Inductees to academic writing, yours truly included, will know of the wonder and bugbear that is the citation. It credits the ideas and facts one uses to the source, an academic tip of the hat, if you will. But, as a young student battling numerous research assignments, the drab, mechanical, and over-the-top (might I add soul-sucking) citation formats make the task seem far too tedious. However, while coincidentally taking a research break myself, I recently found my views on this component of research delightfully shifted if not shattered.
Popping the YouTube app open, I noticed that one of my subscribed channels, CGP Grey, had put out a new video. It was about the history and origin of the name “Tiffany”, spanning about 8 minutes. Tiffany? Who cared about a ‘Tiffany’, especially as an Indian law student who had never even met a ‘Tiffany’ in real life?! Not to mention that the video was longer than the break I had planned to take (and truth be told, I’d much rather spend 8 minutes mindlessly scrolling through Instagram). Yet, inexplicable curiosity overcame me and I found myself surprisingly fascinated by the video.
Confused? Wondering what any of this has to do with citations?
Well, a couple of weeks later, Grey put out another video documenting one of the many rabbit holes of research he had burrowed into during his six-month preparation for the main Tiffany video. Six months. Read that again. As it turns out there was a poem mentioning a “Tiffany”, spelled A-N-Y allegedly dating back to the medieval era. Combing through old books to discover the source, Grey came upon the poem in a citation appended to the Scotichronicon. This led him to the editor of that edition, a Thomas Hearne.
However, as Grey painfully learned, Hearne ended up being less of a trusted historian and more of an amateur collector (read: hoarder) of artefacts who dabbled in historiographical endeavors. Hearne’s works ignored internal evidence while interpreting historical records, confusing timelines and sources and bamboozling researchers like Grey from beyond the grave. Grey’s only light in this tunnel was the incidental discovery of the juicy animosity between Hearne and one Alexander Pope. Pope not only based a pedantic know-it-all in one of his plays on his nemesis but also documented every flaw he could find in Hearne’s work in a hilariously condescending 35 page letter!
To allow you to savor the journey of Grey’s frustration and moments of jubilant clarity, I’ll cut the long story short (for you curious cats, check out the full video here). Turns out Hearne not only credited the poem by misspelling the family name twice but the poem itself referred to the wrong family member. Worse still, the Tiffany referred to in the poem was in fact a ‘Theophania’ all along! And this one citation was ignorantly copied in numerous other 18th century works, continuing till the present day to produce the myth that Tiffany in the modern A-N-Y form is a medieval name.
As I sat there reflecting on the video, I realized three things. First, of immediate and practical relevance—never underestimate the citations you create and always check the ones you cite! A domino effect of misquoted facts can create a tumbling tower of fiction, like in Grey’s case. Please, spare your reader.
Second, of methodological (maybe philosophical) relevance, especially pertinent to novices and consumers of research like myself—do not underestimate citations as a resource. Oftentimes it is more valuable than the main piece. It leads you down a new path you may have yet to explore, and allows you to burrow deeper than you ever imagined on a topic. Sure, it may direct you to uneven sources and tangential facts, but ever-the-optimist I would also like to posit that it might even guide you to make relevant, perhaps even career- altering discoveries. I give you proof in the form of a Tumblr post sharing how the accidental discovery that a species had been misclassified as one of least concern led a college student to become an expert on the topic. (Am I aware of the irony of citing a famously unreliable source for a piece on citations? Yes. Am I still inspired? Undoubtedly.)
My last epiphany of sorts was about the journey of research itself. Grey, throughout the video, wonderfully expresses not only his euphoria at finding a promising source but also the often isolating, lonely journey of research in especially niche and overlooked areas. I openly acknowledge my notorious habit of exclaiming when I find another clue in solving my research puzzle, often garrulously expressed at lunch to my remarkably patient parents. Finding a research-buddy who equally ‘fangirls’ with you over your obscure findings is a rare, beautiful thing. So Grey wondering halfway through the video if any viewer was even there listening to him vent about the research process hits a little too close to home.
It is at this juncture that one feels compelled, especially as a student or amateur researcher, in taking up more ‘trendy’ or lucrative areas of research only for the sake of funding or publication credits (and I concede, there’s no denying the value of either). At least they offer commercial comfort at the end of this reclusive pursuit.
Boiled down, it becomes a choice between alienating one’s research for companionship, or making research your companion and alienating oneself. Yet, any researcher at heart knows the true unfathomable exuberance one feels at answering a research question that genuinely fascinates you. Sometimes it’s taking that risk and wild journey of exploring, diving into and finding material, and perhaps even yourself along the way that counts. I for one cannot wait for mine.