ASA Referencing Generator

Instant tips for ASA referencing

The ASA referencing style is mostly used by students pursuing sociology while writing their academic assignments. ASA stands for American Sociological Association Style Guide, which is also used by writers writing manuscripts to be published in the ASA journals.

The ASA referencing style follows the author-date format, one of the formats used to style references as per the Chicago Manual. The in-text citation consists of the author's surname and the publication year in parentheses. At the end of the paper, the reference list consists of all sources used while writing the assignment. The heading 'References' lists all sources at the end of a document.

Format of in-text citations as per ASA referencing

As per the ASA referencing, in-text citations include the author's surname and the year of publication. If a statement is a direct quotation, include the page number and the other details specified previously. For all subsequent citations for the same source, follow the same format. If the author's name appears in a text, then put the year of publication in the parenthesis; e.g. Fletcher (2000) says that…

Put complete details in the parenthesis if the author's name appears at the end of a statement and not as a part of a text. The citation will appear before the period, e.g. on the event's happening (Fletcher 2000).

If citing a direct quote, the page number will appear after the year of publication with a colon. There will be no space between the page number and the colon. If there are two or more authors, separate the authors with a comma or an ‘and’.

If there are three authors in a source, the first citation will have the last name of all the authors, but the subsequent citation of the same source will consist of the first author's surname and et al. along with the year of publication. If a source has more than three authors, use et al. from the first citation.

Suppose a reprinted version of a source is being used, then as per the ASA referencing style. In that case, both the original year of publication and reprinting year should be included in the citation. The reprinted year should be placed in round brackets and the original publication in square brackets, e.g. Roy ([2000] 2002) states that…

If a fact has been written after reading multiple sources, provide citations of each source by separating them with semicolons. The citations should be mentioned date wise or alphabetically as per the first author's last name. But mind it; you should follow the same styling for all other similar types of citations.

If there are multiple sources with the same author written in the same year, use alphabets, like a, b, c, etc., after the year of publication. If there are sources with the same last name but different first names, use the initials while providing the in-text citations.

If a source has no author and has some crucial information about the topic, then as per the ASA referencing, write the title and the year of publication in the citation part. Italicize the name of the article in such cases.

Formatting of a reference list as per the ASA referencing

All the sources cited in a text must be listed at the end of a paper under the header, References. It is essential in ASA referencing to provide all the details of sources in the reference section. The references should have double spacing between them, and the list should be alphabetically arranged as per the author's surname of the source.

The entry will include the first author's last name and his first name. The initials in the reference list will be included only when the author has used them in the original work. If initials are used, a space is to be provided after the period.

All the entries will have a hanging indent and in case using multiple sources of the same author, arrange the list with the year of publication. If using the same author's multiple works written in the same year, include different alphabets with the year of publication.

The title of a book and other articles should be italicized, and in case the year of publication is not available, use ‘N.d.’ as a replacement for the year. For the place of publication, the city and the state should be included. As per the ASA referencing, et al. should not be included in the reference list irrespective of the number of authors in a source.

If an author appears in two simultaneous sources, one individually and the other with different authors, place the author's source first, followed by the source with other authors. If there are two authors in a source, then as per the ASA referencing, the first author's name will be reversed, but the second author's name will remain the same.

When there are two or more authors, use the word 'and' as a separator or a comma and in the case of an edited book, use the word 'eds.’ before the year of publication. If a source is a chapter of a book, the title of the chapter will be written in quotations, and the book's title will be italicized. But remember not to include quotations with the name of the book.

If using an online source, it is necessary to provide the web link along with the retrieved date, and in case the DOI is available, the same should be mentioned.

Formatting of a document in ASA style

The ASA guidelines related to styling a paper is very rigorous as there are some specified rules and regulations to be followed while presenting content. One must adhere to the guidelines and the ASA referencing rules to avoid being imposed a penalty at the University while submitting an academic paper.

When writing a manuscript in ASA style, the following pages should be included:

Title page: The page will consist of the topic title, writer name, the University name, the running head, total word count and a titled footnote. A running head will have 50 or fewer characters denoting the working title. The running head should be inserted in the top left-hand corner of the page.

Abstract: It should be mentioned on a new page just after the title page. The paper's title should be used as a heading without the author's name and other details. Generally the abstract consists of 200 or less words depending upon the instructions of the University. It is a precise description of the work with some summary and findings. The language used should be easy to understand, avoiding any difficult words.

Keywords: Include 3 to 5 keywords that will highlight the work's central theme, which can be included on the abstract page itself.

Text formatting: The main content will be placed on a fresh page under the title heading. Font type Arial and font size 12 should be used throughout the paper with double spacing. The margins at all sides will have 1 ¼ inch or as per the instructions of the University. The page numbers should be numbered from the title page and end on the last page.

