1. MLA Style

2. That is the question!!!
 Do you really need to cite all these
sources? The short answer is yes. If you are
incorporating an author’s ideas into your
paper, or if the work of another has
influenced your thinking on a topic, then
the source must be cited. It doesn’t matter
what the source is. It could be a book,
journal article, web site, television
program, speech or a government
document. Just remember, if you are using
another’s words or ideas, cite them.

3.  The Basics
 Direct Quotation
 Direct Quotation: More Information
 Facts
 Paraphrase
 Summary

4. Original The women in The Sopranos are, without a doubt, at least as deadly as the males – in some
cases, literally, in other cases metaphorically. Livia, Carmela, Dr. Melfi, and Janice are more
dangerous than Junior, Tony, Christopher, and Paulie because the women commandeer power
while seeming to wield none. The evidence of their powers of destruction is more easily
disguised. In other words, while the women might stoop to conquer, they do eventually and
efficiently conquer their enemies.
Barreca, Regina. “Why I Like the Women in The Sopranos.” A Sitdown with the
Sopranos: Watching Italian American Culture on TV’s Most Talked-About
Series. Ed. Regina Barreca. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. 27-46.
Quotation According to Barreca, “the women in The Sopranos are, without a doubt, at least as deadly as
the males – in some cases, literally, in other cases metaphorically. Livia, Carmela, Dr. Melfi, and
Janice are more dangerous than Junior, Tony, Christopher, and Paulie because the women
commandeer power while seeming to wield none” (37).

5.  Tocite passages of more than four
lines of text, remember:
 Passages must be indented.
 Quotation marks are not used.
 A parenthetical citation or footnote
number should follow the punctuation at
the end of the quotation.

6. The women who populate the television program, The
Sopranos, are for the most part wonderful examples of
multidimensional characters so rarely seen in the media.
According to Barreca,
Carmela and Dr. Melfi do not pretend to foolishness,
helplessness, or innocence, those twinned weapons
of the traditional passive-aggressive feminine script
perfected by Livia Soprano, Tony’s mother. Unlike
more ordinary heroines, most of the women in The
Sopranos do not offer up a gooey reservoir of
sympathy, vulnerability, and virginity but instead
offer in their place a sense of intelligent awareness,
emotional skill, and a sense of shamelessness about
their own competence. They do not, in other words,
apologize for being good at what they do (32).

7. What if you want to add or delete text from
a quotation?
 Use ellipses (three spaced periods) to
indicate omitted words.
 For example:
“Brutality, extortion, and murder are everyday
stuff for the Mob. Tony’s high standard of living
… depends upon these ugly but hidden crimes”
(Parini 77).

8. To add words/phrases to a direct quotation,
use square brackets.
 For example:
“Within the home Carmela [Soprano] gains
power and the opportunity to lead the family
down a morally correct path” (Parini 106).

9.  Everyone knows that Roosevelt was president
during World War II, that Hawaii was the 50th
state, and that the earth orbits the sun. But does
everyone know the percentage of women under
35 who vote? The number of sea turtle nests
observed on North Carolina beaches in 1987? The
voting record of Richard Nixon? When do facts
you present in your paper need to be
documented with a citation?
 Facts that are considered 'common knowledge' - those
that a reasonably well-educated person could be
expected to know – do not need to be documented
with a citation in your paper.
 Facts or statistics that are more obscure or pertain
directly to your argument will need to be
documented with a citation.

10. It's a great idea, but the essay was written in 1910, so it's
expressed in language that's a little old-fashioned. Or it's a
brilliant thought, but you just wouldn't say it that way – it's
very technical and wouldn't fit into the flow of your paper.
How do you include references to ideas expressed by others
without using direct quotations? Paraphrase – and include a
full citation.
 A paraphrase of a sentence in an article will usually be
about the same length as the original sentence – just in
your own words.
 As with quotations, paraphrases should be used sparingly –
a paper should be a balance between thoughts of other
scholars and your original ideas.
 A paper composed mostly or entirely of paraphrases from
other authors is very likely to be described as 'patchwork’.
Even if you have cited every paraphrase correctly, you've
forgotten to include your own analysis!

