33 Citation Justice: Who You Cite Matters
Gina Kessler Lee
Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you should be able to
- Define inclusive citation or citation justice
- Critically reflect on the diversity of authors and perspectives you are incorporating and citing in your own writing
“…mainstream figures who control the terms of discourse marginalize outsider writing as long as possible.” Richard Delgado
Evaluating Your Sources
Once you have picked out some sources for your paper and considered how they work together to tell a story, you’ll want to take a look at your list of sources as a whole to make sure they meet your goals for credibility [link to chapter], relevance [link to chapter], and alignment with the information you need [link to chapter].
But this is also a good time to consider whose voices are represented in—and absent from—your sources.
After all, as we’ve learned, the search tools we use to find sources have bias baked in [linked to algorithmic bias chapter].
Who You Cite Matters
Studies have shown that scholarly work by women and non-white scholars get cited disproportionately less than men and white people in a variety of fields (Kwon 569).
So it’s important that we work to counteract these biases and make sure we are incorporating diverse perspectives in our work. This is often called inclusive citation or citational justice.
Inclusive citation, also known as citational justice
“‘Inclusive citation’ describes an approach to citing the intellectual and creative work of individuals and groups with a diversity of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. Inclusive citation works to counteract dominant power structures that have historically privileged certain groups while disadvantaging others.” (Baer)
For a personal account of the importance of inclusive citation, read about the experience of Dr. Kishonna Gray and “the Gray test” that was named after her.
Take a Closer Look
Activity
Now, pull up your bibliography or the sources you’ve found so far for your next essay. Looking at these sources, ask yourself:
Have I included perspectives from…
- Women and nonbinary authors?
- Queer and trans authors?
- Disabled authors?
- Authors from the Global South?
- People of color?
- People of diverse ages?
- Populations who are impacted by the topic of my research?
Of course, it can be difficult to figure this out just by looking at a list of names. This guide to Citation Justice in STEMM from McGill University lists some helpful resources for evaluating the diversity of your sources and finding sources by minoritized groups.
Why is it important to include diverse voices in our writing?
One reason is that including texts by authors with a variety of lived experiences will allow your writing to reflect a wider diversity of perspectives.
Another reason is to highlight the work of marginalized groups. When we don’t actively counteract existing biases that limit who gets cited, people start to think that the only work worth citing is that by dominant groups. Think about your Collegiate Seminar readings, for example. If the assigned texts were all by one type of person, what might that tell college students about whose ideas are worth discussing in college?
One additional reason to practice inclusive citation is that, believe it or not, citations impact careers. Academics will often show how many citations their work has gotten as proof of the impact their work is having. When you cite someone’s work in a professional publication, you might be helping them keep their job or get a promotion.
Utah State University Libraries guide and the following video summarizes the importance of citing multiply marginalized and underrepresented scholars (view time is 2:31):
Video 33.1. Citing MMU scholars by USU Libraries
Write to Learn: Inclusive Citation
Works Cited
Baer, Andrea. “Inclusive Citation.” Rowan University | Campbell Library. https://libguides.rowan.edu/inclusive_citation.
Delgado, Richard. “The Imperial Scholar Revisited: How to Marginalize Outsider Writing, Ten Years Later.” University of Pennsylvania Law Review, vol. 140, no. 4, Apr. 1992, pp. 1349-1372. https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3697&context=penn_law_review.
Kwon, Diana. “The Rise of Citational Justice.” Nature, vol. 63, 2022, pp. 568-571. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00793-1.pdf.
Utah State University Libraries. “Citing MMU Scholars.” YouTube, 8 Mar. 2021. https://youtu.be/NF8S4Qr_-FM.
