AJS author-date references

Contract

Enforces the American Journal of Sociology (AJS) author-date house citation style — the same system as the Chicago Manual of Style author-date and the AJS CSL style shipped in reference managers. Apply to every in-text citation and every reference-list entry in a manuscript. These tokens are arbitrary and non-default; follow them exactly, do not substitute APA, MLA, or a numbered style.

Rules

R1 — Author-date order

Each reference-list entry begins with the author(s), then the four-digit year, then the title. The year comes right after the author name, not at the end of the entry, and it is not wrapped in parentheses. Author(s). Year. Title. …

R2 — Full given names, first author inverted only

Give each author's full given name(s), never initials only (Peter Bearman, not P. Bearman). Only the first author is inverted to Last, First; every later author stays in normal First Last order.

• One author: Bearman, Peter S.
• Two: Bearman, Peter S., and James Moody.
• Three: Bearman, Peter S., James Moody, and Katherine Stovel.

R3 — "and", with a comma before it

Join authors with the spelled-out word and (never &), and always put a comma before the and, even with just two authors (Blau, Peter M., and Otis Dudley Duncan.).

R4 — Article titles: double quotes + headline case

An article or chapter title goes in double quotation marks and uses headline (title) case — capitalize the first and last words and all principal words; lowercase articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions, and short prepositions. The closing period sits inside the closing quotation mark. "Chains of Affection: The Structure of Adolescent Romantic and Sexual Networks."

R5 — Book / journal names: italic, no quotes

A book title and a journal (periodical) name are set in italics with no quotation marks, in headline case.

R6 — Journal locator: Volume (Issue): pages

For a journal article, after the italic journal name give Volume (Issue): FirstPage–LastPage — volume, a space, the issue in parentheses, a colon and one space, then the inclusive page range joined by an en dash (–), not a hyphen. Condense the closing page number per Chicago (1455–91, not 1455–1491; but keep both digits below 100, 44–91). American Journal of Sociology 110 (1): 44–91.

R7 — Book chapter: "Pp. X–Y in …, edited by …"

A chapter in an edited book is Author. Year. "Chapter Title." Pp. X–Y in Book Title, edited by First Last. City: Publisher. Note the capital Pp., the word in, the italic book title, and edited by with the editor in normal First Last order.

R8 — Book: City: Publisher

A whole book ends with City: Publisher. (place, colon-space, publisher). Include the two-letter state only for a lesser-known city (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.).

R9 — In-text: (Author Year), no comma

An in-text citation is the author surname(s) and year in parentheses with a space and no comma between them: (Bearman 2004). A page reference adds a comma before the page: (Bearman 2004, 52). Separate multiple sources with a semicolon: (Blau and Duncan 1967; Bearman 2004).

R10 — In-text "et al." only at FOUR or more authors

In text, name all authors for works with one, two, or three authors ((Bearman, Moody, and Stovel 2004)). Use first author + et al. only for four or more authors ((DiMaggio et al. 2001)). Do not switch to et al. at three authors.

R11 — Repeated author: 3-em dash

When consecutive reference-list entries have the same author(s), replace the repeated name in the later entry with a 3-em dash (———) followed by a period, then the year. Entries by one author are ordered by year, earliest first.

Worked examples (BEFORE = base default → AFTER = AJS conforming)

R1/R2/R4/R6, journal article, three authors.

• BEFORE: Bearman, P., Moody, J., & Stovel, K. (2004). Chains of affection: The structure of adolescent romantic and sexual networks. American Journal of Sociology, 110(1), 44-91.
• AFTER: Bearman, Peter S., James Moody, and Katherine Stovel. 2004. "Chains of Affection: The Structure of Adolescent Romantic and Sexual Networks." American Journal of Sociology 110 (1): 44–91.

R5/R8, book, two authors.

• BEFORE: Blau, P. M., & Duncan, O. D. (1967). The American occupational structure. Wiley.
• AFTER: Blau, Peter M., and Otis Dudley Duncan. 1967. The American Occupational Structure. New York: Wiley.

R7, book chapter.

• BEFORE: Granovetter, M. (1983). The strength of weak ties: A network theory revisited. In R. Collins (Ed.), Sociological Theory (pp. 201-233). Jossey-Bass.
• AFTER: Granovetter, Mark. 1983. "The Strength of Weak Ties: A Network Theory Revisited." Pp. 201–33 in Sociological Theory, edited by Randall Collins. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

R9, in-text with page.

• BEFORE: (Bearman, 2004, p. 52)
• AFTER: (Bearman 2004, 52)

R10, four-author in-text.

• BEFORE (three authors, wrongly abbreviated): (Bearman et al. 2004) for a 3-author work.
• AFTER: (Bearman, Moody, and Stovel 2004) — name all three; reserve et al. for four+.

R11, repeated author.

• BEFORE: Coleman, James S. 1990. Foundations of Social Theory. …
• AFTER (second of two Coleman entries):

———. 1990. Foundations of Social Theory. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.

Edge cases & exceptions

• No issue number. Give Volume: pages with the colon directly after the volume

(American Sociological Review 51: 273–86.).

• Four or more authors in the reference list. The reference list still names all

authors in full; only the in-text form collapses to et al. (R10).

• Subtitle after a colon. Capitalize the first word after the colon in headline case

("Culture in Action: Symbols and Strategies.").

• Reprint / classic year. Use the edition year cited; an original date, if needed, goes as

[1922] 1978 — the bracketed year first.

• A repeated author with a co-author. The 3-em dash stands only for an identical author

string; a different set of co-authors is spelled out again.

Do / Don't

• DON'T abbreviate given names to initials. DO write the full given name (R2).
• DON'T join authors with &. DO use and with a comma before it (R3).
• DON'T set article titles in sentence case or leave them unquoted. DO use headline case in

double quotes (R4).

• DON'T write Volume(Issue), pages. DO write Volume (Issue): pages with an en dash (R6).
• DON'T write (Author, Year). DO write (Author Year) with no comma (R9).
• DON'T use et al. at three authors. DO name all three; et al. starts at four (R10).
• DON'T repeat a repeated author's name. DO use the 3-em dash (R11).

Common mistakes (the base's wrong defaults)

• Defaulting to APA: initials, sentence-case titles, (Author, Year), Volume(Issue), pages.
• Putting the year at the end of the entry instead of right after the author.
• Using et al. in text for a three-author work.
• Using a hyphen instead of an en dash in the page range, or not condensing it.
• Repeating the full author name across consecutive entries by the same author.

Quick checklist

Year right after author? · full given names, first author inverted only? · and with a comma before it? · article title in double quotes + headline case? · journal/book in italics? · Volume (Issue): pages with an en dash? · chapter as Pp. X–Y in …, edited by …? · in-text (Author Year) with no comma? · et al. only at four+ authors? · 3-em dash for a repeated author?