asa citation research paper

ASA Citation Format - American Sociological Association

• Introduction to ASA Citation Format
• In-Text Citation Format
• Reference Page Format

American Sociological Association (ASA) Style Guide

The American Sociological Association published its first style guide in 1997 to formalize publication standards for sociological research and writing.  It is the authoritative reference for writing, submitting, editing, and copyediting manuscripts for ASA journals and other publications following ASA's unique format. 

In 2019, the ASA released the sixth edition of the style guide, which features guidelines for the most common situations encountered by authors and editors. New features include reference formatting and additional information on grammar, as well as expanded information on the use of electronic, digital, and social media sources ( ASA, 2019 ). 

The ASA Style Guide is published in print version only. However, they have put many of their general guidelines online. To access information on ASA citations, you may:

• Refer to the print copy we keep at King Library , available for use for two hours at a time from the first floor reserves desk;
• Use an online writing tutorial such as the one managed by Purdue's Online Writing Lab ; 
• Refer to the fundamentals on this subject guide, using the links on the left to navigate. 
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Citation Styles & Evaluation Guides: ASA 7 (American Sociological Association)

• APA 7 (American Psychological Association)
• MLA 9 (Modern Language Association)
• Chicago 17 (Chicago Manual of Style)
• ASA 7 (American Sociological Association)
• Citations During Public Speaking
• AMA 11 (AMA Manual of Style)
• IEEE Style (The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)
• Citation Generators
• Evaluative Guides
• Domain Names
• BCC Library Home

ASA 7 Information

The American Sociological Association (ASA) Style Guide is used primarily by scholars submitting articles to ASA journals, as well as sociology students writing research papers, theses, and dissertations.

This guide will help you format your manuscript and form proper citations. For detailed information about elements of style, including punctuation, biased language, and word usage and spelling, consult the most recent edition of the Style Guide.

ASA 7 How to...

• ASA Guidelines
• ASA Paper Template
• ASA Headings & Subheadings

Text must be in 12-point Times or Times New Roman font. All text should be double-spaced except for block quotes.

Structure your paper using the following sections:

• Title page:  Includes full title followed by an asterisk, name(s) and institution(s) of author(s), a complete word count, running head, and a title footnote with name and address of author(s), acknowledgments, credits, and grant information (if any).
• Abstract:  Begin on a new page headed by the title. Brief, jargon-free paragraph (less than 200 words) summarizing the work, followed by three to five key words.
• Body:  Begin on a new page headed by the title. Use headings and subheadings after the introduction.
• Notes:  Footnotes and endnotes should be indicated in the text with superscripted numbers. The notes can be typed at the bottom of the page (footnotes) or in a separate section labeled Notes or Endnotes. Do only one or the other; not both. Begin each note with its superscript number.
• References:  List alphabetically in a new section labeled References.
• Appendices:  If more than one, label Appendix A, Appendix B, etc. Appendices should be labeled with a title.

Click the document below to access the Microsoft Word template for ASA style formatting. 

• Save the document
• Rename the document as your current assignment/paper
• Use the template you downloaded for your ASA style papers

Your instructor's directions for ASA style are more important that the settings on this template.  You need to make any necessary changes to match your professor's assignment.

• ASA 7 Sample Paper

FIRST-LEVEL HEAD

First-level headings are all in caps and left-justified. Start using headings after the introduction.

Second-Level Head

Second-level headings are italicized, left-justified, and all words except prepositions and conjunctions are capitalized.

            Third-level head.

Third-level headings are italicized, indented, end with a period, and only the first word and any proper nouns are capitalized.

ASA 7 Citation Examples

• In-Text Citations
• Books & eBooks
• Internet Sources
• Government Documents

In-text citations are included in the text of your research paper to document the source of your information.

General Formatting:

• Cite the last name of the author and year of publication.
• Include page numbers within the citation when directly quoting the authors’ words, paraphrasing a passage, or referring to specific passages.
• If the author's name is used in the text, put the date in parentheses immediately afterwards.

Example:   When Duncan (1959) studied...

• If the author's name is not in the text, enclose last name and year in parentheses.

Example:   When these relationships were studied (Gouldner 1963)...

Quoting Directly: 

When you quote directly from a source, enclose the quoted section in quotation marks. In the in-text citation, include the page number to the standard author/year format. 

Example:  As tabulated by Kuhn (1970:71) the results show...

Two Authors:

Provide both last names of the authors.  Example:   (Martin and Bailey 1988)

Three Authors: 

Give all last names in the  first in-text citation. Afterwards, use the first author's last name followed by et al. 

Example:   (Carr, Smith, and Jones 1962) or (Carr et al. 1962)

Four or More Authors:

When there are four or more authors, use the first author's last name followed by et al. in all in-text citations.

Example:   (Nilson et al. 1962)

Institutional or Corporate Author

Example:   (U.S. Bureau of the Census 1963:117)

Book in Print - One Author

Author last name, first name. Year of publication.  Name of Publication  (italicized). Location of publisher, state or province postal code or name of country (if a foreign publisher): Publisher's Name.

Example:   Maghbouleh, Neda. 2017.  The Limits of Whiteness: Iranian Americans & the Everyday Politics of Race . Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Book in Print - Two or More Authors

Author1 Last name, First name, and Author2 First name Last name. Year of publication.  Name of Publication  (italicized). Location of publisher, state or province postal code or name of country (if a foreign publisher): Publisher’s Name.

Example:   Edin, Kathryn, and Maria Kefalas. 2005.  Promises I Can Keep: Why Poor Women Put Motherhood Before Marriage.  Berkeley: University of California Press.

*Include first names and surnames for all authors. Use first-name initials only if an author used initials in the original publication.

More than Three Authors

Author1 Last name, First name, Author2 First name Last name, Author3 First name Last name, and Author4 First name Last name. Year of publication.  Name of Publication  (italicized). Location of publisher, state or province postal code or name of country (if a foreign publisher): Publisher’s Name.

*In your reference, list all authors, unless there are more than 10. For more than 10 authors, only list the first seven, followed by et al.  

Example:   Bottomore, T. B., Stefan Nowak, Magdalena Sokołowska, and International Sociological Association. 1982.  Sociology, the State of the Art . London, England: Sage Publications.

Book in Print, Edited

Editor Last name, First name, ed. Year of publication.  Name of Publication  (italicized). Location of publisher, state or province postal code or name of country (if a foreign publisher): Publisher's Name.

Example:   Hagan, John, and Ruth D. Peterson, eds. 1995.  Crime and Inequality.  Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Chapter from a Book

Example:   Williams, Susan L. 2001. “City Kids and Country Cousins: Rural and Urban Youths, Deviance, and Labor Market Ties.” Pp. 379-441 in  Social Awakening: Adolescent Behavior as Adulthood Approaches , edited by Robert T. Michael. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. 

Author1 Last name, First name. Year of publication.  Title of Book  (italicized). URL/ DOI.

Example:   Armstrong, Kathleen. 2013.  Evidence-Based Interventions for Children with Challenging Behavior .  https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7807-2.

Journal Article - Print

Author Last name, First name. Year of publication. "Title of Article."  Title of Journal  (italicized) Number volume(Issue number):Page numbers.

Example:   Murrell, Audrey J., and Erika Hayes James. 2001. “Gender and Diversity in Organization: Past, Present and Future Directions.”  Sex Roles  45(5):243-257.

The citation for print and electronic journal articles is the same with the addition of the DOI or permalink at the end of the citation.   

Journal Article - with DOI

Example:   Ekaterina, Hertog, and Kan Man-Yee. 2021. "Married Adults Coresiding with Older Parents: Implications for Paid Work and Domestic Workloads."  Journal of Population Ageing  14(4):507-535. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12062-021-09346-2.

Journal Article - with stable link

Example:   Schafer, Daniel W., and Fred L. Ramsey. 2003. “Teaching the Craft of Data Analysis.”  Journal of Statistics Education.  11(1). http://amstat.org/publications/jse/v11n1/schafer.html.

Print Newspaper and Magazine Articles

Author Last name, First name. Year of publication. "Title of Article."  Title of Newspaper  (italicized), Month/date of publication, page numbers.

Example:   Samuelson, Robert J. 2001. “Can America Assimilate?”  Newsweek,  April 9, 42.

Newspaper or Magazine Article - website

Example:   Sampson, Robert J. 2006. "Open Doors Don't Invite Criminals."  New York Times,  March 11. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/11/opinion/11sampson.html. 

Newspaper or Magazine Article - library database

Example:   Sultan, Aisha.  2012. "Making Your Children Cyber Savvy: Creating a family contract can help with safe online behavior."  St. Louis Post-Dispatch ,  August 5.https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A298672981/STND?u=cofc_main&sid=bookmark-STND&xid=484e932f.

Page or Document on a Website - Known Author

Example:   John Howard Society of Ontario. 2020. “Our Mission & History.” https://johnhoward.on.ca/jhs-ontario/about-jhs-ontario-missionhistory/

Page or Document on a Website - Created by an Organization

Organization Acronym (Organization’s Full Title). Date of Publication or N.d. when the Date is Unknown. “Title of the Page.” Accessed Date (only if no date of publication can be determined from the website). URL.

Example:   WHO (World Health Organization). N.d. “About WHO.” Accessed April 17, 2019. https://www.who.int/about.

Author Last name, First name. Year of publication. "Title of Entry."  Name Blog  (blog). Date, month. URL.

Example:   Kaufman, Peter. 2016. "Us vs. Them: The Dangerous Discourse of Difference."  Everyday Sociology . August 4. http://www.everydaysociologyblog.com/2016/08/us-vs-them-the-dangerous-discourse-of-difference.html.

Social Media Sources

Author. Year posted. "Text of post." Name of social media site, date posted. URL.

Example:   NWS Boston (@NWS Boston). 2019. “Mostly sunny skies across the region today with high temps reaching into the 80s! #HappySaturday.” Twitter, July 13, 8:50 a.m. http://twitter.com/NWSBoston/status/115002534402981068

Court Cases

Title of case, volume, publication title, page (year).           

Example:   Citizens United v. FEC, 558 U.S. 310 (2010).

Example:   Perfect 10 Inc. v. Amazon.com Inc., 487 F.3d 701 (2007).

Example:   Van Stelton v. Van Stelton, 904 F. Supp. 2d 965 (2012).

Example:   Child Soldiers Accountability Act of 2008, Public Law 110-340, 122 Statutes at Large. 3735 (2008).

Example:   Homeland Security Organization, 6 U.S.C. 101 (2002).

Government Document - Known Author

Author1 Last name, First name, Author2 First name Last name, and Institution. Year of publication.  Title of Document  (italicized). Location of publisher, state or province postal code or name of country (if a foreign publisher): Publisher's Name.

Example:   Young, Beth Aronstamm, Thomas M. Smith, and National Center for Education Statistics. 1997.  The Social Context of Education . Washington, DC: Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education.

Government Document - Unknown or No Author

Institution. Year of publication.  Title of Document  (italicized). Location of publisher, state or province postal code or name of country (if a foreign publisher): Parent Institution.

Example:   National Institute on Student Achievement, Curriculum, and Assessment. 1999.  The Educational System in the United States: Case Study Findings . Washington, DC: Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education.