11. Original In The Sopranos, the mob is besieged as much by inner infidelity as it is by the
federal government. Early in the series, the greatest threat to Tony's Family is
his own biological family. One of his closest associates turns witness for the
FBI, his mother colludes with his uncle to contract a hit on Tony, and his kids
click through Web sites that track the federal crackdown in Tony's gangland.
Fields, Ingrid Walker. “Family Values and Feudal Codes: The Social Politics of
America’s Twenty-First Century Gangster.” Journal of Popular Culture 37.4
(2004). Expanded Academic ASAP. Gale Group. Duke U Lib.,
Durham. 8 Dec. 2004.
Paraphrase In the first season of The Sopranos, Tony Soprano’s mobster activities are more
threatened by members of his biological family than by agents of the federal government.
This familial betrayal is multi-pronged. Tony’s closest friend and associate is an FBI
informant, his mother and uncle are conspiring to have him killed, and his children are
surfing the Web for information about his activities (Fields).

12. What happened on the latest episode of The Sopranos?
What was covered in class yesterday? Can you tell me in
a nutshell what Pride and Prejudice is about?
Summarizing is something that we do on a daily basis,
but what differentiates it from paraphrasing?
 Use your own language. With summaries, you want to
restate the author’s idea in your own words.
 Think brevity! Unlike paraphrasing, you are striving to
restate the author’s idea or ideas in fewer words.
 Avoid interjecting your own analysis or opinions. If
you choose to summarize, stick to restating the
author’s idea. A summary can then be followed with
your opinion or analysis of the author’s idea.

13. Original One reason The Sopranos is so popular is that, on a superficial level, it
gives its audiences an acceptable bad guy whose job it is to uphold an
alternative system that lives off capitalism without contributing its
“fair share” of dues to the power brokers; he comes from a tribe that
decided that it wouldn’t work hard to make someone else rich.
Gardaphé, Fred. “Fresh Garbage: The Gangster as Suburban Trickster.”
A Sitdown with the Sopranos: Watching Italian American Culture on TV’s
Most Talked-About Series. Ed. Regina Barreca. New York: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2002. 90-111.
Paraphrase Though his activities can be classified as criminal, Tony Soprano’s
success outside of the legal power structure resonates with viewers
(Gardaphé 101).

14. Basics
 Your list of works cited should begin at the
end of the paper on a new page with the
centered title, Works Cited. Alphabetize the
entries in your list by the author's last name,
using the letter-by-letter system (ignore
spaces and other punctuation.) If the
author's name is unknown, alphabetize by
the title, ignoring any A, An, or The.

15.  Fordates, spell out the names of months in
the text of your paper, but abbreviate them
in the list of works cited, except for May,
June, and July. Use either the day-month-
year style (22 July 1999) or the month-day-
year style (July 22, 1999) and be consistent.
With the month-day-year style, be sure to
add a comma after the year unless another
punctuation mark goes there.

16.  Underlining or Italics?
When reports were written on typewriters, the
names of publications were underlined because
most typewriters had no way to print italics. If you
write a bibliography by hand, you should still
underline the names of publications. But, if you
use a computer, then publication names should be
in italics.
 Hanging Indentation
All MLA citations should use hanging indents, that
is, the first line of an entry should be flush left,
and the second and subsequent lines should be
indented 1/2".

17. Devitt, Terry. "Lightning injures four at music festival."
The Why? Files. 2 Aug. 2001. 23 Jan.2002<http:
//whyfiles.org/137lightning/index.html>.
Dove, Rita. "Lady Freedom among Us." The Electronic Text
Center. Ed. David Seaman. 1998. Alderman
Lib., U of Virginia. 19 June 1998<http://etext.lib.
virginia.edu/subjects/afam.html>.
Lancashire, Ian. Homepage. 28 Mar. 2002. 15 May
2002<http://www.chass.utoronto.ca:8080/~ian/>.