Persuasion is audience-centered and the presenters are always chosen with the audience in mind.

Exposition is usually topic-centered and the authorities cited are determined by the topic, often unknown to the audience.

Nevertheless, just as advertisers take care in selecting presenters in order to add favorable associations, so also, sometimes expository writers can benefit by their selection of the authorities they cite, refer to, or quote.

In exposition, it's not whether the audience already likes, but already knows and respects, the authority cited.

Thus, know who is already esteemed by your audience. For example, in a trade journal, professional journal, law or medical review, it would not be appropriate to cite popular magazines. (Don't quote the National Inquirer or Readers' Digest for your medical reports!)

Know also that, within any field, there's a pecking order, that some authorities and journals are more esteemed. (How do you know which ones? Keep asking people in the discipline or librarians.)

Name-dropping is as common in writing as it is in conversation, and some people do it better than others. In writing, avoid pedantic decorations (authorities cited, footnotes used, bibliographies padded) simply for display.

Don't overcite authorities. Don't try to impress a reader, or overwhelm an opponent, simply by gathering as many authorities as possible. For example, some amateurish religious tracts cite biblical "chapter and verse" for every other word, a display of pseudo-scholarship producing a surface illusion of learning, but often creating obscure and chaotic prose.

Observe good writers. Note how they handle authorities. Be aware of current conventions or norms within the field. In literary studies, for example, at one time it was fashionable to use scores of footnotes and Latin abbreviations on every page. Style Guides today favor very simple notes incorporated in parenthesis within the text.