The American Sociological Association (ASA) style is one of the most widely used formats for citing sources in sociology papers as well as papers written for other social sciences disciplines such as anthropology, archaeology, social work, and political science. While APA and MLA formatting are better known across broader academic disciplines, ASA style offers sociologists a standardized way to cite references in research papers, literature reviews, and other types of writings pertaining to social science topics and content. This ASA format research paper example will demonstrate how to properly cite sources according to ASA style guidelines.
In ASA style, citations are noted within the text of a paper through the use of author-date format of in-text citations. Sources are cited in the text by placing the author’s last name along with the year of publication in parentheses. For example: (Smith 2020) would indicate that the source cited is from an author named Smith with a 2020 date of publication. Page numbers are also included when providing a direct quote or specific piece of information from a source. For example: (Smith 2020, 45) indicates Smith from 2020 on page 45.
When citing an author for the first time, both the author’s last name and the year are included in parentheses. If another work by that same author from the same year is cited, a lower case letter is added to the year in parentheses to distinguish between the sources. For example: (Smith 2020a) and (Smith 2020b). If sources are cited together, the citations are arranged alphabetically by author’s last name separated by semicolons. For example: (Martinez 2017; Smith 2020b).
ASA style utilizes a reference list on a new page at the end of the paper to provide full publication details of all sources cited within the text. References are single spaced with a blank line between each reference entry and arranged alphabetically by author’s last name.
For a book, the reference includes the author’s full name, year of publication in parentheses, title of book in italics, city of publication followed by a colon, and the publisher. For example:
Sax, Leonard. 2020. Boys Adrift: The Five Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men. New York: Basic Books.
For a chapter in an edited collection, the format includes the author(s) of the chapter, year of publication in parentheses, title of chapter in quotation marks, name(s) of the editor(s) followed by “ed.” or “eds.”, title of collection in italics, city of publication, publisher, and inclusive page numbers of the chapter. For example:
Alldred, Pam and Sharon Fox. 2010. “Learning to Label Ourselves.” In New Sociology of Childhood, edited by Pam Alldred and Sharon Fox, 47-59. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
For a journal article, the reference includes the author(s), year of publication in parentheses, title of article in quotation marks, title of journal in italics, volume number, issue number in parentheses if applicable, and inclusive pages. For example:
Herrera, Alan J.M., and Michael P. Armato. 2012. “‘Amigos’: Mentor Factors That Contribute to Lowering Drug and Alcohol Abuse among At-Risk Hispanic Youth.” Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences 34(3):431-449.
Entries for web pages, newspaper articles, and other non-book sources have a basic format that is adjusted to include information like web site name, date of access, URL if applicable, page title, publication date, and names of database services.
While learning the ASA format takes some practice, following the guidelines ensures consistency in how sources are cited both in-text and in the references. Adhering to proper ASA style demonstrates academic integrity and helps readers find cited sources by following the standardized citation methods used across social science research. Social science researchers should become familiar with ASA requirements for in-text citations, reference list structure and formatting in order to skillfully apply the format in their own sociological papers and research writings.