Writing About Alice – A Brief Example of Academic Writing and Citing Sources In your career as a student, you will likely be asked to engage in this type of writing. In the box at the bottom of this page is a writing example, which uses material from the following two sources. One Information Source: The following is from “Wondering about Alice” by P. B. Potter, Jr. “Well over 1000 state and federal judicial opinions refer, in one way or another, to Alice in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass.” (p.177). “Judges, of course, are not the only players in the courtroom drama to be inspired by Lewis Carroll.” (p.182). “…In a case from the state courts of Connecticut: In his closing argument, the prosecutor characterized the defendant's version of the night's events, along with the testimony of defense witnesses, as a fantasy world akin to that encountered by Alice, both in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. For example, this assistant state's attorney argued that, in order to believe the testimony of defense witnesses, the jury would have needed ‘to step through the looking glass and follow the white rabbit down into the rabbit hole. It's only in this fantasy world that truth is stranger than fiction.’*” (p.183). * “State v. Thompson, 2003.” Another Information Source: The following is from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter I. “…when the Rabbit actually TOOK A WATCH OUT OF ITS WAISTCOAT-POCKET, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and fortunately was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge. In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.” Following is a very brief example of Academic Writing using the above sources with proper attribution through the use of in-text citations and a reference list in APA format. P. B. Potter Junior’s (2006) research found that many judicial opinions reference Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass, and judges are not the only ones in courtrooms to make use of Carroll’s work (Potter Jr., 2006). For example, in the 2003 Connecticut State v. Thompson case, the prosecutor “argued that, in order to believe the testimony of defense witnesses, the jury would have needed ‘to step through the looking glass and follow the white rabbit down into the rabbit hole’” (Potter Jr., 2006, p.183). This prosecuting attorney certainly believed that most of the jury members would know the storyline or be familiar with Carroll’s words, “[Alice] was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge. In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again” (Carroll, 1865). The prosecutor staked the case on an assumed common experience of classic Image: literature, which might strengthen his/her argument – an assumption that, if Smith, J.W. (1923).Alice in wonderland. Public domain image retrieved from true, allowed the prosecutor to talk about a rabbit and rabbit hole in a court http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki of law without being thought to be mad as a hatter! /File:Alice_in_Wonderland.jpg References Carroll, L. (1865). Chapter I: Down the rabbit-hole. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Lit2Go ed.). Retrieved May 13, 2013, from http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/1/alices-adventures-in-wonderland/1/chapter-i-down-the-rabbit-hole/ Potter Jr., P. B. (2006). Wondering about Alice: Judicial references to Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Whittier L. Rev., 28, 175-317. Retrieved from http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/whitlr28&div=8&g_sent=1&collection=journals Created by K. Beisner, School Librarian, for the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics for non-commercial educational purposes only, May 23, 2013. Text spacing and text size in this document are not in APA format. .