Instructional Resources

Citing sources (books, journal articles, web sites)

• Cite sources ethically and accurately - Bruin Success With Less Stress; Avoiding Plagiarism 
• Consult a style manual:
  The ACS style guide: effective communication of scientific information. 3rd ed., 2006. [printed version]
• Read Chapter 14 "References" (p. 287-327) by Janet S. Dodd, Leah Solla, and Paula M. Bérardon in The ACS Style Guide, 3rd edition.  Chapter 14 also includes appendices for "CASSI Abbreviations for the 1000+ Most Commonly Cited Journals" (p.328-339) and "A Sample CASSI Entry" (p.340-341).

• Preferred ACS (American Chemical Society) journal article citation format:
  Chemistry (see Journal of the American Chemical Society)
  Biochemistry (see Biochemistry)

• Journal article references typically include:

          example - Wolkenberg, S. E., and Su, A. I. "Combinatorial Synthesis and Discovery of an Antibiotic Compound". J. Chem. Educ. 2001, 78 (6) 784-785.    

• author's last name and first name or initials:  Wolkenberg, S. E.
• title of the journal article:  "Combinatorial Synthesis..."
• title of the journal in which the article appears, usually abbreviated:  J. Chem. Educ.
• date of the volume, including the year and sometimes the month, in which the article appears:  2001
• volume:  78
• issue:  (6)
• pages:  784-85

Writing scientific papers

• How to write & publish a scientific paper [printed version]
• Dodd, Janet S. "Writing a Scientific Paper", chapter one of the ACS Style Guide

Practice exercise: Citing journal articles

Q: What is the difference between the "Chemistry" and "Biochemistry" styles?

1. Select an electronically available journal article and print out the first page of the article.
2. Cite the journal article according to the ACS style for chemistry journals.
3. Cite the journal articles according to the ACS style for biochemistry journals.