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Citation Style Guides and Management Tools

• Chicago or Turabian Style

About ASA Style

General tips, common examples, purdue owl resources for asa style, american sociological association resources, further resources.

• Science Styles
• Other Styles
• Citing Government Information

Research papers generally build on the work of previous writers and researchers.  When you write a paper and use the material of another author, you must document that source.  Documentation credits the author and publisher of the original work and provides the necessary information for readers to consult the same sources.  Documentation is generally in the form of a bibliography that is a list of works cited at the end of the paper.  

This guide is based on the style rules outlined in the American Sociological Association (ASA) Style Guide (4th edition, 2010).  The  ASA Style Guide  highlights and features guidelines for the most common situations encountered by authors and editors in the ASA journal publication process.  It is designed to serve as the authoritative reference for writing, submitting, editing, and copy editing manuscripts for ASA journals. 

American Sociological Association. 2010.  American Sociological Association Style Guide.  4th ed. Washington, DC: American Sociological Association.

General information

• All text should be 12-point font and double spaced.
• Margins should be at least 1 1/4 inches on all sides.
• Include a title page with the full title of the manuscript, authors' names and institutions (listed vertically if there are more than one), and a complete word count of the document (which includes footnotes and references).
• If an abstract is required, include it on a separate page. Abstracts should be 150-200 words. Keywords describing the paper can be included below the abstract.
• The paper itself should begin on a separate page.

In-text Citations

• Cite the author's last name and year of the publication.
• If the author's name is used in the text, put the date in parentheses.
• If the author's name is not in the text, enclose last name and year in parentheses.
• Indicate short quotes with quotation marks and longer (more than 40 words) quotes by starting a new, single-spaced paragraph.
• Cite the pages after the year of publication (2000:73).
• Your references should begin on a page titled References.
• All references should be double-spaced and use a hanging indent.
• All references should be in alphabetical order by first authors’ last names.
• Include first names for all authors, rather than initials, and list all authors of a work.
• For more than one work by the same author, always include the author's full name in each citation.
• Capitalize all words except prepositions such as of, between, through, unless these start a title.
• Capitalize only the first word in hyphenated compound words, unless the second word is a proper noun or adjective

Sources: OWL pages on formatting , in-text citations , and references .

Book with one author.

Author's full name, inverted so that last name appears first. Year. Book Title in Title Caps and Italicized . Publishing City: Publisher.

Book with Two or More Authors

First author's full name, inverted so that last name appears first, subsequent authors' names, not inverted. Year. Book Title in Title Caps and Italicized . Publishing City: Publisher.

Electronic Book

Author's full name, inverted so that last name appears first. Year. Book Title in Title Caps and Italicized . Publishing City: Publisher.  Retrieval date including month, day, and year (link to ebook).

Scholarly Journal

Author's full name, inverted so that last name appears first. Year. “Article Title in Title Caps and in Quotes.” Journal Title in Title Caps and Italicized , Volume Number(Issue Number):page numbers of article.

e-Journal Articles with DOI

Author's full name, inverted so that last name appears first. Year. “Article Title in Title Caps and in Quotes.” Journal Title in Title Caps and Italicized Volume Number(Issue Number), page numbers of article: doi information.

Magazine or Newspaper

Author's full name, inverted so that last name appears first. Year. “Article Title in Title Caps and in Quotes,”  Journal Title in Title Caps and Italicized , Date Month and day, page numbers of article.

Website author. Date. "Title of the Webpage Cited in Caps and Quotes." Retrieval date including month, day, and year (link to the page).

Notes: When citing a retrieval date, wording should be: Retrieved January 1, 2001.

Sources taken from OWL's reference page .

From OWL: "This resource covers American Sociological Association (ASA) style and includes information about manuscript formatting, in-text citations, formatting the references page, and accepted manuscript writing style. The bibliographical format described here is taken from the American Sociological Association (ASA) Style Guide , 5 th edition."

• Manuscript Formatting Includes detailed information on how to format your text, including information on title pages, spacing, font and margin sizes, page numbering, footers and headers, and more.
• In-text Citations Includes information on how to cite authors, when to use quotations, and how to cite for multiple or unknown authors.
• Reference Pages Includes information on how to construct a reference page, including detailed information on citing from books, journals, chapters, legislation, websites, dissertations, newspapers, and more.
• General Style Includes information on clarity, bias, acronyms, literature reviews, punctuation and more.
• ASA Quick Tips for Students
• ASA Code of Ethics
• Preparation Checklist for ASA Manuscripts

American Sociological Association. 2010.  American Sociological Association  Style Guide . 4th ed. Washington DC: American Sociological Association.  

Online Guide:

The OWL at Purdue University

These OWL resources will help you learn how to use the American Sociological Association (ASA) citation and format style. This section contains resources on in-text citation and the References page, as well as manuscript writing style.

​The Mansfield Library subscribes to RefWorks to make research and citation easier for you. RefWorks is a citation management tool that stores your electronic articles in one place for easy access, organization, citation and sharing. You can save web page content and metadata, create collections to organize or share documents and citations, and upload PDF and Office documents.

VIDEO - Learn how to use RefWorks by watching these short videos

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Citing Sources Guide

• ASA Style, 7th Edition
• Citations - Welcome
• Works Cited Examples
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• Sample Research Papers and Formatting Guidelines
• Reference Examples
• In-text Citation Examples
• Notes-Bibliography Page Examples
• Author-Date Reference Page Examples
• Superscript Notes & In-text Citation Author-Date Method Examples
• Research Paper
• Citing Artificial Intelligence
• RefWorks ~[392]~
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• Getting More Help
• ASA Style Guide
• What is ASA Style?
• Additional Resources

A print copy is available at the Ryan Help Desk on Reference Reserves 808.02 A 512-2

Online access to the quick style guide for asa style is available from the link below:, https://www.asanet.org/sites/default/files/savvy/documents/teaching/pdfs/quick_tips_for_asa_style.pdf.

The American Sociological Association (ASA) is dedicated to serving sociologists in their work, advancing sociology as a scientific discipline and profession, and promoting the contributions and use of sociology to society.

ASA is founded on the Chicago Manual of Style principles but incorporates distinct elements.

• ASA Style Quick Tips
• Purdue Owl ASA
• Purdue Owl ASA Reference Page Formatting
• Purdue Owl ASA In-Text Citation
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• Topical Reference Works
• Research Methods
• Social Theory
• ASA Publications
• Search Tips
• Google Scholar
• Reviews of Research
• Data and Statistics
• Organizational Tools
• Internet Resources
• Ethics and Research Involving Human Subjects
• Juvenile Justice
• Intersectionality and the Law

Resources on ASA Style

• ASA Style Guide – Seventh Edition (2022) Cheat Sheet Prepared by Jayne Baker, University of Toronto Mississauga, based on the ASA style guide, 7th edition, © 2022 by the American Sociological Association.
• American Sociological Association (ASA) Style Guide, 5th Edition The fifth edition of the ASA Style Guide is the authoritative reference for writing, submitting, editing, and copyediting manuscripts for ASA journals and other publications following ASA's unique format. This revised, expanded edition features guidelines for the most common situations encountered by authors and editors. New features include revisions to reference formatting and additional information on grammar. In addition, updated reference examples, including citing social media sources and journal articles posted online ahead of print, are included in this new edition. This guide also has been updated based on the 16th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style, on which much of ASA style is based.
• Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL): ASA Style Brought to you by the folks at Purdue University, this resource covers American Sociological Association (ASA) style and includes information about manuscript formatting, in-text citations, formatting the references page, and accepted manuscript writing style. The bibliographical format described here is taken from the American Sociological Association (ASA) Style Guide, 5th edition.
• ASA Information for Authors The information and links on this American Sociological Association (ASA) webpage will assist you in preparing your manuscript for submission to an ASA journal.
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Citing and Writing Guide: ASA Style

• Chicago / Turabian Style
• Classical Texts
• Copyright Info & Avoiding Plagiarism
• Writing & Grammar Help
• Annotated Bibliography
• Evaluating Sources

Helpful ASA Guides

• The OWL at Purdue ASA Style Guide The Purdue University Online Writing Lab
• ASA Quick Style Guide From ASAnet.org -- a quick guide

In-Text Citation Examples

• General Format
• Direct Quotes

Multiple Authors

If you reference the author's name in the sentence, then you must follow the information with the year of the published work. 

Sorokin  (1947) claims that biology doesn't change in an individual when status can.

If you do not reference the author's name, they must be included in your citation.

Even when status changes biology doesn't. (Sorokin 1947)

When using direct quotes you must cite the pagination as well. 

As Sorokin (1947:293) states, "Even the highest leaders of some of the unibonded groups find themselves excluded from various consolidated aristocricies."

Two Authors

(Edling and Rydgren 2011)

Three Authors 

First citation:  (Abbas, Ashwin, and McLean 2016)

Succeeding citations:  (Abbas et al. 2016)

Four or More Authors

(Guppy et al. 2017)

Reference Page Examples

Please note that all citations exceeding one line should use a hanging indent. And the Reference Page should be organized alphabetically. If you are using multiple works by the same author, sort those by date (oldest-most recent.)

Author (last name, first name). Year.  Title of Book.  Place of publication: Publisher.

Sorokin, Pitirim A. 1947.  Society, Culture, and Personality: Their Structure and Dynamics.  New York, NY: Harper & Brothers. 

First author (last name, first name), other authors (first name last name). Year.  Title of Book. Abbreviated edition if necessary (1st, 2nd, or 3rd ed.). Place of publication: Publisher. 

Gottfredson, Michael R. and Travis Hirschi. 1990.  A General Theory of Crime.  Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. 

Edited Volume

Editor[s] name (last name, first name--if there are other editors they follow with first name last name), eds. Year.  Title of Book . Place of publication: Publisher. 

Edling, Christofer and Jens Rydgren, eds. 2011.  Sociological Insights of Great Thinkers: Sociology Through Literature, Philosophy, and Science.  Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, LLC. 

Book Chapter

Chapter author (last name, first name). Year. "Title of Chapter." Pp. page numbers in  Title of Book,  edited by (first initial. last name). Place of publication: Publisher. 

Martin, John Levi. 2011. "Immanuel Kant: An Analytic Grammar for the Relation Between Cognition and Action." Pp. 179-188 in  Sociological Insights of Great Thinkers: Sociology Through Literature, Philosophy, and Science,  edited by C. Edling and J. Rydgren. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, LLC. 

Other Resources

Journal Article

Authors name (last name, first name). Year. "Article Title."  Journal Title  Volume number(issue number):page numbers.

Bulai, Alfred. 2018. "Is Public Sociology Possible? Reconstruction of Sociology Through Communicative Action."  Journal of Media Research  11(1):71-81.

Author or Corporate Author (last name, first name). Year. "Web Page Title." Retrieval date(URL).

American Sociological Association. 2018. "About ASA." Retrieved June 13, 2018(http://www.asanet.org/about-asa).

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ASA Style and Format

• Introduction

Manuscript Sections

Headings & subheadings.

• In-Text Citations

Text must be in 12-point Times or Times New Roman font. All text should be double-spaced except for block quotes.

