what is asa format essay

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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.

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• Last Updated: Jan 12, 2022 10:42 AM
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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. 
• Next: In-Text Citation Format >>
• Last Updated: Sep 17, 2022 2:34 PM
• URL: https://libguides.sjsu.edu/ASAguide

ASA Style and Format

Who uses asa.

• In-Text Citations

Subject Guide

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.

• Next: Formatting >>
• Subjects: Sociology
• Tags: american sociological association , citations , formatting , style guides

Guide to ASA Format and ASA Citation

In the realm of sociology, the ASA format, also known as manuscript format, holds significant sway. For sociology students, having a grasp of ASA citation, often provided by seasoned essay writers, is invaluable. So, let's first delve into the ASA definition to understand its importance better.

What Is ASA

ASA is a citation style used in the field of sociology. ASA, as an abbreviation, stands for the “American Sociological Association”. ASA format citation is mostly used by scholars, academics, and students of sociology in their manuscripts or articles that they submit to the sociology department or field of sociology overall. If the ASA citation format is not used correctly, it might put the work in the position of being discredited or, perhaps, it might lead to its acknowledgements being postponed along with its writer’s career development.

While using ASA citation format, it is necessary to pay close attention to the certain parts of the paper the format affects, such as the title page, abstract, heading format, in-text citations, reference list, and its formatting specifics.

ASA citation style bears a close resemblance to the widely used APA style. The biggest similarity is that both styles use parenthetical references. These appear at the end of the paper in the “References” section. MLA style papers, for instance, call that section “Works Cited” and format it in a different way. Another noticeable feature of the ASA citation format is its emphasis on the date. It always follows the author’s name.

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Basics of ASA Citation

There are a few general formatting requirements from the ASA Style Guide that need to be applied when using the ASA citation format.

ASA Title Page

The title page is the first thing one sees when picking up a paper. It is your job to make it look sharp and to create it in accordance with all of the rules so that it looks presentable and professional.

The ASA citation format title page usually contains the following information:

• ASA header, which is also the full title of the work
• Names and institutions of the writers
• A total word count
• Address of the author, or one who receives communication and feedback regarding the work
• Credits or acknowledgments of all contributors or sponsors
• Grants/funding of the research or the paper

ASA Abstract

The abstract appears on a separate page between the title page and the beginning of the essay. It usually contains about 150-200 words. If an abstract page is included, it often lists several keywords that help identify the essay’s main points of study.

Subheadings

The ASA citation format uses subheadings to organize body paragraphs. They do not serve to simply name the paragraphs of the document; using “Introduction” in a subheading wouldn’t be a great choice.

There are three levels of subheadings. Subheadings in ASA formatting are always left-aligned and are never written in the bold letters. Note that the editing style of the following subheadings correspond with the way they should appear in the text:

• FIRST-LEVEL SUBHEADING
• Letters in caps signify the first-level subheading
• Do not use bold font
• Do not begin with a heading such as Introduction
• Second-Level Subheading
• Title case (the first letter of each word is capitalized except for articles and prepositions)
• Third-level subheading
• Only first word is capitalized
• Should be followed by a period
• Should be indented in the beginning of the paragraph

General ASA Citation Rules

There are a few simple rules when it comes to the ASA writing style:

• This type of work avoids using the first-person, unless instructed otherwise.
• Since the paper will be heavily referenced, it is best to avoid giving opinions—unless the essay is argumentative.
• The writing must be straightforward and written in the active voice. Jargon, common expressions, slang, and superlatives are always best avoided.
• Words like ”percent” and “verses” are always spelled and not abbreviated, unless they appear as data in tables or graphs.
• Gendered terms are only used if they are crucial in the specific analysis. Otherwise, avoid using references such as “mankind” and instead use non-gendered terms such as “humanity” or “the global population”, etc.
• Racial and ethnic stereotyping is another thing to be cautious of. Be specific when describing a race or ethnicity. Use Japanese instead of Asian; Mexican instead of Latino.
• If the text requires acronym usage, provide the full name with the acronym in parentheses. After this, you can stick to the acronym: (first time) Based on a report conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)... (later in the text) The CIA report concludes…

ASA In-Text Citations

How and when to use in-text citations.

