The English American Sociological Association style, or ASA format, is the widely acknowledged method for designing research/academic articles in Sociology. This style, like APA and MLA, has precise criteria for formatting content, citations, footnotes, and bibliography in academic publications. The ASA format was first published by the American Sociological Association in 1985. In an academic article, the ASA format distinguishes three main sections: (1) a title page, (2) the abstract, and (3) the body of the text. These components are summarized in the figure below. The title page includes the following items: (1) the full title of the paper, (2) the author's name(s), (3) the date, (4) the volume number, if applicable, (5) the issue number, if applicable, and (6) the word count. The title page is placed at the beginning of the document before the abstract. The abstract is usually one paragraph describing the focus of the paper. The body of the paper begins after the abstract. The reference list should be included at the end of the paper. It should contain all sources used in the study, including books, journals, the Internet, and others. Each item in the reference list should be cited in the text using the same format as any other citation. For example, "Blahity blah blah.