Skip to Main Content

Citation and Style Guides

A guide to citation, including style guides, writing tools, plagiarism, and copyright.

CSE style is used for research papers in the scientific disciplines, including biology, chemistry, and physics. It uses three different options for in-text citations and corresponding reference lists. 

  • citation--sequence: uses superscript numerals in the text; the reference list is sorted numerically by the order in which references appear in the text
  • citation--name: uses superscript numerals in the text; the reference list is numbered and sorted alphabetically by author's last name
  • name--year: uses the in-text format (Author, Year); the reference list is unnumbered and sorted alphabetically by author's last name

Check with your instructor if you are unsure which format to use. The most important thing is to be consistent with your style throughout your paper. 

Online Style and Citation Guides

Contact a librarian if you need help using this or any citation style.

Frequently Cited Formats

Below are some examples of commonly cited material types using the Name--Year style. You will use all the same elements in your reference list if you are using the Citation--Sequence or Citation--Name style and change the in-text citations to include either superscript numerals, like this1, or parenthetical numerals, like this (1). You'll also number the end list of references. 

 

Print Books and Ebooks

Citation in reference list

Author AA, Author BB. Date. Title. Edition. Publisher. URL (if ebook)

In-text citation

(AuthorLastName year)

Example

Reiss MJ, Ruse M. 2023. The new biology: a battle between mechanism and organicism. Harvard University Press.

(Reiss and Ruse 2023)

Journal Article

Journal titles are abbreviated according to the List of Title Word Abbreviations from the ISSN International Centre.

Citation in reference list

Author AA, Author BB. Date. Article title. Journal title. Volume(issue):location. URL

In-text citation

(Author A Last Name and Author B Last Name year)

Example

Fauci AS, Lane HC. 2020. Four decades of HIV/AIDS—much accomplished, much to do. N Engl J Med. 383(1):1–4. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp1916753
(Fauci and Lane 2020)

Webpage

Citation in reference list

Author or organization. Date. Title of article. Publisher; [date updated]. URL

In-text citation

(Author Last Name or Group Name year)

Example

Lawrence RA. 1997. A review of the medical benefits and contraindications to breastfeeding in the United States. Arlington (VA): National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health (US); [accessed 2005 Jun 28]. 40 p. http://www.ncemch.org/pubs/PDFs/breastfeedingTIB.pdf.

(Lawrence 1997)

Need to cite an interview? A TED Talk? What about a text? Check out the Online Citation Guides in the previous section for more examples and instructions for nearly every type of source!

Style Guide