Skip to Main Content

Citation Styles

A comprehensive guide to citing in various citation styles, offering examples of citations as well as links to outside sources.

What is a citation?

A citation or reference is the information given in a bibliography or a database about a particular title, which often includes:

  • article title or chapter title
  • periodical title or book title
  • author(s) or editor(s)
  • place of publication
  • date of publication
  • publisher name
  • volume/issue (articles) or edition (books)
  • page range
  • medium of publication
  • electronic access (URL or DOI)
  • date accessed

Citations give credit to those whose ideas have contributed to your research and give your readers enough information to locate the sources you used. There are many ways to format citations. The style you choose depends on your field and the requirements set by your professor or publisher.

End-of-Text References (6th ed.)

Template

Author last name, Author first name and Initial. Year of Publication.  “Article title.” Name of Publication Volume Number Page Range.

Examples

Print article

Aseltine, Robert H., Jr. and Ronald C. Kessler. 1993. “Marital Disruption and Depression in a Community Sample.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 34(3):237-51

Online article

Schafer, Daniel W. and Fred L. Ramsey. 2003.  “Teaching the Craft of Data Analysis.” “Teaching the Craft of Data Analysis.” 11(1) Retrieved December 12, 2006 (http://www.amstat.org/publications/jse/v11n1/schafer.html).

Template

Book

Author last name, Author first name and Initial. Year of Publication. Book Title Publisher’s city and state, or province postal code (or name of country if a foreign publisher):   publisher name

Chapter in an edited book

Author last name, Author first name and Initial. Year of Publication. ”chapter title”. page range book title volume/issue editor Publisher’s city and state, or province postal code (or name of country if a foreign publisher): publisher name

Examples

One author

Mason, Karen. 1974. Women's Labor Force Participation Research Triangle Park, NC: National Institutes of Health.

Multiple authors

Bursik, Robert J., Jr. and Harold G. Grasmick. 1993. Neighborhoods and Crime: The Dimensions of Effective Community Control. New York: Lexington Books.

Chapter in an edited book

Clausen, John. 1972. ”The Life Course of Individuals.” Pp. 457-514 in Aging and Society. Vol. 3, A Sociology of Stratification, edited by M.W. Riley, M. Johnson, and A. Foner. New York: Russell Sage.

In-Text References (6th ed.)

Citations in the text include the last name of the author(s) and year of publication. Include page numbers when quoting directly from a work or referring to specific passages. Identify subsequent citations of the same source in the same way as the first.

In-Text quotations:

-Short quotations in the body of the manuscript should be surrounded by quotation marks.

-Block quotations (direct quotations of more than 40 words) should be offset from the main text and may be single-spaced. Do not include quotation marks with block quotes.

-Pagination follows the year of publication after a colon (note that in the in-text citation, there is no space between the colon and the page number.

Example: "As tabulated by Kuhn (Kuhn 1970:71) the results show..."

Paraphrasing: 

-you need to use citations whenever you use another source in your text, even if you are paraphrasing 

-in ASA you need to cite the page number you paraphrased from just like a regular quotation.

 

Formatting Requirements (6th ed.)

-American Sociological Association style formatting requirements: 

  • Add a title page with the full title, your name/s, associated institutions, and a complete word count of the document, including footnotes and references.
  • 150-200 word abstract and a list of keywords should be included immediately after the title page.
  • Use 12 point Arial font and double-space it, including footnotes.
  • 1 1/4 inch margins on all sides
  • Use subheadings to organize the body of your paper
  • Use footnotes and endnotes to cite material of limited availability. (for more information click here)
  • Number your pages and label any tables or charts