Citation Guides: ASA Style

"Although the ASA Style Guideoccasionally refers to other style guides and dictionaries, the 15th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style is the primary reference on which it is based." (ASA Style Guide, p. xi)

The American Sociological Association (ASA) style guide is based on the 15th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style. This library guide will highlight some of the main items you might cite using ASA style. A complete list of citations can be found in the ASA Style Guide located in the Carmichael Library.

Where no rule is listed in the ASA Style Guide, you should use the Chicago Style Guide.

For in-text citations, include the last name of the author(s), the year of publication, and page number(s) in parentheses.

Example 1 (if name already provided in the text):

 . . . in another study by Duncan (1959).

Example 2 (if name DOES NOT already appear in the text):

 . . . whenever it occurred (Gouldner 1963).

Example 3 (if page number is needed):

 . . . Kuhn (1970:71).

*Take note that when including a page number, you should separate the year of publication and the page number with a colon. NO space is included on either side of the colon.

Article in Journal

Author, First, Second Author, and Third Author. Year of Publication. "Title of Article." Name of Publication Volume

   Number (Issue Number):Page Number of Article.

Example (1 author):

Gans, Herbert J. 2005. "Race as Class." Contexts 4(4):17-21.

Example (2 authors):

Aseltine, Robert H., Jr and Ronald C. Kessler. 1993. "Marital Disruption and Depression in a Communit Sample." Journal of Health and

   Social Behavior 34(3):237-51.

Example (3 authors):

Kalleberg, Arne L., Barbara F. Reskin, and Ken Hudson. 2000. "Bad Jobs in America: Standard and Non-standard Employment Relations

   and Job Quality in the United States." American Sociological Review 65(2):256-78.

Article from E-Resources (online and databases)

Use the same as above. If the resource is an online resource (NOT from a database), omit the page numbers and include the date of access and URL.

Example:

Schafer, Daniel W. and Fred L. Ransey. 2003. "Teaching the Craft of Data Analysis." Journal of Statistics Educaiton 11(1). Retrieved July

   11, 2010 (http://www.amstat.org/publications/jse/v1 1n1/schafer.html).

If the resource is from a database, include the page numbers as you normally would for a journal article but also include the Digital Object Identifier (DOI).

Example:

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.

Book with One Author

Author, First. Year of Publication. Name of Publication. Location of Publisher, State: Publisher's Name.

Example:

Webster, Frank. 2014. Theories of the Information Society. New York: Routledge.

Book with Two Authors

Author, First and Second Author. Year of Publication. Name of Publication. Location of Publication, State: Publisher's Name.

Example:

Bursik, Robert J., Jr. and Harold G. Grasmick. 1993. Neighborhoods and Crime: The Dimensions of Effective Community Control. New

   York: Lexington Books.

Book with More Than Two Authors

Author, First, Second Author, and Third Author. Year of Publication. Name of Publication. Location of Publication, State: Publisher's Name.

Example:

McPherson, Barry D., James E. Curtis, and John W. Loy. 1989. The Social Significance of Sport: An Introduciton to the Sociology of Sport.

    Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics Books.

Editor as Author

Same as above, but add "eds." after the last author's name with a comma separating the two.

Example:

Borgatta, Edgar F. and Rhonda J. V. Montgomery, eds. 2000. Encyclopedia of Sociology. New York: Macmillan Reference USA.

Book Chapter

Author, First, Second Author, and Third Author. Year of Publication. "Title of Article." Pp. (with page numbers) in Name of Publication,

   edited by First Editor, Second Editor, and Third Editor. Locaiton of Publisher, State: Publisher's Name.

Example:

Zatz, Marjorie S. and Richard P. Krecker, Jr. 2003. "Anti-gang Initatives as Racialized Policy." Pp. 173-96 in Crime Control and

   Social Justice: The Delicate Balance, edited by D. F. Hawkins, S. L. Myers, Jr., and R. N. Stone. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Information that is not likely to change (even if it is in HTML or PDF form) should be cited as you would a print-form copy of the information. (See page 75 of the ASA Style Guide.)

When citing sources from the Internet, you should include the names of the authors, date of publication, title of document, publication information, date of access, and the URL.

Example:

American Sociological Association. 2006. "Status Committees." Washington, D.C.: American Sociological Associaiton. Retrieved July 11,

   2010 (http://www.asanet.org/about/committees.cfm).