The ASA citation format is similar to APA when it comes to in-text citations and they are used when presenting information from any source. The general rule for American Sociological Association citations is to state the last name of the author and the initial publishing date of the referenced material. Here are some in-text citation examples:

• If the author's name is in the sentence, simply include the year:

ASA in text citation example: When Vasari (1550) studied the renaissance painters…

• If not - put the author’s last name inside the parentheses:

ASA in text citation example: When the renaissance painters were studied (Vasari 1550)...

• When citing reprinted work with several publish dates, list the first date and then the most recent one, separated with a slash.

ASA in text citation example: (Reed and Christgau 1978/2013)

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ASA Citation for Multiple Authors

Below are a few examples of using ASA in-text citations for multiple authors.

• For two, write both their surnames, followed by the year of publication.

ASA citation example:

(Bockris and Malanga 2003)

• For three or more, include all last names in the first citation. In later citations, include the first name and ‘et al.’ along with the year of publication.

ASA citation example: (Breton, Magritte, and Dali 1961) — first citation (Breton et al. 1961) — later citations

• If the work does not provide the writer’s name, give enough information to find the work in the reference list.

ASA citation example: (U.S. Department of Justice 1977:82)

• For multiple citations, separate the references with a semicolon and place them sequentially.

ASA citation example: (Rutt 1950; Smith 1952) (Kenway et al. 1934; Stewart 1981)

• For a citation of reprinted work that had been published earlier and was released again, include both years of publication. First the earliest, followed by a slash and the later year.

ASA citation example: (Smith and Greyjoy 1995/2019)

• For unpublished work that is to be published soon, use forthcoming in lieu of a date. If the date has not been determined, use n.d.

ASA citation example: Cramer (n.d.) conducted research on interracial relationships of the twentieth century.

Citing Quotes

Short quotations in the body of the text should have quotation marks. Quotations of more than 40 words are called block quotations and should be offset from the rest of the text with a single space. When using block quotes in ASA citation format, omit quotation marks. The works are cited as usual, although besides the year of the publication, the page number should also be included. The year is separated from the pagination with a semicolon.

Example: In his studies, Newton (1704:21) discovered that…

ASA Reference Page

The ASA citation reference page should start with the word REFERENCES. All references are double-spaced and are placed using a hanging indent. Capitalize the first letter of everything except for prepositions, articles, and conjunctions—although you should capitalize them if they are in the beginning of the reference’s title or subtitle. References are listed in alphabetical order based on the authors’ last names.

• First and middle names are included for all authors unless they used initials in the publication.
• If the author repeats, still include their full name on all the references. In that case, arrange the work in chronological order from oldest to newest.
• If the same author is in both a single-authored reference as the first author and in a multi-authored reference, you should place single-authored references first.
• When you are including multiple works by the same author(s) from the same year, include letters after the year and list all of the references from one author alphabetically.
• Make sure to include all of the authors of the publications. You may not use et al in the REFERENCES section.

The ASA reference page looks similar to APA with a few deviations. Here is how to cite the most common types of references, like writers of our graduate paper writing service do:

How to Cite Books: Author [Last, First]. Year of Publication. Title (italicized). Place of Publishing: Publisher.

Example of an ASA reference: James, Henry. 2003. The Turn of the Screw. New York: Barns & Noble Books.

How to Cite E-Books: Author [Last, First]. Year of Publication. Title (italicized). Place of Publishing: Publisher. Retrieved Month Day, Year {link}.

Example of an ASA reference: James, Henry. 2003. The Turn of the Screw. New York: Penguin Books Kindle Version. Retrieved January 18, 2017. {link}

How to Cite a Journal Article: Author [Last, First]. Year of Publication. "Title (italicized).” Journal Name issue #: inclusive page numbers.

Example of an ASA reference: Feekins, Bo. 2008. “Chasing Tree Frogs.” National Geographic #182. 6-10

How to Cite a Magazine Article: Author [Last, First]. Year of Pub. "Title (italicized).” Magazine Name, Month Year, pp. Inclusive page numbers.

Example of an ASA reference: Geary, Rachel. 2012. “The Issue with Mastery Learning.” New York Times, April 2002. Pp. 15-23.

How to Cite a Web Page ASA Style: Author [Last, First]. Date of Publishing. Title. Publisher. Retrieved Month Day, Year {link}.

Example of an ASA reference: Lee, Bruce. 03.09.2004. Birth of a Nation. History.com. Retrieved 18.01.2017. {link}

Footnotes and Endnotes

Footnotes and endnotes come into play when you need to expand the text, add or explain information from the table, or cite materials with limited access.

