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MLA to ASA converter

Paste MLA references, get ASA. Free, no sign-up.

Paste references written in MLA and get them back in ASA, ready to copy into Word or Google Docs. The main changes: author–page in-text citations become author–date citations, your “Works Cited” list becomes “References” and author names are written as in ASA (first author inverted with full names, the rest in normal order). CiteSwap looks each reference up in the open Crossref catalogue, so authors, years and page numbers come from the publisher’s record rather than being rewritten by hand.

MLA vs ASA: the same sources side by side

Each example below was formatted by CiteSwap’s engine, exactly as the converter outputs it.

Journal article

MLA

Suri, Tavneet, and William Jack. “The Long-Run Poverty and Gender Impacts of Mobile Money.” Science, vol. 354, no. 6317, Dec. 2016, pp. 1288–92, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309.

In-text: (Suri and Jack 1290)

ASA

Suri, Tavneet, and William Jack. 2016. “The Long-Run Poverty and Gender Impacts of Mobile Money.” Science 354(6317):1288–92. doi:10.1126/science.aah5309.

In-text: (Suri and Jack 2016:1290)

Book

MLA

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Heinemann, 1958.

In-text: (Achebe 1290)

ASA

Achebe, Chinua. 1958. Things Fall Apart. London: Heinemann.

In-text: (Achebe 1958:1290)

Web page

MLA

World Health Organization. Malaria. 4 Dec. 2023, https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malaria.

In-text: (World Health Organization 1290)

ASA

World Health Organization. 2023. “Malaria.” https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malaria.

In-text: (World Health Organization 2023:1290)

Key differences between MLA and ASA

9 of 12 rules differ; they are listed first.

RuleMLAASA
Reference list headingWorks CitedReferences
In-text citationsauthor and page number in parentheses with no comma, e.g. (Suri and Jack 1290)author and year, with a page number after a colon, e.g. (Suri and Jack 2016:1290)
Author namesFirst author inverted with full names, the second in normal order, e.g. Suri, Tavneet, and William JackFirst author inverted with full names, the rest in normal order
Many authorsThree or more authors: first author followed by “et al.”All authors are listed in the reference list
DateNear the end, after the journal or publisher detailsAfter the authors, followed by a full stop: 2016.
ItalicsContainers: journal, website and book titlesJournal and book titles
Journal namesFull journal name in title case, followed by vol. and no.Full journal name, volume and issue with no space: 354(6317)
Page rangesShortened range with “pp.”, e.g. pp. 1288–92Shortened range after a colon with no space, e.g. 354(6317):1288–92
DOIs and linksDOI written as https://doi.org/… at the end; URLs without “https://” are also acceptedDOI written as “doi:10.1126/…”
List order(same)Alphabetical by first author’s surnameAlphabetical by first author’s surname
Title capitalisation(same)Title caseTitle case
Article titles(same)In quotation marks, title caseIn quotation marks, title case

When to use ASA

ASA is the house style of American sociology journals and many sociology departments. It is published by the American Sociological Association; CiteSwap follows the ASA Style Guide, 6th/7th edition.

MLA is more common in literature, languages, cultural studies, while ASA is usual in sociology, social work, criminology. If your department or journal names a style, always follow it.

MLA to ASA: frequently asked questions

How do I convert MLA citations to ASA?

Paste your MLA reference list into the box above (one reference per line, numbered, or separated by blank lines), check that “From” says MLA or Auto-detect and “To” says ASA, then press Convert. You can also paste DOIs, BibTeX or RIS. Copy the result or download it for Word.

How do in-text citations change from MLA to ASA?

MLA uses author and page number in parentheses with no comma, e.g. (Suri and Jack 1290). ASA uses author and year, with a page number after a colon, e.g. (Suri and Jack 2016:1290). For the same article and page: MLA gives (Suri and Jack 1290), ASA gives (Suri and Jack 2016:1290).

What is the reference list called in ASA?

In MLA the list is headed “Works Cited”; in ASA it is “References”. Change the heading when you paste the converted list into your document.

How are author names written in ASA?

ASA: First author inverted with full names, the rest in normal order. MLA: First author inverted with full names, the second in normal order, e.g. Suri, Tavneet, and William Jack. When a reference is matched in Crossref, CiteSwap uses full first names from the publisher’s record, so it can produce either form.

How are DOIs and URLs written in ASA?

ASA: DOI written as “doi:10.1126/…”. MLA: DOI written as https://doi.org/… at the end; URLs without “https://” are also accepted. The converter rewrites DOIs in ASA format for you.

Is the MLA to ASA converter accurate?

Each reference is matched against the Crossref catalogue (over 150 million records) and only accepted automatically when the title, year and first author agree. Anything uncertain is marked “Needs review” so you can pick the right match, and references that aren’t in the catalogue, like websites or local journals, are parsed from your text and marked so you can check them.