(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links) II. Thou shalt avoid self-conscious discussion of thy intended purposes, thy strategy, thy sources, and thy research methodology. Draw your reader’s attention to the points you are making, not to yourself and all the misery and sweat of your process of research and writing. Keep the focus on what you have to say, not on the question of how you hope to develop and say it.
Do not parade around in your mental underwear. Show only the well-pressed and well-shined final product.
Avoid self-conscious-sounding phrases such as: “now let us turn to”; “I will demonstrate that”; “now we see that”; even “I think that”, or (even worse) “I feel that”.
Avoid use of first person. If you must discuss methodology, do it in a preface; discussing sources is fine, but in a bibliographical essay.
Phrases that tell your reader explicitly what you intend to do or to do next, or that tell explicitly where to see emphasis, are crutches. They indicate weaknesses in your paper’s implicit development and emphasis.
The above does not mean that you offer the reader no cues and clues. Yes, it is important, in the opening paragraph or two of a paper or a section, to lay out the essential question(s) you will address and often to hint at the answers you may find. But do it artistically, not with a heavy hand.
In the cases of historiographical papers and book reviews you may of course discuss sources. Those cases are exceptions. There may be other exceptions.