Endnotes are more likely than footnotes to be used. It is better to choose whether you will be using endnotes or footnotes in your ASA format paper and then use one or the other consistently throughout the paper. Each entry should not exceed 100 words. They are usually placed at the bottom of the page that the reference is on.

Footnotes appear on the same page as the material being underlined or expanded upon. They should be numbered in the order they appear using Arabic numerals.

Endnotes are listed at the end of the paper after the ‘References’ section. Both footnotes and endnotes are numbered for the ASA citation. There must always be some harmony in how they are utilized.

For example: If you use footnotes to define difficult vocabulary in the text, do not do the same thing in endnotes. Avoid mixing them up to give the paper stronger continuity.

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Step-by-Step Guide on How to Use ASA Style Formatting in Your Essay

ASA Paper Example

Now that we have covered all of the details for ASA paper formatting, let’s look at an example to get some practical experience and a better understanding of ASA format citation from our economics essay writing service.

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Is Chicago and ASA the Same?

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• Rewrote the opening section
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• added a section on Step-by-Step Guide on How to Use ASA Style Formatting in Your Essay
• Added new samples

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ASA Style Guide

• Introduction
• How to Reference
• In-Text Citations

Citation Management Tools

• RefWorks RefWorks "an online research management, writing and collaboration tool -- is designed to help researchers easily gather, manage, store and share all types of information, as well as generate citations and bibliographies."
• Zotero Zotero is a free, open-source research tool that helps you collect, organize, and analyze research and share it in a variety of ways.

In addition to creating citations, the format of the paper is also important. Consider the following and view examples on how to format title pages and the References page. Be sure to check with your Professor for specific formats. 

The title page should include the following:

• A running head (shortened title)
• The full title of the article
• The author(s) full name and institution (if more than one author, put on separate lines)
• The word count

Title Page Example

Running Head: Shortened Title

Full Title of the Article: Capitalize Subtitle After Colon

Author Full Name Institution

Word Count=1,234

NOTE: Speak with your Professor to confirm formatting of the title page; They may wish to use a different format. 

Reference Page

• The reference page should start on it's own page.
• References should be the title of the page. 
• The reference list should be double spaced. 
• References should be listed alphabetically by the first author's last name. 
• The first line of each citation should be flush with the margin and all consecutive lines should be indented. 

Reference Page Example

                                                                        References

Bender, Wolfgang. 1991. Sweet Mother . Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Golash-Boza, Tanya Maria. 2014. Race and Racisms: A Critical Approach . 1st ed. New York:         Oxford University Press.​

Nerburn, Kent. 2002. Neither Wolf, Nor Dog: On Forgotten Roads with an Indian Elder. Novato,         ​California: New World Library.

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

Additional Formatting & Style Information

• In-text:  (ASA 2019)
• Reference list: ASA (American Soc..) 2018. The American Sociological Association... 
• Access dates for online resources do not need to be included in citation except when web content has no publish date or when an access date can help identify which version of a source the author consulted. 
• If no date can be found for a source, use n.d.  for the citation.
• Include the state abbreviation in a citation only if city is unclear. 
• Page numbers less than 100, use all digits. Example: (42-55).
• Page ranges starting with 100 or multiples of 100, use all digits. Example (100-108, 1300-1325).
• Page ranges such as 101-109 (201-209 etc), use changed part only. Examples: (202-5; 209-10).
• Page ranges such as 110-199 (210-299 etc) use 2 digits unless more are needed. Examples: (421-28; 596-628; 1151-59; 1394-414). 
• Use block quotes if the quote includes 50 words or more. Begin the quote as a separate, indented paragraph with NO quotation marks.
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Citation guide.

• Why are Citations Such a Big Deal Now?
• What Citations Should Be Doing For You in Your Assignments
• What's in a Citation versus in a Reference
• How to Avoid Plagiarism
• AMA 11th Edition
• APA 7th Edition
• ASA 7th Edition - NEW!

About ASA Style

In-text citations, references list, references page: how it should look, official asa style support from the american sociological association, our other favorite asa online style guides.

• Chicago 17th Edition
• CSE 8th Edition
• MLA 9th Edition
• Citing AI-Generated Text - NEW!
• Citation Management Software

One of the newer style formats, ASA style was created by the American Sociological Association starting in 1992, finally being published in 1996.  This style "...provides guidance for writing, submitting, editing, and copyediting manuscripts for ASA journals and other publications that follow ASA’s style. The newest edition includes expanded information on the use of electronic, digital, and social media sources, as well as guidance for online manuscript submissions."  Similar to Chicago's 'author-date' format.

