ASA Citation Generator — Free ASA Style Reference Maker

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Need an ASA citation? Our free ASA citation generator builds accurate American Sociological Association references in seconds. Paste a DOI, URL, or ISBN, or enter the details manually, and get a properly formatted ASA reference ready to copy.

ASA style comes from the ASA Style Guide and is the standard in sociology — for coursework, for the American Sociological Review, and for most sociology journals. It is an author-date system built on Chicago author-date, with a handful of differences that are easy to miss and easy to be marked down for.

How ASA in-text citations work

The in-text citation is the author's surname and the year with no comma between them: (Smith 2023). Naming the author in your sentence leaves only the year bracketed — Smith (2023) shows that…

The detail that distinguishes ASA from almost everything else is the page reference. ASA uses a colon with no space and no p.: (Smith 2020:45), and a range is written (Smith 2020:45–47). Typing (Smith 2020, p. 45) is APA punctuation, and it is the single most common ASA error.

  • Two authors: (Smith and Doe 2023)
  • Three authors: name all three the first time, then (Smith et al. 2023)
  • Four or more: (Smith et al. 2023) from the first citation onward
  • Specific page: (Smith 2020:45)

How to cite a journal article in ASA

The year follows the author's name as its own element, the article title goes in quotation marks and title case, and the journal name is italicized. Volume, issue, and pages run together, and ASA abbreviates the closing page number — 215–32, not 215–232.

Example

Smith, John A. 2023. “The Role of Machine Learning in Academic Writing.” Journal of Educational Technology 41(3):215–32. doi:10.1234/jet.2023.0041.

In-text: (Smith 2023)

How to cite a book in ASA

A book entry inverts the first author's name, places the year immediately after it, italicizes the title, and ends with the publisher. Note that only the first author is inverted: a second author is written John A. Smith, and Rachel B. Doe.

Example

Smith, John A. 2020. The Craft of Research. 4th ed. University of Chicago Press.

In-text: (Smith 2020)

ASA and Chicago author-date are not interchangeable

ASA is modeled on Chicago author-date, which is why the two look alike at a glance, and why references get copied between them without being adjusted. The differences are small, consistent, and visible to anyone grading a sociology paper:

  • ASA uses a colon for pages — (Smith 2020:45); Chicago uses a comma — (Smith 2020, 45)
  • ASA gives full first names in the reference list where the source does; many Chicago entries use initials
  • ASA shortens the second page number to 215–32; Chicago varies by context
  • ASA titles its list References; Chicago author-date uses a Reference List

Common ASA mistakes

The recurring ASA errors are all about punctuation carried over from a neighbouring style.

  • Writing (Smith, 2023) with a comma — ASA has no comma between name and year
  • Using p. or pp. in an in-text citation instead of the colon
  • Inverting every author's name instead of only the first
  • Putting the year in parentheses in the reference list, as APA does
  • Leaving the reference list unalphabetized, or alphabetizing by first name

Frequently asked questions

Is ASA the same as Chicago author-date?

It is closely modeled on it, but not identical. ASA uses a colon for page numbers, shortens closing page numbers, and titles the list References. Submitting Chicago author-date references for an ASA assignment will show.

How do I cite a page number in ASA?

Use a colon directly after the year with no space and no p.: (Smith 2020:45), or (Smith 2020:45–47) for a range. Page numbers are required for direct quotations.

Do I invert all the authors' names?

Only the first. The first author is written Smith, John A. and every author after that is in normal order — Smith, John A., and Rachel B. Doe.

Which edition of the ASA Style Guide is current?

The most recent edition of the ASA Style Guide governs, and the American Sociological Association publishes updates periodically. For standard books and articles the pattern has been stable across recent editions, so a correctly built reference stays correct.

Is the ASA citation generator free?

Yes. ASA references and in-text citations are free, with no account required.