Styling of tables and figures: All tables and figures included in the content should be numbered. Tables will be numbered as table 1, table 2, table 3, etc. The figures should be numbered as figure 1, figure 2, figure 3, etc. Mention a descriptive title along with the figures and tables to easily understand without reading the main content.

Headings and subheadings: There should be three levels of sub-headings within a text as per the ASA referencing guidelines. The first level heading will be written in capital letters and left-justified. Do not bold the fonts and avoid using Introduction as a heading. The second-level heading will be italicized and left-justified. Do not bold and use title case. The third level heading will be italicized and left-justified. Indent the same at the start of a paragraph and place a period. The paragraph will continue just after the period. The first letter of the first word will be capitalized along with the first letters of all proper nouns.

Footnotes and endnotes: It is not always necessary to include footnotes and endnotes in a manuscript, but if the University asks for it, it has to be included. Both the notes should be placed separately from the main text. It is recommended to use less than 100 words for writing both notes. It is mainly used to provide details about the text, cite sources with limited access, or provide some extra information. A manuscript cannot have both notes simultaneously. Instead, use an Arabic superscript number to place the footnotes. Maintain a double space at the bottom of the page while writing the footnotes.

Appendixes: It is not an essential requisite to add an appendix in a manuscript, and it depends upon the instructions of the University. The appendix is added after the reference page, which includes some supplementary content that was not added in the main body. For example, the appendix can have statistical information, tables, figures, etc. If there is more than one appendix in a document, a letter can be added with the heading, like Appendix A, Appendix B, etc.

ASA referencing and citation examples

The below section consists of some examples framed on the ASA referencing guidelines and guarantees 100 per cent accuracy.

Source Type: Book
Format:
First author last name, first name, second author name without invert, and third author name without invert. Publication Year. Title of the book. Publisher location, State or Country: Name of the Publisher.
In-text citation example:
(Roy, Sean, and Maine 2000)
Subsequent example:
(Roy et al. 2000)
Reference example:
Roy, Steve, Rosy Sean, and Moses Maine. 2000. Structure of social justice in the United States. Texas, MA: Peal and sons.

Source Type: Edited Book
Format:
First author last name, first name, and second author name without invert, eds. Publication Year. Title of the book. Publisher location, State or Country: Name of the Publisher.
In-text citation example:
(Roy and Maine 2000)
Reference example:
Roy, Steve, and Moses Maine, eds. 2000. Structure of social justice in the United States. Texas, MA: Peal and sons.

Source Type: Chapter of a Book
Format:
First author last name, first name, and second author name without invert. Publication Year. “Title of the book.” Pp. Name of the Publication, edited by Name of the Editor. Publisher location, State or Country: Name of the Publisher.
In-text citation example:
(Roy and Maine 2000)
Reference example:
Roy, Steve, and Moses Maine. 2000. “Structure of social justice in the United States.” Pp. 10-12 in National Handbook of Inequality, edited by K. G. Griffith. Texas, MA: Peal and sons.

Source Type: Journal (Print)
Format:
First author last name, first name, and second author name without invert. Publication Year. “Title of the Article.” Title of the Journal Volume no(Issue):Page number.
In-text citation example:
(Roy and Maine 2000)
Reference example:
Roy, Steve, and Moses Maine. 2000. “Multicultural groups and Unequal Division of Wealth.” Societal Problems 29(13):34-40.

Source Type: Journal (Online)
Format:
First author last name, first name, and second author name without invert. Publication Year. “Title of the Article.” Title of the Journal Volume no(Issue). Retrieved Month Date, Year (URL)
In-text citation example:
(Roy and Maine 2000)
Reference example:
Roy, Steve, and Moses Maine. 2000. “Multicultural groups and Unequal Division of Wealth.” Societal Problems 29(13). Retrieved July 10, 2001 (https://www.societalproblems.org/v324.html).

Source Type: Newspaper
Format:
Author last name, first name. Year of publication. “Article title.” Name of the Newspaper, Month date, p. In-text citation example:
(Roy 2000)
Reference example:
Roy, Steve. 2000. “Dealing with Internal Violence in the American States." New Mail, February 10, p. 1.

Source Type: Website
Format:
Name of the organization. Year publication. “Article Title.” Retrieved Month Date, Year (URL).
In-text citation example:
(University of England 2000)
Reference example:
The University of England. 2000. “Rules and Regulations related to Equality in the University Premises.” Retrieved July 10, 2001 (https://www.universityofEngland/rulesandregulations/890/874.pdf).

Source Type: Image
Format:
Author last name, first name. Year of Publication. Image Title [type of medium] (Details of the collection if available- Document no., Place: Library Name).
In-text citation example:
(Roy 2000)
Reference example:
Roy, Steve. 2000. Men are playing football in a park [Photograph]. (Document number 10, New York: Games Photo Library).