Television

Writing a Works Cited for Paper 1

General Citation:

Author’s Name. Title of Book: Subtitle if

present. City of publication: Name of

publisher, Date. Print.

Works Cited

Johnson, Steven. “Watching TV Makes You

Smarter.” Common Culture: Reading and

Writing About American Popular Culture.

6th ed. Ed. Michael Petracca and

Madeleine Sorapure. Upper-Saddle River,

NJ: Prentice Hall, 2009. 155-167. Print.

Embedded Citation

► Look at the way you cite an article with the author

named prior to the citation

► Look at the way you “frame” /name the source

► Look at the strength of the quote

► Look at punctuation

Embedded Citation

In “Watching TV Makes You Smarter,” Johnson makes an

interesting claim. He introduces the idea of the “Sleeper Curve,”

which occurs when audiences are forced to watch closely and

make logical guesses in order to understand complex and fast-

moving plots (157). He furthers his claim about the importance

of the Sleeper Curve by saying that “Even junk has improved”

(Johnson 164); therefore, audiences must be attentive even

while watching bad reality TV which incorporates multiple

characters and tangled story lines.

Works Cited

Waters, Harry. “Life According to TV.” Common

Culture: Reading and Writing About American

Popular Culture. 6th ed. Ed. Michael Petracca

and Madeleine Sorapure. Upper-Saddle River,

NJ: Prentice Hall, 2009. 137-145. Print.

Embedded Quote

►Look at how the quote is embedded

►Look at how credit is given to both Gerbner (who conducted the study) and Waters (who wrote the article)

►How could this provided quote be further analyzed to build on a thesis point?

Embedded Quote

According to George Gerbner’s study, “Male prime-time characters outnumber females 3 to 1 and, with a few star-turn exceptions, women are portrayed as weak, passive satellites to powerful, effective men” (Waters 138). Even though Gerbner’s study was conducted decades ago, much of this sexist stereotyping is still actively portrayed on TV today.

Works Cited Johnson, Steven. “Watching TV Makes You Smarter.”

Common Culture: Reading and Writing About

American Popular Culture. 6th ed. Ed. Michael

Petracca and Madeline Sorapure. Upper-Saddle

River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2009. 155-167. Print.

Waters, Harry. “Life According to TV.” Common Culture:

Reading and Writing About American Popular

Culture. 6th ed. Ed. Michael Petracca and Madeline

Sorapure. Upper-Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall,

2009. 137-45. Print.