
Equally important, we could follow the evolutionary development of various types through time because Clark had carefully mapped every fossil . The Omo surveyors obtained beautiful sequences of antelopes, giraffes, and elephants - new species evolving out of old ones and appearing in younger strata, then dying out as they were replaced by still others in still young strata. In short, the Omo surveyors saw evolution taking place before their eyes. And they could time it . Their finest examples were in several lines of pigs which had been extremely common at Omo and had evolved rapidly. The paleontologist Basil Cooke was assigned to unsnarl the pig story . He produced family trees for pigs whose various types were so accurately dated that he could use the pigs themselves as measuring sticks that the surveyors could apply to finds of questionable age in other places that had similar pigs.

Adapted from The Little Red Schoolhouse, Georgia Institute of Technology.