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Mississippi State University

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Citation Guides

A guide to citing sources, including how to use the most commonly used citation styles (APA, MLA, and Chicago).

Introduction

ASA (American Sociological Association) Style is an author-date citation style used by scholars in sociology and serves as the manuscript standards for ASA journals and other ASA publications. ASA style may be required in coursework for sociology, social work, and criminology. Ask your professor or editors what citation style they prefer you use.

ASA Reference Examples

ASA style is somewhat similar to APA style, with some distinct differences:

  • Unlike APA, full names are encouraged rather than the use of only first and/or second initials.
  • In parenthetical citations, there are no commas separating author(s) and year.
  • Reference page should be titled REFERENCES (Header 1 level), double-spaced, alphabetical by the first author's last name.
  • Use hanging indents.
  • List all authors with full names and do not use et al.
Book: One Author

Soper, Kerry D. 2012. We Go Pogo: Walt Kelly, Politics, and American Satire. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.
Book: Two+ Authors

Dolgon, Corey, and Chris Baker. 2011. Social Problems: A Service Learning Approach. Los Angeles: Sage/Pine Forge.
Edited Book Costello, Brannon, and Qiana J. Whitted, eds. 2012. Comics and the U.S. South. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.
Chapter in an Edited Book Whitby, Christopher. 2012. "The Southern Thing: Doug Marlette, Identity Consciousness, and the Commodification of the American South." Pp. 89-110 in Comics and the U.S. South, edited by B. Costello and Q.J. Whitted. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.
Scholarly Journal Article Pearson, Amy. 2023. "Fracturing Walls, Not Identities: The Power of John Green's Fully Human Representations of Disability in The Fault in Our Stars." Journal of Popular Culture 56(5-6):824-834. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpcu.13271.
Newspaper or Magazine Article

Carlin, Shannon. 2024. "Summer's Most Anticipated Books," Time Magazine, Jun 24, pp. 64-65.
Websites

The Athletic. 2024. "Mandel's Final Thoughts: In Zany Day of Upsets, Vanderbilt-Alabama Stands Above the Rest." Retrieved Oct 8, 2024 (https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5821651/2024/10/06/college-football-week-6-analysis-vanderbilt-alabama-tennessee/).

 

In-Text Citations

ASA uses an Author-Date parenthetical format:

  • Use page numbers for direct quotes, paraphrases, and when referring to a specific passage.
  • When not using the author's name in text, use the name and date in parentheses (Soper 2012).
    • For three authors, give all names in the first citation (Wight, Shaw, and James 2013), then use et al. in later citations (Wight et al. 2013)
    • For four authors, use first author's name plus et al. in all citations (Emmons et al. 2009)
  • When using a 'signal phrase' followed by the author's name, put the year in parentheses right after the name. Include a page number when using a direct quote.
    • According to Soper (2012), Pogo's puns and banter serve the purpose of...
    • As Pearson (2023:832) states, "Green recognizes the power that fully human representations of characters with disabilities can have in shaping the identities of readers..."