BSC 320—Principles of Ecology
Marshall University
Dr. Frank S. Gilliam
380 Science Bldg. 696-3636
FORMATTING REFERENCES IN SCIENTIFIC WRITING
I. FORMATTING CITATIONS IN THE BODY OF YOUR PAPER
The following are examples of reference citations formatted in the way I would like them
to appear in papers you write for this class. By citing references you used, you are: (a)
acknowledging the contribution of data and/or ideas from the cited authors to the development or
interpretation of your own work, and (b) pointing the reader to the detailed reference description
in your References Cited section. This allows the reader the option of delving further into the
reference.
A. References are often cited at the end of a sentence, but may be cited in mid-sentence if it helps to
avoid ambiguity regarding which ideas are being attributed to which reference(s). Notice that when the
reference has two authors, both names are included; but when there are three or more, include only the
first author followed by “et al.” ( Since “al.” is an abbreviation for “alia” it is followed by a period.)
Examples:
Among the numerous studies dealing with plant-herbivore interactions, few have considered effects of
defoliation on nutrient budgets within plants (Chapin 1980). Of those few, most have been concerned with
either nitrogen (Caldwell et al. 1981; Waring and Pitman 1985) or phosphorus (Chapin 1980), and have not
followed the dynamics of a suite of potentially interrelated nutrients.
B. When the author’s name is (or authors’ names are) part of the sentence, the publication date appears
in parentheses following the name(s). Examples:
Copper, Mn, and Zn were extracted using a nitric acid digestion of ashed leaf tissue as described by
May and Killingbeck (1992). . . . Chapin and Kedrowski (1983) found mean resorption efficiencies of
52% for nitrogen and 43% for phosphorus in their review of >30 plant species, with maximal efficiencies
somewhat greater than 80%. . . . Studies carried out by Caldwell et al. (1981) demonstrated increased
productivity in grasses that experienced significant loss of biomass to herbivores.
II. FORMATTING REFERENCES IN THE LITERATURE CITED SECTION
The following are examples of references formatted in the way I would like you to
format them for the Literature Cited section of the papers you write for this class. Among other
things, pay attention to (a) patterns of capitalization and punctuation for all references; (b)
formatting of volume and page numbers for journal articles.
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Journal article with one author:
Killingbeck, K.T. 1988. Hurricane-induced modification of nitrogen and phosphorus resorption
in an aspen clone: an example of diffuse disturbance. Oecologia 75:213-215.
Chapin, F.S., III. 1980. The mineral nutrition of wild plants. Annual Review of Ecology and
Systematics 11:233-260.
Journal article with two authors:
Birk, E.M. and P.M. Vitousek. 1986. Nitrogen availability and nitrogen use efficiency in
loblolly pine stands. Ecology 67:69-79.
Killingbeck, K.T. and S.A. Costigan. 1988. Element resorption in a guild of understory shrub
species: niche differentiation and resorption thresholds. Oikos 53:366-374.
Journal article with three or more authors:
Brown, J.H., Jr., D.B. Halliwell, and W.P. Gould. 1979. Gypsy moth defoliation: impact on
Rhode Island forests. Journal of Forestry 77:30-32.
Caldwell, M.M., J.H. Richards, D.A. Johnson, R.S. Nowak, and R.S. Dzuree. 1981. Coping
with herbivory: photosynthetic capacity and resource allocation in two semiarid Agropyron
bunchgrasses. Oecologia 50:14-24.
Book:
Barbour, M.G., J.H. Burk, W.D. Pitts, F.S. Gilliam, and M.W. Schwartz. 1999. Terrestrial plant
ecology, 3rd Edition. The Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Company, Inc., Menlo Park,
CA.
Waring, R.H., and W.H. Schlesinger. 1985. Forest ecosystems: concepts and management.
Academic Press, Orlando, FL.
Chapter in an edited book:
Tromp, J. 1970. Storage and mobilization of nitrogenous compounds in apple trees with special
reference to arginine. Pages 143-159 in L. C. Luckwill and C. V. Cutting, editors.
Physiology of tree crops. Academic Press, London, Great Britain.
Cole, D.W., and M. Rapp. 1981. Elemental cycling in forest ecosystems. Pages 341-409 in
D.E. Reichle, editor. Dynamic principles of forest ecosystems. Cambridge University Press,
London, England.
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