Qualifiers of Certainty: what they say

I've noted the use and abuse of qualifiers from our first papers - particularly those I've called "filler" such as: "I think," "I believe," "In my opinion," "I feel," "In my eyes," and "From my perspective." I call these filler because their use is generally out of habit - casual readers might not consciously register them.

Compositions teachers shouldn't be casual readers. The qualifiers above generally signal uncertainty, a lack of confidence, an unwillingness to commit to a thought or statement, or worse (ie that other words from the paper are NOT the writer's thoughts...plagiarism). These words and phrases at best add word count but add little meaning. Use them sparingly if at all.

If a person writes something, shouldn't the reader assume it to be the writer's thoughts?

A lack of confidence may be a personal shortcoming that education is meant to remedy - or it could signal a lack of research, and writers should become experts on the topic of their papers.

These qualifiers show up in the first drafts of many skilled writers - including (and perhaps particularly) myself. Editing and revision takes care of this. So excessive use of qualifiers of uncertainty communicate the lack of proofreading.