North Carolina State University (NCSU) Libraries, 1:54
There are many different types of academic and professional writing styles. The four guidebooks below represent some of the major ones. Use these guides to learn how professional researchers and writers prepare their manuscripts for publication or sharing.
Fields |
Humanities | Social Sciences | Humanities & Social Sciences | Some Sciences |
ExampleStyleGuides |
MLA Handbook |
APA Publication Manual |
Chicago Manual of Style (e-book) |
CSE Manual |
Although these resources are not official, they are still credible and very useful! If one of these websites doesn't answer your question, check out the official style guide or contact a librarian for help!
Each discipline has a preferred citation style. Various websites point to the desired citation style for each discipline.
American Sociologcical Association Style Guide by
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.
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. doi: 10.1111/j.1745-9125.2009.00139.x.
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 (www.asanet.org/sites/default/files/files/pdf/raceethsociologypipe.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/ejs-archives/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).
Note: Citations should be double-spaced and have a hanging indent.
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