General ASA Format Style Guide Useful for Students and Young Professionals

Tutors around the world are committed to teaching the perfect citing practice to numbers of students. Every official text in a professional career requires this common knowledge. An updated ASA citation format is something students need to write school, college, and university essays, research papers, report text, journal articles etc. and, in particular, include quotes from the resources used for the text. The article we offer provides clear general guidance and notes on how to use ASA style in any section, including quotes, bibliography, title page, and manuscript formatting.

Mastering ASA citation format is not a piece of cake. Students who get confused by the numbers of requirements and guides should keep in mind they can order academic solutions from a custom essay writer services to avoid bad grades due to the improper formatting.

What is ASA Format?

The initial question which comes to mind is “What is ASA style?” It has received its title after The American Sociological Association offered this writing style some time ago. It happened back in 1905. The organization is responsible for the numbers of sociological sciences in the US. It supports the scientists, writers, and students involved in the general section of sociology and related studies by developing and contributing to the modest community. The ASA citation format is supposed to be used in scholarly publications of high quality. The Association releases a couple of such publications. They are the American Sociological Review (ASR) and Contemporary Sociology (CS). Both of them are cited in ASA style.

Before creating the paper in this particular style, check whether your institution requires it and learn how to write in ASA format from our article. In addition, we have one more blog on how to format a research paper.

How to Cite in ASA Format?

If a student or young writer involved in the section of sociology wants his/her reviews and discussions on corresponding topics to be published, it is important to learn how to cite the text and resources in ASA style. In some cases, a student may need to study MLA, APA, Harvard, or other formats which have common features with ASA.

Since the year of publication of the primary edition of the guide is 1996, numbers of the writers around the English-speaking community lack information about its guidelines. It made both them and their target reading audience confused. It will be easy to master ASA paper format if you know APA or Chicago text formatting. Experts state that there are plenty of common aspects between the ASA official manual and The Chicago Manual of Style/American Psychological Association style.

The primary mission was to provide notes and instructions to make it easier for the writers to refer to electronic sources. The guide helps to structure, arrange, and organize a research paper on sociology and explains how to insert citations, footnotes, and bibliography section. Moreover, the text contains illustrations to speed up the search and the learning process. With each new release of the ASA formatting guide, the organization introduces some changes and improvements.

The recent edition offered the changes to the basic 2 components:

1. Author citation – a comma should go after the initial writer’s surname if the source has a couple of authors;
2. Issue number – the creators of the style offered to add the issue number of a journal article to make it simpler for the audience to search for information.

How to Create a Title Page in ASA Citation Format?

The first page of your paper is a title page. All the text on it must be centered, including the title of the paper and the name of the author. In case you write a term paper, include the title of the course, tutor’s name, and course title. Do not forget about the running head. It must be placed in the top left corner, not only on the title page but also throughout the whole paper. In it, the title of the work must be abbreviated, but in general, the title itself must clearly represent the main topic. The length of the title should be no more than 10-12 words. If you need to insert a subtitle, use a colon after the main title. Remember that the title is also repeated right before the main text.

It is also necessary to mention about the abstract. It should be on a separate page. The title of the paper should also be included as a heading for an abstract. The content of the abstract paragraph must sum up a purpose on no more than 200 words. Please do not include citations and use your own words.

The Importance of Studying ASA Citation Format

Why is it important to understand how to create ASA format citation? By knowing the recommended writing style, a student or young writer may take part in the following activities to contribute to the scientific community:

1. Writing
2. Submitting
3. Publishing

Citing is the best way to avoid plagiarism and acknowledge a distinguished author. One day, you will be paid back – students will cite your works in their research papers. Any text is an intellectual problem. No one can copy-paste the words of others without adverse consequences. The process of creating citations and references could be time-demanding and boring, but once a student masters the chosen format, he/she increases the chances to be published and recognized.

In which situations should a writer cite the works of others?

1. In publications, guides, presentations, and report, people who are involved in the fields related to sociology define credit and reference the original writer while taking information or material verbatim from the text of a third party, no matter if it is in print state or electronically accessible;
2. Sociologists should provide acknowledgment of another person’s text even if the target piece is not cited verbatim or rewritten. These professionals do not pretend they have written the words of other authors, no matter if it is printed or electronically accessible (American Sociological Association, 2014, p. 3).

Where to Find ASA Format Example?

Each citation in the text appears in the author-date style. ASA format example is a short in-text citation, direct or indirect, pasted in a place where a source is quoted, and a full list of sources is added at the end of the work.

The usage of in-text citations makes it possible to integrate the literature writer used into the paper without difficulties, and it allows linking writer’s ideas with the studies of other scientists who worked on the same topic. Mind that teachers include citations & references in the final word count.

Every quotation has the writer’s surname along with the date of publication (a year of publication is enough). The writer must enclose such information in parentheses and locate the citation at the end of the sentence between the final word and the period. It helps to prevent plagiarism and make the paper organized. You may wonder how to quote, that's why we published one blog telling all details about this issue.

Discover free examples of essays cited in different formats online!

Rules & Principles of ASA Bibliography Format

A comprehensive reference list requires involving an ASA bibliography format. The tips you will see below will assist in developing the references page.

A bibliography must follow the content & footnotes on a dedicated page with a “References” title with the help of the 1st-level head format;

• A writer should include the quotations in alphabetical order by the original writer's surname;
• A student must state the names of the authors instead of the initials;
• It is important to double-space the quotations between every entry;
• Avoid using the ampersand (&);
• Put a comma between 2 or more names – stick to the latest, 5th edition of the official manual;
• The words different from prepositions, articles, and conjunctions should start with the capital letters;
• If the writer introduces several works of the same author, a full name is needed in every quotation in chronological order (starting from the most outdated one).

Grab ASA Format Sample Paper Written from Scratch!

A great way to understand the way ASA format sample paper should look is to get some free examples of such essays online. Where can a student observe one? Please feel free to check sociology topics to research as well as download or read samples of sociology papers written in ASA citation format on our advanced academic writing & editing service at any time.