ASA Bibliography: Format, Rules and Examples

An ASA bibliography—designated officially as the REFERENCES section in American Sociological Association style—documents scholarship cited in a sociological manuscript, thesis, or journal article. An ASA references list includes only sources directly cited in the text, arranged alphabetically by the first author’s surname. Accurate bibliographic formatting ensures compliance with journal submission criteria and supports reproducibility across sociological research.

When drafting scholarly manuscripts, researchers must distinguish ASA conventions from related styles such as Chicago author-date and APA. Sociologists structuring major academic submissions can cross-reference our guide on the layout of a literature review and our definition of the bibliography term in scholarly communications.

The Format

The ASA reference section begins on a separate page following body text, notes, and appendices. Head the page with the title REFERENCES, centered at the top without quotation marks, underlining, or bolding. All entries use a 0.5-inch hanging indent and double spacing.

Core bibliographic elements follow a standard sequence:

• Author Names: Invert the first author’s name only (Last Name, First Name Middle Initial.). Subsequent authors appear in standard order (First Name Middle Initial Last Name). Full first names are required rather than initials, unless the author published exclusively under initials. Join the final author with the word “and” (do not use an ampersand).
• Publication Year: Place the year immediately after the author name, followed by a period (e.g., 2024.). For multiple works by the same author in a single year, append lowercase letters (2024a., 2024b.).
• Titles: Capitalize in headline-style title case. Article and chapter titles are enclosed in quotation marks with the period inside ("Title of Article."). Book titles and journal names are italicized.
• Publication Details: For journal articles, provide the full journal name, volume number, issue number in parentheses, a colon, and inclusive pages with no space after the colon (e.g., 78(4):312–335). For books, list the city and state abbreviation (or country), followed by a colon and the publisher name.
• Electronic Identifiers: Include Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) for all online journal articles. If you have an identifier string, refer to our tutorial on generating a citation from DOI.

General reference templates:

• Journal Article: Author Last Name, First Name, and Second Author First Name Last Name. Year. "Article Title." Journal Name Volume(Issue):Page Range. doi:10.xxxx/xxxx.
• Book: Author Last Name, First Name. Year. Book Title: Subtitle. City, State: Publisher.
• Edited Volume Chapter: Author Last Name, First Name. Year. "Chapter Title." Pp. Pages in Book Title, edited by Editor Name. City, State: Publisher.

Examples

The following real-pattern examples demonstrate standard ASA bibliographic entries. All citations use fictitious bibliographic details labelled explicitly as illustrative examples.

Example 1: Single-Author Book (Fictitious Example)
Halifax, Elena R. 2021. Urban Enclaves and Civic Trust: Neighborhood Transformation in Post-Industrial Cities. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Example 2: Two-Author Journal Article with DOI (Fictitious Example)
Montgomery, David K., and Sarah L. Chen. 2023. “Institutional Stratification and Early-Career Mentorship in Higher Education.” American Sociological Review 88(3):412–439. doi:10.1177/00031224231189012.

Example 3: Chapter in an Edited Volume (Fictitious Example)
Vance, Marcus J. 2020. “Social Capital and Digital Labor Networks.” Pp. 185–209 in Rethinking Networked Society, edited by K. A. Thorne and L. M. Briggs. New York: Routledge.

Example 4: Three or More Authors in References (Fictitious Example)
Alvarez, Roberto T., Julian M. Brooks, and Claire E. Dubois. 2022. “Algorithmic Gatekeeping in Community Lending.” Sociological Science 9(1):77–104. https://doi.org/10.15195/v9.a4.

Example 5: Government or Organizational Report (Fictitious Example)
National Center for Health Statistics. 2024. Socioeconomic Disparities in Healthcare Access. Hyattsville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

In-Text Citation Version

ASA style uses an author-date in-text citation format. A defining feature is that no comma separates author and year in parentheses. When quoting directly, append the page number using a colon with no space after the colon.

