CSE Quick Citation Guide
Scientific Style and Format: the CSE manual for authors, editors and
publishers.
Note: the CSE style describes three options for references; use the style
which is commonly used in your discipline:

Citation-Sequence (C-S) system which uses numbers within the text to
refer to the end references which are listed in the order they are
referred to in the text. Subsequent citations to the same document use
the same number as its initial citation:
In text example: Modern scientific nomenclature really began with
Linnaeus in botany1, but other disciplines2,3were not many years behind in
developing various systems4-7 for nomenclature and symbolization

Citation-Name (C-N) system which uses numbers within the text to
refer to the end references which are listed alphabetically by author
and then by title.:
In text example: Modern scientific nomenclature really began with
Linnaeus in botany4, but other discipline1,5were not many years behind in
developing various systems2-3,6,10 for nomenclature and symbolization

Name-Year (N-Y) system which uses the surname of the author and
the year of publication to refer to the end references which are then
listed alphabetically by author and then by year:
In text example: By contrast, the several antisera that have been raised
against Sp1, a defined RNA polymerase II transcription factor (Kadonaga
1986), stain exclusively the nucleus . . .
General Principles for Formatting End References
In the C-S and C-N systems, the general sequence of information in a
reference is author name, title, and additional items (including year of
publication).
In the N-Y system, author names are followed by the year of publication; all
the other items then follow in the same sequence (except for the year).
Author names with initials are recommended for reference lists that also
include references to journal articles, for which names with initials are
preferred. When there are 2-10 authors, all should be named; if more than
10 authors, list the first 10 followed by “and others”.
Note: throughout CSE style, no commas are used to offset the author's last
name from his or her initials, no space separates the first and middle initial,
and periods do not, in general, follow initials.
Note: in CSE style, titles of periodicals (newspapers, journals, magazines)
are capitalized as they normally are; book titles and article titles have only
the first word of the title (and of any subtitles), as well as proper nouns,
capitalized. Obvious exceptions are capitalized abbreviations and symbols
(e.g., HIV-1, DDAVP, pH).
General Principles for Formatting In-Text References
In-text references should immediately follow the title, word, or phrase to
which they are directly relevant, rather than appearing at the end of long
clauses or sentences. In-text references should always precede punctuation
marks.
In the N-Y system use the following guidelines for in-text citation:
One author: (Field 2005)
Two authors: (Gass and Varonis 1984)
More than two authors: (Munro et al. 2006)
No author: If the author of a work cannot be determined use the title (for
long titles use the first few words followed by an elipsis):
Top fields of study for international students are business and engineering,
followed by physical and life sciences, math and computer science, and
social sciences (Open Doors 2010).
No date: For online sources if the publication year cannot be determined
use the year of access. For print sources use [date unknown]:
(Smith [date unknown])
Note: If you mention the author in the running text of your paper, include
only the year in the parenthetical citation:
This conclusion is supported by Rubin and Smith (1990), who found that...
Examples




Books
Articles from Print Periodicals (journals, magazines and newspapers)
Internet Resources
Web Sites

Interviews and Other Personal Communication
Books
Important Elements:






