Published February 12, 2021. Updated August 10, 2021.

ASA is short for the American Sociological Association. To cite in ASA style, it’s helpful to know basic information about your source, including author name(s), the title of the source and/or article, date published, and page numbers (if applicable).

This guide will give you in-text citations and full reference examples in ASA for the following source types:

• Website

• Book

• Journal article

• Newspaper or magazine article

• PDF

• YouTube video

• Online image

If you’re trying to easily cite in ASA, check out the Chegg Writing citation generator.

Formatting in ASA style

ASA citation style has two parts:

1. In-text citation (author–year).

2. Reference list.

In-text citation

When you cite information from a source in your work, use author–year format.

You can also cite more than one source at a time:

• One author: Smith (1999) explained ….. or …. as explained in a previous study (Smith 1999).

• Two authors: Smith and Barry (1998) explained ….. or …. as explained earlier (Smith and Barry 1998)

• Three authors: Smith, Kerry, and Barry (1998) explained ….. or …. as explained earlier (Smith, Kerry, and Barry 1998). In subsequent citations, use Smith et al. (1998) and (Smith et al. 1998), respectively.

• More than three authors: Always use first author followed by et al. For example, Wilkins et al. (2001) for direct citations and (Wilkins et al. 2001) for parenthetical citations.

• When you are quoting a source or paraphrasing a particular passage, you can also include a page number: Smith (1999:34) explained ….. or …. as explained in a previous study (Smith 1999:34)

• You can distinguish works by different author(s) in the same year by adding letter to the year (2009a, 2010b, 2011c)

Reference list

Place the list at the end of your paper and title it “References.” References are listed in alphabetical order.

Example:

Note: When formatting your paper, ensure you take the following into consideration

• Choose a standard font that is easy to read, such as Times New Roman

• All text should be 12-point font and double-spaced.

• Margin should be1.25-inches on all sides, unless otherwise specified

Citing a website page in ASA style

The URL and date of access should be formally included if you have a website that contains evidence that is important to a point being addressed in the document.

In-text citation template and example:

Example sentence (Author Surname Year) …

The results demonstrate teens are under depression (ASA 2006)

In economic terms, families with two full-time working parents are better off than other families (Pew Research Center 2016)

Reference list template and example:

Citing a book in ASA style

In-text citation template and example:

Example sentence (Author Surname Year) ….

Side effects began appearing about 2 weeks after the trial began (Díaz 1998)

Technological advances, heavy social media use, an uncertain economy and vaguely defined relationship roles are causing people to become more self-absorbed, and resulting in escalating anxiety (Rousseau 2014)

 Reference list template and example:

Citing a journal article in ASA style

In-text citation template and examples:

Example sentence (Author Surname Year) …

Despite repeated and comprehensive efforts by the researchers (Basok 2004) …

Increased utilization of Emotion-Focused Coping strategies, as measured by The COPE Scale (Carver et al. 1989).

Reference list template and examples:

Citing a newspaper article in ASA style

In-text citation template and examples:

Example sentence (Author Surname Year) …

Despite repeated and comprehensive efforts by the researchers (Greenwood 2019) …

Most people are shocked to learn that in recent years, the number of vaccine doses a child   receives before entering school has risen to 33 (Rimland 2000)

Reference list template and example:

Citing a PDF in ASA style

In-text citation template and example:

Example sentence (Author Surname Year) …

Despite repeated and comprehensive efforts by the researchers (Canadian Association of University Teachers 2017) …

Reference list template and example:

Citing a YouTube video in ASA style

In-text citation template and example:

Example sentence (Author Surname Year).

There are several approaches to washing hands, including the one shown in this image (Thompson 2015).

People that are severely depressed are non-functional (Domenick 2019)

Reference list template and example:

Citing an online image in ASA style

In-text citation template and example:

Example sentence (Author Surname Year).

There are several approaches (Calcutta Art Studio Ca. 1885–90) to ….

Reference list template and example:

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