Citing Professor X
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James Joyner | Friday, May 29, 2009 |
Eugene Volokh’s post “Professor X Says” has, as best I can tell, nothing to do with the leader of a certain band of uncanny Marvel mutants. It does, however, provide seemingly obvious but oft-missed advice on how one should handle arguments in academic writing:
If you want to endorse Professor X’s view, be clear and candid about it; say “As Professor X says, ‘This law is unconstitutional’” or perhaps just quote the assertion, “‘This law is unconstitutional,’” and cite X in the footnote. That will make clear to the reader that you are embracing that assertion, rather than leaving a question in the reader’s mind.
Putting things that way will also likely make it clear to you that you are now asserting something that you need to defend. And it should lead you to ask yourself, “Will the reader agree with the quoted material, and, if not, what counterarguments will the reader mentally make?” Unless Professor X is a very respected authority indeed, simply X’s name won’t persuade the reader. Either the quote must itself contain a persuasive and relatively complete argument, or you have to explain why the quote is correct.
If course, if the fictional Professor X were grading the paper in question, he could read the student’s mind and ascertain these things for himself. For students of other professors, however, it’s probably best to follow Professor V’s advice.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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I would note that Professor X's ph,D.'s are in the fields of Genetics, Psychology, and Biophysics. Accordingly, he seems to be a rather poor academic source to cite for legal matters.
Glad to see someone else had the same thought I did at Volokh's headline. Given the number of libertarian/conservative blogs, including his, that have previously posted Potter, BSG, etc. posts, it didn't seem like that far a stretch.
