<p>Ok so Im taking a class on the Beatles. My father is a professional guitar player and has extensive knowledge of all music from the Beatles era as his father was also a professional (and rather famous) guitar player that even played on a few Elvis Presley songs. I didn’t tell my teacher or TA this because I didn’t want them to grade me harder. Therefore, I am wondering if it would be ok to cite my father’s opinion and/or knowledge of songs in an essay? I would write a short explanation, but I don’t want them to feel like I have special knowledge and/or that they need to hold me to a higher standard. </p>
<p>You have to look from their perspective. Unless your father has some pre-existing source for his opinions, the most rational assumption is that you made it up or that you are not revealing your sources. Not something to cite as a source.</p>
<p>My opinion would be that talking to your father should be a good starting place, but don’t use him as a source. You’ll then be able to know what to look for, besides it’s never good to have only one source.</p>
<p>I mean it’s hard to say whether or not you should use him, not knowing how many other experts (if any) you are citing, in what context you would like to use his knowledge, what the topic of the paper is, etc. It may or may not be appropriate. Use your judgment here on whether or not your father is bringing something unique to this paper that he is just perfect for, or whether you are just using him to give you a leg up in the class and you could have found the information on your own/formed the opinion on your own/found a more appropriate expert or scholar to comment/etc.</p>
<p>For example if you are going to cite your father as an expert on the culture of the music industry for a professional guitarist in 1980 (or whatever year he played with bands/experienced the culture firsthand), that would be an example of your father bringing something unique and relevant. Otherwise I would seriously consider, as other posters said, just using him as a sounding board and starting point, and then following up via other sources.</p>
<p>It’s really easy to use him in the wrong way imho, and so you should probably discuss with your TA, too, as someone else also suggested.</p>