How to Write an ASA Paper?

If you are studying at the university or college at the Faculty of Sociology, you are most likely faced with new subjects and new tasks. Sooner or later you would encounter the ASA – American Social Association paper format. It is used not only by students in writing scientific papers but also by professionals working in the field of sociology. These may also be studies that should be published in ASA magazines.

How to Write a Paper in ASA Format in Microsoft Word?

To write an article in the field of sociology, you need to follow some standard requirements using Microsoft Word Document.

To start writing ASA style paper, you will need to configure the basic settings of the document. Let’s consider the manuscript format.

• You can choose any font style, such as Times New Roman or Calibri. However, the font must be 12-size. 12-font refers to all additional information and the body of the ASA research.
• Adhere to a minimum of 1-inch margins.
• Next, you need to select one free page and fill it with special information. This page should contain the title of the scientific work with the counted number of words. Also, the page should include the names, addresses, and acknowledgments of all the authors who participated in writing the ASA work.
• If you need to add an abstract, place it on a separate page and contain up to 200 words. Top it with a title.

The study itself should start on a new page, after the title.

Adhere to ASA Citation Format

Very few scientific papers do without citations. After all, to explain scientific opinion correctly is almost impossible without reliable confirmation of recognized authors. The use of scientific sources makes the process of writing a study easier.

Adhering to the ASA citation format is a very important point because if you do not cite the source and words of the author correctly, you can infringe copyright and face problems that may even affect your career. The citation format may differ depending on the source from which you took the information.
ASA research paper requires strict rules of in-text citation.

• If you quote the author in the middle of the text (in-text citation), you must enter his name and the year when the quote was published. If you wrote a quote from the source, mark the page of the source, from which you got it. The page with citations should have the number of pages that correspond to the location of citations in the text. the page number follows the year of the article and is separated by a colon.
• After you indicate the author’s last name or first name in the text, you need to take the year of publication of the quote in parentheses.
• Sometimes sources can have more than 1 author, two, three, or even ten. In this case, the first time you mention the author’s quote, you need to write his full name and surname. However, when you mention a quote from the same source with the same authors a second time, you should write the name of one of the authors and end the sentence with the words “et al.”.
• All quotations should be traditionally highlighted with quotation marks.

Also note, that when you write footnotes, under a table, for example, they should go in sequential order using the superscript.

Structure References and Titles

References must be situated on a separate page and should be signed accordingly.

• The separate informative page should include all the author quotes you used in your ASA research. The author’s quote should be noted both in the text and on the separate page at the end of the research. You should use double-spacing on the reference page.
• The next important rule is arranging references in alphabetical order. To do this, use the first letter of the author’s name, and place references according to the alphabetical order of their authors. However, you must first write the author’s name and his surname in the second place.
• Sometimes there can appear a situation when you will need to mark two references in one line. In this case, you should write first the one that was written earlier.
• In the references list, you should highlight the titles of books and magazines in italics or underscores.

There are also certain rules for people who are not citizens of the country in which they publish ASA studies. If you are a citizen of a foreign country, mark not only the city but also the country of residence. If you are a citizen of the country where you publish the study, indicate the state and city.

Structure of the Title Page

We continue to perform actions in Microsoft Word. Following the 12 fonts, now it is better to use Times New Roman or Arial fonts. All margins should not exceed 1 inch. There should be a double space mode throughout the text. References should also be double-spaced. Titles of books and other literature should be highlighted in italics.
To write special, important information, you need to highlight a blank page. Separate pages should be allocated for:

• the title of the work;
• the names of the authors of the ASA research;
• the name of teacher and course;
• the short abstract overview. It should include no more than 200 words and tell about the content of the study.
• the text of the study together with the title begins with a new page.

The words of the first level headings consist of all capital letters and are centered or placed to the left side of the page. The headings can not be highlighted in bold. Headings to new sections should look like this:

SOCIETY DURING PANDEMIC (Caps, Centered).

The subtitle is always italicized, you need to avoid putting it in bold, the subtitle must be either centered or placed on the left side of the page. The subtitle should look like this:

Society after Pandemic (Intallics, the first letter Upper Case, Centered)

You should omit to start your text with the words Introduction. It is suitable for writing other scientific papers, however, it is not relevant to write it in ASA paper type.

Investigate the sample

You can always find ready-made samples of ASA format on the Internet. Looking at the template will make it easier for you to remember the structure and understand how to write your research.

Often, students want to publish their manuscripts in magazines. And if you are one of the young sociological researchers, and want to learn how to properly draw up papers in ASA format, read our article and use helpful tips.