First-Person Pronoun Use in Sociology and Natural Resources and Environment (NRE) Student Essays : A Corpus-Based Analysis of Disciplinary Differences

This study aims to explore how graduate student writers in Sociology and Natural Resources and Environment (NRE) use first-person pronouns to construct writer identity in academic texts. Drawing on Tang and John’s (1999) six-role typology, the analysis focuses on sixteen A-graded essays from the Michigan Corpus of Upper-Level Student Papers (MICUSP). The findings demonstrate that pronoun use varies across disciplines, reflecting differing rhetorical norms and expectations. There also appear to be differences based on the two genres included in the analysis, which are argumentative essays and research papers. Compared to earlier studies on undergraduate writing, this research reveals a broader and more confident deployment of authorial roles, highlighting the influence of academic level, genre, and disciplinary context. The study offers insights for writing pedagogy and contributes to a deeper understanding of identity construction in student academic writing.