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An ASA in-text citation names the author and the year of publication in parentheses, with no comma between them, and adds a colon and the page number when you quote or point to a specific passage: (Alvarez 2019:42). This guide breaks that pattern into its parts, gives labelled examples, and lists the slips that most often appear in manuscripts and theses written for sociology journals and departments.
The pattern is the same author-date logic used by several styles, but the punctuation is not. If you are moving a draft from APA or Chicago, the punctuation is where ASA differs, so that is where to look first. For the wider landscape of styles, see citation styles and referencing formats.
The format: each element of an ASA in-text citation
The basic template is (Last Name Year:Pages). Library style guides from the Wolfgram Memorial Library at Widener University and the library at CSU Channel Islands agree on every element below.
- Author last name. Surname only, no initials.
- A space, then the year. There is no comma between the name and the year.
- A colon and the page numbers, when needed. Add pages when you quote directly or point to a specific passage. There is no space before or after the colon, and no “p.” or “pp.” label.
- Closing parenthesis. The whole citation sits inside one pair of parentheses.
When the author is named in your sentence, put only the year (and pages) in parentheses: Alvarez (2019:42) follows the same rules, with the year attached to the name.
Examples
The sources below are fictitious and are used only to show the pattern. They are examples, not real publications or people.
| Situation | Example |
|---|---|
| One author, general reference | (Alvarez 2019) |
| One author, specific page | (Alvarez 2019:42) |
| One author, page range | (Alvarez 2019:100-108) |
| Author named in the sentence | Alvarez (2019:42) argues that… |
| Two authors | (Brandt and Okafor 2021) |
| More than two authors | (Brandt et al. 2021) |
| Organization as author | (Example Research Council 2020) |
Both guides use “and” between two authors, “et al.” for longer author lists, and n.d. in place of an unknown date. The point at which a long author list is shortened to “et al.” depends on the edition and the journal, so this page does not give a number; follow your journal, department or instructor on that point. For background on the abbreviation, see et al. citation usage rules.
For institutions, the Widener guide says the abbreviation is preferred in the text, as in (ASA 2018), while the matching reference-list entry spells the name out. The CSU Channel Islands guide shows a full organization name in the text, as in (Syracuse University Libraries 2019). Either way, the name in the text must match how the author appears at the start of the reference entry.
In-text citation version: from running text to a manuscript or thesis
In a manuscript or thesis the in-text citation is half of a pair. Each parenthetical citation must lead the reader to one entry in the reference list, where the author and year appear again. That makes consistency a checkable property: every name-and-year in the text should be findable in the reference list, and every reference-list entry should be cited at least once in the text.
A practical check before submission is to search the file for every opening parenthesis followed by a capital letter, then confirm each hit against the reference list. This catches the common manuscript problem of a source that was cited early in drafting and then cut from the argument but left in the references. For layout of the rest of the document, see research paper format and manuscript writing.
Common errors
- A comma between name and year. Writing (Alvarez, 2019) is the APA pattern. In ASA the name and year are separated by a space only.
- “p.” before the page number. ASA attaches the pages to the year with a colon, as in (Alvarez 2019:42). If you are converting from another style, compare how APA format page numbers are written.
- A space around the colon. The CSU Channel Islands guide states there are no spaces between the publication date, the colon and the page numbers: 2019:42, not 2019: 42.
- Mismatched names. The name in the parentheses differs from the reference list because of a spelling change, an abbreviation used in one place only, or a changed year.
Style-guide edition
Library catalogs list a seventh edition of the ASA Style Guide, published by the American Sociological Association in 2022. The two library guides cited here both describe themselves as following the sixth edition, and this page has not been checked against the seventh edition’s text. It therefore limits itself to the points on which both guides agree. Before you submit to a journal or hand in a thesis, check your target journal’s author instructions and your department’s requirements, because the edition and rules they specify are the ones that govern your document.
FAQ
What does an ASA in-text citation look like?
Author last name, a space and the year inside parentheses, such as (Alvarez 2019). Add a colon and the page numbers when you quote or point to a passage: (Alvarez 2019:42).
Is there a comma in an ASA in-text citation?
No. There is no comma between the author’s name and the year, and none before the colon and the page number.
How do I cite two authors?
Join the two surnames with “and”: (Brandt and Okafor 2021).
How do I cite a source with no date?
Use n.d. in place of the year; the CSU Channel Islands guide says to use (n.d.) when the date is unknown.
How do I cite an organization?
Use the organization’s name or its abbreviation where the author’s name would go, followed by the year, for example (ASA 2018). The Widener guide prefers the abbreviation and spells the full name out in the reference entry.
Is ASA style the same as APA?
Both put the author and year in parentheses, but the punctuation differs. ASA omits the comma between name and year and uses a colon for pages. For APA see APA format page numbers.
Sources
- Wolfgram Memorial Library, Widener University, “ASA Style Guide: In-Text Citations”, https://widener.libguides.com/ASA/in-text-citations (page updated October 13, 2025; checked 2026-10-29).
- CSU Channel Islands library, “Citation Style Guide: ASA (6th)”, https://libguides.csuci.edu/citations/ASA (checked 2026-10-29).
The examples above use invented authors and sources. They illustrate the pattern only.