ASA format uses the author-date method:

• When direct quoting
• When paraphrasing a passage
• When you refer to a specific passage
• If you use a ' signal phrase' (mention the author's name in the text), just put the date in parentheses directly after the name
• Mentioned author in the text, and did a direct quote?  In-text citation looks like this:  (Year:Page#) - no space after the colon
• If you don't have the author's name in the text, you have to have the name and date in parentheses: (LastName Year) - just a space between name and year; no comma
• Two: Use both past names:  (Name and Name Year)
• Next time you cite the same one: (Name et al. Year
• Four +: Just use (FirstAuithorLastName et al. Year) for all
• Take info. from the complete reference that will let a reader find that specific reference:  (InstitutionName Year:Page#)
• Author's full name, inverted so that last name appears first. Year.  Book Title in Title Caps and Italicized . Publishing City: Publisher.
• Same as with one, except don't invert authors names after the first one: Lastname, Firstname, and Fisrtname Lastname. Year. Title. Publication City if not major, State 2-letter abbreviation: Publishername.

Periodical Articles

• 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. 
• Lastname, Firstname. Year. "Title," PeriodicalName, Month Day, pp. #-#.
• WebsitePublisher. YearofPublication. "Title." Retrieved Month(3-letter abbreviation). Day, Year (URL, or D.O.I. if available).
• Page titled: REFERENCES - Use styles; this needs to be Header 1 level
• Double-spaced
• Alphabetical order by first author's last name
• Use authors' first names, not just initials (unless they themselves spell their names using initials, on-purpose)
• Hanging Indent if runs over to another line
• Titles: Title Case (Capitalize all words in title except articles, conjunctions & prepositions unless they start the title or subtitle)
• List all authors; don't use et.al
• Order these groups of an author's multiple references in chronological order within the over-all alphabetical ordering

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ASA Citations: American Sociological Association

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What is a literature review?

• A literature review is a critical, analytical summary and synthesis of the current knowledge of a topic. As a researcher, you collect the available literature on a topic, and then select the literature that is most relevant for your purpose. Your written literature review summarizes and analyses the themes, topics, methods, and results of that literature in order to inform the reader about the history and current status of research on that topic.

What purpose does a literature review serve?

• The literature review informs the reader of the researcher's knowledge of the relevant research already conducted on the topic under discussion, and places the author's current study in context of previous studies.
• As part of a senior project, the literature review points out the current issues and questions concerning a topic. By relating the your research to a knowledge gap in the existing literature, you should demonstrate how his or her proposed research will contribute to expanding knowledge in that field.

Take a look at our Literature Review Guide for more information. 

• SAMPLE: Literature Review in ASA This is a sample literature review from a professional journal that publishes in ASA style. ***Lit review begins on page 384 and ends on page 387. DATA AND METHODS section is NOT part of the lit review.
• Literature Review Matrix (Excel Doc) Excel file that can be edited to suit your needs.
• Literature Review Matrix (PDF) Source: McLean, Lindsey. "Literature Review." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2015. https://www.projectcora.org/assignment/literature-review.
• Academic Writer (formerly APA Style Central) This link opens in a new window This resource has templates available for literature reviews and other types of papers.
• Sample Literature Reviews: Univ. of West Florida Literature review guide from the University of West Florida library guides.
• Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL) Sample literature review in APA from Purdue University's Online Writing Lab (OWL)

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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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Direct Quotations & Paraphrasing in ASA

ASA style follows the author-date format used by The Chicago Manual of Style for in-text citations. After a quotation or reference, add parentheses containing the author's last name and the year of publication of the work being cited. The page number may also be noted following a colon.

Example: "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" (Seuss 2007:7).

If you use more than one work by the same author published in the same year, use the letters a, b, etc., after the year.

Example: "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" (Seuss 2007a:7).

If a reference list includes more than one author with the same last name, add the first initials to in-text citations.

Example: "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" (D. Seuss 2007:7).

If two or more authors wrote the work, see the "Basic ASA Citations" table below.

If using the author's name in your text, do not include it in the parentheses.

Example: In his scholarly study, Dr. Seuss (2007) observed that "the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog."

If no author name is available, use the first few words of the reference list entry (usually the title) and the year. Use quotation marks around titles of articles or web pages and italicize titles of books, periodicals, or reports. Treat in-text citations to legal materials such as court cases, statutes, and legislation the same as works with no author.

