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‎ Sociology

This guide is a starting point for your research in sociology.

ASA Citation

The American Sociological Association (ASA) provides guidance on how to create citations according to the discipline.

Here is a link to a "Quick Tips" guide.

Understanding Citations

A citation reflects all of the information a person would need to locate a particular source. For example, basic citation information for a book consists of name(s) of author(s) or editor(s), title of book, name of publisher, place of publication, and most recent copyright date. It is used to:
  • Describe a book, journal article, website, or other published item
  • Give credit to the originator of an idea, thus preventing plagiarism
  • Enable the reader to retrieve the item you refer to

Why Cite?

It's important to cite in order to:

  • Give credit to ideas that are not your own
  • Provide support for your argument (professor's love that!)
  • Enable your reader to find and read the sources you used, which makes your research process transparent
  • Avoid Honor Code infractions and/or plagiarism

Examples of citations include:

  • Exact wording taken from any source, including freely available websites
  • Paraphrases of passages
  • Indebtedness to another person for an idea
  • Use of another student's work
  • Use of your own previous work

You DO NOT need to cite common knowledge.

A citation style dictates the information necessary for a citation and how the information is ordered, as well as punctuation and other formatting. 
 
An in-text citation consists of just enough information to correspond to a source's full citation in a Works Cited list. In-text citations often require a page number (or numbers) showing exactly where relevant information was found in the original source.
 
A works cited list presents citations for those sources referenced in a particular paper, presentation, or other composition.
 
A bibliography lists citations for all of the relevant resources a person consulted during his or her research.

In an annotated bibliography, each citation is followed by a brief note—or annotation—that describes and/or evaluates the source and the information found in it.

Citation Management

A common problem of students writing research papers is that they have lots of books, websites, and PDFs of articles with no real way to keep track of all these source materials in one place. Citation management systems (CMSes) are designed to help you keep track of citations and PDFs. They allow you to download citations from databases and websites, and to store, organize, and format those citations.

These are particularly helpful for:

  • large research projects with many sources
  • ongoing research into an area of interest
  • any research where you want to save sources that you can reference in the future

Two good, free CMSes are NoodleTools and Zotero. If you have any questions about using either software, please contact Your Librarian on the Introduction page.

Live Chat:

Olin Librarians are available to help with any questions!

Need Extra Help?

For additional assistance, schedule an appointment with the Tutoring and Writing Consulting Center or a research consultation with any Olin librarian.