LibGuides: American Sociological Association (ASA) Style: Home

Know about Plagiarism

Why Cite?

To acknowledge intellectual property of the original author
To provide support to arguments by referring to authoritative sources
To help readers verify your claims
To show research done

Where do you Cite?

Citation occurs in 2 areas in a written work.

In-text Citation : Providing basic information on your source of reference in your text itself. This is necessary when you are quoting, paraphrasing or summarizing from a source.
Reference List : Purpose is to help readers find the references used in your text.

Related Guides

APA Citation Style
by Jamila Osman Last Updated Sep 18, 2023 3115 views this year

Citation Styles
by Patsy Chia Last Updated Oct 30, 2023 4116 views this year

ASA Style Guide

The ASA (American Sociological Association) Style is closely related in appearance and function to the APA (American Psychological Association) style.
As with APA style, ASA style requires that sources receive attribution in the text by the use of parenthetical in-text references.
The "author-date" in-text citation system is a readily recognizable feature of ASA style.

The following list covers the authoritative ASA Style Guide 6th ed. Included also are selected online guides that provide instructions and examples on how to create in-texts and bibliographies/reference lists in research papers. Some may include advice on grammar and punctuation, research methods as well as guidelines on formatting the final paper.

American Sociological Association Style Guide 6th ed. by American Sociological Association
Call Number: HM569 Ame 2019
ISBN: 0912764554
Publication Date: 2019
Authoritative reference for writing, submitting, editing, and copy editing manuscripts for ASA journals and other publications following ASA's unique format. This revised, updated edition features guidelines for the most common situations encountered by authors and editors. New features include revisions to reference formatting and additional information on grammar, as well as expanded information on the use of electronic, digital, and social media sources. The sixth edition also includes guidance for online manuscript submissions, preprints, and updated reference examples

ASA 6th ed. Explained

ASA Style Guide – Sixth Edition for UTM Sociology and Criminology, Law & Society students This document is extensive but not exhaustive curated for University of Toronto Mississauga Sociology and Criminology, Law & Society students
Introduction to American Sociological Association (ASA) Style, 6th Edition / Writing and Multiliteracy Center, Channel Islands, California State University
ASA Style: In-Text (Citation) References / Purdue Online Writing Lab, Purdue University "In addition to providing guidelines for the general formatting of a manuscript and for in-text citations and the page of references, which follows a document, the ASA Style Guide also specifies a particular style of writing for presenting sociological work."
ASA style: References Page Formatting / Purdue Online Writing Lab, Purdue University
Cite Source: ASA Style/ Trinity College, Hartford Connecticut
The examples come from the American Sociological Association Style Guide, 6th. edition (2019).

Managing Citation and References

Citation or reference managers such as Zotero and EndNote auto-create references by pulling in citations from databases, library catalogues as well as selected search engines. Citations can then be automatically added to your work and formatted in your preferred style.

ZoteroBib helps you build a bibliography instantly from any computer or device, without creating an account or installing any software. This is a community-based, powerful open-source research tool recommended by universities worldwide. It helps you to seamlessly add sources and produce bibliographies.

The following video on using ZoteroBib shows how to generate citations and to create a bibliography for your research assignment.