04-06-2010, 01:23 PM
True, but you can't really refer to people as it.
I'm writing my dissertation at the minute (literally, I just have my conclusion and future study sections left to write), and from my own writing, and the reading of many, many other dissertations for my literature review. Referring to a person who you do not know in a professional way is either done using they (once the subject has been established), or just by using their surname all the time (which is the method I use most; however it jars the sentence more when used in the above example and forces you to change the comma to a full stop since you have to pause half way while reading it).
"XYZ stated that ABC was true. XYZ found that this caused...".
I'm writing my dissertation at the minute (literally, I just have my conclusion and future study sections left to write), and from my own writing, and the reading of many, many other dissertations for my literature review. Referring to a person who you do not know in a professional way is either done using they (once the subject has been established), or just by using their surname all the time (which is the method I use most; however it jars the sentence more when used in the above example and forces you to change the comma to a full stop since you have to pause half way while reading it).
"XYZ stated that ABC was true. XYZ found that this caused...".
The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.