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Q&A Is active or passive voice more common in scientific writing?

I am choosing between two sentences: We display the values of X in Table 1. The values of X are displayed in Table 1. The first is more action-oriented, the second is more passive but focuses o...

2 answers  ·  posted 7y ago by mommomonthewind‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T06:48:52Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/29388
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar mommomonthewind‭ · 2019-12-08T06:48:52Z (almost 5 years ago)
I am choosing between two sentences:

1. We display the values of X in Table 1.

2. The values of X are displayed in Table 1.

The first is more action-oriented, the second is more passive but focuses on the values in the table more. Which is better for scientific writing, and are there times when one is better than the other?

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2017-07-27T08:25:53Z (over 7 years ago)
Original score: 3