BIOL 379: Research Methods

The CSE (Council of Science Editors) style is used in the natural sciences including biology. The CSE style provides three different citing systems : 1) the Citation-Sequence system, 2) the Citation-Name system, and 3) the Name-Year system. These systems differ in their presentation of in-text citations and in the way cited references are listed.  The examples on this guide follow the Name-Year system. You need to cite your sources in two places within your paper: in-text and reference list.

Basic Format for Journal Articles

Reference List:

Print Journal Article

Author(s). Year. Article title. Journal Title. Volume(Issue):Page Numbers.

Online Journal Article

Author(s). Year. Article title. Journal Title. [date updated; date accessed];Volume(Issue):Page Numbers. URL (if found online). doi (if any).

In-Text Citation:

(Author(s) Year)

Print Journal Articles Examples

Single Author

Reference List:

Board J. 2001. Reduced lodging for soybeans in low plant population is related to light quality. Crop Sci. 41(2):379-387.    

 In-Text Citation:

               (Board 2001)

Multiple Authors

2-10 Authors

Reference List:

For 2-10 authors, list all names.

Bennett AB, Gratton C. 2013. Floral diversity increases beneficial arthropod richness and decreases variability in arthropod community composition. Ecol Appl. 23(1):86-95.

Smart N, Fang ZY, Marwick TH. 2003. A practical guide to exercise training for heart failure patients. J Card Fail. 9(1):49-58.

In-Text Citation:

For 2 authors, use the word “and” to connect the two names. For articles with 2 or more authors, list only the first author followed by “et al.”

            (Bennett and Gratton 2013)

            (Smart et al. 2003)

10 or More Authors

Reference List:

For 10+ authors, list the first 10 followed by “et al.”

Park KS, Kim YS, Kim JH, Choi BK, Kim SH, Oh SH, Ahn YR, Lee MS, Lee MK, Park JB, et al. 2009. Influence of human allogenic bone marrow and cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cell secreting trophic factors on ATP (adenosine-5 '-triphosphate)/ADP (adenosine-5'-diphosphate) ratio and insulin secretory function of isolated human islets from cadaveric donor. Transplant Proc. 41(9):3813-3818.

In-Text Citation:

             (Park et al. 2009)

Online Journal Articles Example

Reference List:

            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.

In-Text Citation:

            (Savage et al. 2005)