ASA Style

When you are writing papers, it is crucial to document your use of existing research materials.  This includes citing the materials you are using within your text as well as providing a bibliography or reference page.  The following examples* and suggestions are intended to demonstrate the proper way to cite your resources.
 

*** new addition – how to cite the course text books ***

For Criminology:  Boundaries reader

In text – use the author of the chapter you are reading and 2003 as the year. 

 

In bibliography: 

Author of chapter.  2003.  “Title of chapter.”  Pp. ## - ## in Boundaries: Readings in Deviance, Crime, and Criminal Justice, edited by Bradley R. E. Wright and Ralph B. McNeal, Jr.  Pearson Custom Publishing. 

 

 

For Juvenile Delinquency – Main Text

In Text :  use the author of the chapter and 2003.

 

 In bibliography: 

Author of chapter.  2003.  “Title of chapter.”  Pp. ## - ## in Sociology: Juvenile Delinquency, edited by Stacey Nofziger.  McGraw-Hill, Primis Online. 

 

What to Document
Direct quotes and paraphrased materials
Information that is generally known does not need to be cited.
If you are uncertain if something should be cited, add in the citation.
 

 

 

In Text Citations

Examples

In order to provide information on resources you are using within the body of the text, ASA format uses what are called parenthetical references.  These provide the minimum information necessary to identify the source of the information (typically the authors last name and the year of publication). 

Author's name in text:
Smith (1998) argues that ...

Author's name not in text: 
juvenile crime is declining (Smith 1998).

Page numbers are only included when the material is quoted directly or when you want the reader to refer to a specific page of the source.

Page number after year:
Hirshi (1990:82) defines crime as....

If there are two authors, both last names are included. 
 

For three authors, the first citation of that source lists all three names.  After the first citation, et al. should be added after the first authors last name. 
 
 

For more than three authors, use only the first authors name and et al. in all citations.

Two Authors:
...family structure (Rowe and Smith 1989).

Three Authors: 1st cite
... was very difficult (Grasmick, Cochran, and Seth 1995).

Other Cites with same authors
... over two years (Grasmick et al. 1995).

 

 

 

If the source you have does not meet any of these examples, please ask me for more help.

 

 

 

Style Issues / Punctuation

Examples

When using direct quote of four lines or more, indent on both sides and single space, with no quotation marks.roccA

According to Simth (1987):
     this is what he had to say.  It was very
     interesting and went on for at least four
     lines in your paper.  Generally avoid longer
     quotes for class papers.  (P. 52)

When using a short direct quote, you can do this one of two ways.  In both cases, the period goes AFTER then reference.

The majority of the ads promote the idea that "If you are are slim, you will also be beautiful" (Rockett and McMinn 1990:278).

OR -

Smith and Hill (1997) found that "women are far more likely to obsess about weight" (p. 127).  

If using more than one source for an idea / general finding, separate citaitons by a semicolon and order then how you want.  You can either arrange alphabetically, by date.  Just be consistent.

Police departments face greater scrutiny than ever before with regular reports of corruption (Cohen 1998; Johnson 1998; Sterngold 2000; Witkin 1995).

 

 

References / Bibliography

Examples

This is an alphabetical listing of all the sources you have used for your paper.  Any source you cited in the text has to be included in your references section.  Do not include anything that is not cited in your text.

 

BOOKS

 

For all books, the first author's name is listed with last name first, the date of publication, the title of the book , place of publication, and name of publisher.  For place of publication, always include both city and state.  Periods typically divide each part of the citation.
 

For books with multiple authors, only reverse the name of the first author.  If there are more than two authors, separate names with a comma.  No matter how many authors there are, you must list all the names in your references.

One Author: 
Smith, Joan. 1998. Crime: New Ideas. New York, NY: Wadsworth.
 
 

Two Authors:
Shaw, Kim and Lee McCoy. 1997. Juvenile Killers. Los Angeles, CA: Pine Forge Press.

 

 

PERIODICALS / JOURNAL ARTICLES

 

Citing journals is very similar to citing books.  The main differences are that you put the title of the article in quotes then list the name of the journal.  Instead of listing a publication place and publisher, you include the volume of the journal and the issue number (if available).  This information is followed by a colon and the page numbers of the article. Please note where punctuation belongs.

Journal Article:
Dugan, Laura. 1999. "The Effect of Criminal Victimization on a Household's Moving Decision." Criminology 37(4): 903-930.

In the above example, 37 is the volume number and 4 is the issue

 

 

On-Line Sources

 

Citing sources on line is very difficult due to the fact that many sites do not include information on the author, and often do not even include a clear title.  In addition, Internet sites are constantly changing and moving.  For these reasons, I recommend that you minimize your use of strictly internet sites for this class.  In addition, it is very easy to put information onto the internet.  It is much more difficult to determine what information is creditable or "good" information.  However, if you do include a site in any of your assignments, the most accepted way of citing these sources is listed to the right.

 Internet sites:
If some information is not known, simply leave that portion out of your cite.

Lastname, Firstname of Author. "title of document." Version or Edition information. Date of Document. <Site Address> (date you accessed information).

As in the other formats, if there are multiple authors, only reverse the order of the first authors name.

 

 

Please remember that these are only examples and explanations of the basic types of sources you may be using.  If you have any other questions of how to cite a source you are using, please ask me.  Another suggestion is to look at the references in the sources you are using.  These will likely give you the proper format if you are having problems.

* some of these examples are taken from Johnson, William A Jr., Richard P. Rettig, Gregory M. Scott and Stephen M. Garrison.  1998.   The Sociology Student Writer's Manual.  Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.