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Citation Guide

How to cite sources according to the different style manuals, avoid plagiarism, and generally celebrate ethical scholary communication!

About CSE Style

CSE is the citation style of the Council of Science Editors, and it is commonly used for scientific writing. CSE allows three different systems for in text citation style and ordering your reference list; unless your professor (or a journal that you submit something to, to be published) wants you to use a specific version, just pick one and be consistent.

This style uses a lot of abbreviations.

  • Author's firstnames appear as an initial
  • Journal titles are generally abbreviated according to the List of Title Word Abbreviations maintained by the ISSN International Centre.
  • Instead of pages or pp, it's p

The 3 ways of doing CSE citing

Click one of the 3 tabs here to learn about the format for that version of CSE.

In-Text Citing:

  • Author-Year
  • Example: (Jacobs 2024)

Reference List:

Periodical or Scholarly Journal Article

Author(s). Date. Article title. Journal title. Volume(issue):location. URL

Scholarly material ahead of print (pre-prints, white papers, accepted but not yet officially published)

Scholarly Materials presented at a conference

Book

Print:

Author(s). Date. Title. Edition. Publisher.

Online: Author(s).

Date. Title. Edition. Publisher. DOI (preferred) or URL

Book Chapter, Same author throughout:

Lastname Initial. Book Title. Publisher; Publication Year. Chapter #, Chapter Title; p #-#.

Book Chapter, different authors:

Lastame Initial, Lastname Initial. Book Chapter Title. In: Lastname Initial, editor. Complete Book Title. Publisher; Publication Date. p #–#.

Volume from multi-volume set:

Authors/Editors/Translators.Volume Title. Vol #. Publisher; Publication Year.

Thesis or Dissertation

News Source

Website

Author. Date. Title of article. Publisher; [date updated]. URL

 

In-Text Citing

  • Numbers - Either a superscript number, a number in brackets [#] or a number in parentheses (#)
  • References list is in order of a source's appearance in the article

Reference List

When citing a:

Periodical or Scholarly Journal Article

Author(s). Article title. Journal title. date;volume(issue):p #-#. DOI (preferred) or URL

How to handle the number of authors:

  • 1 author: Lastname Initial.
  • 2 - 10 authors:: Lastname Initial, Lastname initial (...up to 10 authors)
  • 11 authors +: Lastname Initial et al.

Article title formatting:

  • 'Sentence Case' - Capitalize title's first word, any proper nouns, and first word of any sub-titles (the first word after a colon)

Date formatting:

  • Year 3-letter abbreviation of the month Day of the month  (Ex: 2025 Apr 14)

Scholarly material ahead of print (pre-prints, white papers, accepted but not yet officially published)

Scholarly Materials presented at a conference

Book

Author(s). Title. Edition. Publisher; year of publication.

Number of Authors:

  • 1 author: Lastname Initial.
  • 2 - 5 authors:: Lastname Initial, Lastname initial (...up to 5 authors)
  • 6+ authors: Lastname Initial et al.

No author, just an editor? Lastname Inital, editor.

What if a mix of author(s), and/or translators, with an editor or editors?

Lastname Initial. Book title. Lastname Initial, translator; Lastname initial, editor. Publisher; Year of Publication.

List:        Author(s)        before            Translator(s)         before        Editor(s)              

Book Title Formatting

  • 'Sentence Case'
  • Capitalize title's first word, any proper nouns, and first word of any sub-titles (the words that start after a colon)

Date formatting:

  • Year  3-letter abbreviation of the month  Day of the month
  • e.g.: 2025 Apr 14

One chapter from a book, all by the same author(s)?

  • Lastname Initial. Book Title. Publisher; Year Published. Chapter #; p #-#.

One chapter from a book; all by different authors, and there's an editor?

  • Lastname Initial. Chapter Title. In: Lastname Initial, editor. Title of entire book. Publisher; Year Published. p #–#.

One volume from a set?

  • Lastname Initial, editor. Title of multi-volume set. Vol #. Publisher; Publication Year.

Online book? 

  • Add a DOI (preferred) or URL at the every end of the regular book citation - no period after

Thesis or Dissertation

News Source

Website

LastName Initial. Title of article. Publisher; Date of Publication [Date Updated]. URL

Note: No period after an URL or DOI

No Author?

  • Start with Title

No publication date or site updated date?

  • Substitute the date you accessed it. Ex: [accessed 2025 Oct 6]

 

 

 

 

 

In-Text Citing

  • Numbers - Either a superscript number, a number in brackets [#] or a number in parentheses (#)
  • References list is in alphabetical order via the main author's surname's first letter

Reference List

When citing a:

Periodical or Scholarly Journal Article

Author(s). Article title. Journal title. date;volume(issue):p #-#. DOI (preferred) or URL

How to handle the number of authors:

  • 1 author: Lastname Initial.
  • 2 - 10 authors:: Lastname Initial, Lastname initial (...up to 10 authors)
  • 11 authors +: Lastname Initial et al.

Article title formatting:

  • 'Sentence Case' - Capitalize title's first word, any proper nouns, and first word of any sub-titles (the first word after a colon)

Date formatting:

  • Year 3-letter abbreviation of the month Day of the month  (Ex: 2025 Apr 14)

Scholarly material ahead of print (pre-prints, white papers, accepted but not yet officially published)

Scholarly Materials presented at a conference

Book

Author(s). Title. Edition. Publisher; year of publication.

Number of Authors:

  • 1 author: Lastname Initial.
  • 2 - 5 authors:: Lastname Initial, Lastname initial (...up to 5 authors)
  • 6+ authors: Lastname Initial et al.

No author, just an editor? Lastname Inital, editor.

What if a mix of author(s), and/or translators, with an editor or editors?

Lastname Initial. Book title. Lastname Initial, translator; Lastname initial, editor. Publisher; Year of Publication.

List:        Author(s)        before            Translator(s)         before        Editor(s)              

Book Title Formatting

  • 'Sentence Case'
  • Capitalize title's first word, any proper nouns, and first word of any sub-titles (the words that start after a colon)

Date formatting:

  • Year  3-letter abbreviation of the month  Day of the month
  • e.g.: 2025 Apr 14

One chapter from a book, all by the same author(s)?

  • Lastname Initial. Book Title. Publisher; Year Published. Chapter #; p #-#.

One chapter from a book; all by different authors, and there's an editor?

  • Lastname Initial. Chapter Title. In: Lastname Initial, editor. Title of entire book. Publisher; Year Published. p #–#.

One volume from a set?

  • Lastname Initial, editor. Title of multi-volume set. Vol #. Publisher; Publication Year.

Online book? 

  • Add a DOI (preferred) or URL at the every end of the regular book citation - no period after

Thesis or Dissertation

News Source

Website

LastName Initial. Title of article. Publisher; Date of Publication [Date Updated]. URL

Note: No period after an URL or DOI

No Author?

  • Start with Title

No publication date or site updated date?

  • Substitute the date you accessed it. Ex: [accessed 2025 Oct 6]

 

 

 

 

Official CSE Support Guide