Avoid 2nd person

Second person involves the use of the pronoun “you.” It’s not at all common in academic writing to address the reader, so use of “you” is almost always out of place.

We can find certain exceptions, such as in the thought experiments that philosophers sometimes use, the purpose of which is often to put the reader into a certain morally complex situation to illustrate a point. The vast majority of academic writing will avoid second person, though.