ASA STYLE

Use the ASA Style Guide when writing papers for sociology courses. 

Manuscript Format

• Use a word processor and printer (not a dot matrix printer).
• Use 12-point type and 8 1/2 by 11 inch white paper with 1 1/4-inch margins on all four sides.
• All text should be double-spaced including the references.
• Use italics for book and periodical titles.
• Have a separate title page giving the full title of the paper, author, institution, and other relevant information.
• The abstract should be on a separate page headed with the title and contain no more than 200 words.
• Begin the text on a separate page headed with the title of the paper.
• If section headings are used follow this format:

THIS IS A FIRST LEVEL HEADING

This is a Second Level Heading

This is a Third Level Heading

• Do not begin the paper with a heading (i.e. do not use INTRODUCTION)
• Use citations in the text. The citation includes the last names/name of the authors/author and year of publication. Page numbers should be included to identify direct quotations. The page numbers follow the year of publication and are separated from the year by a colon without spaces. The format of the citation  may vary to suit the style of the writer. 

Citations in Text

• If an author's name is in the text, follow it with the year in parentheses...Duncan (1959).
• If an author's name is not in the text, enclose the last name and year in parentheses ... (Duncan 1959).
• Pages cited follow the year of publication after a colon ... (Gouldner 1963:239-40) (use 40 instead of 240).
• Give both last names for joint authors ... (Martin and Bailey 1988).
• For works with three authors, list all three last names in the first citation in the text ... (Carr, Smith, and Hones 1962). For all subsequent citations use "et al." ... (Carr et al. 1962).
• For works with four or more authors use "et al." throughout.
• For institutional authorship, supply minimal identification from the complete citation ... (U.S. Bureau of the Census 1963:117).
• List a series of citations in alphabetical order separated by semicolons ... (Burgess 1968; Marwell et al. 1971). 
• For dissertations and unpublished papers, cite the date. IF no date, use "n.d." in place of the date ... Smith (n.d)

Samples

Quotes

• Whenever the author's exact words are used, document the source.
• For shorter quotes begin and end with quotation marks, the citation follows the end quote mark and precedes the period.

"In 1998, however, the data were reported by more specific job type which showed that technologically  oriented jobs paid better" (Hildenbrand 1999:47).

Hildenbrand reported that "in 1998, however, the data were reported by more specific job type which showed that technologically  oriented jobs paid better" (1999:47).

Hildenbrand (1999) stated that "in 1998, however, the data were reported by more specific job type which showed that technologically  oriented jobs paid better" (p. 47). (Note: use the p. when the author and year do not accompany the page number). 

• Longer quotes are set off in a separate paragraph or block quotation that is indented from the text, single-spaced, and in a smaller type size. Do not use quotation marks. The citation follows the period in a block quotation. 
• If the author's name is in the text followed by the year in parentheses, put the page reference, preceded by P. (upper case P period) in parentheses following the end period of the quote.

Paraphrases

• When using an author's ideas or re-phrasing his or her words, even though not quoting directly, document the source. Use the same format as show above for the citations in text, but omit the page number. Use page numbers only when quoting directly.

Joint authors: give both last names: (Moon and Williams 1993).

Three authors: give all three names in the first citation and use "et al." subsequently: 

            (Taylor, Chompalov and Fiala 2004) first citation

            (Taylor et al 2004)    subsequent citations

Four or more authors (Kashani, Daniel, Dandoy, and Holcomb) use "et al." in all citations including the first one.

For institutional or government authorship, supply minimum identification:

            (U.S. Bureau of the Census 1998:482)

For a series of references list them alphabetically and use semicolons:

            (Anetzberger 1994; Kashani 1999; Moon and Williams 1993)

References

References are presented in a separate section headed "References." All references cited in the text must be listed in the reference section, and vice versa. Publication information for each must be complete and correct. 

List the references in alphabetical order by authors' last names; include first names and middle initials for all authors when available. List tow or more entries by the same author in order of the year of publication. For dissertations and unpublished papers, cite the date and place the paper was presented and/or where it is available. If no date is available, use "n.d." in place of the date.

