The ASA citation style

The ASA citation style is one of the numerous citation styles used to prepare scholarly papers and literary work within the academic realms of Sociology as a field of study. The ASA citation style is specifically styled and meant for writers making manuscripts meant for publication within the American Sociological Association Journal. ASA citation style denotes the American Sociological Association style of writing academic papers in the field of sociology. Students are advised to use a bibliographic style that creates clear communication on the referral material and sources used in writing the academic paper. Using an appropriate bibliographic style portrays a student's scholarship level and also helps in avoiding issues of plagiarism or lack of originality. Apart from considering the basics of ASA citation style the writer should also consider spelling, grammar, capitalization and punctuation. However, if the instructor gives instructions that are not consistent with the ASA citation style, the students should consider using the instructions offered by their tutors or lecturers.

The format of an ASA citation styled manuscript should adhere to the following stipulations. A good printer and a word processor should be used. The font chosen for the ASA citation styled paper should be the 12-point type and the text should lie within a margin of one and a quarter inches. The paper used for the ASA citation styled paper should be eight and half by eleven inches. The text within the ASA citation styled paper should be double-spaced as well as the reference page. The books and periodical titles should be italicized. The document should contain a title page with details of the author, instructor, title, date and unit of study. The ASA citation styled paper should start with a 150-200 word abstract on a separate page of the paper and the abstract should be headed with the title of the paper. The main text of the paper should begin on a different page too.

In-text citations within an ASA citation styled paper should have the last name of the author as well as the date of publication. Direct quotations within the academic paper should be placed within quotation marks followed by the appropriate in-text citation of the source that is quoted. Longer direct quotations should be set in a block of their own or paragraph and be indented. Page numbers are also necessary in ASA citation styled papers, especially in directly quoted works. If the name of the author is placed at the start of the sentence and the publication year in parentheses, then the page number preceded by upper case P to denote the page is enclosed in parentheses at the end of the statement. In paraphrased statements the writer should not include the page number. Citing one or two authors in ASA citation styled papers involves the placement of the two names and the publication date within the parentheses. If the authors are three in number the three last names are included in the first in-text citation, however; subsequent citations should only include the last author's last name followed by et al. In cases of more than three authors the last name of the last author is followed by et al. and the year of publication.

The reference list of ASA citation styled paper should be placed in a page of its own at the end of the paper. All references within the paper should be included in the reference list placed at the end of the paper. Multiple references by the same author should be ordered according to the publication year, and publications in the same year can be differentiated by addition of letters at the end of the years. The authors' names should e inverted and the references indented. The reference list should be arranged in an alphabetical ordera