SCI 1001 & SCI 1002: Writing and Research in the Sciences

This guide is here to help you with your research. Don't forget to reach out to a librarian at any time you need help!

About CSE Citation

Generally used by students in Biology, the CSE style, or Council of Science Editors, uses numeric references within the text that correspond to your reference list at the end of the paper. CSE style has three different citation formats (Name-Year, Citation-Sequence, and Citation-name). It it is up to you to ask your professor which format they prefer as there are subtle but important differences.

Click the links below for helpful information on how to cite using the CSE Style.

SCIENTIFIC STYLE AND FORMAT CITATION QUICK GUIDE
Use this quick guide from CSE for additional help with CSE citations.
CSE Citation Guide from Dalhousie University Libraries
This link will take you to a research guide with examples, a quick reference guide, and video tutorial!
CSE Guide from Washington State University
This online guide from Washington State University has color-coded the various parts of the citation.
CSE Guide from Seattle Pacific Library
This research guide from Seattle Pacific Library has videos on citing books, journals, webpages, and images using CSE Citation-Name Style.

Name-Year

In-Text References

The CSE Name-Year style is sometimes referred to as Harvard style (not to be confused with Harvard Law Style). When using this style, in-text references include the last name of the author or authors and the document's publication date.

One Author:

What a wonderful time to learn about citation styles! (Simms 2018).

Two Authors:

Citation helps us to be better researchers and share information (Simms and Johnson 2017).

Three or More Authors:

Tracing citations in various journal articles is like entering a scholarly conversation (Simms et al. 2023).

End References

The end references are unnumbered and appear in alphabetical order by the author's last name. Multiple works by the same author should be listed chronologically. Periods are used to separate each element of the citation. List all the authors in your end references if the journal article or book has 3 to 10 authors. For articles or books with more than 10 authors, list the first 10 in the end reference followed by "et al."

A note about journal citations using CSE style. Journal titles are abbreviated according to the List of Title Word Abbreviations maintained by the ISSN International Center. Here you can search for how certain words are abbreviated to build your citation (it does not list abbreviated journal titles). For example, the word "journal" would be abbreviated to the letter J.

Below are some examples of end references that have been taken from the CSE Scientific Style and Format Citation Quick Guide:

Journals

Print Journal Article:
- Author(s). Date. Article title. Journal title. Volume(issue):location.
  - Example from the Scientific Style and Format Citation Quick Guide:

Mazan MR, Hoffman AM. 2001. Effects of aerosolized albuterol on physiologic responses to exercise in standardbreds. Am J Vet Res. 62(11):1812–1817.

Online Journal Article:
- Author(s) of article. Date of publication. Title of article. Title of journal (edition). [date updated; date accessed];Volume(issue):location. Notes (this is where you can put the URL).
  - You can enter the journal article's DOI (Digital Object Identifier) in the notes in addition a URL if available.
    - Example from the Scientific Style and Format Citation Quick Guide:

Savage E, Ramsay M, White J, Beard S, Lawson H, Hunjan R, Brown D. 2005. Mumps outbreaks across England and Wales in 2004: observational study. BMJ. [accessed 2005 May 31];330(7500):1119–1120. http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/reprint/330/7500/1119. doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7500.1119.

Books

Author(s). Date. Title. Edition. Place of publication: publisher.
- Sanchez S, Fontenot D. 2016. Handbook of Biological Organisms. 7th ed. Baton Rouge (LA): Louisiana State University Press.

Websites

Title of Homepage. Date of publication. Edition. Place of publication: publisher; [date updated; date accessed]. Notes.
- End Reference example from the Scientific Style and Format Citation Quick Guide:

APSnet: plant pathology online. c1994–2005. St Paul (MN): American Phytopathological Association; [accessed 2005 Jun 20]. http://www.apsnet.org/.

IN TEXT: When citing a website in an in-text website you will include only the first word (or two) of the title of the homepage. Make sure that it can be differentiated from other website titles in the end reference list. You also follow the title with an ellipsis "..."
- In Text Reference example from the Scientific Style and Format Citation Quick Guide:

(APSnet...c1994-2005)

For more examples of how to cite sources using CSE Citation Style, please visit the Scientific Style and Format Citation Quick Guide.