Example: "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" ( Fox in Socks 2007:12).

For additional examples, see section 4.3.1, pages 55-58 in the ASA's Style Guide (2022).

Basic ASA Citations

See American Sociological Association  Style Guide  (2022) for more information.

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References Page Formatting

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

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.

References follow the text in a section headed REFERENCES (use first-level head format identified earlier).

All references should be double-spaced and use a hanging indent.

Use title case for all titles (capitalize all words except prepositions such as  of, between, through ), articles (such as  a, the , and  an ), and conjunctions (such as  but, and, or ; however, capitalize them if they begin the title or the subtitle).

Capitalize only the first word in hyphenated compound words, unless the second word is a proper noun or adjective (for example, don’t capitalize it in  The Issue of Self-preservation for Women , but do capitalize it in  Terrorist Rhetoric:   The Anti-American Sentiment ).

All references should be in alphabetical order by first authors’ last names.

Include first names for all authors, rather than initials, but use first-name and middle-name initials if an author used initials in the original publication.

List all authors. It is not acceptable to use  et al . in the References section unless the work was authored by a committee.

For repeated authors or editors, include the full name in all references (note: this is a change from the third edition of the  ASA Style Guide ). Arrange references for the same author in chronological order, beginning with the oldest.

Baltzell, E. Digby. 1958.  Philadelphia Gentlemen . Glencoe, IL: Free Press.

Baltzell, E. Digby. 1964.  The Protestant Establishment . New York: Random House.

Baltzell, E. Digby. 1976. “The Protestant Establishment Revisited.”  American Scholar  45:499-519.

When an author appears in both single-authored references and as the first author in a multiple-authored reference, place all of the single-authored references first, even though they may not be in the proper chronological order.

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.

When the same first author appears in multiple references, arrange them alphabetically by the last name of the second author.

Alba, Richard, and Philip Kasinitz. 2006. “Sophisticated Television, Sophisticated Stereotypes.”  Contexts  5(4):74-77.

Alba, Richard, John R. Logan, and Brian J. Stults. 2000. “The Changing Neighborhood Contexts of the Immigrant Metropolis.”  Social Forces  79(2):587-621.

When including more than one work by the same author(s) from the same year, add letters to the year (2010a, 2010b, 2010c) and then list the references for that author and year alphabetically by title.

Fyfe, James J. 1982a. “Blind Justice: Police Shootings in Memphis.”  The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology  73(2):707-22.

Fyfe, James J. 1982b. “Race and Extreme Police-Citizen Violence.” Pp. 173-94 in  Readings on Police Use of Deadly Force , edited by J. J. Fyfe. New York: Police Foundation.

Reference Examples

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.

Note that the two-letter state abbreviation should be given only if needed to identify the city. For a publisher located in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, or Boston, for example, it would not be necessary to include the state abbreviation.

Note that the word "volume" is capitalized and abbreviated but not italicized.

Gurr, Ted Robert, ed. 1989.  Violence in America . Vol. 1,  The History of Crime . Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Mason, Karen. 1974.  Women's Labor Force Participation . Research Triangle Park, NC: National Institutes of Health.

Book with Two or More Authors

Same as with one author, but do not invert authors’ names after the first author. Separate authors’ names with a comma, and include the word  and  before the final author.

Note that the word “edition” is abbreviated, and not italicized or capitalized.

Corbin, Juliet, and Anselm Strauss. 2008.  Basics of Qualitative Research.  3 rd  ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Edited Volume (when citing the entire volume)

Same as book reference but add "eds." to denote book editor'(s') name(s).

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

Chapter in an Edited Volume

Put chapter title in quotes.

Use Pp. and page numbers to designate where the chapter is found in the volume.

Italicize the book title, then give the book editor’(s’) name(s).

Do not invert editor'(s)' name(s).

Use initials instead of first and middle names for editor(s).

Include location of publisher by state or province postal code

Clausen, John. 1972. "The Life Course of Individuals." Pp. 457-514 in  Aging and Society.  Vol. 3,  A Sociology of Stratification , edited by M.W. Riley, M. Johnson, and A. Foner. New York: Russell Sage.

Scholarly Journal Article

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. 

Note that there is no space after the colon preceding page numbers.

For multiple authors, invert last name of first author only.

Separate with commas, unless there are only two authors.

