ASA Format Guide: Quick Tips on ASA Style

ASA Style or American Sociological Association format style is the formatting style which is known as one of the most usable and popular format styles among students who are studying in the field of sociology unlike apa essay format. It is also used by sociology scholars and academicians in their works.

If you are a scholar or a student and you are going to publish your work in ASA journals, and need some ASA citation format tips, then this author guide is what you need. Read it, find out everything about ASA format and make your paper look perfect using these tips.

What is ASA Format?

American Sociological Association, is known as one of the main organizations for sociologists on the territory of the United States of America. What is ASA format? ASA formatting style is a style which is used for composing research papers in the field of sociology. Usually, it is focused on bibliography and footnotes, but it affects all the work starting from the first page. ASA format of the research or another academic paper defines some standards and assists authors and students in their writing when they are planning to make ASA publications. Find the tips on how to write in ASA format below.

ASA Format: Main Tips

The method for citation can differ depending on the referenced material. Although now you can use machines for it, it’s good to be aware of some basics.

1. Your research paper should include a title;
2. Set one-inch margin on every side;
3. All pages should have numbers;
4. The author should use 12-point font: Arial, Times New Roman, other classical fonts;
5. Use only black color in your research;
6. All the text should be double-spaced;
7. Follow ASA paper format rules, indicate your name on the cover page. Sometimes it’s important to indicate it on every page. Search the website of the journal for this information;
8. Divide your research paper into the paragraphs and separate parts which should have subtitles. The number of paragraphs depends on the topic. You can find interesting topics for your research paper here;
9. Make subtitles bold;
10. Your research should be of the next formats: doc, .pdf, .rtf, .html. Check the website of the journal for additional information;
11. You can use the quotation which consists of one or two lines as a regular sentence in the body, but you need to apply quotation marks;
12. Try not to use footnotes with endnotes at the same time;
13. Pay attention to references in the ASA citation format.

How to Cite in ASA Format Correctly?

We know that you have a lot of questions. We’ll try to tell you how to cite in ASA format, just keep reading. If you are familiar with Chicago or APA style, you can master ASA citation format easily because you’ll find them quite similar. It gives the requirements and instructions which gives the writers the opportunity to organize the research paper for a publication. Here we will notice the most crucial things.

Title Page

The next information should be included in the Title page:

• Title of the research paper;
• Authors' name;
• Name of the institution where the author is working or studying;
• Running head;
• Title footnote;
• Word count of your research paper. To make sure that you made your title page perfect, find the ASA format example paper and check.

Abstract

When you decide to add the abstract, devote a separate page to it. It should have a one-paragraph length (maximum 200 words) and should appear just after the title page. Do not indicate the author on it, the title should be repeated as a heading.

In-text Citations

When you need to use in-text citations, situate them close to their sources: indicate the information on the author and the date of publication using parentheses.

Citations of Electronic Sources

A good ASA format sample paper includes many online sources which are cited correctly. How to do it?

• Write sources which won’t be changed in the print form;
• Add only the basic elements of the online source;
• Add the URL of the webpage of the publication which includes the name of the author, name of the article/book, year of the publication.

Subheadings

When you use the ASA format, it’s important to use subheadings in body paragraphs. These subheadings do not just name the paragraphs of your paper, so you need to think good before writing. For example, we don’t recommend using “conclusion” as a subheading of your future document.

Subheadings in ASA have three different levels. Keep in mind they should be always left-aligned. Never make these subheadings bold. Below, you can read about the editing style of each subheading level:

1. Subheading of the First Level

• The subheading of the first level has letters in caps
• Avoid bold letters
• Do not use a heading as Introduction

2. Subheading of the Second Level

• Use Italics font
• Capitalize only the first letter of each word for your subheading (do not capitalize prepositions and articles)
• Avoid bold letters

3. Subheadings of the Third Level

• Use Italics font
• Capitalize only the first letter of the subheading
• Indent text at the beginning of this paragraph

Figures/ Table

Give consecutive Numbers to tables, figures: Table 1, Table 2, Figure 1, Figure 2, etc. It is important that each figure/table should be at the end of the paper on the separate page. Give the descriptive title which is able to explain the reader enough details about it so that he could understand it without the text. Don’t use abbreviations and spell percent as a word not a sign when you use it in headings.