Structure your paper using the following sections:

• Title page: Includes full title followed by an asterisk, name(s) and institution(s) of author(s), a complete word count, running head, and a title footnote with name and address of author(s), acknowledgments, credits, and grant information (if any).
• Abstract: Begin on a new page headed by the title. Brief, jargon-free paragraph (less than 200 words) summarizing the work, followed by three to five key words.
• Body: Begin on a new page headed by the title. Use headings and subheadings after the introduction.
• Notes: Footnotes and endnotes should be indicated in the text with superscripted numbers. The notes can be typed at the bottom of the page (footnotes) or in a separate section labeled Notes or Endnotes. Do only one or the other; not both. Begin each note with its superscript number.
• References: List alphabetically in a new section labeled References.
• Appendices: If more than one, label Appendix A, Appendix B, etc. Appendices should be labeled with a title.

FIRST-LEVEL HEAD

First-level headings are all in caps and left-justified. Start using headings after the introduction.

Second-Level Head

Second-level headings are italicized, left-justified, and all words except prepositions and conjunctions are capitalized.

            Third-level head.

Third-level headings are italicized, indented, end with a period, and only the first word and any proper nouns are capitalized.

• ASA Sample Paper (Word)

See PDF for a visual layout and feel free to use the Word document as a template.

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• Mardigian Library
• Subject Guides

Advanced Criminology & Criminal Justice Research Guide

• Write & Cite in ASA Style
• Online Library Access
• Start Finding Sources
• Search Databases
• Find Laws, Cases, & Data
• Find/Browse ebooks
• Your Master's Thesis
• Your Thesis Proposal
• Identify Research Gaps
• Develop A Research Question/Hypothesis
• Read & Analyze Your Articles
• Select Your Sources
• Use Your Sources
• Avoid Plagiarism
• Write & Cite in APA Style
• Manage Your Sources & Citations
• Browse Journals

Citing in American Sociological Association (ASA) Style

Citations provide the information necessary for readers to identify and retrieve each source you use. When you use someone else's words or ideas in your papers, you should create  In-text citations  within your paper and  References Page (ASA) or References List (APA) citations  at the end of the paper. Each In-text citation should lead to a References Page/List citation, and each References Page/List citation should come from an In-text citation.

• Write and Cite in American Sociological Association (ASA) Style
• Legal Citations (ASA and APA Style) : for federal and state statutes/laws and court decisions

Write & Cite in American Sociological Association (ASA) Style

Use the   American Sociological Association Style Guide  (5th edition) to correctly cite your sources and format your research paper.  

Use the  American Sociological Association's   Quick Tips ASA Style Sheet   for:

• In-Text citation templates
• References Page citation templates

Use the  Purdue OWL American Sociological Association (ASA) Formatting and Style Guide  templates to put together your ASA In-Text and References Page citations:

• In-Text citations
• References Page rules and citation templates

The  University of Connecticut American Sociological Association guide   below has an extensive list of References Page citation templates and examples, including templates and examples for DVDs and online videos.

• University of Connecticut American Sociological Association Guide

Legal Citations (APA and ASA Style)

Federal Statutes/Laws

You need to find the following information for your citations:

• the law you're citing
• the year the law was passed
• where it's found in the United States Code
• the year of the edition of the United States Code in which you found the law

In-Text Citation : (Name of Law, Year law was passed)

• (Family and Medical Leave Act, 1993)

References List Citation:  Name of Law of Year law was passed Title Number in United States Code U.S.C.  §   §  Section Code-Section Code in United States Code (Year of the edition of the United States Code in which you found the law)

• Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, 29 U.S.C. §   § 2601-2654 (2006). 

See the Writing References for Federal Statutes   on the official APA Style Blog for more help and guidance

State Statutes/Laws

In-text Citation : (State Abbreviation Name of Law, Year)

• (NM Elections, 2017)
• (NM Stat § 40-4-9.1, 2006)

References List Citation :  State  Abbreviation Code, Stat  § Name of  law  (if available), Abbreviation § section number(s) (Year)

• With law name: NM Stat  §  Elections 1-4-4. (2017)
• Unnamed Law: NM Stat   §  40-4-9.1. (2006) 

Court Decisions 

You need to find the following information for citations about court decisions:

• Name of the case: Name vs. Name
• Source reporting the decision: Volume Source Page
• Court and date of the decision: (Court Date)

In-Text Citation: ( Name v. Name, Court Date)

• (Lessard v. Schmidt, 1972)

References List Citation : Name v. Name, Volume Source Page (Court Date)

• Lessard v. Schmidt, 349 F. Supp. 1078 (E.D. Wis. 1972)

See the Citing Court Decisions page on the official APA Style Blog for more help and guidance

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Citation Styles

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Citation Management Software

• EndNote Citation Software by Chris Tanguay Last Updated Sep 13, 2023 561 views this year
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Style Guide Manual for ASA

Additional Resources

• Purdue OWL Page on ASA Style Not always completely accurate. Cross check in another source.
• U of Nebraska
• William Patterson University References the 6th edition specifically.

ASA Style Examples

Cryptids are animals whose existence is disputed.(Hurn. 2016:1) Nessie is one example.(Cray 1959:258) Bigfoot is another cryptid.(Westrum 1980:27)

Cray, Ed. 1959. “Loch Ness Monster.” Western Folklore 18(3):258–59. doi: 10.2307/1497725.

Hurn, Samantha, ed. 2016. Anthropology and Cryptozoology: Exploring Encounters with Mysterious Creatures . New York: Routledge.

Westrum, Ron. 1980. “Sasquatch and Scientists: Reporting Scientific Anomalies.” Pp. 27–36 in Manlike Monsters on Trial: Early Records and Modern Evidence , edited by M. M. Halpin and M. M. Ames. Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia Press.

Sample Books for Citations

Title: Anthropology and Cryptozoology: Exploring Encounters with Mysterious Creatures

Editor: Samantha Hurn

Publisher: Routledge

Place of Publication: New York

Date of Publication: 2016

Book Section

Chapter Title: Sasquatch and Scientists: Reporting Scientific Anomalies

Chapter Author: Ron Westrum

Book Title: Manlike Monsters on Trial: Early Records and Modern Evidence

Book Editors: Marjorie M. Halpin and Michael M. Ames

Publisher: University of British Columbia Press

Place of Publication: Vancouver, BC

Date of Publication: 1980

Pages: 27-36

Journal Article

Article Title: Loch Ness Monster

Author: Ed Cray

Journal Title: Western Folklore

Pages: 258-259

• ~[123]~: May 22, 2024 10:38 AM
• ~[124]~: https://libguides.uml.edu/citations

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• Subject Guides

ASA Citations: American Sociological Association

• ASA Outline Template
• ASA Manual & Guides
• Sample Citations
• Sample ASA Format Paper
• Literature Reviews
• Annotated Bibliographies
• Organize Citations

The following is a general ASA formatted template. Please note:

• ASA does NOT provide guidance on how to create an outline
• Use this template as your guide to create your outline
• Remove any sections not needed for your outline
• Always follow your instructor's guidelines when writing a paper
• Speak to your instructor if you have any questions regarding your particular assignment
• TEMPLATE: ASA Formatted Paper This is a general ASA template. Use this template to create research papers, outlines, and other assignments that need to be formatted in ASA citation style.
• ASA Formatting Guidelines *This guide covers the general formatting needed for an ASA paper and includes information about fonts, sizing, margins, paper sections, etc. *Use this to format any ASA style paper.
• ~[123]~: Feb 10, 2023 4:31 PM
• ~[124]~: https://laverne.libguides.com/ASA_citations

Introduction to Sociology

• Find Articles
• Data Sources
• ASA citation style
• Annotated Bibliography

The American Sociological Association Style is intended for use by authors preparing manuscripts for publication in ASA journals. This handout is intended for students who are instructed to use ASA style when writing research papers. Consult the American Sociological Association Style Guide for more detailed information ( Information Desk HM586 .A54 1997 ).

Manuscript Format

· All text (including footnotes and references) must be doubled spaced and in a 12 point type.

· Margins must be at least 1¼ inches on all four sides.

· A separate title page including title of paper, name(s) and institution(s) of authors, word count for the manuscript (including footnotes and references), title footnote (includes names, addresses of authors, acknowledgements, credits, and grants).

· If required, on a separate page provide a short (150-200 word) abstract headed with the title.

· Begin the text of the paper on a separate page headed with the title of the paper.

Citations in Text

· If author’s name is in the text, follow it with the publication year in parentheses:

When Chu (1977) studied…

· If the author’s name is not in the text, enclose the last name and year in parentheses:

When the study was completed… (Jones 1994).

· If the page number is to be included, it follows the year of publication after a colon, with

no space between the colon and the page number:

…as reported by Chavez (1966:16).

· For three authors, give all last names in the first citation in the text. Afterwards use the

first name and “et al.” For more than three names, use the first author’s last name plus

“et al.” Examples as follow:

Three authors, first in-text citation = (Smith, Garcia and Lee 1954)

Three authors, later in-text citations = (Smith et al. 1954)

More than three authors = (Snow et al. 1999)

· Quotations in the text must begin and end with quotation marks. The citation follows the

end-quote mark and precedes the period, as follows:

“In the late 1990s, reported data shows that technologically oriented jobs paid better”

(Hildenbrand 1999:47).

Footnotes and Endnotes

· Try to avoid footnotes, but if necessary, use footnotes to cite material of limited availability or to add information presented in a table.

· Footnotes should be numbered consecutively throughout the essay with superscript Arabic numerals and included at the bottom of the manuscript page or in a separate section headed "Endnotes."

Reference List

· References follow the text and endnotes in a separate section headed "References."

· All references cited in the text must be listed and vice-versa.

· Remember: Like all other parts of the manuscript, references should be double-spaced.

· List references in alphabetical order by author’s last names.

· Use hanging indention (see examples below).

· Invert the author’s name (type it last name first). If there are two or more authors, invert only the first author’s name.

.   Arrange multiple items by the same author in order by year of publication, earliest year first.

· Use six hyphens and a period (------.) in place of the name(s) for repeated authorship.

· Distinguish works by the same author in the same year by adding letters (e.g. 1993a, 1993b, 1993c).

· Use italics for book and periodical titles (underline if italics are not available).

· If no date is available use "N.d." in place of the date. · Include both city and state for place of publication (except for New York) using U.S. Postal Code abbreviations. For foreign cities provide the name of the country.

Examples of Citations

The basic form for a book entry includes…

1. Author’s last name, followed by a comma and author’s first name and middle initial, ending with a period.

2. Year of publication followed by a period.

3. Title of book italicized ending with a period. Follow with edition number if 2nd ed. or later.

4. City and state of publication, followed by a colon and name of publisher, ending with a period.

Book with One Author

Bergesen, Albert. 2006. The Depth of Shallow Culture: The High Art of Shoes, Movies, Novels, Monsters, and Toys. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers.

Book with Two Authors

Mouer, Ross and Hirosuke Kawanishi. 2005. A Sociology of Work in Japan . New York: Cambridge University Press.

Chapter in Book

Holley, P.D. and D.E. Wright, Jr. 2006. "A Sociology of Rib Joints." Pp. 46-53 in McDonaldization: The Reader , edited by George Ritzer. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.

