When to use the passive voice in academic writing

You use the passive voice:

• to avoid using informal personal pronouns (I, we, you) 

It will be argued that… 

• when the ‘doers’ of the action are not important or you don’t want to mention them 

The cottages were built in 1820. 

A fatal error was made.

• to describe a process

The dry ingredients are mixed together.

A word of caution:

• Overuse of the passive voice can make your writing ‘wordy’, vague, and more difficult to read.
• When reporting on research especially, be sure to include some active voice.