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Citing Sources

Guide to citing sources in APA, MLA, ASA, and Vancouver/NLM.

American Sociological Association (ASA) Citation Style

American Sociological Association (ASA) Citation Style

 

This guide is a quick introduction to ASA style, 6th edition, and common citation examples. Be sure to consult the American Sociological Association Style Guide for more detailed information.

Skip to a section on this page:

ASA Reference List

Basic Format:
Author Last Name, First Name, and First Name Last Name. Year of publication. "Title of Article." Title of Source Volume(Issue): page range.

I'm citing a...

 

  1. Author(s). [Last Name, First Name, Middle Initial., &. if there are more than one author, the other author(s) names are not inverted, and are separated by comma(s)].
  2. Year. [xxxx].
  3. "Title of the Article." [Capitalized and in quotation marks].
  4. Title of the Journal [Capitalized and in italics]
  5. Volume # [of the journal]
  6. Issue #: [if any, followed by colon]:
  7. Page range. [xx-xx].
  8. doi: (digital object identifier) [if any. There is usually a doi if the article was published online first or not within a volume or issue. doi is not capitalized in the citation, followed by a colon, then the doi address: doi:xxxxxxxxxxxx...].

 

Note: Database names and database permalinks/URLs are not included in ASA citations for journal articles.

Sweet, Paige. 2019. "The Sociology of Gaslighting." American Sociological Review 84(5): 851–875.
Blumberg, Renata. 2015. "Geographies of Reconnection at the Marketplace." Journal of Baltic Studies 46(3): 299-318. doi:10.1080/01629778.2015.1073917.

 

  1. Author(s). [Last Name, First Name, Middle Initial.]
  2. Year of Publication. [xxxx].
  3. "Title of the Article" [Capitalized and in quotation marks].
  4. Title of the Newspaper or Publication [Capitalized and in italics],
  5. Month and day of publication, [if applicable],
  6. page range. [pp xx-xx].
  7. Retrieved Date. [Retrieved Month Day, Year].
  8. URL. [Entire URL, not hyperlinked].

 

Kennedy, Matt. 2018. "To Prevent Wildfires, PG&E Pre-emptively Cuts Power." NPR, October 15, pp.15-18. Retrieved April 20, 2021. https://www.npr.org/2018/10/15/657468903/to-prevent-wildfires-pg-e-preemptively-cuts-power-to-thousands-in-california.

 

Print Book
  1. Author(s). [Last Name, First Name].
  2. Year. [xxxx].
  3. Title of the Book. [Capitalized and in italics].
  4. City, State: [Capitalized full name of city, abbreviation of state (or name of country) followed by colon]:
  5. Publisher Name.

 

Liu, Wendy. 2020. Abolish Silicon Valley : How to Liberate Technology from Capitalism. London, UK: Repeater.
eBook
  1. Author(s). [Last Name, First Name].
  2. Year. [xxxx].
  3. Title of the Book. [Capitalized and in italics].
  4. City, State: [Capitalized full name of city, abbreviation of state (or name of country) followed by colon]:
  5. Publisher.
  6. Retrieved Date. [Retrieved Month Day, Year].
  7. URL. [Entire URL not hyperlinked].

 

Game, Ann, and Andrew Metcalfe. 1996. Passionate Sociology. London, UK: Sage Publishing. Retrieved April 22, 2021. https://search-ebscohost-com.ccsf.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=518976&site=ehost-live.

 

  1. Author(s). of the chapter [Last Name, First Name, Middle Initial].
  2. Year. [xxxx].
  3. "Title of the Chapter." [Capitalized and in quotation marks].
  4. Page range [Pp. xx-xx] in [Pp. xx-xx with the first P capitalized and followed by the word in]
  5. Title of the Book, [Italicized, followed by comma],
  6. Editor(s) of the book. edited by [First Initial. Last Name].
  7. City, State of Publication: [Capitalized full name of city, abbreviation of state (or name of country) followed by colon]:
  8. Publisher Name.

 

Preheim, Gertrude. 2008. "Clinical Scholar Model." Pp. 457-514 in Annual Review of Nursing Education, edited by M. H. Oermann. New York: Springer.

 

  1. Author(s) or Organization Name. [Use author(s) in the case of both].
  2. Year. [xxxx]. [or n.d. for no date].
  3. "Title of Page, Section, or Document." [Capitalized and in quotation marks].
  4. Retrieved Date. [Retrieved Month Day, Year].
  5. URL. [Entire URL, not hyperlinked].

 

Center for Disease Control and Prevention. n.d. "Protect Yourself with Vaccination." Retrieved February 4, 2019. https://www.cdc.gov/features/adultvaccinations/.
Omukuti, Jessica. 2021. "Climate Adaptation Finance is Ineffective and Must Be More Transparent." Retrieved May 13, 2021. https://theconversation.com/climate-adaptation-finance-is-ineffective-and-must-be-more-transparent-156469.