Book with No Author (List books alphabetically by the first significant word in the title.)

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. 2005. 11th ed. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster.

Journal Articles

The basic form for a journal article includes…

1. Author’s last name, followed by a comma and the first name and middle initial ending with a period.

  2. Year of publication followed by a period.

3. Title of article in “quotations,” ending with a period inside the closing quotation mark.

4. Title of journal in italics , no period following.

5. Volume number followed by issue number in parentheses, followed by a colon, page number(s) and period.

6. For articles retrieved from a commercial database, in parentheses identify the database source and date of retrieval: (Retrieved from [name of database] on [date of retrieval].)

Print Journal Article with One Author

Garcia, Alma M. 1998. "An Intellectual Odyssey: Chicana/Chicano Studies Moving Into the Twenty-first Century." Journal of American Ethnic History 18(1):109.

Print Journal Article with Two or More Authors

Exum, William H., Robert J. Menges, Bari Watkins, and Patricia Berglund. 1984. "Making It at the Top: Women and Minority Faculty in the Academic Labor Market." American Behavioral Scientist 27(3):301-324.

Journal Article from a Commercial Database

Brunson, Rod K. and Jody Miller. 2006. “Gender, Race, and Urban Policing: The Experience of African American Youths.” Gender and Society 20(4):531-552. (Retrieved from Sage Journals Online on May 18, 2009.)

Newspaper and Magazine Articles

The basic form for a newspaper or magazine entry includes…

1.       Author’s last name, followed by a comma and the first name and middle initial, ending with a period.

2.       Year of publication followed by a period.  

3.       Title of article in “quotations,” ending with a period inside the closing quotation mark.

4.         Name of newspaper/magazine in italics , followed by a comma.

5.       Month and date of publication followed by a comma.

6.. Page number of article within the publication, designated by “pp.” and ending with a period.

7. For articles retrieved from an online database, in parentheses identify the database source and date of retrieval: (Retrieved from [name of database] on [date of retrieval].)

Print Magazine Article

Jana, Reena. 2000. "Preventing Culture Clashes - As the IT Workforce Grows More Diverse, Managers Must Improve Awareness Without Creating Inconsistency." InfoWorld , April 24, pp. 95.

Newspaper Article from a Commercial Database

Harris, Gardiner. 2007. "Teenage Birth Rate Rises For First Time Since '91." New York Times , December 6, pp. 26. (Retrieved from Lexis/Nexis Academic on January 12, 2008.)

Electronic Resources

  Journal Article from a Commercial Database

Sweeten, Gary, Shawn D. Bushway, and Raymond Paternoster. 2009. “Does Dropping Out of School Mean Dropping Into Delinquency?” Criminology 47(1):47-91. (Retrieved from Wiley Interscience on April 23, 2009.)

Information Posted on a Web Site

Spalter-Roth, Roberta and William Erskine. 2007. “Race and Ethnicity in the Sociology Pipeline.” Washington, DC: American Sociological Association. Retrieved January 9, 2008 ( http://www.asanet.org/galleries/default-file/Minorities_Career_Pipeline.pdf ).

Web-Based Journal Article

Smith, Herman W. and Takako Nomi. 2000. "Is Amae the Key to Understanding Japanese Culture?" Electronic Journal of Sociology 5:1. Retrieved May 5, 2000 ( http://www.sociology.org/content/vol005.001/smith-nomi.html ).

Web Version of Newspaper

Blank, Rebecca M. 2008. “How We Measure Poverty.” Los Angeles Times , September 15. Retrieved January 7, 2009 ( http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/ commentary/la-oe-blank15-2008sep15,0,7811609.story ).

Government Documents

U.S. Department of Justice. Federal Bureau of Investigation. 2004. Crime in the United States, 2003: Uniform Crime Reports. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. (Also available at http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm .)

Dissertations and Theses

Valencia, Albert. 1995. "An Examination of Selected Characteristics of Mexican-American Battered Women and Implications for Service Providers." Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Education, University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA.

• ~[123]~: Aug 1, 2023 1:19 PM
• ~[124]~: https://guides.library.charlotte.edu/SOCY

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What is the ASA Citation Style?

The ASA format is a citation style that has been widely adopted by the community of writers, researchers, publishers, and students who contribute scholarly papers to the field of sociology. It is used by sociologists to credit other people’s words, ideas and theories utilized in their written work in a systematic and consistent manner.

It is a parenthetical referencing style that adopts the author-date documentation system. This is an attractive format for sociologists because the absence of distracting footnotes makes it a highly economical and efficient way of citing. It consists of:

• In-text citations , which are inserted near the source and encloses both the author’s surname and the year of publication in parentheses
• A ‘ References ’ section at the end of the paper that lists all of the sources cited in your work, and includes full publication information for each

In short, an ASA in-text citation is used to draw the reader’s attention to where you have quoted or paraphrased a source within the text. The citation includes the name of the author, publication date of the source and, where needed, the page numbers, for example: (Woolf, 2007). Subsequent references to the same source are still listed parenthetically by author and year.

Each in-text citation must link to a reference list entry, and its purpose is to direct your reader there. Your reference list is an alphabetized list of fully-formatted citations, which will provide all of the information needed for your reader to locate the original source. The emphasis on dates is carried over to the reference list, where the publication date is the first piece of information after the author’s name.

The format has many similarities to both the APA (American Psychological Association) style and the Chicago citation style; both in appearance and function. However, there are some key differences so it is essential that you follow the ASA Style Guide . The guide was primarily designed by the American Sociological Association to assist authors submitting articles to their journals, but it is now used by those preparing theses, dissertations, and other research papers.

The style is supported by Cite This For Me’s citation management tool; making the ASA formatting of your in-text citations and reference list a straightforward task.

Popular ASA Citation Guides

• Chapter of a book
• Image online or video
• Presentation or lecture
• Video, film, or DVD

Cite This For Me’s Citation Generator & Guide

Here at Cite This For Me we are committed to educating students in excellent citing practice. This style guide has been written to support anyone who is using the ASA style to cite their essay, research paper, or journal article. It provides clear, useful guidance that covers in-text citations, the reference list, manuscript formatting, and much more. Referring to this style sheet will ensure you achieve consistency across your work, taking you one step further to getting the result that you deserve after all your hard work.

Looking for a citation tool to save you time? Our open-access citation generator does just that, leaving you more time to spend on actually writing your paper. You can format ASA citations quickly, simply and smartly in the version of the style recognized by your institution using our multi-platform tool.

Do you need to cite a research paper using MLA formatting ? Or has your professor asked you to use the APA citation format? You may be looking to instantly cite in the Chicago citation style , or just need to read up on how to create IEEE or AMA citations… There are thousands of referencing styles in use today, and the one that you need will depend on your discipline, college, professor, or the publication you are writing for. Whichever style you need, visit Cite This For Me’s website to select from 1,000+ citation styles, including college variations of each. Simply sign up to Cite This For Me for free, log-in to your account, and set your institution in ‘My Profile’.

Check with your institution to find out which they want and make sure you follow their requirements exactly, as it’s what you’ll be marked on.

Continue reading this guide for practical advice and examples that will help you create each citation with ease. For more information on the mechanics of the style, in-depth guidance on the required writing style and further examples, we encourage you to refer to the complete ASA Style Guide (5th Edition).

How do I Create and Format an In-text Citation?

The ASA citation format follows the author-date system adopted by The Chicago Manual of Style : a brief in-text citation is inserted wherever a source is cited, and a complete list of references is included at the end of the paper.

The use of in-text citations enables you to integrate source material into your work with ease, allowing you to effectively link your own ideas with those of other authors without interrupting the flow of your paper. Remember that in-text citations are included in your final word count.

Each in-text citation encloses the author’s last name and the year the source was published in parentheses, and is generally placed at the end of the sentence – or as close to the source as possible – between the last word and the period. Read more about creating your in-text citations on this quick tips style sheet. It is essential that you cite each reference to another publication completely and accurately within the body of your work in order to avoid plagiarism.

Once you have created and formatted an ASA in-text citation, we recommend checking it against the following list of examples for guaranteed accuracy:

• If the author’s name is mentioned in the text, insert a parenthetical citation including the year of publication at the end of the sentence

…Welch contends that this is not the case (1991).

• If the author’s name is not mentioned in the text, enclose the author’s last name and year of publication in parentheses

…but it has been argued that this was not the case (Welch 1991).

• Include page numbers within the citation when quoting directly from a source or referring to specific passages; pagination is separated by a colon and no spaces

As tabulated by Kuhn (1970:71) the results show…

NB. This is now the preferred method; previous forms such as (Kuhn 1970, p. 71) are no longer accepted

• The following forms should be used for multiple authors:

A recent study confirmed her belief (Johnson and Smith 1995:34).

This was reinforced by recent research on the topic (Johnson, Smith, and Marcus 1999)

• If a work has three authors , cite all three last names in the first in-text citation; thereafter, use et al. *:

First citation for a work with three authors: (Carr, Smith, and Jones 1962)

Later: (Carr et al. 1962)

*The Latin phrase ‘et al.’ translates as ‘ and others ’; it is widely adopted by different citation styles in order to abbreviate long lists of author names within in-text citations. The term should never be used in a reference list, and should not be italicized.

• If a work has more than three authors, use “et al.” in the first ASA in-text citation, and in all subsequent citations

This was not accurate according to a recent study (Johnson et al. 2003).

• If multiple sources are cited for the same statement, the author and publication year should be distinguished from other texts with a semicolon. List the series in alphabetical or chronological order; this should be consistent throughout the paper

Some studies have refuted these arguments (Benson 1993; Nguyen 1999; Brown and Goggans 2000).

• If a work cited has been reprinted, list the earliest publication date in brackets, followed by the most recent publication date

… affected the aged (Omran [1971] 2005).

• For unpublished materials , use ‘ forthcoming ’ to indicate material scheduled for publication. For dissertations and unpublished papers, cite the date. If no date is available, use N.d. (no date) in place of the date

Previous studies by Smith (forthcoming) and Jones (N.d.) concluded…

• For National Archives or other archival sources , use abbreviated citations in the text

… (NA, RG 381, Box 780, April 28, 1965; Meany Archives, LRF, Box 6, March 18, 1970).

If you are citing an e-resource it will generally follow the preceding guidelines, but you can find specific information in this guide’s section on: ‘Guidelines and Examples for Citing Electronic Resources’.

Running out of time before a deadline? Creating each in-text citation by hand can be time-consuming. Don’t forget, Cite This For Me’s intuitive ASA citation machine will automate the citing process for you.

Creating My Reference List

As well as inserting in-text citations within the main body of your work, you will need to provide a comprehensive reference list that details exactly which sources you have drawn upon in your research and writing process. Ultimately, a full and accurate reference list is essential because it allows your reader to easily locate and verify the source material you have used.

Each parenthetical citation in the text must have a corresponding reference list entry, and vice versa. Remember to double-check that none of your citations are missing from your reference list.

