A few days ago
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In Academic writing is it proper to us He/she?

I was using this proofreader automated service and it suggested that in academic writing it is not proper to use he/she that instead you should use he-slash-she? Is this true?

Top 5 Answers
A few days ago
ncnolin

Favorite Answer

No. He or she would be a better choice.
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A few days ago
anobium625
If I started writing about, say, a teacher and a class, I would refer to the teacher the first time as ‘she’ (there are more women than men), but if a colleague entered the discussion, that person would be ‘he.’ I’d also use ‘boy’ sometimes and ‘girl’ another when referring to children. If you need to give a child a name, Pat or Chris names the child without specifying the gender. Some guides recommend using the plural, teachers and children, so the pronouns become ‘they,’ ‘them,’ and ‘their,’ but writing about ‘them’ is much less evocative than writing about ‘him.’

Stick to your guns. There are more important battles than this one.

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A few days ago
this_space_for_hire
i recently sat a course that used “he” althroughout. however, in the preface to the text, it specified that, even though “he” would be used throughout, it did by no mean infer it wasn’t a he/she role. so i’d imagine as long as you have a disclaimer in the front you could use whichever you choose.
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A few days ago
picador
In the feminized academia of today, I should not be surprised if the acceptable form were she/he.
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A few days ago
Plea_of_insanity
Most people would choose either “he” or “she,” and then use that word throughout the paper.

Alternatively, you could just pluralize everything and use “they.”

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