Use  and  between last two authors.

Conger, Rand. 1997. "The Effects of Positive Feedback on Direction and Amount of Verbalization in a Social Setting."  American Journal of Sociology  79:1179-259.

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

Magazine or Newspaper Article

Ziff, Larzer. 1995. "The Other Lost Generation,"  Saturday Review , February 20, pp. 15-18.

Newspaper Article (author unknown)

Lafayette Journal & Courier . 1998. Newspaper editorial. December 12, p. A-6.

Public Documents

Because the nature of public documents is so varied, the form of entry for documentation cannot be standardized. The essential rule is to provide sufficient information so that the reader can locate the reference easily.

Reports, Constitutions, Laws, and Ordinances

New York State Department of Labor. 1997.  Annual Labor Area Report: New York City, Fiscal Year 1996  (BLMI Report, No. 28). Albany: New York State Department of Labor.

Ohio Revised Code Annotated, Section 3566 (West 2000).

Telecommunications Act of 1996 , Public Law 104-014,  110 U.S. Statutes at Large 56 (1996).

U.S. Bureau of the Census. 1990.  Characteristics of Population . Vol. 1. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 4.

Legislation Examples

Court cases and legislative acts follow a format stipulated by legal publishers.

The act or case is listed first, followed by volume number, abbreviated title, and the date of the work in which the act or case is found.

The volume number is given in Arabic numerals, and the date is parenthesized.

Court cases are italicized, but acts are not.

Case names, including v., are italicized.

Brown v. Board of Education , 347 U.S. 483 (1954).

If retrieved from an online database, such as LexisNexis or HeinOnline, provide access information.

Ohio v. Vincer  (Ohio App. Lexis 4356 [1999]).

U.S. Congress. House of Representatives.  Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007.  H.R. 2. 110 th Congress, 1 st  Session, 2007. Retrieved July 11, 2010  (http://thomas.loc.gov).

Unpublished Materials

Name of author. Year. Title of Presentation. Location where the article was presented or is available or has been accepted for publication but has not yet been published.

Conger, Rand D. Forthcoming. “The Effects of Positive Feedback on Direction and Amount of Verbalization in a Social Setting.”  Sociological Perspectives .

Smith, Tom. 2003. “General Social Survey.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association, August 16, Atlanta, GA.

Dissertation or Thesis

King, Andrew J. 1976. “Law and Land Use in Chicago: A Pre-history of Modern Zoning.” PhD dissertation, Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Archival Sources

Meany Archives, LRF, Box 6, March 18, 1970. File 20. Memo, conference with Gloster Current, Director of Organization, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Electronic Sources

The fifth edition of the  ASA Style Guide  includes an expanded fifth chapter detailing how to reference electronic sources. This section of the resource will provide examples of some of the more common electronic sources form. 

PowerPoint  Presentations

Conard-Salvo, Tammy, Caitlan Spronk, and Joshua M. Paiz. 2014.  "Soaring into the Future: The Purdue OWL and  Supporting the Next Generation of Writers." Presented  at the 2014 ECWCA Conference, March 28, Miami, Ohio.  Retrieved November 21, 2014 (http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi? article=1003&context=writinglabpres).

Social Media Sources

References to social media sources should not appear in the references page. Rather, it should be footnoted in the body text where referenced. this footnote should include the page's title and URL.

Purdue University. 2012. "Purdue University's Foundations of  Excellence Final Report: A Roadmap for Excellent  Beginnings." Retrieved Nov. 21, 2014 (http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/provost_pubs/1/).

Print 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).

e-Journal Articles with DOI

Phillips, Reginald M., and S. H. Bonsteel. 2010. "The Faculty and Information Specialist Partnership Stimulating Student Interest and Experiential Learning."  Nurse Educator, 35(3), 136-138. doi: 10.1097/NNE.0b013e3181d95090.  

Note: when a DOI is included, it should be cut and pasted from the article.

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ASA Style Guide

202.448-7036

Information for these guidelines is compiled from the American Sociological Association Style Guide, Second Edition . ASA is a non-profit membership association, serving over 13,000 sociologists in various fields of sociology. ASA developed the ASA Style Guide to simplify the most common styles and formats in writing journals and manuscripts. If these guidelines do not meet your needs, please refer to the ASA Style Guide, 2nd Ed. or come to Tutorial & Instructional Programs (TIP) Lab at SAC 1221 for further assistance.

