Citation can often feel like a very annoying hoop to jump through - making sure you're using the right style for your discipline, formatting everything perfectly, and making sure you have sufficient citations to support your argument.  If we move beyond thinking in this framework, we can start to see citation practices as its own argument - how do you choose which scholars to cite? Do your citations reflect a diversity of lived experiences? Are there certain demographic groups that are over- or under-represented in the authors in your bibliography? What does it mean for your argument and conclusions if there are specific groups whose voices aren't present in the works you cite?

To have time and space to consider our citation practices more deeply, it is helpful to use tools to manage our citations, including saving, organizing, and even formatting citations in our writing. UNBC Library supports Zotero, a free, open-source citation management software, that will support streamlining your citation management.