Plagiarism is copying, closely copying, or borrowing someone's language, thoughts, ideas, or other creative expressions without giving them credit for it. The consequences of plagiarism range from bad grades to college expulsion to criminal prosecution. To avoid plagiarism always give credit to the source.
This guide is designed to offer assistance with using ASA citation style. The American Sociological Association (ASA) citation style guide is commonly used for avoiding plagiarism in research papers. It is important to cite the information that you use during your research. No matter where you find the information, from a book, journal, magazine, newspaper, interview or the internet, you must give the author credit for using his or her work and ideas. Remember: When in doubt, cite! For additional assistance, please see a librarian at the reference desk.
This is a good resource from Tulane University to help in understanding how to cite using ASA.
URL: http://libguides.tulane.edu/content.php?pid=6016&sid=187210