These quick formatting tips will help you to learn how to cite in ASA format. But it’s responsible work and it’s a good idea to delegate it to professional writers and order from them.

In-Text Citations

Follow the examples we have gathered below to see how to make citations in ASA correctly.

In-Text Citations in ASA Style

For in-text citations, the ASA format looks very similar to APA citation format. Both these formats are used to present data from any type of source you need. If you follow the general rule for the ASA style, you have to write the author’s last name and the publishing date of the source. Read our sample below to get it:

• If your sentence includes the author’s name, just note the year of publishing:

In-text citation example in ASA style:

When Smith (1934) investigated this phenomenon…

• If the sentence doesn’t include the name of the author, write in in parentheses:

In-text citation example in ASA style:

When this phenomenon was investigated (Smith 1934)...

• If you need to cite a paper with several dates of publishing, mention the first date and then add the most recent. Separate dates using a slash.

In-text citation example in ASA style:

(Marvin and Cherill 1956/2002)

ASA Citations for Multiple Authors

Here are some samples of how to use ASA citations for multiple authors.

• If you use a source written by two authors, write their surnames and the publication year.

Citation example in ASA style:

(Marvin and Cherill 1956)

• If your source has three and more authors, write their last names in the first citation. If you use more citations, write only the first name with ‘et al.’, and the publication year.

Citation example in ASA style:

(Rusvelt, Matton, and Spoke 1943) - first citation
(Rusvelt et al. 1943) - later citations

• If you don’t have the name of the writer in the source, provide enough data to find this paper in the reference list of your work.

Citation example in ASA style:

(U.S. Department of Health 2012)

• If you use multiple citations, use a semicolon to separate them.

Citation example in ASA style:

(Henry 1960; Watt 1954)
(Mane et al. 1872; Swan 1887)

• If you’re citing a source that was published earlier and reprinted later, write both dates of publication. Divide them with a slash.

Citation example in ASA style:

(Lloyd and Tinker 1987/2013)

• If you need to cite a work that will be published soon, use the forthcoming date. But if it’s not determined, write n.d.

Citation example in ASA style:

Marks (n.d.) made his research on studying relationships between various groups of people.

How to Cite Quotes in ASA

When you use short quotations in your text, use quotation marks. Block quotations (longer than 40 words) must be separated from the whole text using a single space. When you need to put a block quote in ASA format, you can omit quotation marks. Keep in mind that you have to include the year of publishing and the page number. Separate the year from the page number using a semicolon.

Example:

In his work, Frank (1894:31) made his research on...

ASA Citation Format: Footnotes and Endnotes

You can use footnotes and endnotes to add important information regarding figures and tables in the text or to cite publications of limited availability. Use them both sparingly and never mix them, choose only one type of citation. What is the difference between them?

• The authors place endnotes at the end of the research paper and devote the separate section to it;
• Footnotes are situated at the bottom of each page where they are being referenced.

If there is a necessity of using endnotes/footnotes give them numbers consecutively throughout your paper using Arabic numerals.

ASA Bibliography Format

It is a crucial aspect of ASA format citation. Every source you use to make your research paper should be included on a separate References page according to ASA bibliography format. Write all literature in an alphabetical order and write the surnames of the authors first. Then write their names. It means you should alphabetize sources by authors’ last names.

References Page: 7 Main Advices

The ASA citation reference page should start with the word “REFERENCES”. Capitalize every first letter of everything except for prepositions, articles, and conjunctions (although you do have to capitalize them if they are in the beginning of the reference’s title or subtitle).

References are listed in alphabetical order based on the authors’ last names. The ASA reference page looks similar to APA with a few deviations:

1. The reference page appears at the end of your research paper;
2. This page should have the name "References", which is centered at the top;
3. Start the reference list on a new page;
4. Use the double-spaced text format for reference page;
5. Invert the names of authors, e.g. - Geary, Rachel;
6. Each cited source in the paper should be included in the reference page;
7. Don’t include sources you haven’t used in your research to your references page.

It is not easy to write a good research paper and the ASA citation format doesn’t seem simple. That’s why sometimes it’s better to order the paper from professional writers.

Conclusion

The American Sociological Association format requires formatting of your research paper and following rules. It is not really easy but in this article, we tried to give you useful information and tips using which you can succeed with it. If you still have questions, feel free to ask them in the comments below and our professional writers will answer them with pleasure.