Using ASA Citation Standards

ASA standards start by following basic Harvard-style referencing, using author-date-page parenthetical notations. If the author’s name is used in the document text, the notation is altered to a date-page format instead. If no date is available or you are referencing an unpublished source, use “n.d.” or “forthcoming” respectively.

It is tempting to use “et al” for any reference having more than one author. This is used, however, only when there are more than three authors under ASA standards. For two or three, all author names are listed. If, by chance, you are citing more than one resource in a given sentence, list them all at the end, separated by semicolons. The order should either be author/alphabetical or date/chronological.

Footnote and Endnote Usage

Under ASA guidelines, footnotes and endnotes are not used for citations at all. They are used to explain a given passage that may seem vague, to amplify a point or concept. Notation references are numbered sequentially throughout the document with all endnotes inserted at the end of the document.

Building ASA Citations

ASA citations can be basically described using the following format:
Name. Date. “Article Title.” Source Name. Volume. Page (Count). Location: Publisher Name. Retrieved on Date. Database Name. (URL).

• Name

  Use the author’s name or, if unknown, use the editor’s name with an “ed.” notation following the name.

• Date

  This is the date of the articles copyright or publication. If unknown, use the abbreviation “n.d.” in its place. In the case of an article whose author and editor are both unknown, the date will actually follow the article’s title with the article placed in the bibliography alphabetically based on the article’s title.

• Article Title

  This is the title of the article exactly as published. If there is a subtitle, it is included but separated from the main title by a colon and surround the entire thing with quotation marks. With unknown authors and editors, the article title will appear first in the bibliographic citation.

• Source Name

  This is the name of the central source being cited and is always italicized under ASA guidelines.

• Volume Information

  Volume information is supplied in the case of periodicals, though it can indicate a source with multiple versions or editions.

• Page Location and Size

  List the pages where the relevant information or article is found. If the article is broken into sections located in different parts of the source, list the start page followed by an overall page count enclosed in parentheses.

• Editor’s Name

  For collected works, anthologies and encyclopedic sources, the editor’s name is listed. If the article lacks an author’s name, the editor’s name is put in its place at the beginning of the citation instead of here. An “ed.” notation or “Edited by” is used to indicate the editor’s name.

• Location and Publisher’s Name

  List the publication location (city, state, nation) and the name of the publishing agency or company, separated by a colon with the location first.

• Retrieved Date

  For online resources, make a note of what day you visited or downloaded the resource. Information changes frequently on the Internet and entire pages or even websites can vanish overnight.

• Database Name

  For articles drawn from an electronic or online database, the database name and version information should be noted. Also note the document’s individual identification for the article to be found later.

• URL

  In parentheses, list the exact Internet address of the web page, website, online journal or database you have cited.

The Bibliography

All bibliographic citations are listed in alphabetical order using the author’s name, editor’s name, or article title. For multiple articles attributed to a single author or authors, place the citations in chronological order or alphabetical order based on the article or source title. Add a letter-suffix to the publication year in the order the citations are listed on this basis and use that year-suffix notation in all in-text references. Use a hanging format for the citations. Indent all lines except the first about a quarter to half inch and, if using annotations, indent the annotation by the same amount.

Final Words

Keeping careful track of where and when you acquired the materials for your assignment is necessary to implement any reference-citation methodology. Our writers are skilled in this and know the advantage to using state-of-the-art software to assist in this matter. Using mind-mapping software, researched materials are documented and organized, creating an outline from which your article is written to professional standards. Contact us today with your assignment and let us know which citation style you need for your document. Our writers are able to document your paper in any citation style necessary.