Academic texts are regarded as impersonal texts. They follow what is known as the “I” taboo. The present study resolves the question of how the “I” is to be seen in academic texts. The concept of the author moves on a multiplicity of levels. On the one hand, typical academic acts (such as “solving a research problem”) are continually being explicated, on the other, typical attitudes are also being indicated (such as uncertainty). In the model, the marking levels are integrated. Thus the ‘author in the text‚ can be determined both as typical of a domain and as an individual figure.