Best examples of AAA reference page examples for research papers

Quick AAA overview (before we get into examples)

AAA style is based heavily on the Chicago Manual of Style (author–date system). That means:

• In‑text citations use author and year: (Smith 2022)
• The reference list is titled “References Cited”, not “Works Cited” or “Bibliography”
• Entries are listed alphabetically by author’s last name
• The first line of each entry is flush left; the rest are indented (hanging indent)

Now let’s get to what you really came for: clear, practical examples of AAA reference page examples for research papers that you can mirror.

Core examples of AAA reference page entries (journal articles, books, chapters)

When students ask for the best examples of AAA reference page examples for research papers, they’re usually talking about three main source types: journal articles, books, and book chapters. If you can format these, you’ve covered most of what appears in anthropology papers.

Journal article examples (with and without DOI)

In AAA style, a journal article in your References Cited page generally looks like this:

AuthorLastName, FirstName MiddleInitial. Year. “Article Title in Sentence Case.” Journal Name in Title Case VolumeNumber(IssueNumber):PageRange. DOI or URL if online

Here are several real‑style examples of AAA reference page examples for research papers using journal articles:

Example 1 – Print or database article with DOI

Farmer, Paul. 2004. “An Anthropology of Structural Violence.” Current Anthropology 45(3):305–325. https://doi.org/10.1086/382250.

Why this works:

• Author’s name is inverted (last name first)
• Year comes right after the author
• Article title is in sentence case (only first word and proper nouns capitalized)
• Journal title and volume are italicized
• Issue is in parentheses, followed by a colon and page range
• DOI is given as a full URL

Example 2 – Online‑only article with DOI

Fuentes, Agustín. 2020. “COVID‑19, the Human Niche, and the Changing World.” Anthropology Now 12(1):1–5. https://doi.org/10.1080/19428200.2020.1760639.

If your research paper is about recent public health or pandemic‑related topics, you’ll likely be pulling 2020–2024 sources like this. The pattern stays the same.

Example 3 – Article without DOI, accessed online

Mullins, Paul R. 2011. “The Archaeology of Consumer Culture.” Annual Review of Anthropology 40:133–145. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41287748.

When there’s no DOI, AAA allows a stable URL, especially from databases like JSTOR. Your instructor may or may not require URLs for database articles, so follow their directions.

Book examples in AAA style

A basic book entry in AAA references looks like:

AuthorLastName, FirstName MiddleInitial. Year. Book Title in Title Case. City: Publisher.

Here are several book‑style examples of AAA reference page examples for research papers:

Example 4 – Single‑author book

Abu‑Lughod, Lila. 2013. Do Muslim Women Need Saving? Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Example 5 – Two authors

Kottak, Conrad Phillip, and Lisa Gezon. 2022. Anthropology: Appreciating Human Diversity. 19th edition. New York: McGraw‑Hill Education.

What to notice:

• Authors are separated by a comma and and (not an ampersand)
• Edition information goes after the title, before the city

Example 6 – Edited volume

Borofsky, Robert, ed. 2019. An Anthropology of Anthropology: Is It Time to Shift Paradigms? Kailua, HI: Center for a Public Anthropology.

For an edited collection, use ed. (or eds. for multiple editors) after the editor’s name.

Book chapter examples (chapter in an edited volume)

This is where many students slip up, so it’s helpful to have clear, real examples of AAA reference page examples for research papers that use chapters.

Basic pattern:

ChapterAuthorLastName, FirstName. Year. “Chapter Title in Sentence Case.” In Book Title in Title Case, edited by EditorFirstName EditorLastName, PageRange. City: Publisher.

Example 7 – Chapter in a single‑editor volume

Ortner, Sherry B. 1995. “Resistance and the Problem of Ethnographic Refusal.” In The Cultural Studies Reader, edited by Simon During, 173–193. London: Routledge.

Example 8 – Chapter in a multi‑editor volume

Fassin, Didier. 2012. “That Obscure Object of Global Health.” In Medical Anthropology at the Intersections: Histories, Activisms, and Futures, edited by Marcia C. Inhorn and Emily A. Wentzell, 95–115. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

These chapter entries are some of the best examples of AAA reference page examples for research papers focused on theory and method, because they show you where to place editors, page numbers, and the publisher.

Examples of AAA reference page entries for online and gray literature

Anthropology research in 2024 and 2025 often leans on reports, government data, and organizational websites. That means you need examples of AAA reference page examples for research papers that go beyond traditional books and journals.

Website examples (no individual author)

When there’s no clear personal author, AAA style usually starts with the organization as the author.

Example 9 – Government website (U.S. Census Bureau)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2023. “QuickFacts: United States.” U.S. Census Bureau. Accessed September 10, 2024. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US.

Example 10 – Health agency website (CDC)

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2024. “Social Determinants of Health: Know What Affects Health.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Accessed August 18, 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/socialdeterminants/index.htm.

These are real‑world examples you might use in medical anthropology or public health–oriented research papers. Notice the structure:

• Organization as author
• Year of last update or copyright (if available)
• Page or article title in quotation marks
• Site name repeated if it functions as publisher
• Access date
• Full URL

NGO and international organization reports

For gray literature like NGO or UN reports, AAA generally follows this pattern:

Organization Name. Year. Report Title in Title Case. City: Organization (if functioning as publisher). URL.

Example 11 – WHO report used in global health anthropology

World Health Organization. 2023. World Health Statistics 2023: Monitoring Health for the SDGs, Sustainable Development Goals. Geneva: World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/data/gho/publications/world-health-statistics.