Below is a video explaining Harvard style (aka CSE Name-Year style). To access this video you will be prompted to log in to your myLSU account.

Video: Harvard Citation Style

Citation-Sequence and Citation-Name

These two citation styles within CSE are identical except for the order in which your references will appear in the end references section.
For both you will use numbers within your text to refer to the end references (you will not use in-text citations like Name-Year style)
Citation-Sequence will have end references listed in the order in which they appear in your paper.
- Use the same number if you are referencing a source more than once.
Citation-Name lists the end references alphabetically by author.
- This means that the "numbers assigned to the references are used for the in-text references regardless of the sequence in which they appear in the text of the work." (Scientific Style and Format Citation Quick Guide). For example, a source authored by Alpine would be 1, Berenstein would be 2, Bromide would be 3, etc. The work by Bromide, number 3 in the end reference list, would be numbered 3 in the in text citations as well.

For more information on how to cite your references using either Citation-Sequence or Citation-Name go to the Scientific Style and Format Citation Quick Guide and click on the Tab titled "Citation-Sequence and Citation-Name."

Journals

Print Journal Article:
- Author(s). Article title. Journal title. Date;volume(issue):location.
  - Location usually refers to the page range.
  - Journal titles are abbreviated according to the List of Title World Abbreviations maintained by the ISSN International Center.
  - Separate author names for articles with 2 to 10 authors.
  - If an article has more than 10 authors you'll list the names of the first 10 followed by "et al."
    - Example from the Scientific Style and Format Citation Quick Guide:

Pizzi C, Caraglia M, Cianciulli M, Fabbrocini A, Libroia A, Matano E, Contegiacomo A, Del Prete S, Abbruzzese A, Martignetti A, et al. Low-dose recombinant IL-2 induces psychological changes: monitoring by Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). Anticancer Res. 2002;22(2A):727–732.

Online Journal Article:
- Author(s) of article. Date of publication. Title of article. Title of journal (edition). [date updated; date accessed];Volume(issue):location. Notes.
  - You can enter the journal article's DOI (Digital Object Identifier) in the notes in addition to a URL if available.
    - Example from Scientific Style and Format Citation Quick Guide:

Books

Author(s). Title. Edition. Place of publication: publisher; date.
- Books with 2 to 10 authors, separate names by comma. If more than 10 authors, list the first 10 followed by "et al."
  - Example from Scientific Style and Format Citation Quick Guide:

Wenger NK, Sivarajan Froelicher E, Smith LK, Ades PA, Berra K, Blumenthal JA, Certo CME, Dattilo AM, Davis D, DeBusk RF, et al. Cardiac rehabilitation. Rockville (MD): Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (US); 1995.

Websites

Title of Homepage. Edition. Place of publication: publisher; date of publication [date updated; date accessed]. Notes (where you can put the URL).
- If you can't find a publication date for a website, you can use a copyright date (preceded by "c").
- Include the URL in the Notes.
  - Example from Scientific Style and Format Citation Quick Guide:

APSnet: plant pathology. St Paul (MN): American Phytopathological Association; c1994–2005 [accessed 2005 Jun 20]. http://www.apsnet.org/.

For additional examples and other types of sources please go to the Scientific Style and Format Citation Quick Guide.

In Text References

In-text Reference are literally in-text, or in your sentence. They are shortened citations that show which source(s) supports the claims and information in the sentence.

Where to cite: You want to cite the source or sources used near the information it supports. This could mean you will cite sources in the middle of a sentence! You might cite a source at the end of a sentence too - a lot of times you might have long sentences because of this citation style. Don't use the author's name in the in-text citation again if you have already name them in the sentence.

End References

Title your end reference page "References" or "Cited References" - this is a formal listing and helps to easily identify each numbered source used in your paper. If other sources were used for your research but not directly cited in your paper, these should be listed alphabetically by author under "Additional References."