Paper Format

• Margins: one inch on all sides
• Double-spaced (including footnotes)
• 12 points type font size
• Pages are numbered, from the title page to the reference page
• Must have a title page, which will have the full title of your paper, your name, your institution, a running head, and an approximate word count of your paper.
• Should include an abstract page (on the second page, right after the title page). Include the title of your paper. It should be approximately 150-200 words, in one paragraph.
• The text of your paper will start on the third page, starting with the title of your paper
• Use parenthetical citations instead of footnotes/endnotes. However, use footnotes/endnotes if your professor requires them. Parenthetical citations are inserted at the end of the information. Footnotes/endnotes are inserted in a separate section of your paper.
• References should appear on the very last page of your paper, titled “References” Your references will be in an alphabetical order, using hanging indents.
• The title of your paper should be centered two lines below the date. Do not underline or quote the title

Always check with your instructor to see if he or she has any different requirements or specifications for your paper.

In-text Citations

Citations for Most Written Sources. ASA Style Citation require that credit must be given for all information whether it be a direct quote or a paraphrase. Generally you are required to give the following information: author’s last name, year of publication, and page number in parenthesis directly after the quote or paraphrase.

If you include the author’s name as part of the sentence, just give the year in parenthesis directly after the author’s name, and put p. for the page number in parenthesis after the quote.

If there is no publication date, cite the author’s last name followed by n.d. (meaning “no date”).

Multiple Authors

When a source has two authors, you should give both last names. Within the parenthetical citation, use and between the authors’ names. If you use their names in the sentence, just write and between their names. Both methods must be followed by the year of publication, and at the end of the sentence, put in the page number.

When a source has three authors, cite all the authors’ last names and the year the first time the reference occurs. For later references to the same source cite only the first author’s last name followed by et al . However, if a source has four or more authors, use et al. both in the first citation and in all subsequent citations.

If you are using several different works to illustrate one point, you may find it necessary to cite two or more works written by different authors with different dates. In that situation, organize the information alphabetically by the authors’ last names, and separate each block of information with a semicolon. Put all the names inside one set of parenthesis. Do not use an ampersand (&).

To cite a group author (e.g. association, organization, or government agency) you should spell out the full name.

Quotes of 40 Words or More

Block quotations are presented in smaller type (10pt) and are set off in a separate, indented paragraph. Block quotations should not be enclosed in quotation marks. The author, date, and/or page number, in parenthesis, follows the last period in the block quotation. The P for page should be used and capitalized if it stands alone, without author and year.

Reference Format

For a paper done in ASA documentation style, the reference list will appear in a separate section and will be titled “References.” Here on your References page, you acknowledge your sources by listing them in an alphabetical order by author’s last name. Although the References page appears at the end of your paper, you will draft this section in advance, so that you will have the appropriate information to cite your paper properly.

The general formatting rules for your References page are as follows:

• List your sources in an alphabetical order according to the author’s last name.
• If no author is listed, begin with the main word of the article or book title (ignoring A , An , or The ).
• Italicize the title of books, magazines, or journals.
• Quote the title of articles, or any other work that appears within a publication.
• Format each entry with a hanging indent. A hanging indent means that the first line of the entry remains flush with the left margin, and the subsequent lines are indented 5 spaces to the right. Your word processing software will provide this feature easily.
• The order of each entry is as follows: — Author. Year of Publication. “Article.” Title of Book . City Published: Publisher.

References format for Articles

General format for citing articles and other publications from periodicals is as follows:

• Author. Year published. “Article.” Title of Publication Issue/Volume:pages.

References format for Books

If a book have one author, list by last name, first name and middle initial (if any). If a book has two, three, or more authors, the subsequent authors will be listed by first name, middle initial, and last name, each name separated by a comma. The use of et al. is not acceptable.

Works Cited format for Electronic Sources

If you are citing from an online publication, you should include all of the information that you would include for journals or articles. After this standard information, you should include the date you found the information on the world wide web (the date of retrieval) and the web address (URL) where you found the information.

The basic citing format for electronic sources is as follows:

• Author. Year published. “Article.” Publication Title , Volume:page. Retrieval date (web address).

Citations and References

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What is the ASA Style Guide?

Research is complete when the results have been shared with others. Traditionally researchers have used scholarly journals to distribute and archive their publications. For sociology, the standard for formatting papers is the ASA style guide. This guide gives examples of how to format the most common resources in your References list.