Example 12 – UNICEF report

UNICEF. 2024. The State of the World’s Children 2024: For Every Child, Vaccination. New York: UNICEF. https://www.unicef.org/reports/state-of-worlds-children-2024.

These reports are some of the most practical examples of AAA reference page examples for research papers dealing with development, global health, or children’s rights.

Citing data, theses, and dissertations in AAA style

Anthropology students increasingly use datasets and student research in their projects. Here are examples of AAA reference page examples for research papers that draw on these source types.

Dataset example

Datasets can be tricky, but AAA usually treats them like a report, with a note that it’s a dataset.

Example 13 – Public dataset

National Center for Health Statistics. 2023. National Health Interview Survey, 2022. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. Dataset. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis/2022nhis.htm.

Labeling it as a Dataset tells your reader exactly what kind of material you used.

Thesis or dissertation examples

Pattern:

AuthorLastName, FirstName. Year. Title in Title Case. Degree type thesis, Department, University, City.

Example 14 – PhD dissertation

Holmes, Seth M. 2010. The Clinical Gaze in the Practice of Migrant Health: Mexican Migrants in the United States. PhD dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley.

Example 15 – Master’s thesis

Nguyen, Lan Anh. 2021. Digital Rituals: Vietnamese Youth, Social Media, and Everyday Spirituality. MA thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Washington, Seattle.

These are strong examples of AAA reference page examples for research papers that use student research as primary sources.

Formatting your AAA “References Cited” page step by step

Now that you’ve seen multiple examples of AAA reference page examples for research papers, here’s how to pull it all together into a clean References Cited page.

1. Title the page correctly

Use the heading References Cited at the top of a new page. Center it. No bold, no underline, no extra styling unless your instructor says otherwise.

2. Alphabetize by author

Arrange entries by the first author’s last name:

• Abu‑Lughod comes before Borofsky
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention goes under C
• U.S. Census Bureau is alphabetized as U

If you have multiple works by the same author, order them by year (oldest first).

3. Use a hanging indent

The first line of each entry starts at the left margin. Every line after that in the same entry is indented. In Word or Google Docs, this is called a hanging indent. It makes scanning your references much easier.

4. Match in‑text citations to your references

If your in‑text citation says (Farmer 2004), your References Cited page must have an entry starting with:

Farmer, Paul. 2004. “An Anthropology of Structural Violence.” ...

No orphans: every in‑text citation should have a matching reference entry, and every reference entry should be cited at least once in the body of your paper.

5. Stay consistent with punctuation and capitalization

AAA style is picky about details:

• Put periods after author names, years, and at the end of entries
• Use sentence case for article and chapter titles
• Use title case and italics for book and journal titles
• Separate journal volume and issue like 45(3):305–325

If you’re unsure, compare your entry to the real examples of AAA reference page examples for research papers above and adjust until the pattern matches.

2024–2025 tips: Using tools without losing AAA accuracy

Most students in 2024–2025 are using citation managers and AI‑powered tools. They can help, but they don’t always output clean AAA style. Here’s how to keep control:

• Set your citation manager (like Zotero or Mendeley) to Chicago Author‑Date as a starting point, then tweak to match AAA
• Double‑check capitalization: tools often capitalize every word in article titles, which does not fit AAA
• Always verify DOIs and URLs from the original source or publisher site
• Compare a few of your entries to official AAA examples from the American Anthropological Association website or your department’s style guide

For a solid style baseline, many anthropology programs recommend the Chicago Manual of Style (author–date) and then layer AAA‑specific tweaks on top. The University of Chicago Press site is a good reference point: https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/

FAQ: Short answers and more examples

What are some common examples of AAA reference page entries for research papers?

Common examples of AAA reference page examples for research papers include:

• Journal articles from anthropology journals like American Anthropologist or Cultural Anthropology
• Classic and modern ethnographies (books)
• Chapters in edited volumes on theory or method
• Government and NGO reports (for applied or medical anthropology)
• Websites from organizations like the CDC, WHO, or U.S. Census Bureau

The sample entries above for Farmer (2004), Abu‑Lughod (2013), and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2024) are all reliable patterns to copy.

Can you give an example of an AAA reference for a journal article I found online?

Yes. If you found a 2022 article on WebMD‑style health topics in an anthropology journal, it might look like this:

Smith, Jordan L., and Maria Torres. 2022. “Everyday Illness Narratives and Online Health Communities.” Medical Anthropology Quarterly 36(4):512–529. https://doi.org/10.1111/maq.12899.

Even though you accessed it online, you format it as a journal article and add the DOI.

Do I have to include access dates for everything online in AAA style?

Generally, AAA recommends access dates for websites and pages that might change over time (like the CDC or Census examples), but not always for journal articles with DOIs. When in doubt, include the access date for web pages and omit it for stable, peer‑reviewed articles.

Where can I find more real examples of AAA reference pages?

You can:

• Check your university’s anthropology department style guide (many host AAA‑based guides on .edu sites)
• Look at recent articles in American Anthropologist or Cultural Anthropology and scroll to their reference sections
• Review Chicago Author‑Date guidelines from university writing centers, such as Harvard’s guidance here: https://usingsources.fas.harvard.edu/

Use those as a cross‑check against the examples of AAA reference page examples for research papers in this guide.

If you keep this page open while you write and literally model your entries on these best examples of AAA reference page examples for research papers, your References Cited section will look polished, consistent, and ready for a picky anthropology professor’s red pen.