Do you cite Rand/Objectivist literature?

[TheEgoist]

In academic, research and essay style papers at your college/university have you ever cited Rand or Objectivist literature? Did you ever get critiqued for that practice?

I ask because I am using several sources, from VoS and two articles in the Objective Standard in a paper I am writing on human morality as it relates to science, biology and neurology. My main point I'm trying to get across, or that is naturally being brought out of me, is that morality is not innate but also not subjective. It can't be brought out from scientific research alone and I'm actually relying a bit on David Hume's argument that an external event, in and of itself, cannot be considered moral, immoral or impose any kind of obligation on you. I of course go away from Hume's conclusions.

But anyway, I was wondering if this was a good practice to engage in, has it ever gotten you penalized in your grade and things like that.

Thanks

[noumenalself]

Be honest, but be careful. If you want to make reference to an idea that is Rand's, not yours, then you should acknowledge it, at the very least in a footnote. But be careful, because you don't want to make a paper *about* Rand when that's not the assignment (if it's not). That's important both because you don't want to drown the paper with irrelevancies, and also because you don't want to turn off your professor unnecessarily. I wrote too many philosophy papers as an undergraduate which featured Rand prominently, when this was not the assignment and not necessary for what I wanted to say. Usually all you need is footnotes, for the sake of avoiding plagiarism.

And you should think about whether you need to refer to Ayn Rand's ideas as much as you might otherwise want to. Usually a professor is looking for you to give your own thoughts on a question. Sometimes you may agree with Rand on matters that are directly relevant to the question, in which case your thoughts are her thoughts. But you should think about whether there are ways to answer the assigned question that don't involve stating an alternative philosophical position. You may be able to answer the question just by raising critical questions about another view, pointing out logical gaps and overlooked facts, etc. Generally, I would say, use Rand in your paper only when it is necessary, only when you don't have original thoughts of your own on the assigned question--and when you are able to present her ideas in a way that looks intelligent, not slavish.

[TheEgoist]

Well, I was in no way using Rand or using her ideas as the thesis for my paper or anything like that. I don't even say the name Rand in my paper.

However, a fellow Objectivist gave me some advice on this that was a bit discouraging, so I may just look for a source that isn't Objectivist.