The ASA Style Guide 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 copyediting manuscripts for ASA journals and other publications following ASA's unique format.  This guide also is based on the Chicago Manual of Style.

The Library owns 3 copies.  Two are available for check out at the 1North Users Desk on the first floor of the Library.  One copy is for use within the Library and is in the Reference Collection on second floor north. 

Title: American Sociological Association style guide. Author: American Sociological Association. Publisher: Washington, DC : American Sociological Association Publication Date: c2010 Edition: 4th ed.. Format: xiv, 114 p. ; 18 cm.. Identifier: ISBN9780912764313;ISBN0912764317 Summary: Preface -- A word about the fourth edition of the ASA Style Guide -- The Chicago Manual of Style -- Other ASA resources -- New to the fourth edition -- ASA editorial style -- Style matters -- ASA style -- Some basics -- Plagiarism -- Clarity -- Bias -- Verbs -- Wordy phrases -- Common misusages -- Some mechanics of style -- Punctuation -- Commas -- Semicolons and colons -- Hyphens and dashes -- Em dashes -- En dashes -- Apostrophes -- Quotation marks -- Quoted material -- Parentheses and brackets -- Ellipses -- Spelling -- Capitalization -- Italics -- Numbers -- Dates -- Abbreviations and acronyms -- Academic degrees -- Foreign words and language usage -- ASA-specific usages and conventions -- Hyphenation -- Capitalization -- Italics -- Preferred word usages -- Some ASA style guidelines -- Subjects: Sociology -- Authorship -- Style manuals; Authorship -- Style manuals; Authorship; Sociology -- Authorship; Style manuals 2 copies in 1 North User Services HM 569 .A54 2010   1 copy 2 North Reference HM 569 .A54 2010  (non-circulating)

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Running Head

Abstract & key words, text & references, adding a running head, page numbers, and a footer.

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Papers written using ASA should have the following page elements: 

• Running Head  & Page Numbers
• Abstract & Key Words

ASA style does not have clearly defined lines between what is required for a student paper and what is required for a professional paper. If you are writing for a class, follow the directions of your instructor. 

Check out the ASA Example paper. You can even use it as an outline. 

The title page includes: ​

• Running head
• The full title of the article
• Name(s) and institution(s) of the author(s)
• Word count including footnote and references
• An asterisk (*) at the end of the title and before the title footnote that includes name, address, and email author that can be contacted; acknowledgements; credits; grant numbers; and keywords. (See instructor for guidance on whether to include this or not)

The running head in an ASA style paper is a shortened version of the title written in all capital letters on the left. Running heads should be 60 words or less. 

Example: 

Title: Student Success During Global Pandemic: Finding Ways to Help Them Succeed

Running Head: STUDENT SUCCESS

If your instructor requires an abstract, it should begin on a new page after the title page. The title of the paper should be written as a first level header followed by the abstract. An abstracts is a short (up to 200 words) summary of the most important aspects of your paper. 

After the abstract, list three to five keywords that can point to the main themes of the paper. 

After the title page, you will begin your actual paper on a new page. The title of your paper should be a header before your text. 

Within your paper, there is a defined structure for headings and subheadings: 

THIS IS A FIRST LEVEL HEADING

First level headings should have all capital letters and align to the left edge of the paper. 

This Is a Second Level Heading

Second level headings are italicized and also align to the left edge of the paper. All words should be capitalized except for prepositions (of, into, between, through, across), articles (a, an, the), and coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or). 

This is a third level heading.

Third level headings are italicized, indented from the left, and end with a period. Only the first letter and proper nouns are capitalized in third level headings. 

Check out the example ASA style paper for more information on using headings . 

The References list begin in a new section with the word References as a first level heading. Your references will follow in alphabetical order. See the portion of this guide on the Reference list for further details.

Step 1: Click Insert

Step 2: Click on Page Numbers. Hover over Top of Page and then Click on Plain Number 1

Step 3: Make sure to check the box Different First Page. Type in your shortened title in all capital letters and then use the tab button to move the page numbers to the right side of the page. Change the font and font-size as needed. 

Step 4: Scroll down to the bottom of the first page and enter the footer information. You can then close the header and footer. 

Step 5: You will need to repeat Steps 1 & 2 to get the running head and page numbers throughout the paper since we selected Different First Page. So on your second page, Click Insert. Click Page Numbers, hover over top of page, and select Plain Number 1. Type your running head and tab the page numbers to the right side of the page. 

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