Clark Family Library: Sociology: Citing Sources

Citation in Sociology

Sociology researchers primarily use ASA (American Sociological Association) or APA citation styles. MLA is also sometimes used. With that said, it's always best to ask your professor if they have a preferred style that they would like you to use. Below is a link to the library's larger citation guide along with some quick tips for the three citation styles discussed above to get you started.

Citation Styles: APA, MLA, Chicago, & Beyond!
by Samantha Martin Last Updated Oct 4, 2024 4401 views this year

Citation Styles

ASA Quick Tips for ASA Style
This style sheet has been provided to assist students studying sociology in properly citing and referencing their papers and essays. The information in this document is taken from the American Sociological Association Style Guide (4th ed., 2010)
Purdue OWL - ASA
Online writing lab with formatting tips and sample papers from Purdue University.
NOTE: The "Cite your source automatically" feature on Purdue Owl pages is part of another website, and not recommended.

American Sociologcical Association Style Guide by American Sociological Association Staff
Call Number: Ref Desk HM569 .A54 2014
ISBN: 9780912764214
Publication Date: 2014-01-01
"The ASA Style Guide highlights and features guidelines for the most common situations encountered by authors and editors in the ASA journal publication process. It is designed to serve as the authoritative reference for writing, submitting, editing, and copy editing manuscripts for ASA journals"--Page xi.

APA Citation Style
APA Style from the Purdue Writing Lab
Online writing lab with formatting tips and sample papers.
The "Cite your source automatically" feature is part of another website and is not recommended.
APA Style and Grammar Guidelines
The official homepage for APA style, hosted by the American Psychology Association. This site has a lot of good information about the style and numerous examples.

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association by American Psychological Association
Call Number: REF DESK BF76.7 .P83 2010
The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition is the official source for APA Style. Known for its authoritative, easy-to-use reference and citation system, the Publication Manual also offers guidance on choosing the headings, tables, figures, language, and tone that will result in powerful, concise, and elegant scholarly communication. It guides users through the scholarly writing process--from the ethics of authorship to reporting research through publication. Resources for students on writing and formatting annotated bibliographies, response papers, and other paper types as well as guidelines on citing course materials. New chapter on bias-free language guidelines for writing about people with respect and inclusivity in areas including age, disability, gender, participation in research, race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and intersectionality

MLA Citation Style
Official MLA Style Center
The official website for MLA style, hosted by the Modern Language Association. The MLA Style Center does not contain the full text of the handbook, although it walks users through the process of creating an entry in the works cited list. It also has a robust Q&A section for user-submitted questions.

MLA Handbook Plus This link opens in a new window
Online access to the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook. For information on accessing this resource from off campus, please see our FAQ page

Purdue Online Writing Lab - MLA
Online writing lab with formatting tips and sample papers. The "Cite your source automatically" feature on Purdue Owl pages is part of another website, and not recommended.

Free Citation Management Tools

Zotero

Free tool with both web-based functionality and a desktop client.
Open Source software, not affiliated with any publisher.
- Because this software is open source it is the recommend citation manager by the library staff.
Excellent for capturing websites in addition to more scholarly publications.
Not designed to be used across multiple public or shared computers.
Excellent LibGuide from Illinois State University with step-by-step instructions for using Zotero: https://guides.library.illinoisstate.edu/zotero/guideoverview

EndNote Basic

Free, web-based version of EndNote with limited functionality.
Provided by Clarivate Analytics and Web of Science
For full functionality you would need to purchase EndNote, which is costly.

Mendeley

Free tool with web-based functionality, a desktop client, and mobile app
Provided by Elsevier, providers of Science Direct.
Plug-in allows you create citations directly in Microsoft Word
Has a social network-type component.

We encourage you to do your research and find the citation manager that works best for you. For a more in-depth comparison of the options, check out this Comparison Chart from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries.

As always, if you need help managing your citations you can ask a librarian for help!