These ASA formatting guidelines will help you compile your reference list:

• A reference list follows the text and footnotes on a separate page headed ‘References’ – use the first-level head format for the heading
• List all citations in alphabetical order by the first author’s last name
• Include the first names for all authors rather than their initials – unless the author used their initials in the original publication; in these cases, add a space between the initials
• Citations should be double-spaced, with double line spacing between each entry
• Do not use the ampersand (&) for and when including two names in a citation
• Add a comma between two or more author names – this is an update in the 5th edition of the style guide
• Capitalize all words except prepositions (e.g., of, between, through ), articles (e.g., a, the, an ) and conjunctions (e.g. but, and, or ) – only capitalize these exceptions if they begin the title or subtitle
• When including more than one work by the same author, include their full name in each citation – arrange these citations in chronological order, beginning with the earliest work
• If an author features in both a single-authored citation and as the first author in a multi-authored citation, place all of the single-authored ASA citations first, even though this may not be chronological

Hoge, Dean R. 1979. “A Test of Theories of Denominational Growth and Decline.” Pp. 179-197 in Understanding Church Growth and Decline 1950-1978 , edited by D. R. Hoge and D. A. Roozen. New York and Philadelphia: Pilgrim Press.

Hoge, Dean R., Benton Johnson, and Donald A. Luidens. 1994. Vanishing Boundaries: The Religion of Mainline Baby Boomers . Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.

• For multiple authors , invert only the first author’s last name ( Jones, Arthur B., Colin D. Smith, and James Petersen ) – list in alphabetical order by author’s last name
• Do not use ‘ et al. ’ in the reference list, unless the work was authored by a committee
• Distinguish works by the same author(s) in the same year by adding letters to the year ( 2002a, 2002b, 2002c ) – list such works in alphabetical order by title

Horwitz, Allan V. 2002a. Creating Mental Illness . Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Horwitz, Allan V. 2002b. “The Measurement of Mental Health Outcomes: Where Have We Been and Where Are We Going?” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 43(2):143-51.

• Include the state abbreviation only if city of publication is not clear. For example, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles do not need a state abbreviation. However, Cambridge should be followed by an appropriate state abbreviation or country name.
• If no date is available, use N.d. in place of the date. If the cited material is unpublished but has been accepted for publication, use Forthcoming in place of the date and give the name of the publisher or journal

Depending on the nature of your work, and the preference of your tutor or publication to whom you are submitting your work, you may need to include a bibliography as well as a reference list. For instance, if you are preparing a book-length manuscript it will add value to include a list of every relevant source you consulted whilst researching your topic.

The examples that follow demonstrate common usages of different source types; adhere to these when creating your own reference list:

Book with one author.

Author’s full name (inverted so that last name appears first) . Year of publication. Name of Publication (italicized). Location of publisher, state, or province postal code (or name of country if a foreign publisher) : Publisher’s Name.

King, Mary E. 2007. A Quiet Revolution: The First Palestinian Intifada and Nonviolent Resistance. New York: Nation Books.

Book with two or more authors.

Author1 (last name inverted) , Author2 (including full surname, last name is not inverted) , and Author3. Year of publication. Name of Publication (italicized) . Location of publisher, state, or province postal code (or name of country if a foreign publisher) : Publisher’s Name.

Note: When there are only two authors or editors, add a comma after the name of the first author or editor (change in the 5th edition of the style guide).

Edin, Kathryn, and Maria Kefalas. 2005. Promises I Can Keep: Why Poor Women Put Motherhood Before Marriage. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Journal Articles.

Author1 (last name inverted) , Author2 (including full surname, last name is not inverted) , and Author3. Year of publication. “Title of Article.” Name of Publication (italicized) Volume Number(Issue Number):page numbers of article.

Colen, Cynthia G. 2011. “Addressing Racial Disparities in Health Using Life Course Perspectives.” Du Bois Review 8(1):79-94.

Coe, Deborah L., and James D. Davidson. 2011. “The Origins of Legacy Admissions: A Sociological Explanation.” Review of Religious Research 52(3):233-47.

Note: These examples include the issue number after the volume number of the journal; issue numbers should be included in ASA citations to make the source easier to locate. If issue numbers are used, they should be used throughout the reference list.

Chapters in Books or Other Collected Works.

Author1 (last name inverted) , Author2 (including full surname, last name is not inverted) , and Author3. Year of publication. “Title of article.” Pp. (with page numbers, elided) in Name of Publication (italicized) , edited by Editor1, Editor2, and Editor3 (use editors’ initials only for first/middle names, names not inverted) . Location of publisher, state, or province postal code (or name of country if a foreign publisher) : Publisher’s Name.

Montez, Jennifer K., and Mark D. Hayward. 2011. “Early Life Conditions and Later Life Mortality.” Pp. 187-206 in International Handbook of Adult Mortality , edited by R. G. Rogers and E. Crimmins. New York: Springer Publishers.

Archival Sources.

George Meany Memorial Archives, Legislature Reference Files, Box 6. March 18, 1970. File: 20. Memo, Conference with Gloster Current, Director of Organization, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Looking to cite another source type? Check out Section 4.3.2.2 in the ASA Style Guide : ‘Other Types of Reference Material’ for guidelines and examples on how to cite other types of documents. For instance; major reference books, dissertations and theses, unpublished papers magazine articles, book reviews and other peer-reviewed material, translations, government documents and presentations. You can read more about creating a reference list on Bucknell University ’s website.

It is a common mistake to leave your reference list until the very last minute, but Cite This For Me’s ASA citation machine will accurately write your entire list in just a few minutes. Your reference list is then stored in the cloud, ready for you to access online and copy straight into your work.

Guidelines and Examples for Citing Electronic Resources

The publishing industry has continuously shifted and evolved in recent years, largely due to the emergence and integration of the internet and a diverse range of electronic resources. This has created new challenges for citation styles, and basic guidelines have now emerged in order to enable writers to document these new source types in their written work. The ASA style has based its guidelines for citing e-resources on The Chicago Manual of Style ; find more information here .

Across all sociological disciplines, writers and researchers draw from a huge variety of online source types to support their own ideas; from websites and e-zines, to blogs, electronic mailing lists, machine-readable data files (MRDF), CD-ROM, DVD, and social media channels. There are a few points to bear in mind when citing e-resources:

• Include all of the basic elements of source information in the citation so that the reader can access the material with ease
• Sources that are unlikely to change (e.g. those in PDF or TIFF form, those accessed through JSTOR, exact replicas of the print version) should be cited in print-form
• Ensure that the source you are using will be accessible to your reader (e.g., look out for subscription based databases, access time limits and legal restrictions)
• Whenever possible include the author’s name, document title, date of publication (or retrieval date), and an address (e.g., URL or DOI)

How do I Use a URL to Cite a Source?

The URL ( Uniform Resource Locator ) is crucial for locating an online document. However, websites can be regularly modified, updated, redesigned, or even removed, so it is crucial that you follow these steps when including a URL in your ASA citations.

• Be sure to carefully check the spelling of a URL so that the source is accurately identified
• Avoid citing a source with a URL that no longer exists
• Do not type the URL address; copy and paste it directly from your browser into your work
• Print and save the data obtained from a URL in case the URL is modified and the information is lost
• If the URL has expired and you still need to cite the source, cite it as an unpublished paper in an archived collection

Keep reading for a detailed list of examples that show you how best to cite electronic sources.

• If an e-book was consulted online, omit page numbers and include the URL and date of access
• If an e-book is available in more than one format, other formats may be listed as well – end the citation with: (Also available at: [insert URL])

Young, T. R. 1989. Crime and Social Justice: Theory and Policy for the 21st Century. Red Feather Institute. Retrieved June 22, 2010 (http://uwacadweb.uwyo.edu/Red_FEATHER/crime/001contents.html).

Printed edition of a book accessed through an online library.

Daniels, John. 2010. Apathetic College Students in America. Middletown, IL: University of Middletown Press. Retrieved April 6, 2011 (http://site.ebrary.com/lib/collegestudies/docDetail.action?docID=1010101010).

Online periodicals available in print & online form.

Scott, Lionel D., Jr., and Laura E. House. 2005. “Relationship of Distress and Perceived Control to Coping with Perceived Racial Discrimination among Black Youth.” Journal of Black Psychology 31(3):254-72.

Journal articles (e-journals) with Digital Object Identifier (DOI).

• A DOI is a unique alphanumeric string assigned to a publication or other unit of intellectual property. As a digital identifier it provides a means of looking up the current location of the source on the internet
• When a DOI is included, it should be cut and pasted directly from the article

Persell, Caroline Hodges, Kathryn M. Pfeiffer, and Ali Syed. 2008. “How Sociological Leaders Teach: Some Key Principles.” Teaching Sociology 36(2):108-24. doi:10.1177/0092055X0803600202.

• As a general rule, if the website contains data or evidence essential to a point being addressed in the manuscript, it should be formally cited with the URL and date of access

Document retrieved from an institution with a known location.

Text: (ASA 2006)

Citation: American Sociological Association. 2006. “Status Committees.” Washington, DC: American Sociological Association. Retrieved July 11, 2010 (http://www.asanet.org/about/committes.cfm).

Document retrieved from a corporate website (unknown location).

Text: (IBM 2009)

Citation: IBM. 2009. “2009 Annual Report.” Retrieved July 25, 2014 (http://www.ibm.com/annualreport/2009/2009_ibm_annual.pdf).

Social Media Sources.

• When referring to a particular social media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter) posting within the text, it should be accompanied by a footnote in the main body of text rather than included in the reference list
• The footnote must include the page’s title, date accessed, and the URL

Text: The American Sociological Association mentioned the meeting directly on its Facebook page.1

Footnote: 1. American Sociological Association’s Facebook page, accessed June 6, 2014, http://www.facebook.com/AmericanSociologicalAssociation/posts/10154176262000165.

Examples of how to cite a web log entry (also known as “blogs”), e-mail message, items in online databases, machine-readable data files and audiovisual materials (e.g., CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, podcast, PowerPoint presentation and sound recordings etc.) can be found in Section 5: Guidelines for Using Electronic Resources in the 5th edition of the ASA Style Guide .

ASA Formatting Rules

The ASA Style Guide outlines a rigorous set of rules for organizing and presenting content in manuscripts and articles. It is crucial that you adhere to the style requirements, so make sure that your work is formatted in line with what is expected or you could be penalized.

The style requires that the following pages are included when you submit your manuscript:

1. Title Page

• Includes the full title of your paper, the author name(s), the author’s institution(s), a running head*, the total word count (including ASA citations and footnotes), and a title footnote
• An asterisk (*) after the title refers the reader to a title footnote at the bottom of the title page. This must include the name and address of the corresponding author, additional acknowledgments (usually not necessary for papers submitted in a sociology class), and grant numbers

*A Running Head is simply a shortened version of the work’s title (no more than 50 characters); this gives an idea of what your paper is about and helps to identify the pages of your paper so they are kept together. It should be titled ‘Running head’ and appear in uppercase letters at the top left of each page.

