What is the point this? If the writer of the lab report was part of the group conducting the experiments, it would be natural and intuitive to write in the first person, so how did the third-person rule come about?
So many conventions of academic writing seem to serve no practical purpose beyond making writing sound awkward and unnatural. (See also: "Do not use contractions in formal writing.")
Comments
gwa ha ha
What sounds better: “I added acid into the test tube and nothing happened, which wasn’t expected”
Or
“100 millilitres of hydrochloric acid was added to the test tube. No results were recorded, which was not the expected result.”
It just looked better and more formal, which is needed when it’s being published in a professional paper.