AAA Style Citation Guide: Short Version
Reasons to Cite:
You must give credit to authors for everything in your paper that is not strictly from your own head.
This includes general ideas and background information, biographical information, paraphrases of an
author’s words, as well as direct quotes.
How Often to Cite:
A paragraph drawn from the same source or sources can have a single citation at the end of the
paragraph. If there are multiple authors used in the same paragraph, you must cite as many times as you
need to make clear whose work is being used at what point. Use your judgment on this.
How to Insert Quotes:
Short direct quotes of three lines or less can be inserted into the body of your text. Long quotes of four
lines or more must be indented as block quotes.
In the body of your paper, your parenthetical citations should be done as follows:
(Smith 1998).
(Smith and Jones 1998).
(Smith et al. 1998).
(Smith 1998:23-25).
(Jones 2002; Roberts 1999).
(Salt is Bad 2003).
(Thompson 1999:3).
(EPA 2005).
Special Case:
. [Smith 1998:23-25]
General background (Note that period goes AFTER the citation)
General background from a source with 2 authors
General background from a source with more than 2 authors
Includes page number(s) for a paraphrase or direct quote
Multiple sources for same background: alphabetize and separate
with semi-colon
Website without an author: use title or part of title, with year and page
number(s) as usual (NEVER use the www address!!!)
Website with an author: cite as you would any other text.
Website using the name of organization in place of author
Use square brackets for citation at end of a block quote. For block quotes
ONLY, the period goes after the last word of the quote, BEFORE the
citation instead of after.
Block Quotes:
Below is an example of a block quote, which you should use for long quotes that would be four or more
lines long.
You should indent the block quote to the same point as you are indenting your paragraphs
(suggested, one tab), and single space the text. You do not use quotation marks. Unlike “regular”
citations, for block quotes you DO put the period before the reference. Then, the reference itself
goes in square brackets, instead of parentheses. [Like This 2007:325]
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REFERENCES CITED
[Sample of various types of references in AAA format]
[BOOK]
Bennett, Tony
1995 The Birth of the Museum: History, Theory, Politics. London: Routledge Publishers.
[ARTICLE FROM A JOURNAL]
Csordas, Thomas J.
1988 Elements of Charismatic Persuasion and Healing. Medical Anthropology Quarterly
2(2):121-142.
[ARTICLE FROM NEWSPAPER]
Gillespie, Eleanor
2002 Mythic Runner Exerts Primal Pull. Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 19: 7P.
[CHAPTER FROM EDITED VOLUME]
Ginsburg, Faye
2002 Screen Memories. In, Media Worlds: Anthropology on New Terrain. John Smith and Joe
Jones, eds. Pp. 39-57. Berkeley: University of California Press.
[EDITOR AS AUTHOR]
Diskin, Martin, ed.
1970 Trouble in Our Backyard: Central American in the Eighties. New York: Pantheon Books.
[TV PROGRAM]
Relics from the Rubble
2002 Narrated by Josh Binswanger. This Week in History. 50 min. The History Channel,
September 3 (video recording).
[WEBSITE WITH NO AUTHOR (use title of website in lieu of author name)]
Salt is Bad for Your Health
2003 Website by low salt diet advocates. Electronic document.
http://www.saltisreallybad.com, accessed December 3, 2007.
[WEBSITE WITH AUTHOR]
Thompson, Mary
1999 Review of Dances with Wolves. Electronic document.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com, accessed March 14, 2008.
[WEBSITE OF AN ORGANIZATION (use name of organization if no author)]
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
2002 Holocaust Survivors Read Names from September 11, 2001. Electronic document.
http://www.ushmm.gov/museum//911_02, accessed May 1, 2008.
[TWO ARTICLES BY SAME AUTHOR IN SAME YEAR]
Vexler, Jill
2002a Guest Curator’s Essay. Museum of Jewish Heritage Magazine 24(5): 452-458.
2002b Theater Theatrics. Medical Anthropology Quarterly 15(4):123-124.
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