If two or more cited works are by the same author within the same year, list them in alphabetical order by title and distinguish them by adding the letters a, b, c, etc., to the year. For works with more than one author, only the name of the first author is inverted (e.g., "Jones, Arthur B., Colin D. Smith, and James Petersen"). List all authors. Using "et al." in the reference list is not acceptable. 

Books

Bernard, Claude. [1865] 1957. An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine. Translated by H.C. Greene. New York: Dover.

Mason, Karen O. 1974. Women's Labor Force Participation and Fertility. Research Triangle Park, NC: National Institute of Health. 

U.S. Bureau of the Census. 1960. Characteristics of Population. Vol. 1. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 

Prus, Robert C. 1996. Symbolic Interaction and Ethnographic Research: Intersubjectivity and the study of Human Lived Experience. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. 

Two Authors

Renzetti, Claire M. and Daniel J. Curran. 1998. Living Sociology. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. 

Edited

Turner, Stephen P., ed. 1996. Social Theory and Sociology: The Classics and Beyond. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell. 

Editions

Booth, Barbara, Ed. 1999. Thesaurus of Sociological Indexing Terms. 5th ed. Bethesda, MD: Cambridge Scientific Abstracts. 

Books - Chapters

Neuman, W. Lawrence. 1994. "Qualitative Research Design." Pp. 316-29. in Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. 2nd ed. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Periodicals and Articles

Goodman, Leo A. 1947a. "The Analysis of Systems of Qualitative Variables When Some of the Variables Are Unobservable. Part I - A modified Latent Structure Approach." American Journal of Sociology 79:1179-1259.

Szelenyi, Szonja and Jacqueline Olvera. Forthcoming. "The Declining Significance of Class: Does Gender Complicate the Story?" Theory and Society. 

Articles from Collected Works

Sampson, Robert J. 1992. "Family Management and Child Development: Insights from Social Disorganization Theory." Pp. 63-93 in Advances in Criminology Theory, vol. 3, Facts, Frameworks, and Forecasts, edited by J. McCord. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction. 

Articles from Journals - One Author

Mehdizadeh, Shahla A. 2002. "Health and Long-Term Care Use Trajectories of Older Disabled Women." Gerontologist 42:304-13. 

Articles from Journals - Two Authors

Schoenberg, Nancy E. and Hege Ravdal. 2000. "Using Vignettes in Awareness and Attitudinal Research." International Journal of Social Research Methodology 3(1):63-74.

Articles from Journals - Multiple Authors

Lanz, Margherita, Raffaella Iafrate, Rosa Rosnati, and Eugenia Scabini. 1999. "Parent-Childe Communication and Adolescent Self-Esteem in Separated, Intercountry Adoptive and Intact Non-Adoptive Families." Journal of Adolescence 22:785-94. 

Articles from Magazines and Newspapers

Gibbs, Nancy. 1999. "Noon in the Garden of Good and Evil: The Tragedy at Columbine Began As a Crime Story But Is Becoming a Parable." Time, May 17, 153:53.

Snyder, Donna. 1999. "Judge Orders Teen's Hearing in Murder Case to Be Closed." The Buffalo News, May 18, 1B. 

Articles from Commercial Electronic Periodical Databases

Graham, Lorie M. 1998. "The Past Never Vanishes: A Contextual Critique of the existing Indian Family Doctrine" American Indian law Review, 23:1 (32,854 words). Retrieved September 23, 2003 Available: LEXIS-NEXIS Academic Universe. Law Reviews. 

Electronic Books

Torres, Carlos Alberto and Theodore R. Mitchell, eds. 1998. Sociology of Education: Emerging Perspectives. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. NetLiberty electronic book. Retrieved September 24, 2003. 

Information Posted on Web Pages, etc.

"The Question of Culture: American Sociological Association 98th Annual Meeting." 2003. American Sociological Association Retrieved September 23, 2003. (http://www.asanet.org/).