Example of title page (American Sociological Association, p. 90) :

Running Head

Full Title of the Article: Capitalize Subtitle After Colon* Author’s Full Name Institution Author’s Full Name Institution

Word Count = Text, Footnotes, and References

*Title footnote

2. Abstract

• Your abstract should begin on a separate page after the title page, and you should use your work’s title as the heading
• Do not include the author’s name for anonymity purposes
• Essentially, an abstract is a brief (no more than 200 words) description that summarizes the key points you cover in your paper
• Ensure that the language is readily comprehensible and jargon-free

3. Keywords

• Select 3 – 5 keywords that highlight the primary themes you have approached in your work
• Begin the main body of text on a new page that is headed by the work’s title
• Omit any form of author identification throughout the text
• Use 12-point Arial and double-space all text (including ASA citations, footnotes, and endnotes)
• Margins need to be at least 1 ¼ inches on all sides
• Pages should be numbered sequentially, from the title page to the reference list

5. Footnotes and Endnotes

• Place footnotes and endnotes in a separate section following the text
• You should only add footnotes or endnotes where absolutely necessary because they can distract your reader; it is recommended that they are limited to less than 100 words
• Use them to expand further on the text, cite materials of limited availability, or to add additional information to a table
• Do not use both footnotes and endnotes, stick to one or the other throughout your work
• Indicate every footnote with a superscript Arabic numeral to which it is keyed in the main body of text
• Footnotes should be numbered consecutively and double-spaced at the bottom of the page
• To refer to a footnote again later in the text, insert a parenthetical note: e.g., (see note 5 )
• Include endnotes in a separate section titled Notes or Endnotes
• Read more about footnotes here

6. Appendixes

• This is your chance to add any supplementary, supporting material to the end of your work – generally explanatory, statistical, or bibliographic
• Consider adding an appendix as an alternative to a footnote or endnote
• If you are only including one appendix, title it Appendix . Multiple appendixes should be lettered (e.g., Appendix A, Appendix B) to differentiate them from numbered figures and tables

7. Tables, Figures, and Graphic Materials

• Accompany each with a descriptive title so that the reader does not need to refer to the main body of text in order to understand it
• Tables should be numbered consecutively throughout the text, and each should be included on a separate page at the end of the paper
• Left-justify title above the table
• Include headings for all columns and rows, and use subheadings to separate different sections or clarify categories
• Gather general notes on the table under Notes or Sources beneath the table – use a, b, c etc. to add explanatory footnotes to the table, and list full citations for each data source in the reference list
• All text and data should fit vertically across two columns

Find further details on the presentation of tables, alongside some demonstrative examples, in 4.8.1 (p. 64) in the ASA Style Guide .

Figures, Illustrations, and Photographs

• Visual art should only be included when it significantly contributes to the reader’s understanding of the paper – consider how much value a figure adds before including it in your work
• Number them consecutively throughout, and accompany each with a title and clear label
• Left-justify each figure caption and place below the figure
• Submit high-resolution images electronically in a single file
• Use black-and-white figures unless it affects clarity
• You must secure permission to publish a copyrighted figure, illustration or photograph

More information on formatting graphs, charts, images and much more, can be found in Section 6: ‘Preparing and Submitting a Manuscript to an ASA Journal’ of the ASA Style Guide .

Subheadings

• Use subheadings to organize the main body of text – for a full-length article, three subheadings should suffice

THIS IS A FIRST-LEVEL HEAD

• Capitalize the whole heading, left-justify, and don’t use a bold font
• Some journals do not indent the paragraph immediately following a first-level head

This is a Second-Level Head

• Italicize, left-justify, and don’t use a bold font
• Capitalize all words except prepositions ( of, into, between, through ), articles ( a, an, the ), and coordinating conjunctions ( and, but, or )
• Some journals do not indent the paragraph immediately following a second-level head

This is a third-level head.

• Indent at the beginning of the paragraph, and follow with a period
• The paragraph continues immediately after the period
• Capitalize only the first letter of the first word and proper nouns

Further ASA Formatting Guidelines:

• All text, tables and figures should be typeset and sized to fit the journal page dimension (smaller than regular letter-sized 8.5” by 11” paper)
• When figures are sized down to fit on the page, all text in the figure must not be smaller than 8-point Arial font
• Block quotes may be single-spaced
• Avoid using space bars or indents to align the text or create hanging indents
• Use a hard return after the title of the article, the running head, and every paragraph, text heading, page heading, reference, and footnote

Clearly and consistently presenting your work according to the style requirements will improve its readability and add to its overall professional finish.

A Brief History of the Style

The American Sociological Association was founded in 1905 and remains to this day the main scholarly organization for academic sociologists in the United States. The nonprofit membership association is committed to supporting sociologists across the world and promoting their contribution to society. The association largely disseminates sociological knowledge through its scholarly publications. The official journals are the American Sociological Review (ASR), which publishes high quality original work from sociologists, and Contemporary Sociology (CS), which prints reviews and critical discussions about contemporary work.

Without a unified citation and writing style, authors submitting to ASA publications were largely uninformed about style requirements. There was widespread confusion amongst authors as to what the style actually entailed; this largely stemmed from its similarities with both The Chicago Manual of Style and the American Psychological Association style. In 1991 it was agreed that these issues needed to be tackled by offering authors and editors a set of formal style rules that specified both writing style and formatting standards.

The first American Sociological Association Style Guide was published in 1996, with the hope of aiding those authors preparing manuscripts for journals as well as those adopting the ASA citation style. The guide has evolved over the years to incorporate style revisions and guidelines for citing electronic sources. The extensive ASA Style Guide outlines the structure and format of in-text citations, footnotes and reference lists. For instance, the 3rd edition expanded the guidelines on citing electronic publication sources, as well as providing illustrative examples. The 4th edition covered updates on online manuscript submission and changes made to citation formatting.

The latest edition of the guide, and the one on which this style sheet is based, is the 5th edition. This edition has been updated to provide further information on grammar and writing style requirements, revisions to citation formatting, and expanded details on citing new sources such as social media channels.

There have been two noteworthy changes made in the 5th edition:

• Author citation – when a citation has two authors, a comma must now follow the first author’s last name
• Issue number – it is recommended that you include the issue number when citing a journal article to make it easier for your reader to locate the source

The ASA Style Guide is the definitive point of reference for all those that are writing, submitting, and editing manuscripts for ASA journals. For more guidance, visit their online resource – click on ‘Research & Publications’ followed by ‘Journals’ in order to find helpful writing tips.

Why is Citing Important?

Cite This For Me aims to empower students by elevating their research to the next level and educating them in how to avoid plagiarism . We know that citing can be time-consuming and confusing, but it can mean the difference between reaching your scholarly goals and damaging your reputation amongst other academics.

The ASA citation format is dedicated to complete and accurate author accreditation, and sets out its ethos in the ASA Code of Ethics section 14:

(a) In publications, presentations, teaching, practice, and service, sociologists explicitly identify credit, and reference the author when they take data or material verbatim from another person’s written work, whether it is published, unpublished, or electronically available.

(b) In their publications, presentations, teaching, practice, and service, sociologists provide acknowledgment of and reference to the use of other’s work, even if the work is not quoted verbatim or paraphrased, and they do not present others’ work as their own whether it is published, unpublished, or electronically available. (American Sociological Association, 2014, p. 3)

Under the pressure of fast-approaching deadlines it is easy to slip up and inadvertently plagiarize your work; even something as small as leaving a citation out of your reference list, or including an incorrect publication date for a source, could affect your grade. It is unbelievably frustrating to miss out on valuable points because of something so simple yet so integral to academic success, so it is in your own interest to ensure you cite fully and accurately.

Even if you are using our citation generator, it is important that you get to grips with the reasons why citing is essential as this will help you to naturally integrate the process into your work.

Firstly, every time you use someone else’s words, data that someone else has collected, or even paraphrase another author’s ideas (regardless of whether it is published, unpublished, or available online), you must appropriately cite the source. The bottom line is, whenever information that you have used in your work has originated from somewhere else, it needs to be cited both in the text and in a reference list. The only exception to this rule is common knowledge – e.g. ‘Barack Obama is the President of the United States’. You can regard something as common knowledge if you are certain that your reader will already know it, for instance; a fact or an everyday phrase.

Secondly, plagiarism is stealing. Researchers and writers must acknowledge their debts to their predecessors by carefully documenting each source they use in their work. If you are going to uphold your intellectual honesty, you’ll need to accurately signpost where you have drawn on someone else’s work. Attributing your research will serve to validate your own work by demonstrating that it is built upon a combination of appropriate academic reading and original thought.

We have also created a checklist to use throughout your research and writing process.

How to avoid plagiarism:

• Plan – create a detailed plan before you start writing that includes all relevant content, as well as an outline of how you plan on structuring the paper
• Time management – make use of time plans and targets, and give yourself enough time to read, write and proofread
• Record sources – note down publication information for each source as you go, save each quote word-for-word, and place it in inverted commas to distinguish it from your own words
• Use your own words – this is particularly important to remember when paraphrasing information; your work must differ from the original text
• Save everything – store your research and citations in a safe place.

If you follow the style guidelines, and run any questions past your institution or publisher, it is unlikely that you will plagiarize.

How do I Accurately Cite My Sources with Cite This For Me’s Citation Machine?

Does it constantly feel like an uphill struggle to get your citations finished on time? Remove the stress of citing by using Cite This For Me’s state-of-the-art ASA citation machine.

In the final moments before an important deadline, you can’t afford to waste time searching for page numbers or publication dates to complete your citations. Cite This For Me’s citation management tool will transform the way you conduct your research. Sign up to Cite This For Me today to access this speedy and intuitive generator that will accurately format your citations in seconds. The generator will create your citation in two parts; an in-text citation and a full reference that is ready to be copied straight into your reference list.

Use the web tool to add and edit citations, export full projects and individual references, utilize the add-ons, and save all of your citations in the cloud so they don’t get misplaced.

Join the ref olution and exceed your academic potential by citing unlimited source types with Cite This For Me; from PDF reports and unpublished work, to podcasts, musical scores, and Instagram posts.

Reference List

American Sociological Association. 2014. American Sociological Association Style Guide. 5th ed. Washington, DC: American Sociological Association.

Manage all your citations in one place

Create projects, add notes, cite directly from the browser and scan books’ barcodes with a mobile app.

Sign up to Cite This For Me – the ultimate citation management tool.

TAFT COLLEGE

ASA Style Guide, 5th Edition: ASA Style Guide

• ASA Style Guide
• Reference format

Introduction

SOCIOLOGY: ASA Style Guide 5th edition  

The American Sociological Association Style Guide is intended for authors who are preparing manuscripts for publication in ASA journals. This handout is intended for students who are instructed to use "ASA style" when writing research papers. 

• ASA Quick Guide A quick style guide from ASA
• ASA Research Paper Template PDF A research paper template for ASA style guide in PDF format
• ASA Research Paper Template A MS Word document that you can modify for your own work.

A quick guide is also available at the Purdue OWL Writing Lab webpage

Manuscript Format

• All text (including footnotes, references, and endnote) must be doubled spaced .
• Text must be in 12-point Times New Roman (Times is also acceptable)
• Block quotes may be single-spaced . 
• Margins must be at least 1.25 inches on all four sides
• A separate title page including title of paper, author(s) and institution(s) of author(s) (list vertically if more than one author).
• If required, on a separate page provide a short (150-200 word) abstract headed with the title.
• Begin the text of the paper on a separate page headed with the title of the paper.

Citing within your text

Basic form for citations in the text includes the last name of the author(s) and year of publication. Include page number when you quote directly from the work or refer to specific passages.