• Single Author: Parenthetical: (Halifax 2021); with page: (Halifax 2021:114). Narrative: Halifax (2021:114) observed that community trust varies across neighborhoods.
• Two Authors: Cite both surnames joined by “and”: (Montgomery and Chen 2023:421).
• Three Authors: List all three surnames on first mention: (Alvarez, Brooks, and Dubois 2022). On subsequent mentions, abbreviate to first author plus “et al.”: (Alvarez et al. 2022).
• Four or More Authors: Use the first author’s surname followed by “et al.” on all in-text citations: (Kowalski et al. 2023). All authors up to ten are listed in full in the References section.
• Multiple Works: Separate distinct works with semicolons: (Halifax 2021; Montgomery and Chen 2023).

Common Errors

Authors transitioning from APA or Chicago styles frequently introduce formatting discrepancies. The table below outlines key differences across styles:

Element	ASA Style (7th Ed.)	APA Style (7th Ed.)	Chicago (18th Author-Date)
Reference Title	REFERENCES (centered)	References (bold, centered)	References
Author Names	Full first names required	Initials only	Full first names encouraged
Article Titles	Title Case in quotation marks	Sentence case, no quotes	Title Case in quotation marks
In-Text Date	No comma: (Smith 2020)	Comma: (Smith, 2020)	No comma: (Smith 2020)
In-Text Page	Colon, no space: (Smith 2020:45)	Comma with “p.”: (Smith, 2020, p. 45)	Comma with space: (Smith 2020, 45)
Book Chapter	Pp. 12–34 in	(pp. 12–34). In	12–34 in

For scholars preparing papers across disciplines, our guide to Turabian formatting examples covers related humanities and Chicago notes-bibliography rules.

Style-Guide Edition

This guide reflects the American Sociological Association Style Guide, Seventh Edition (2022). The 7th Edition represents the current authoritative standard for all ASA periodicals and university sociology curricula.

Key standards maintained in the 7th Edition include:

• Digital Identifiers: Prioritizing permanent DOIs formatted as HTTPS links or standard resolver strings over temporary session URLs.
• Author Attribution: Preserving full author first names on the References page to support bibliometric accuracy and author visibility.
• Electronic Submission: Standardized reference formatting to support automated journal processing and peer review systems.

FAQ

Is the ASA bibliography titled “Bibliography” or “References”?

In official ASA style, the page is titled REFERENCES. Do not use “Bibliography” or “Works Cited,” as ASA distinguishes an author-date cited reference list from general reading lists.

Should author first names be spelled out in ASA references?

Yes. ASA style requires full first names and middle initials for all authors in the reference list. Initials are used only if an author publishes exclusively under their initials.

How do I cite a source with no publication date?

Use the abbreviation n.d. (no date) in lowercase in place of the year: Author Last Name, First Name. n.d. Title of Work... In-text citations use (Author n.d.) or (Author n.d.:15).

How are multiple works by the same author ordered?

Multiple entries by the identical author are arranged chronologically by year of publication, earliest first. If an author published multiple works in the same year, append lowercase letters (2022a, 2022b) ordered alphabetically by the title of each work.

Sources

The rules and citation templates in this guide trace to the official ASA manual and verified university reference guides:

• American Sociological Association. 2022. ASA Style Guide. 7th ed. Washington, DC: American Sociological Association. Official portal accessed 2026-11-10: https://www.asanet.org/.
• Purdue University Online Writing Lab (Purdue OWL). 2026. “ASA Style: References Page Formatting.” West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University. Accessed 2026-11-10: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/asa_style/references_page_formatting.html.
• Bowdoin College Library. 2026. “ASA Style: Reference List.” Brunswick, ME: Bowdoin College. Accessed 2026-11-10: https://library.bowdoin.edu/research/guides/asa.pdf.
• Trinity University Coates Library. 2026. “ASA Style Guide (7th Edition).” San Antonio, TX: Trinity University. Accessed 2026-11-10: https://libguides.trinity.edu/c.php?g=207185.