Guide to BIPOC musicians and related literature

When conducting research on any topic, it is important to give credit to your sources through proper citation practices. The University of Toronto Libraries has a helpful guide to many different citation styles, and the Music Library has its own guide for the Chicago Manual of Style.

Writing about BIPOC musical traditions from a position of anti-racism comes with its own challenges, but luckily there is a guide to help you find conscious and considerate language to express your ideas. The creators of the The Conscious Style Guide describe it as "the first website devoted to conscious language. Our mission is to help writers and editors think critically about using language - including words, portrayals, framing, and representation - to empower instead of limit. In one place, you can access style guides covering terminology for various communities and find links to key articles debating usage. We study words so that they can become tools instead of unwitting weapons."

Check out Simon Fraser University's Inclusive and Antiracist Writing guide, which can teach you how to write in an inclusive way. According to the guide, "inclusive writing means paying attention to the ways that language can be, and has been, used to exclude people or groups of people." 

There are also style guides created for the purposes of writing respectfully about specific peoples and cultures:

Younging, Gregory. Elements of Indigenous Style: A Guide for Writing By and About Indigenous Peoples. Edmonton, Alberta: Brush Education, 2018.