Citations and References

Citation and reference styles vary across disciplines. This page describes formats that you should use in sociology papers (but maybe not elsewhere). These guidelines for common sorts of citations are adapted from the American Sociological Association's Style Guide (1997:20-24). The Style Guide is available at the Skidmore Shop or in the department office (217 Tisch Learning Center).

See also Professor Scarce's Writing Tips available on-line.

Printed Sources

Citations of books, articles, and other printed sources present the last name of the authors and year of publication. Include page numbers if you quote directly or refer to specific passages.

• If an author's name is not in the text, enclose the last name and publication year in parentheses (with no comma):
  

  . . . as reported in a study of conservative mobilization (McVeigh 1999).

• If an author's name is in the text, follow it with the publication year in parentheses:
  

  . . . as Brueggemann (2000a) suggests about the United Auto Workers.

• Pagination follows year of publication after a colon (with no space between the colon and page number):

  . . . with regard to shameful penalties (Karp 1998:280-81).

• Give both names for two joint authors:

  . . . in the United Autoworkers Union (Brueggemann and Boswell 1998).

• If a work has three authors, cite all three last names in the first citation; thereafter, use et al. in the citation:

  First citation: . . . in community colleges (Blau, McVeigh, and Land 2000). Later citations: . . . (Blau et al. 2000).

  
  

• If the work has more than three authors, use et al. in the first citation and in all subsequent citations:

  First citation: . . . pay equity in New York (Berheide et al. 1986). Later citations: . . . concerning pay of state employees (Berheide et al. 1986).

  Note: Italicize et al.

• Quotations in the text begin and end with quotation marks. The author, date, and page numbers follow the end-quote and precede the period:

  A recent study finds that the entanglement of race and class "constitutes a potent and resilient stratification system" (Brueggemann 2000a:2238 ). Or Brueggemann and Boswell (1998) report that "adopting the miners' formula included an openness to Communist organizers to implement the policy" (p. 464).

• Present block quotations in a separate, indented paragraph without quotation marks:

  As McVeigh (1999) concludes: In the 1860s, 1920s, and 1960s many Americans were attracted to a social movement that displayed the ugliest forms of racism and bigotry. The Ku Klux Klan did not make these individuals racists and bigots. They grew up that way. The Klan did give them the language to articulate their newly emerging economic and political grievances. Sadly, the Klan's strategy has often been effective. (P. 1492)

  Note: The author, date, and/or page number follows the period in a block quote. In a block quote, the P for page is capitalized when the page number is cited alone without the author and date, as in the above example.

• Cite chapters, tables, appendices, and so on like this:

  . . . among measures described by Fox (1997, chap. 7). Or . . . according to data from a recent study (McVeigh 1999, table 1:1483).

• For institutional or governmental authorship, supply minimum identification from the beginning of the complete citation:

  . . . should use recommended citation formats (American Sociological Association 1997:21).

• If a work you cite was reprinted from a version published earlier, list the earliest publication date in brackets, followed by the publication date of the recent version you have used:

  . . . anxiety of new parents (Walzer [1996] 1998).

  
  

• Separate a series of references with semicolons:

  . . . (Karp 1998; Berheide 1999; Clear and Karp 1999).

  Note: You may list the series in either alphabetical or chronological order, but be consistent throughout your paper.

• For unpublished material, use "forthcoming" for items scheduled for publication:

  . . . in feminist approaches to power (Reger forthcoming).