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Formatting Guides

ASA Format Citation: Guidelines & Examples

ASA citation
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“According to O’Shea et al. (2010), doctors should control the health condition of high‐risk patients every day.”

“According to Fisher, Davis, McLean, and Le Couteur (2005), elderly patients living in an institutional setting are under the higher threat of failure.”

That is the way ASA format citation looks. Why do students need ASA formatting? The article explains the origins of this academic paper format, describes the proper way to cite/reference sources, and shares some examples of ASA format citation.

Students who have hard times mastering various formats should not worry. It is possible to order a custom research paper on any topic without leaving home from the professional academic essay writing service. These gurus know to cite in every existing format!

What Is ASA Format?

What is ASA format? ASA Formatting is an academic citation style adopted by the community of authors, scientists, researchers, publishers, and college/university students. People who contribute to the field of study by writing scholarly articles need ASA format. Other options are APA, McGill, Chicago, Oxford, Bluebook, etc. In most cases, sociologists apply ASA paper format to credit the ideas of other distinguished people in the corresponding field of study and theories utilized consistently.

The American Sociological Association has established this parenthetical referencing style to make the structure of sociological articles clear. It refers to the author-date documentation system. The lack of the distracting footnotes is a great advantage for the writer's thanks to the efficient way of citing the materials.

ASA Formatting Components

The components of the ASA formatting are:

  1. In-text citations (direct & indirect), which appear next to the source enclosing the original author’s surname along with the date of publication. The student should include this information in parentheses.
  2. Reference page, which shows up at the end of the research paper/scholarly article listing the sources quoted in the author’s paper. Every entry contains the whole publications details.

Such type of citations is necessary to grab the reader's attention to where the writer inserted a citation or rewrote a quote within the text. Each citation, direct/indirect, has the author’s name, date of publication, and the quote’s page number from the original source (if available). It will look this way: (Gellar, 2009, p. 123). List the subsequent references to the same source parenthetically by author-date; it is possible to apply a single source if a writer knows it is 100% credible

Every citation has to be linked to a corresponding reference entry on the final page of the assignment with the goal to lead the reader there. A bibliography/references page is an alphabetical order of completely formatted quotes. The date of publication is the primary part of information next to the author’s name. The most similar referencing styles are The American Psychological Association’s style and Chicago style paper.

ASA Style Format: How to Create a Citation?

This section discusses the ways to generate an in-text citation. A writer should add direct/indirect in-text citation wherever a source is quoted to provide supporting evidence to one of the paper’s arguments. A direct citation appears exactly the way it shows up in the source. An indirect citation is a reworded phrase. The usage of quotations allows integrating the primary source content into the writer’s project with ease, linking personal ideas to the grounded research. If a student deals with a standard 5 paragraph essay structure, the prompt will say to include minimum one quotation per each of 3 body paragraphs. Teachers include in-text citations in the final word count.

Check the list of various situations to understand how to insert in-text citations in ASA style writing.

  1. What if the author’s name is mentioned? Add a parenthetical quotation with the date of publication (year) at the end.
  2. The writer’s name is unknown – enclose the last name of the researcher and publication year in parentheses.
  3. Multiple authors are present. Add the union “and” between 2 authors, and end up with the year: page number).
  4. The presence of more than 3 authors means a student should apply “at al.”
  5. Add the number of the page the quotation was taken from within the text while citing the source/referring to certain paragraphs (separate the pagination by a colon).

Anything else? Citing numerous works for the single claim means a publication date should be distinguished from the rest of the materials with a semicolon in alphabetical/chronological order.

The writer should add the reprinted source by listing the initial publication year in brackets, and highlight the latest publication date after that.

Apply “forthcoming” tag. Do it in case of any unpublished sources to define the content, which will see the world.

Apply the abbreviated citations in the paper if you recall National Archives/other archival materials.

Apply the abbreviated citations in the paper if you recall National Archives/other archival materials.

ASA Paper Format: Useful Tips from College Professors!

Follow these tips to come up with the ASA paper format for your research paper.

  • Add a reference page after the main text on a separate piece of paper with the title “References” done in the 1st-level formatted heading;
  • Put the quotations in alphabetical order;
  • Type the authors’ 1st names instead of recalling the initials;
  • The citations are double-spaced;
  • It is forbidden to apply (&) and other similar symbols in the citations/references;
  • Insert a comma between 2 or more names of writers according to the fifth ASA guide’s edition;
  • Capitalize (start with the capital letter) the words excluding prepositions like “between,” articles (example: “the”), and conjunctions (example: “but.”);
  • Arrange the citations in chronological order if you include more than one source written by the same person.

ASA Style Cover Page Example Taken from A+ Paper

A title/cover page includes a full work’s title along with an asterisk, writer’s name and organization(s), specification of the word count, running head, and a title footnote (add acknowledgments, credits, and grant information in a footnote).

It will be easier to understand from an ASA style cover page example.

INCLUDE FINAL ESSAY TITLE INITIALLY

A template for writers - any subtitle – twenty words limit both main and subtitles

STUDENT FAMILY NAME. A1, STUDENT FAMILY NAME. B2 and STUDENT FAMILY NAME C3

1,2 - Institution, City, Region

email of the 1st author@first institute

3 - Institution 2, City 2, Region 2

email of the author@second institute

(Put down the ID number before submitting the final paper for review

Write the names of authors, affiliations and contact emails to submit the print final paper after feedback).

Where Can a Writer Get Free ASA Format Example?

The last thing to discuss is ASA format example and where to look for the complete custom essays on any topic. Is it time-consuming to study an ASA citation format guide? Are you running out of time working on another academic paper? To avoid risks and find proper support, go to the official website of one of the leading research paper services in the US/UK, and feel free to place your primary order. Enjoy the affordable prices along with amazing quality!

Article posted on:May 6, 2022
Article updated on:May 11, 2023

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