WRITING CHEMICAL
RESEARCH PAPERS
REFERENCES
Headache!
1
Preliminary
• References should have been decided at
the outline and first draft stages
• Obtain digital or paper copy of each
• Accommodate any new references (e.g.
newly published work or any overlooked
references)
• Make sure you present the references
according to the target journal style.
Software such as ‘Endnote’ can help here
2
Reference Systems
There are two basic reference
systems:
1. The Number System
2. The Harvard System
1. Number system. This uses
numbers in the text (e.g. …report11,
…report (11), …report [11], etc) with
the references in the list arranged
in numerical order
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Reference Systems..Continued
2. The Harvard System. This uses
surnames and dates in the text (e.g.
…report (Bates, 2009), with
references in the list arranged in
alphabetical order. Titles of articles
are usually included in this system
4
Journal Styles
Individual journal styles for references vary
widely. The following details should be
taken into account:
• Order of surnames and initials
• Use of punctuation
• Position of year of publication and use of
brackets
• Style to indicate journal name, volume
number and year of publication
• Style for referencing papers in edited
volumes and books
5
Journal Styles…Continued
• Surnames and Initials
Kim, S H and Lee, B S…
or Kim, S H and B S Lee…
or S H Kim and B S Lee…
Surnames should be quoted in the
same order as in the cited paper
6
Journal Styles…Continued
• Use of punctuation. Note whether full stop
(.), comma (,), semicolon (;), colon (:) or
simply a space is used at a particular
point
Kim, S H or Kim, SH or Kim, S. H. or Kim S
H (etc)
Phys Chem, 56, 435… or Phys. Chem., 56,
435… or Phys. Chem., 56: 435… etc
7
Journal Styles…Continued
• Position of year of publication and use of
brackets
Bates, G. B. (2009)…(usually with
Harvard System)
...J. Chem. Soc. B, 1971, 123.
or …J. Chem. Soc. B, 123 (1971). etc
These styles usually accompany the
‘number system’
8
Journal Styles…Continued
• Style for journal details
Here, note the use of bold, italics or
underline.
Also is page range required?
…Org. Biomol. Chem., 1, 153-156 (2003).
or …Org. Biomol. Org., 1, 153 (2003)
or … Org. Biomol. Org., 2003, 1, 153-156 etc
Journal title abbreviations are standard (see
handout)
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Journal Styles…Continued
• Style for referencing articles in edited
volumes and books
Smith L (1999), ‘The development of
probiotic foods’, in Gibson G and Williams
C, Functional foods, Cambridge, Woodhead,
5275.
or Smith L. (1999) The development
of probiotic foods, in Gibson G. and Williams
C., Functional Foods. Woodhead, Cambridge,
U.K.,5275. etc
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Final Checks
When finished, check the following:
1. The references are all in the correct style
2. They are listed in the correct order
3. They are accurate with regard to author
names and sequence of names
4. They are accurate with regard to journal
name, volume, page(s) and date (and
title, if required)
5. They are all cited in the text
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Examples of Reference Styles
• 1. American Chemical Society
(number system)
• (49) Oishi, T.; Ando, K.; Inomiya, K.;
Sato, H.; Iida, M.; Chida, N. Org. Lett.
2002, 4, 151.
• (4) Palier, M. In Tobacco Alkaloids and
Related Compounds; Euler, V., Ed.;
Macmillan: New York, 1965; p. 37.
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2. Royal Society of Chemistry (number
system)
Analyst:
9 P. Ciosek, Z. Brzozka and W. Wroblewski,
Sens. Actuators, B, 2006, 118, 454-460.
25 K. H. Esbenson, Multivariate Data Analysis
in Practice, Multivariate Analysis Publishers,
Norway, 5th edn, 2001.
Chem. Comm.:
1 J. W. Lichtman and J. A. Conchello, Nat.
Methods, 2005, 2, 910-919.
2(a) R. G. Harvey, Polycyclic Aromatic
Hydrocarbons, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 1997;
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3. Angewandte Chimie (AC) and Tetrahedron
Letters (TL) (Wiley) (number system)
AC
[1] G. D. Prestwich, in Natural Product Chemistry
(Ed.: Atta-ur-Rahman), Springer, Berlin, 1986, p.
318-329.
[3] G. D. Prestwich, S. H. Goh, Y. P. Tho,
Experientia 1981, 37, 11-13.
TL
(26) Agnihotri, G.; Misra, A. K. Tetrahedron Lett.
2005, 46, 8113.
(30) (a) Dittmer, D. C.; Hoey, M. D. in The
Chemistry of Sulphinic Acids, Esters and Their
Derivatives (Ed.: S. Patai), Wiley, Chichester,
1990, p. 239.
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4. Journal of Solution Chemistry (Springer)
Verlag) (number system)
38. Albert, R., Jeong, H., Barabasi, A.: Error
and attack tolerance of complex networks.
Nature 406, 378-382 (2000)
2. Fersht, A. : Structure and Mechanism
in Protein Science: A Guide to Enzyme
Catalysis and Protein Folding. Freeman,
New York (1999)
15
5. Journal of Chromatography A
(Elsevier) (number system)
[13] E. Coelho, M.A. Coimbra, J.M.F.
Nogueira, S.M. Rocha, Anal. Chim. Acta
635 (2009) 214.
[16] L.K. Ng, in: J. Pawliszyn (Ed.),
Application of Solid Phase
Microextraction, Royal Society of
Chemistry, Cambridge, 1999.
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6. Talanta (Elsevier) (number system)
[22] J. Davies, H. Berndt, Anal. Chim.
Acta 479 (2003) 215.
[9] J.M. Concon, Food Toxicology, Marcel
Dekker, New York,1998.
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7. Acta Crystallographica (WileyBlackwell) (Harvard system)
Ferreira, F., Audoin, M. & Chemla, F.
(2005). Chem. Eur. J. 11, 1385-1392.
Sheldrick, G. M. (2007). SADABS.
University of Göttingen, Germany.
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