  If you are including the author’s name in your text, follow it with the publication year in parentheses: Jelin (1977) indicates similar patterns for women in Argentina.  If you are referring to an idea or theory but not citing the author  in the text, enclose the last name and year in parentheses: Women also migrate to become involved in petty trade (Arizpe 1978)... If citing two or more works by the same author: According to William J. Wilson (1978, 1987) race and class play a significant role in today's society.   If citing works by several authors: After the Civil Rights movement a growing number of racial/ethnic scholars such as Almaguer (1975), Barrera (1978), and Takaki (1979) challenged...  or  The subjects of this study seemed to perform their duties as determined by the institutional arrangements within which they worked (Watson, Kumar, and Michaelsen 1993; Cox, Lobel, and McLoed 1991; Fitzgerald 1993). 

For three or more authors, give all last names in the first citation in the text; afterwards use the first name and et al.: (Holland, Holt, Levi, and Beckett 1983)  thereafter (Holland et al. 1989) or Holland, Holt, Levi, and Beckett (1983) stated...   thereafter Holland et al. (1989) refer to...

Pagination follows the year of publication after a colon, with no space between the colon and the page number : ...Arizpe (1978:71) Quotations in the text that begin and end with quotation marks, the citation follows the end quote mark and precedes the period: "In 1999, however, the data were reported by more specific job types which showed that technologically oriented jobs paid better" (Hildenbrand 1999:47). or Cox stated, "The essence of the issue is reality vs. perception" (1993:132), as noted earlier.

Machine-readable data files, cite authorship and date: ....(Pew Research Center 2011).

Quotations in Text Always begin and end a quotation with quotations marks; the author, date, and/or page numbers follow the end-quote and precede the period:

Wright and Jacobs (1994) found that "the variation in men's earnings relative to their peers in the labor force was not reliable predictor of men's...flight from feminizing occupations" (p. 531).

One study found that "the variation in men's earnings relative to their peers in the labor force was not reliable predictor of men's...flight from feminizing occupations" (Wright and Jacobs 1994:531).

Block Quotations These are set off in a separate, indented paragraph and should be used for longer quotations (generally, 50 words or more). Block quotations should not be enclosed in quotation marks.

As stated by Wright and Jacobs (1994):

The variation in men's earnings relative to their peers in the labor force was not reliable predictor of men's attrition. This finding is inconsistent with the prediction that declines in earnings are responsible for male flight from feminizing occupations. (P. 531)

Note: The "P" for "page" is capitalized when the page number is cited alone in a block quote without author and date information.

taken from the ASA Style Guide (2010:25)

ASA Tutorial

This guide was authored by Kathryn Blackmer Reyes at San Jose State University, borrowed and edited with permission by Terri Smith, Taft College Library, February 23, 2017.

• ~[123]~: Jan 12, 2022 10:42 AM
• ~[124]~: https://lib.taftcollege.edu/c.php?g=634205

Citation Guides: ASA Citations

• APA Citations: 7th Edition
• MLA Citations
• Chicago Manual of Style
• CSE Citations
• ASA Citations
• AMA Citations
• Legal Citations
• Help & Feedback
• Quick Tips for ASA Style A two-page guide from the ASA, covering the basics of ASA style.

More ASA Help

Click the logo below to visit the Purdue Online Writing Lab's guide to ASA Style. Find more detailed information about paper formatting and citing different types of sources. 

Plagiarism Resources

• Best Practices to Avoid Plagiarism (Purdue OWL) There are few intellectual offenses more serious than plagiarism in academic and professional contexts. This resource offers advice on how to avoid plagiarism in your work.
• Plagiarism.org Short overview of plagiarism, including how and when you must cite sources,"Ask the Expert" space for Q&A, and other plagiarism resources including webcasts, tools, facts and stats, student materials, and news.

Organize Your Research

• Zotero A free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share your research sources.

Citation Basics

The purpose of following a specific style for your citations is to help the reader identify and find your outside sources easily. Each part of the citation contains important information about the source, and the formatting provides a standard way to quickly communicate that information to the reader.

ASA (American Sociological Association) style is recommended for students and researchers writing in the field of sociology.

For each outside source included in a paper, there should be a brief citation in the paper, which corresponds to a complete citation in the list of references at the bottom of the paper.

In-Text Citations

• Two Authors
• Three Authors
• More than Three Authors

Every time you quote, paraphrase, or summarize information from an outside source, you must provide an in-text citation. It points your reader to the source's full citation in your list of references at the end of your paper.

For any type of resource (article, book, website, etc), a basic in-text citation includes the author's name and the publication year (example: Smith 2013). 

When directly quoting a source or paraphrasing a specific passage, you also include a page number (example: Smith 2013:26). 

• You can put the name and year in parenthesis at the end of the information:

Unabomber Ted Kaczynski represents a dichotomy between self-reliance and freedom (Rousseau 2014).

• Or you can use the author's name in the text, also called a signal phrase:

Rousseau (2015) explained how Ted Kaczynski represents a common dichotomy in sociology.

Remember, the name you use in your in-text citation should match the name you use in your full citation in the list of references!

For one author, include the author's last name, and year of publication.

For a direct quote or information from a specific part of a source, place a colon immediately after the year, followed by the page number, with no spaces. 

If the citation falls at the end of the sentence, put the period after the closing parenthesis.

"Freedom only has meaning when one becomes conscious of the idea of freedom" (Rousseau 2014:11). Rousseau (2014:11) points out that a person must understand the idea of freedom to truly appreciate it.

For a work that has two authors, include both of the authors' last names, with the word "and" between them, followed by the year of publication.

For a direct quote or information from a specific page of a source, place a colon immediately after the year, followed by the page number, with no spaces. 

"Family functioning among single-biological-mother households does not respond to increasing levels of neighborhood cohesion in the same way that it does for married and cohabiting two-biological-parent households" (Freistadt and  Strohschein 2013:954). Freistadt and Strohschein (2013:954) found that families with single mothers benefited less from supportive neighbors than traditional two-parent families.

For a work with three authors, include all three authors the first time the work is cited. If you cite the work again, you can include only the first author's last name, followed by the phrase "et al.", then include the year of publication.

" While wage differences naturally occur in a capitalistic system, massive differences provoke social unrest and the rise of demigods advocating collectivist solutions "  (Muczyk, Nance, and Coccari 2009:3 ). Muczyk et al. (2009:14)  believe that education is not the only way to decrease wage disparity.

For a work with more than three authors, include only the first author's last name, followed by the phrase "et al.", then include the year of publication.

"Employment and work demands appear to contribute to parents’ decreased time to attend to their own nutrition as well as that of their families" (Bauer et al. 2012:503 ). Bauer et al. (2012:503) found that parents' work schedules can have a negative impact on the entire family's nutrition.

Use the organization responsible for the content as the author if no individual can be identified.

According to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (2017) , acupuncture may be useful in treating symptoms related to MS, such as pain and numbness. Acupuncture may be effective in treating symptoms related to MS, such as pain and numbness (National Multiple Sclerosis Society 2017) .

• Film or Documentary
• Article from a Database

The list of references is a list of all of the resources you used in your research paper or assignment, organized alphabetically by author .

The list is double-spaced with a hanging indent , meaning that, for a citation on more than one line, each line after the first is indented 1/4" from the left margin. Find the paragraph settings, choose the indentation style of hanging, and set it to 1/4". In Word, you'll click the little icon in the lower right corner of the "Paragraph" section of the main toolbar.

The first part of your in-text citation (almost always the author) should match the first part of your full citation in the list of references.

There are guidelines for how to cite different numbers and types of authors, and how to cite different formats of information (article, book, website, etc.). You will have to combine these guidelines for each citation.

Use the author's last name, followed by first name and middle initials, if present.

Rousseau, Nathan.

Two or More Authors

List all authors. The first author is listed last name, first name, but all other authors are listed in normal order. Separate each with a comma, and put "and" before the last author.

Bauer, Katherine W., Mary O. Hearst, Kamisha Escoto, Jerica M. Berge, and Dianne Neumark-Sztainer.

Organization as Author

American Sociological Society.

The basic citation for an article from a database is shown below, along with an example. Refer to the guides we've shared for any different situation , such as a different number of authors. Pay attention to punctuation and capitalization.

Author Last, First M. Year. Title of Book . Place of Publication: Publisher.

Rousseau, Nathan. 2014. Society Explained. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Click the image to view the record for the book in the library's OneSearch. Click Details to find publication information in the record.

Citing a web page (or a short work from a website) can be tricky. Look carefully for the name of an author, or use the organization as the author if you cannot find a name. The organization is usually the same for the publisher, but sometimes there is a larger organization. To find the place of publication, you may need to find the "About Us" or "Contact Us" link to find where the company is located.

Author. Year. "Title of Web Page." Place of Publication: Publisher. Retrieved Month Day, Year (Article URL).

Pew Research Center. 2015. "Raising Kids and Running a Household: How Working Parents Share the Load." Washington, DC: Pew Research Center. Retrieved November 11, 2016 (http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2015/11/04/raising-kids-and-running-a-household-how-working-parents-share-the-load).

Click the image to view the website about working parents from Pew Research Center.

Below is a video describing how you can cite a film or documentary. Although it is not mentioned in this video, be sure to include a year of publication.

The basic citation for an article from a database is shown below. Refer to the guides we've shared for any different situation , such as a different number of authors. You can usually find all of the information you need on the article itself, or on the record for the article, which is the web page that describes the article and links to the PDF file of it.

Last, First M., and First M. Last. Year. "Article Title." Journal Title. Volume(Issue): Pages. doi: .

Bauer, Katherine W., Mary O. Hearst, Kamisha Escoto, Jerica M. Berge, and Diane Neumark-Sztainer. 2012. "Parental Employment and Work-Family Stress: Associations with Family Food Environments." Social Science & Medicine 75(3): 496-504. doi:10.1016/j.soscimed.2012.3.026.

Click the image to view the journal article. If you are off campus, you will be asked to log in with your NetID.

Format Your Paper

• Body of Paper

Choose a standard font that is easy to read, such as Times New Roman.

All text should be 12-point font and double-spaced.

Margins should be 1 1/4" on all sides, unless otherwise specified by your instructor.

• : Feb 5, 2024 4:05 PM
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ASA citation generator

Cite websites, books, articles, ...

What is an ASA citation generator and how can it help you?

Getting citations and reference lists correctly done can be very confusing and time-consuming.

The ASA Style Guide provides rules and guidelines on citations, and is mainly based on the Chicago Manual of Style.

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If you need to know more about ASA citations check out our How do I cite in ASA style? section.

Why, when, and what do I have to cite?

Why The broad scientific knowledge we have today is the accomplishment of many researchers over time. To put your own contribution in context , it is important to cite the work of the researchers who influenced you. Cited sources can provide key background information, support or dispute your thesis, or offer important definitions and data. Citing also shows that you have personally read the work.

When In addition to crediting the ideas of others that you used to build your own argument, you need to provide documentation for all facts and figures that are not common knowledge. Common knowledge is knowledge that is known by everyone, or nearly everyone, and can basically concern any subject. An example for common knowledge would be "There are seven days in a week".

