Sociology 15: Sociological Research Methods (Van Dyke)

ASA style is the citation style used by the American Sociological Association and frequently used within sociology publications. 

Big Picture

• ASA style features in-text parenthetical citations and a corresponding References page. 

In-Text Citations

Use for quotes, paraphrases and summaries

• Basic format includes the last name of the author(s) and the publication year - Example: (Eaton 2016)
• Include page number when quoting directly, paraphrasing or when referring to specific passages - Example: (Beattie 2017: 96)
• If the author's name is included in the text, follow it with the publication year in parenthesis- Example: When Beattie (2017) studied...
• If referring to two authors of the same text, join last name with and. Example: (Kettrey and Pirtle 2014) 
• If the resource has more than three authors, list all the authors' last names and publication year for the first citation; for subsequent citations, use the first author's last name and et al. - Example (Brooks, Dodson and Hotchkiss 2010); (Brooks et al. 2010)
• If referring to more than one source in the same citation, separate citations with a semi-colon - Example: (Eaton 2016:45; Beattie 2017:96)

• If the works by the same author were published in the same year, add lowercase letters to the dates of publication and repeat them in the reference list - Example (Dodson 2006a; 2006b) 

ASA In-Text Citations (Purdue OWL)

Reference List...

• Order citations alphabetically (typically by author's last name)
• Include hanging indent after the first line
• References should be double-spaced
• Use italics for book and periodical titles 
• Capitalize main words in a title
• Format author in citations as follows:
  • one author includes last name, first name, middle initial (if used.) Example: Beattie, Irenee R. 
  • two or more authors includes last name, first name and first name last name. Example:  Beattie, Irenee R. and Linda Renzulli ; Beattie, Irenee R., Heather Macpherson Parrott, and Linda A. Renzulli
• DOIs are preferred over URLs when citing journal articles

ASA References Page Formatting (Purdue OWL)

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.

Use an article's citations trails to find more information related to your research. This video will show you how to locate an article's citation trails in Web of Science, Google Scholar, and UC Library Search. (3 min.)

Learn more at the research guide linked below: