Instructional Resources


a Science & Engineering Library (SEL) page

an Instructional Resources page

Citing sources (books, journal articles, Web sites)

  • Cite sources ethically and accurately - Bruin Success With Less StressAvoiding Plagiarism

  • Consult a style manual:
    ACS style guide, a manual for authors and editors [printed version]

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

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

  • Journal article references typically include:
  • author's last name and first name or initials, e.g. Wolkenberg, S. E.

  • title of the journal article, e.g. "Combinatorial Synthesis .

  • title of the journal in which the article appeared, usually abbreviated, e.g. J. Chem. Educ.

  • date of the volume, including the year and sometimes the month, e.g. 2001

  • volume, and issue, of the journal in which the article appeared, e.g. 78 (6)

  • pages on which the article appears, e.g. 784-85
  • Writing scientific papers:
  • Practice exercise: Citing journal articles

    1)      Select an electronically available journal article and print out the first page of the article.

    2)      From the SEL/Chemistry Collection available journals, photocopy the first page of an article.

    3)      Cite the two journal articles according to the ACS style for chemistry journals

    4)     Cite the two journal articles according to the ACS style for biochemistry journals




    Send Questions and Comments

    Banner is composed of selected images from Joseph Young's "History of Mathematics" mural © 1968