What The number of sources you cite in your work depends on the intent of the paper. In most cases, you will need to cite one or two of the most representative sources for each key point. However, if you are working on a review article, the aim is to present to the readers everything that has been written on a topic, so you will need to include a more exhaustive list of citations.

What is the ASA citation style?

ASA stands for American Sociological Association. The ASA Style Guide (currently in its fifth edition) was designed by the American Sociological Association primarily as a reference for authors submitting articles to ASA journals.

But it has been widely adopted by sociology departments as a guide for the preparation of theses, dissertations and other types of research papers. Nowadays it is also used by professional writers and publishers of scholarly materials on sociological or social science issues. The ASA Style Guide is primarily based on the Chicago Manual of Style.

The ASA style uses the author-date system for in-text citations (parenthetical referencing style) and a complete list of references cited at the end of an article, before any appendices. This guide will help you learn the basics of the ASA style and is based on the fifth edition of the ASA Style Guide.

How do I cite in ASA style?

The author-date system used in the ASA style is based on the Chicago Manual of Style, which includes a brief text citation (enclosed in parentheses) and a complete list of references cited (included at the end of an article, before any appendices).

Citations in the text include the last name of the author(s) and year of publication. Include page numbers when quoting directly from a work or referring to specific passages. Identify subsequent citations of the same source in the same way as the first.

• If the author's name is in the text, follow it with the publication year in parentheses: .. Leach (1997) stated that..
• If the author's name is not in the text, enclose the last name and publication year in parentheses: .. (Axler 2017)
• Page numbers follow the year of publication after a colon, with no space between the colon and the page number: .. Orol (2010:1)
• Give both last names for joint authors: .. (Wardrip-Fruin and Montfort 2003)
• If the work has three authors, cite all three last names in the first citation in the text; after that, use et al. in the citation. If a work has more than three authors, use et al. in the first citation and in all subsequent citations.
• Separate a series of references with semicolons. List the series in alphabetical or date order, but be consistent throughout the paper.

How do I create my reference list in ASA?

Your reference list is compiled in a separate section at the end of your article with the title 'References'. All references cited in the text must be listed in the reference section, and vice versa. These are the main rules for creating your reference list:

• Use hanging indentation and double-space the references
• Invert the authors' names; if there are two or more authors in a citation, invert only the first one
• The reference list should be arranged alphabetically by authors' last names. If there is no author, arrange the first significant word in the title in the alphabetical sequence
• Arrange multiple items by the same author in order by the year of publication (earliest year first) and use six hyphens and a period (- - - - - -.) no space between hyphens! in place of the name(s) for second and succeeding occurrences of work by the same author
• Use italics for book and periodical titles; underline if italics are not available

This is your reference list entry for a book

Author 1 (last name inverted), Author 2 (including full surname, last name not inverted), and Author 3. Year of publication. Name of Publication (italicized). Location of publisher, state, or province postal code (or name of country if a foreign publisher): Publisher's name.

Axler, Sheldon. 2017. Linear Algebra Done Right. New York: Springer.

This is your reference list entry for a journal article

Author 1 (last name inverted), Author 2 (including full surname, last name not inverted) and Author3. Year of publication. “Title of Article.” Name of Publication (italicized) Volume Number(Issue Number):page numbers of article.

Waddock, Samuel, and Sandra Graves. 1997. "The Corporate Social Performance-Financial Performance Link." Strategic Management Journal 18(4):303-19.

While all the specific rules of the ASA citation style might sound very complicated, you don't need to worry about getting them wrong with BibGuru.

Use our ASA citation generator above to create the fastest and most accurate ASA citations possible.

The BibGuru ASA citation generator is a software that creates citations and references in ASA style 5th edition. This online tool is fast, 100% accurate, with a simple and intuitive interface, and completely add free. The BibGuru ASA citation generator will help you focus on the content of your work instead of worrying about getting your reference list done.

Yes, the BibGuru ASA citation generator is free.

The American Sociological Association (ASA) is used in the field of social sciences. Therefore, students of sociology, and similar fields, are the ones who the BibGuru ASA citation generator.

You can create a reference in the BibGuru ASA citation generator by entering the URL/title/doi or any other identifier of your source into the search box, choose a category, click enter, and that's it. You have a 100% correct reference in ASA style.

ASA is the citation style from the American Sociological Association, while APA is from the American Psychological Association. The ASA Style Guide (currently in its fifth edition) is primarily based on the Chicago Manual of Style and uses a brief text citation (enclosed in parentheses) and a complete list of references cited at the end of an article.

The ASA Style Guide recommends a title page for all papers. The title page should include the full title of the article, the name(s) and institution(s) of the author(s) (listed vertically if more than one), a running head, the word count for the manuscript (including footnotes and references), and a title footnote. An asterisk (*) following the title can be used to refer to the title footnote at the bottom of the page. This footnote includes the name and address of the corresponding author, acknowledgements, credits, and grant numbers.

ASA style uses the author-date format for in-text citations, based on the Chicago Manual of Style. When citing in-text, add parentheses with the author's last name and year of publication. You can also add a page number after a colon, with no space between the colon and the page number, e.g.: .. Orol (2010:1).

Yes, in the ASA style, all text including your abstract, references, footnotes and acknowledgements, must be double-spaced. Only block quotes may be single spaced.

A running head is a shortened form of the title of your paper appearing on the top left header of every page of your manuscript. The words "Running head:" appear on the title page, but not on subsequent pages. It should use the Times New Roman font, be double-spaced, and no more than 50 characters.

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Computer Science > Computation and Language

Title: rag vs fine-tuning: pipelines, tradeoffs, and a case study on agriculture.

Abstract: There are two common ways in which developers are incorporating proprietary and domain-specific data when building applications of Large Language Models (LLMs): Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and Fine-Tuning. RAG augments the prompt with the external data, while fine-Tuning incorporates the additional knowledge into the model itself. However, the pros and cons of both approaches are not well understood. In this paper, we propose a pipeline for fine-tuning and RAG, and present the tradeoffs of both for multiple popular LLMs, including Llama2-13B, GPT-3.5, and GPT-4. Our pipeline consists of multiple stages, including extracting information from PDFs, generating questions and answers, using them for fine-tuning, and leveraging GPT-4 for evaluating the results. We propose metrics to assess the performance of different stages of the RAG and fine-Tuning pipeline. We conduct an in-depth study on an agricultural dataset. Agriculture as an industry has not seen much penetration of AI, and we study a potentially disruptive application - what if we could provide location-specific insights to a farmer? Our results show the effectiveness of our dataset generation pipeline in capturing geographic-specific knowledge, and the quantitative and qualitative benefits of RAG and fine-tuning. We see an accuracy increase of over 6 p.p. when fine-tuning the model and this is cumulative with RAG, which increases accuracy by 5 p.p. further. In one particular experiment, we also demonstrate that the fine-tuned model leverages information from across geographies to answer specific questions, increasing answer similarity from 47% to 72%. Overall, the results point to how systems built using LLMs can be adapted to respond and incorporate knowledge across a dimension that is critical for a specific industry, paving the way for further applications of LLMs in other industrial domains.

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MLA General Format 

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Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

MLA Style specifies guidelines for formatting manuscripts and citing research in writing. MLA Style also provides writers with a system for referencing their sources through parenthetical citation in their essays and Works Cited pages. 

Writers who properly use MLA also build their credibility by demonstrating accountability to their source material. Most importantly, the use of MLA style can protect writers from accusations of plagiarism, which is the purposeful or accidental uncredited use of source material produced by other writers. 

If you are asked to use MLA format, be sure to consult the  MLA Handbook  (9th edition). Publishing scholars and graduate students should also consult the  MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing  (3rd edition). The  MLA Handbook  is available in most writing centers and reference libraries. It is also widely available in bookstores, libraries, and at the MLA web site. See the Additional Resources section of this page for a list of helpful books and sites about using MLA Style.

Paper Format

The preparation of papers and manuscripts in MLA Style is covered in part four of the  MLA Style Manual . Below are some basic guidelines for formatting a paper in  MLA Style :

General Guidelines

• Type your paper on a computer and print it out on standard, white 8.5 x 11-inch paper.
• Double-space the text of your paper and use a legible font (e.g. Times New Roman). Whatever font you choose, MLA recommends that the regular and italics type styles contrast enough that they are each distinct from one another. The font size should be 12 pt.
• Leave only one space after periods or other punctuation marks (unless otherwise prompted by your instructor).
• Set the margins of your document to 1 inch on all sides.
• Indent the first line of each paragraph one half-inch from the left margin. MLA recommends that you use the “Tab” key as opposed to pushing the space bar five times.
• Create a header that numbers all pages consecutively in the upper right-hand corner, one-half inch from the top and flush with the right margin. (Note: Your instructor may ask that you omit the number on your first page. Always follow your instructor's guidelines.)
• Use italics throughout your essay to indicate the titles of longer works and, only when absolutely necessary, provide emphasis.
• If you have any endnotes, include them on a separate page before your Works Cited page. Entitle the section Notes (centered, unformatted).

Formatting the First Page of Your Paper

• Do not make a title page for your paper unless specifically requested or the paper is assigned as a group project. In the case of a group project, list all names of the contributors, giving each name its own line in the header, followed by the remaining MLA header requirements as described below. Format the remainder of the page as requested by the instructor.
• In the upper left-hand corner of the first page, list your name, your instructor's name, the course, and the date. Again, be sure to use double-spaced text.
• Double space again and center the title. Do not underline, italicize, or place your title in quotation marks. Write the title in Title Case (standard capitalization), not in all capital letters.
• Use quotation marks and/or italics when referring to other works in your title, just as you would in your text. For example:  Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas  as Morality Play; Human Weariness in "After Apple Picking"
• Double space between the title and the first line of the text.
• Create a header in the upper right-hand corner that includes your last name, followed by a space with a page number. Number all pages consecutively with Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.), one-half inch from the top and flush with the right margin. (Note: Your instructor or other readers may ask that you omit the last name/page number header on your first page. Always follow instructor guidelines.)

Here is a sample of the first page of a paper in MLA style:

The First Page of an MLA Paper

Section Headings

Writers sometimes use section headings to improve a document’s readability. These sections may include individual chapters or other named parts of a book or essay.

MLA recommends that when dividing an essay into sections you number those sections with an Arabic number and a period followed by a space and the section name.

MLA does not have a prescribed system of headings for books (for more information on headings, please see page 146 in the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing , 3rd edition). If you are only using one level of headings, meaning that all of the sections are distinct and parallel and have no additional sections that fit within them, MLA recommends that these sections resemble one another grammatically. For instance, if your headings are typically short phrases, make all of the headings short phrases (and not, for example, full sentences). Otherwise, the formatting is up to you. It should, however, be consistent throughout the document.

If you employ multiple levels of headings (some of your sections have sections within sections), you may want to provide a key of your chosen level headings and their formatting to your instructor or editor.

Sample Section Headings

The following sample headings are meant to be used only as a reference. You may employ whatever system of formatting that works best for you so long as it remains consistent throughout the document.

Formatted, unnumbered:

Level 1 Heading: bold, flush left

Level 2 Heading: italics, flush left

Level 3 Heading: centered, bold

Level 4 Heading: centered, italics

Level 5 Heading: underlined, flush left