 

  1. Author Name. [Last name, First name].
  2. Year. [Year of production or release].
  3. "Title of Film or Video." [Capitalized and in quotation marks].
  4. Name of website where it was viewed, [Capitalized],
  5. Release or Upload Date. [Month Day].
  6. Format, [If applicable, usually Video or Film],
  7. Running Time. [x:xx:xx if longer than 1 hour].
  8. URL. [entire URL, not hyperlinked].

 

Schwartzberg, Louis. 2019. "Fantastic Fungi." YouTube Movies. Film, 1:20. https://www.youtu.be/C7abxMxL4so.
PBS (Public Broadcasting Corporation). 2008. "Women, Power and Politics." Now. Aired September 19. http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/437.index.html.
Films Media Group. 2021. "Signing Black in America." Films on Demand, August 12. Video, :27. https://fod-infobase-com.ccsf.idm.oclc.org/p_ViewVideo.aspx?xtid=207032&tScript=0.

 

  1. Artist or Creator Name. [Last name, First name. If no artist, leave blank].
  2. Date. [Date the image was created].
  3. "Title or Description of Image." [Capitalized and in quotation marks].
  4. From: Source, Site, or Place (if applicable from a Collection, Gallery, Museum, Website, etc.). [Begin with From and a colon then list Source/Site/Place Capitalized and in italics].
  5. Retrieved Date. [Retrieved Month Day, Year].
  6. URL. [Entire URL, not hyperlinked].

 

Hoffman, Hans. ca 1585. "A Hare in the Forest." From: J. Paul Getty Museum. Retrieved April 20, 2021. https://www-artstor-org.ccsf.idm.oclc.org/2015/04/02/hopping-through-the-centuries-rabbits-in-art/#jp-carousel-11097.
University of Chicago. 1890. "Map of Chicago and Suburbs". From: University of Chicago Digital Preservation Collection, Chicago in the 1890s. Chicago: Charles T. Gilbert Real Estate. Retrieved September 14, 2019. http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/3404258.

 

ASA In-text Citations

Basic Format:
(Last Name Year).

I'm using...

If you're quoting the exact words of someone else, introduce the quote with an in-text citation in parentheses. In ASA page numbers are included in the in-text citation after a colon with no space. Any sentence punctuation goes after the closing parenthesis.

  • According to Shavers (2007:71), "Direct quote".
  • Shavers (2007:71) found that "Direct quote".
  • [Some other introduction] "Direct quote" (Shavers 2007:71).

 

If you're directly quoting more than 40 words...

Use a blockquote. Block quotes don't need quotation marks, but are indented 1/2" as a visual cue of a citation.

Shavers (2007:71) study found the following:

While research studies have established that socioeconomic status influences disease incidence, severity and access to healthcare, there has been relatively less study of the specific manner in which low SES influences receipt of quality care and consequent morbidity and mortality among patients with similar disease characteristics, particularly among those who have gained access to the healthcare system.

Ram Tip: Use direct quotes sparingly! Research cited in an ASA paper is focused more on the synthesis of findings from a variety of research studies, and less about the exact phrasing or argument of an individual.

Paraphrasing or summarizing the main findings or takeaways from a research article is the preferred method of citing sources in an ASA paper. Always include the last name of the author(s) and the year of the article, so your reader can find the full citation in the reference list.

According to Shavers (2007), limitations of studying socioeconomic status in research on health disparities include difficulties in collecting data on socioeconomic status and the complications of classifying women, children, and employment status, among others (p. 1016).

I'm citing...

You only need the author's last name and the year with no quotation marks.

(Cornell 2017)

Connect both authors' last names with and and include the year.

(Harrison and Petty 1994)

If there are 3 authors...

In the first in-text citation:
(Peart, Lifeson, and Lee 2015)

In subsequent citations:
(Peart et al. 2015)

If there are 4+ authors...

You only need the first author's name followed by et al. and the year.
(Bowie et al. 2016)

How do I make a hanging indent in Word?

How do I make a hanging indent in Word?

1. Highlight the citaiton with your cursor. 

2. Right click. 

3. Select Paragraph.

4. Under Indentation, select Special and Hanging.

Animated gif of creating a hanging indent in Word. Highlight the full citation. Right click. Go to Paragraph. To to the Special drop down menu, select Hanging. Select Okay.

How can I save time formatting my paper?

How can I save time formatting my paper? 

Microsoft Word and Google Docs have a Format Painter tool that will copy and apply basic formatting to any text! 

1. Highlight the formatting you want to apply. 

2. Select Format Painter

3. Highlight the text you want to change. 

Note: If using the Format Painter on the Reference List, you'll need to go back and add italics. 

Animated gif of using the Format Painter tool in Word.

CC License

Creative Commons License CC by NC 4.0 This guide was created by Carolyn Caffrey Gardner and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.


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