The examples below are based on the American Sociological Association (ASA) style guide, 2nd ed. (1997). If you cannot find the examples you need, please see the complete ASA guide at the reference desk (R 808.06 S938) or ask for help at the reference desk.
A Reference List is a list of sources that you have used for your paper. A reference list is titled References. It is placed at the end of the paper, with entries arranged alphabetically by authors' last names, and double-spaced.
Book entries should consist of the following information: author with inverted name, and middle initial, year of publication, italicized title of book, publication place , and name of publisher.
A journal article entry should consist of: author's inverted name and middle initial, year of publication, title of article in quotations. Journal title italicized, volume number followed by colon, page number(s) and period, Issue number following the volume number in parenthesis or exact date for journal article prior to the volume number for journals that do not number pages consecutively within a volume.
| Type of Resource | Reference List |
| Book-Single Author | Bobbio, Norberto. 1987. The Future of Democracy: A Defense of the Rules of the Game. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota. |
| Book-Two authors Book-More than two authors |
Renzetti, Claire M. and Daniel J. Curran. 1998. Living Sociology. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Bulcroft, Kris, Linda Smeins, and Richard Bulcroft. 1999.Romancing the Honeymoon: Consummating Marriage in Modern Society. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. |
| Journal Article (one author) |
Goodman, Leo A. 1947a. “Exploratory Latent Structure Analysis Using Both Identifiable and Unidentifiable Models.” Biometrika 61:215-31. |
| Journal Article (more than one author) | Whitmore, Kathryn F. and Caryl G. Crowell. 1994. "What Makes a Good Question is...." New Advocate 7(1): 45-57. |
| Government Publication | Mason, Karen O. 1974. Women's Labor Force Participation and Fertility. Research Triangle Park, NC: National Institutes of Health. |
| Newspaper Article | Schulte, Brigid. 2002. “Trapped Between 2 Languages; Poor and Isolated, Many Immigrants' Children Lack English.” The Washington Post, June 9, pA1. |
| Magazine Article | Jana, Reena. 2000. "Preventing culture clashes - As the IT workforce grows more diverse, managers must improve awareness without creating inconsistency." InfoWorld, April 24, pp. 95. |
| Article from a collected, edited work | Brewer, John D. 1998. "Sensitivity in Field Research: A Study of Policing in Northern Ireland." Pp. 29-37 in Seeing Ourselves: Classic, Contemporary, and Cross-Cultural Readings in Sociology, edited by John J. Macionis and Nijole V. Benokraitis. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. |
| Type of Resource | Reference List |
| Journal Article in a full text database | Conley, Amy C. 2001. "Social Welfare and Welfare Reform: Organizations, Congregations, and Community." Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare. 34:3 (3 pages). Retrieved August 20, 2007. Available: Ebsco Academic Search Premier. |
| Web based Journal or Electronic Journal | Smith, Herman W. and Takako Nomi. 2000. "Is Amae the Key to Understanding Japanese Culture?." Electronic Journal of Sociology 5:1. Retrieved May 5, 2000 (http://www.sociology.org/content/vol005.001/smith-nomi.html). |
| Website | American Sociological Association. 2000. “Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Workshop.” Washington, DC: American Sociological Association, Retrieved May 5, 2000 (http://www.asanet.org/members/socwkshp.html). |
| E-Books | Torres, Carlos Alberto and Theodore R. Mitchell, eds. 1998. Sociology of Education: Emerging Perspectives. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Retrieved April 26, 2005 (http://www.netlibrary.com/). |
The American Sociological Association recommends using an in-text citation anytime the student uses the author's words, facts and/or ideas within the paper, including paraphrasing and direct quotations. The in-text citation can come in the middle or at the end of a sentence. You should include the author's last name and then the date of the work in parentheses at the end of the sentence, e.g. (Adler 2000). For joint authors give both names, e.g. (Weiss and Frank 2006). If the author's name is included in the sentence which precedes it, the date in parentheses will suffice, e.g. Gupta notes in his work (2001). If a quotation is used, cite the page number after the date e.g. (Colwin, 2002:188).
Other tips while using the ASA style:
*Also see the ASA Style homepage for more help: http://www.asanet.org/cs/root/topnav/sociology_depts/quick_style_guide