REFERENCING
Below are some guidelines from the Council of Science Editors (CSE) to use when
referencing your work.
There are two parts to referencing. Firstly, the source of information is indicated by
placing the author’s surname and the year of publication in brackets at the appropriate
place in the body of the text. Secondly, at the end of the paper the full references are
listed in alphabetical order by first author surname.
1) Citations in the text
The surname of the author and the year of publication are placed in parentheses to
acknowledge the source of information, e.g. (Smith 2006).
If the author’s name forms part of the sentence, provide only the year of publication in
parentheses, and place the parentheses immediately after the name, e.g. Smith (2006)
made this discovery.
If there are two authors on a paper, separate their names with either ‘and’ or ‘&’, e.g.
(Smith and Jones 2006).
For three or more authors on a paper, use the name of the first author followed by et al.
(which means ‘and others’), e.g. (Smith et al. 2006).
When quoting directly from a source, use quotation marks and then provide the page
number where that quote was taken from with the citation, e.g. (Smith 2006 p 57).
Multiple references for the same statement are separated with a semi-colon and ordered
chronologically, e.g. (Smith 1998; Jones 2002).
For multiple works by the same author, give the name once and then separate the years
with commas, e.g. (Smith 2000, 2003)
For multiple works by the same author in the same year, use small letters to distinguish
them, e.g. (Smith 2006a, 2006b). The first work that you refer to will be “a”, the second
one “b”, and so on.
2) Reference list
The reference list is alphabetical by the first author’s surname. When authors have
identical surnames, sequence references alphabetically by the initials of the first author,
then by the first letters of any following surnames. When the authors’ surnames are
identical in two or more references, these references are sequenced by publication date
from earliest to latest. Use the formats below to reference specific sources of information.
 Book:
General format: Author/editor. Year. Title of book. Edition. Place of publication:
Publisher. Number of pages.
Example: Krebs JR, Davies NB. 1993. An Introduction to Behavioural Ecology. 3rd ed.
London: Blackwell Science. 420 p.
 Book Chapter:
General format: Author. Year. Title of chapter. In: Editor of book, editor. Title of book.
Edition. Place of publication: publisher. Pages of selection.
Example: Akerele O. 1995. Medicinal plants and protected areas. In: McNeely JA, editor.
Expanding Partnerships in Conservation. Washington, D.C.: Island Press. p 75-81.
 Journal Article:
General format: Author. Year. Article title. Journal title Volume(Issue):Pages.
Example: Ryan MJ, Rand W, Hurd PL, Phelps, SM, Rand AS. 2003. Generalization in
response to mate recognition signals. American Naturalist 161(3):380-394.
 Dissertation or Thesis:
General format: Author. Date. Dissertation/Thesis title [dissertation/thesis]. Place of
university: Name of University. Number of pages.
Example: Angell CM. 2006. Body fat condition of free-ranging right whales Eubalaena
glacialis and Eubalaena australis [PhD thesis]. Boston: Boston University. 256 p.
 Newspaper Article:
General format: Author. Year Month Day. Article title. Newspaper title; section:pages
(column).
Example: Rensberger B, Specter B. 1989 Aug 7. CFCs may be destroyed by natural
process. Washington Post; Sect A:2 (col 5).
 Conference Paper:
General format: Author. Year. Paper title. In: Editor, editors. Title of volume. Conference
Name; Full date; Place of publication: Publisher. Pages of selection.
Example: De Bourcier P, Wheeler M. 1997. The truth is out there: the evolution of
reliability in aggressive communications systems. In: Husbands P, Harvey I, editors.
Proceedings of the fourth European conference on artificial life. Fourth European
Conference on Artificial Life; 1997 Jul 28-31; Cambridge; MA: MIT Press. p 444 453.
 Conference Abstract:
General format: Author. Year. Abstract title [abstract]. In: Conference name; Full date;
Place of conference: Title of organization. Pages of selection.
Example: Bottai M. 2001. Bootstrap confidence bands for assessing environmental
pollution [abstract]. In: Geographic Information Sciences in Public Health: First
European Conference; 2001 Sep 19-20; Sheffield, UK: Stockholm Center of Public
Health. p 25.
 Magazine Article:
General format: Author. Date. Article title. Magazine title: pages.
Example: Wilson EO. 1998 Mar. Back from chaos. Atlantic Monthly: 41-62.
 Electronic Journal:
General format: Author. Article title. Journal title [internet]. Date published [cited date];
volume(issue):pages. Available from: URL
Example: Janz N, Nylin S, Wahlberg N. Diversity begets diversity: host expansions and
the diversification of plant-feeding insects. BMC Evolutionary Biology [internet]. 2006
Jan 18 [cited 2006 Jun 23]; 6(4): (10 pages). Available from:
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/6/4
 Web Page:
General format: Author. Document title [internet]. Title of complete work; update date
[cited date]. Available from: URL
Example: Wikipedia contributors. Citation [Internet]. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia;
2006 Mar 19 [cited 2006 Apr 24]. Available from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Citation&oldid=44435410