Academically Unjustified

Question: Can I cite some of your blogs on my research papers? What are your credentials?

Ooh. Our egos love you for asking, but our sense of academic self-preservation advises against it.

We're no slouches in the arena of mythology and religion; we have degrees and are no strangers to the halls of academia. But we are also heavily self-educated, standing on the shoulders of giants and devouring their books, so while we do our best to be scrupulously accurate and to source everything we use, it's kind of a toss-up whether your professor(s) would consider us a reputable source. Some professors hate internet sources; others love them. Some professors don't want to hear it from anyone who doesn't have a PhD, and some are interested in anything, even experimental craziness written by experimental crazies, as long as you're seeking out new ideas in your field. The area you're writing in may make a difference as well - we might be a great example for a research paper in some of the sociological fields, but not so hot for an archaeological paper that depends on cold, hard facts from people who have personally dug them up.

Blogs are hard to use as sources for research, because it's incredibly easy for anyone to write anything on a blog and still sound vaguely credible. We'd love to be part of your projects, but it's probably a much safer bet to just read the same things we're reading - we might not seem like a legitimate source to some professors, but the Harvard monographs we're reading definitely will. We're always happy to recommend sources on particular subjects if you need them; feel free to ask any time.

And hey, you can always just ask a professor; show him or her a blog entry or two of the kind you're thinking about citing and see what they think about it. The worst that can happen is you'll be told no, but maybe your professor will be impressed that you're thinking outside the box.