Stringing Me Along

In legal (and, I presume, other academic) literature, there is a form of footnote known as a "string cite." A string cite lists a bevy of articles and authorities in support of a given proposition. It often serves as an overview for a particular field. For example, I might write in an article:

Critical Race Theory emerged in the late-80s and early-90s as a powerful new force on the progressive legal scene.[n1]

I might then put in that footnote:

[n1] For an sampling of some of the early works in the CRT movement, see, e.g., Derrick Bell, The Supreme Court, 1984 Term--Foreword: The Civil Rights Chronicles, 99 HARV. L. REV. 4 (1985); Derrick Bell, Racial Realism, 24 CONN. L. REV. 363 (1992); Richard Delgado, The Imperial Scholar: Reflections on a Review of Civil Rights Literature, 132 U. PA. L. REV. 561 (1984); Richard Delgado, Storytelling for Oppositionists and Others: A Plea for Narrative, 87 MICH. L. REV. 2411 (1989); Barbara J. Flagg, "Was Blind But Now I See": White Race Consciousness and the Requirement of Discriminatory Intent, 91 MICH. L. REV. 953 (1993); Neil Gotanda, A Critique of "Our Constitution is Color-Blind", 44 STAN. L. REV. 1 (1991); Ian F. Haney Lopez, The Social Construction of Race: Some Observations on Illusion, Fabrication, and Choice, 29 HARV. C.R.-C.L. L. REV. 1 (1994); Cheryl I. Harris, Whiteness as Property, 106 HARV. L. REV. 1707 (1993); Charles R. Lawrence III, The Id, the Ego, and Equal Protection: Reckoning with Unconscious Racism, 39 STAN. L. REV. 317 (1987); Mari J. Matsuda, Looking to the Bottom: Critical Legal Studies and Reparations, 22 HARV. C.R.-C.L. L. REV. 323 (1987).

At some level such footnotes are mere exercises in form. They show that the author has read the relevant literature, knows what s/he is talking about, and provides a jumping off point by which a relative novice could learn more about the field.

But string-cites can also be a major boost to a young author. Obviously, there were many more articles on CRT written in the time frame I outlined. By picking these particular articles, I am implicitly saying that they are the key or crucial "must-reads" on the topic--the cream of the crop if you will. Sometimes this isn't the case--Richard Delgado has talked about "aren't I hip" citations to trendy scholars that serve only to shield hidebound professors from charges that the field has passed them by. But by and large, it is an incredible honor to find oneself in a string cite surrounded by the luminaries in ones field.

In blogs, we have a rough equivalent in "round-up posts." A blogger, commenting on a "hot topic", will first provide a string of links to the other major posts on the subject. Sometimes this isn't a big deal--especially one there are only a few posts out there to choose from. But if your teeny little blog makes it into a list populated by giants, it feels like a major coup.

All this leads up to this post by Illinois Law Professor Lawrence Solum on the link between blogging and legal scholarship. He starts with a round-up that includes my post Blogging as Scholarship as Struggle. That post was the only one listed by a non-legal academic. My fellow citees? Law Professors Paul Caron (Cincinnati), Christine Hurt (Marquette), Orin S. Kerr (GWU), Dan Markel (FSU), Larry Ribstein (Illinois), and Dan Solove (GWU).

It is an honor to be placed in such illustrious company. I only wish I had more insightful or thought-provoking comments to place on the post!