ASA citation style is the author-date referencing system published in the American Sociological Association’s official style guide, used mainly in sociology courses and journal articles. An ASA in-text citation lists the author’s surname and the publication year in parentheses, for example (Smith 2020), and pairs with a full alphabetized reference list at the end of the paper. This guide covers ASA manuscript formatting, in-text citation patterns for every author count, and reference list examples for the source types students cite most often.
What Is ASA Style?
The American Sociological Association developed this citation system to standardize papers and journal articles submitted to its publications. It works much like APA: a short parenthetical citation sits inside the sentence, and a complete list of works cited carries the publication details at the end of the paper, rather than footnotes or endnotes. Instructors in this field assign this approach most often for research papers, literature reviews, and theses, since it keeps citations compact while pointing readers straight to a source’s name and year.
Citing sources accurately protects your credibility as a writer. It gives original authors credit for their ideas, lets readers verify your evidence, and helps your instructor confirm the research behind your argument holds up. Because this system serves sociology and the broader social sciences, related fields such as social work and social policy sometimes borrow its approach too.
ASA Manuscript Formatting Rules
Before you touch citations, get the page setup right. These papers follow a consistent layout across most Taft College’s library guide, summarized below.
| Element | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Margins | One inch on all sides. |
| Font and size | A standard 12-point serif font such as Times New Roman. |
| Spacing | Double-spaced throughout, including footnotes and the reference list. |
| Title page | Title, byline name, institution, a running head, and an approximate word count. |
| Abstract | 150 to 200 words in one paragraph, placed right after the title page. |
| Page numbers | Numbered in sequence, starting on the title page. |
In-Text Citations
In-text citations enclose the surname and the publication year in parentheses, with no comma between them. Where the citation lands and how many authors it lists changes the exact pattern, as this UC Santa Barbara’s library guide lays out.
Here’s how to structure an in-text citation in three steps.
- Step 1. Open a parenthesis right after the borrowed idea or quote, before the sentence’s closing punctuation.
- Step 2. Add the author’s last name (or last names for a two-author source), then a space, then the publication year, with no comma between them.
- Step 3. Close the parenthesis, then add a colon and the page number if you’re quoting directly.
| Situation | Format and example |
|---|---|
| One author | (Martin 2019) |
| Two authors | (Edin and Kefalas 2005) |
| Three or more authors | (Massey et al. 2015) |
| Direct quote with a page number | (Woolf 2007:45) |
| Two works by the same author | (Collins 2015, 2019) |
The American Sociological Association’s own quick tips reference confirms the et al. rule above: once a source has three or more authors, only the first author’s surname appears, followed by et al. and the year.
Reference List Format and Examples
Alphabetize every entry by the first author’s last name, using a hanging indent so the second and later lines sit half an inch in from the margin. Spell out first names instead of using initials, unless the original publication used initials, and name every contributor unless there are more than ten, as detailed on Purdue OWL’s reference-page guide. The exact pattern shifts by type.
This guide calls this section References, and every source cited in the body of your paper must appear there in full. Spell out each contributor’s first and last names in the order they appear on the original work, rather than trimming a name down to an initial, unless the publication itself used an initial for that person’s name. Many university .edu library guides publish their own citation cheat sheets, and this article distills the rules those guides agree on.
Whether you cite a book, a journal article, a website, or a government report, every entry in your References opens the same way. Italicize a book title or journal title, but put an article title in quotation marks, and name co-authors in the order they appear on the original work. Double-check that every in-text citation has a matching entry in your References, and that your References contain nothing you never actually cited.
A quick gut-check before you submit: every title follows title case except for a subtitle’s minor words, every listed name matches the original publication exactly, and two authors on a shared book or report still both get full credit in the References entry.
| Source type | Format and example |
|---|---|
| Book, one author | Maghbouleh, Neda. 2017. The Limits of Whiteness. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. |
| Book, two or more authors | Edin, Kathryn, and Maria Kefalas. 2005. Promises I Can Keep: Why Poor Women Put Motherhood Before Marriage. Berkeley: University of California Press. |
| Journal article | Martin, Karin A. 1998. “Becoming a Gendered Body.” American Sociological Review 63(4):494-511. |
| Website | American Sociological Association. 2024. “Membership and Journals.” Retrieved March 3, 2024, from the ASA website. |
| Chapter in an edited volume | Collins, Patricia Hill. 2000. “Black Feminist Thought.” Pp. 251-274 in Race, Class, and Gender, edited by M. Andersen and P. Collins. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. |
| Newspaper or magazine article | Cohen, Patricia. 2010. “Field Study: Just How Relevant Is Sociology?” New York Times, May 28, pp. A1-A4. |
| Government or organization report | Organization Name. Year. Title of Report. City, ST: Publisher or Agency. |
Sociologists studying topics like public health outcomes or government policy often cite agency reports alongside peer-reviewed journal articles, so it’s worth learning the report format above even if most of your References are books and articles.
Footnotes and Endnotes
ASA relies on in-text parenthetical citations for credit, so footnotes and endnotes stay reserved for content notes rather than routine citing. Use one when you need to add a clarifying comment, acknowledge funding or permissions, or point readers to a related discussion without breaking up the sentence. Number notes consecutively across the paper, single-space each note even though the rest of the manuscript is double-spaced, and place endnotes right before your References. If your instructor asks you to cite sources in footnotes instead of parentheses, follow that instruction over the general default.
ASA vs. Other Citation Styles
ASA shares a citation approach with APA and Chicago’s author-date formatting, but small differences in punctuation, capitalization, and reference order set it apart. For a broader comparison of academic formats, see EssayReply’s citation styles guide. If your assignment calls for a different system, these guides cover the same source types in their required format:
Common ASA Citation Mistakes
The most common slip happens right at the parentheses, where writers borrow a habit from a different convention.
Correct: (Martin 2019). ASA drops the comma between the author’s surname and the publication year.
Incorrect: (Martin, 2019). That comma follows APA convention, not ASA, and graders often mark it down.
A second common slip: dropping an author’s first name from the reference list and using only an initial. This convention calls for the full first name unless the original publication itself printed an initial for that author’s name.
Several style guide editions exist. If your instructor doesn’t specify which one to follow, ask before you submit, since small formatting details shift between editions.
Related Guides
These EssayReply guides cover source types that show up constantly in sociology reference lists:
Frequently Asked Questions
What is ASA style used for?
This style is the referencing system the American Sociological Association publishes for its journals. Sociology courses and research papers use it most often, largely because it keeps in-text citations short with an author and year in parentheses.
Does this style use footnotes instead of in-text citations?
No. It relies on parenthetical author-date citations in the body of the text. Footnotes only appear when an instructor specifically asks for them or when a note adds context that would interrupt the sentence.
How do you cite three or more authors in this style?
List the first author’s surname followed by et al. and the year, such as (Massey et al. 2015). The complete entry still names every author, up to ten, in the order they appear on the original work.
What’s the difference between ASA and APA style?
Both rely on an author-date system, but ASA drops the comma between name and year that APA requires. List formatting, capitalization rules, and manuscript layout also differ in smaller ways between the two.
Do these papers need a title page?
Yes. A title page carries the complete title, byline name, institution, a running head, and an approximate word count, and it’s followed by a 150 to 200 word abstract on its own page.
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Terry is a Chicago-based writer and editor who creates practical, student-friendly guides on essay writing, research, and citation styles (APA, MLA, and Chicago). He’s spent 15+ years editing educational content and building clear examples that help readers apply rules without guessing. When he’s not revising drafts, he’s usually turning messy notes into clean outlines and hunting down the one detail everyone skips.