McQuade LibGuides: How to Cite Sources: ASA

ASA Formatting & Citations

The American Sociological Association (ASA) publishes the American Sociological Association Style Guide as its style manual for sociology.

Learn More Here: Perdue OWL: ASA Style Guide.

The Reference List

Here are some general rules on how to format your references page:

The reference list appears at the end of your paper
Each cited source must be on the reference list and each entry on the reference list must be cited in the text
Begin the reference list on a new page
Label the page "References"; centered at the top
Double-space all the text on the page
Indent one-half inch from the left margin all the lines after the first line (hanging indentation)
Invert the authors' names; give the last name first, then the first name
List all authors. It is not acceptable to use et al. in the References section unless the work was authored by a committee.
Alphabetize the entries by the last name of the author of each work. If there is more than one work by the same author, arrange them in order of publication date, from oldest to most recent.

Examples

Book with one author:

Lastname, First M. Year. Title of book: Subtitle of book. Publication Location: Publisher.

Durkheim, Emile. 1964. The Division of Labor in Society. Glencoe, NY: Free Press of Glencoe.

An edited book:

Editor, First M., ed. Year. Title of book: Subtitle of book. Publication Location: Publisher.

Parker, Martin, ed. 2002. Utopia and Organization. Oxford, U.K.; Malden, MA.: Blackwell Pub.

Article found in a database or online, with one author:

Lastname, First M. Year. "Title of article." Title of Journal volume (issue): pages.

DOI/Retrieved Month Day, Year (URL).

Granello, Paul F. 1999. "College Students' Wellness as a Function of Social Support

and Empathetic Ability." Journal of College Counseling 2(2):110-120.

doi: 10.1002/j.2161-1882.1999.tb00149.x.

Raibley, Jason R. 2012. "Happiness is Not Well-Being." Journal of Happiness Studies

13(6):1105-1129. Retrieved December 29, 2016 (http://uri.idm.oclc.org/login?

url=http://search.proquest.com.uri.idm.oclc.org/docview/1197065509?accountid=28991).

Article from a print periodical with one author:

Lastname, First M. Year. "Title of Article." Title of Journal volume(issue):pages.

Huang, Peter H. 2010. "Happiness Studies and Legal Policy." Annual Review of Law and Social

Science 6:405-432.

Article (online) with two authors:

Lastname, First M., and Firstname M. Surname. Year. "Title of article."

Title of Journal volume(issue): pages. DOI or retrieved date (URL).

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly and Jeremy Hunter. 2003. "Happiness in Everyday Life: The Uses of Experience Sampling."

Journal of Happiness Studies 4(2):185-199. doi: 10.1023/A:1024409732742.

Article with three or more authors (list all authors in the order listed on the publication):

Lastname, Frank M., Frances M. Surname, John R. Smith, and Jane M. Doe.

Year. "Title of article." Title of Journal volume(issue):pages. DOI or retrieved date (URL) [as applicable].

A note about online sources: For any article or material you find online you will need the item's DOI/URL. Include the URL with the date you accessed the item at the end of the citation in parentheses, followed by a period. For example: Retrieved December 29, 2016 (http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/169/). You do not need to include a retrieval date when providing a DOI.

Website with one author:

Lastname, F. M. Date published. "Title of page." Publisher. Retrieved date (URL).

Kroll, Christian. 2011. "Towards a Sociology of Happiness: Examining Social Capital and Subjective Well-being

Across Subgroups of Society." The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Retrieved December 29, 2016 (http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/169/).

Website with a corporate or organizational author:

Organization Name. Date published. "Title of page." Publisher. Retrieved date (URL).

Social Science Space. 2016. "Happiness and Well-being: Advancing the Contribution of Sociology."

Retrieved Dec 29, 2016 (http://www.socialsciencespace.com/events/happiness-and-well-being-

advancing-the-contribution-of-sociology/).