Author (last name and initials only for first & middle names)
Title (capitalize only the first word of title and subtitle, and proper
nouns)
Place of publication
Publisher
Publication date
Number of pages
Table on Citing Books
[Transcription Note: There are 3 columns in the below table. Column 1, on
the left, is the source of the text. Column 2, in the middle, is a possible
system of citation. Column 3, on the right, is an example citation for the
corresponding source and citation system In this table C-s and C-N are used
similarly and N-Y has a different citation style.].
Book by a single author
C-S and Sherman, C. The invisible Web :
C-N
uncovering information sources
search engines can't see.
Medford, N.J.: CyberAge Books,
Information Today; 2001. 439 p.
Book by a single author
N-Y
Book by two or more
authors
C-S and Voet D, Voet JG. Biochemistry.
C-N
New York: J Wiley; 1990. 1223 p.
Book by two or more
authors
N-Y
Book with editors
C-S and Gilman AG, Rall TW, Nies AS,
Taylor P, editors. The
Sherman, C. 2001. The invisible
Web : uncovering information
sources search engines can't see.
Medford, N.J.: CyberAge Books,
Information Today; 439 p.
Voet D, Voet JG. 1990.
Biochemistry. New York: J Wiley.
1223 p.
C-N
pharmacological basis of
therapeutics. 8th ed. New York:
Pergamon; 1990. 1811 p.
Book with editors
N-Y
Gilman AG, Rall TW, Nies AS,
Taylor P, editors. 1990. The
pharmacological basis of
therapeutics. 8th ed. New York:
Pergamon. 1811 p.
Chapter within a book
C-S and Kuret JA, Murad F.
C-N
Adenohypophyseal hormones and
related substances. In: Gilman
AG, Rall TW, Nies AS, Taylor P,
editors. The pharmacological
basis of therapeutics. 8th ed. New
York: Pergamon; 1990. p 133460.
Chapter within a book
N-Y
Dissertation
C-S and Anders, A. Effects of large-scale
C-N
climate on avian population
dynamics across species' North
American breeding distributions
[dissertation]. [University Park,
(PA)]: Pennsylvania State
University; 2008.
Dissertation
N-Y
Kuret JA, Murad F. 1990.
Adenohypophyseal hormones and
related substances. In: Gilman
AG, Rall TW, Nies AS, Taylor P,
editors. The pharmacological
basis of therapeutics. 8th ed. New
York: Pergamon. p 1334-60.
Anders, A. 2008. Effects of largescale climate on avian population
dynamics across species' North
American breeding distributions
[dissertation]. [University Park,
(PA)]: Pennsylvania State
University.
Articles from Print Periodicals (journals, magazines and
newspapers)
Important Elements:






Author (last name, initials only for first & middle names. List all
names for up to 10 authors, if more than 10 list the first author and
then “et al.” or “and others”)
Title of article (capitalize only the first word of title and subtitle, and
proper nouns)
Title of publication abbreviated (if possible use ISO abbreviations used
by PubMed)
Date of publication of article (year only for scholarly journals; year and
month for magazines; year, month and day for daily or newspapers
publications)
Volume and issue number
Page numbers of article
Table on Citing Articles from Print Periodicals
[Transcription Note: There are 3 columns in the below table. Column 1, on
the left, is the source of the text. Column 2, in the middle, is a possible
system of citation. Column 3, on the right, is an example citation for the
corresponding source and citation system In this table C-s and C-N are used
similarly and N-Y has a different citation style.].
Article in a scholarly journal
C-S and
C-N
Cox J, Engstrom RT.
Influence of the spatial
pattern of conserved lands on
the persistence of a large
population of red-cockaded
woodpeckers. Biol Conserv.
2001; 100(1): 137-150
Article in a scholarly journal
N-Y
Cox J, Engstrom RT. 2001.
Influence of the spatial
pattern of conserved lands on
the persistence of a large
population of red-cockaded
woodpeckers. Biol Conserv.
100(1): 137-150.
Article in Conference
Proceedings
C-S and
C-N
Lee DJ, Bates D, Dromey C,
Xu X, Antani S. An imaging
system correlating lip shapes
with tongue contact patterns
for speech pathology
research. In: Krol M, Mitra S,
Lee DJ, editors. CBMS 2003.
Proceedings of the 16th IEEE
Symposium on ComputerBased Medical Systems; 2003
Jun 26027; New York. Los
Alamitos (CA): IEEE
Computer Society; c2003.
P.307-313
Article in Conference
Proceedings
N-Y
Lee DJ, Bates D, Dromey C,
Xu X, Antani S. c2003. An
imaging system correlating lip
shapes with tongue contact
patterns for speech pathology
research. In: Krol M, Mitra S,
Lee DJ, editors. CBMS 2003.
Proceedings of the 16th IEEE
Symposium on ComputerBased Medical Systems; 2003
Jun 26027; New York. Los
Alamitos (CA): IEEE
Computer Society; P.307-313
Technical Report
C-S and
C-N
Feller BA. Health
characteristics of persons
with chronic activity
limitation, United States,
1979. Hyattsville (MD):
National Center for Health
Statistics (US); 1981. Report
No.: VHS-SER-10/137.
Available from: NTIS,
Springfield, VA; PB88-228622
Technical Report
N-Y
Feller BA. 1981. Health
characteristics of persons
with chronic activity
limitation, United States,
1979. Hyattsville (MD):
National Center for Health
Statistics (US); Report No.:
VHS-SER-10/137. Available
from: NTIS, Springfield, VA;
PB88-228622
Article in a magazine (include
volume # if given)
C-S and
C-N
Losos JB. Evolution: A lizard's
tale. Sci Am. 2001 Mar;
284(3): 64-69.
Article in a magazine (include
volume # if given)
N-Y
Losos JB. 2001 Mar.
Evolution: A lizard's tale. Sci
Am. 284(3): 64-69.
Article in a daily newspaper
C-S and
C-N
Yoon CK. DNA clues improve
outlook for red wolf. New
York Times. 2000 Dec 26;
Sect. F:10 (col. 1).
Article in a daily newspaper
N-Y
Yoon CK. 2000 Dec 26. DNA
clues improve outlook for red
wolf. New York Times. Sect.
F:10 (col. 1).
Internet Resources
In the CSE format, the basic rules for citing do not differ for internet items
from what is required for print. Simply listing a URL is not sufficient; all the
publication information should also be listed.
Online Articles and Books
Important Elements:


All of the publication information (see Print information, above)
Add [Internet] after the article or book title.


Add [date cited] after date of publication
Add Available from: url after pages
Table on Citing Internet Resources
[Transcription Note: There are 3 columns in the below table. Column 1, on
the left, is the source of the text. Column 2, in the middle, is a possible
system of citation. Column 3, on the right, is an example citation for the
corresponding source and citation system In this table C-s and C-N are used
similarly and N-Y has a different citation style.].
Online
Article
C-S and
C-N
Savage E, Ramsay M, White J, Beard S, Lawson H,
Hunjan R, Brown D. Mumps outbreaks across
England and Wales in 2004: observational study.
BMJ [Internet]. 2005 [cited 2007 May 31];
330(7500):1119-1120. Available from:
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/reprint/330/7500/1
119 doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7500.119
Online
Article
N-Y
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 [Internet]. [cited 2007 May 31];
330(7500):1119-1120. Available from:
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/reprint/330/7500/1
119 doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7500.119
Online
Book
C-S and
C-N
Griffiths AJF, Miller JH, Suzuki DT, Lewontin RC,
Gelbart WM. Introduction to genetic analysis
[Internet]. 7th ed. New York (NY): W. H. Freeman
& Co.; c2000 [cited 2005 May 31]. Available from:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bookshelf/br.fcgi?boo
k=iga.
Online
Book
N-Y
Griffiths AJF, Miller JH, Suzuki DT, Lewontin RC,
Gelbart WM. c2000. Introduction to genetic analysis
[Internet]. 7th ed. New York (NY): W. H. Freeman
& Co.; [cited 2005 May 31]. Available from:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bookshelf/br.fcgi?boo
k=iga.
Web Sites
Important Elements:





Title of web site
Place of publication and publisher
Date of publication and date of last update (if relevant)
Date you accessed the information (date cited)
URL (Web address) of the site
Table on Citing Websites
[Transcription Note: There are 3 columns in the below table. Column 1, on
the left, is the source of the text. Column 2, in the middle, is a possible
system of citation. Column 3, on the right, is an example citation for the
corresponding source and citation system In this table C-s and C-N are used
similarly and N-Y has a different citation style.].
Homepage
C-S and
C-N
APSnet: plant pathology online [Internet]. St
Paul (MN): American Phytopathological
Association: c1994-2005 [cited 2005 Jun 20].
Available from: http://www.apsnet.org/
N-Y
APSnet: plant pathology online [Internet].
c1994-2005. St Paul (MN): American
Phytopathological Association: [cited 2005
Jun 20]. Available from:
http://www.apsnet.org/
C-S and
C-N
IMGT/HLA Sequence Database [Internet].
Release 2.9.0. Cambridge (England):
European Bioinformatics Institute. 2003[updated 2005 Jun 1; cited 2005 Jun 22].
Available from:
http://www.cbi.ac.uk/imgt/hla/.
N-Y
IMGT/HLA Sequence Database [Internet].
2003- Release 2.9.0. Cambridge (England):
European Bioinformatics Institute. [updated
2005 Jun 1; cited 2005 Jun 22]. Available
Homepage
Database
Database
from: http://www.cbi.ac.uk/imgt/hla/.
Interviews and Other Personal Communication
In CSE style, interviews and other forms of unpublished personal
communication, such as e-mail, letters, or memos, are not included in the
reference list. Cite interviews and personal communication in parentheses
within the text of your paper.