Council of Science Editors (CSE) Format
The purpose of citing sources is to give credit to the author and to enable a reader to find the material cited.
The library has created this guide to provide our students with examples for citing different types of sources. Students are encouraged to consult the official version of this citation style as published by the CBE.
Always check with your instructor regarding any citation question!
Examples are based on those provided in the Scientific style and format: the CSE manual for authors, editors, and publishers 7th edition, available at the library (REF T 11 S386 2006). To help explain examples, quotes from the 6th edition are included, followed by the page numbers where the quotes appear. Examples represent the Name-Year System. See Chap. 30, Scientific style, for an explanation of the Citation-Sequence System.
Section I: Definitions: References and Citations
“The bibliographic descriptors of documents cited in the text, tables, or legends of figures of a document are called ‘references’. The term ‘citations’ is reserved for the brief formal indications in the text, tables, or figure legends of the documents cited and represented in the references listed at the end of the article, chapter, or book” (618).
Section II: The Name-Year System – References
- “The references to documents cited in the text, tables, or figures should be listed under the heading ‘References’ or ‘Cited References’. References to documents that are not specifically cited in the text but that served as sources should be listed alphabetically by author(s) under the heading ‘Additional References’ “ (628-629).
- The order of references in the reference list is determined by 2 basic rules:
a. References are listed alphabetically by the 1st author's last name and then, if necessary, alphabetically letter-by-letter beginning with the 1st author's initials.
b. When the author or authors are completely identical in 2 or more references, list these references by publication date (earliest to latest).
- Examples of references in CBE style are not indented. In scientific journals, however, references are usually indented afterthe first line of each entry. The following examples use this indented format.
- CBE does not suggest a preference for double-spacing references. Many instructors prefer double-spaced text and references. Always check with your instructor for details about formatting references. Examples are double-spaced for easy reading.
- In article and book titles, “only the 1st word and proper nouns and proper adjectives are capitalized” (638, 643).
PRINT SOURCES
JOURNAL ARTICLE - According to CBE, multiple-word journal titles are abbreviated according to one of the standard sources for indexing scientific journals. The following example does not use the abbreviated title. If your instructor requires abbreviated journal titles, the library can assist you in constructing the proper abbreviations.
Young JR, Braun CE, Oyler-McCance SJ, Hupp JW, Quinn TW. 2000. A new species of
sage-grouse (Phasianidae: Centrocercus) from southwestern Colorado. Wilson Bulletin
112 (4):445-453.
MAGAZINE ARTICLE (author identified)
Tweit SJ. 2000. The next spotted owl. Audubon 102 (6):64-71.
MAGAZINE ARTICLE (author unidentified) - Use [Anonymous] in brackets.
[Anonymous]. 2001. Organ donations take family toll. Science News 159 (7):110.
BOOK (two authors) - When citing books, include the number of pages. If the city of publication is not considered well-known, add the two-letter state abbreviation in parentheses. "University" and "Press" may be abbreviated "Univ" and "Pr" respectively.
Allen C, Bekoff M. 1997. Species of mind: the philosophy and biology of
cognitive ethnology. Cambridge (MA): MIT Pr. 209 p.
BOOK WITH EDITOR
Halliday T, editor. 1994. Animal behavior. Norman (OK): Univ of Oklahoma Pr. 114 p.
SECTION OR CHAPTER IN A BOOK WITH A SEPARATE AUTHOR
Biggins D, Miller B, Hanebury L, Oakleaf R, Farmer A, Crete R, Dood A. 1993. A technique
for evaluating black-footed ferret habitat. In: Odemeyer J, Biggins D,Miller B, Crete R,
editors. Management of prairie dog complexes for black-footed ferret reintroduction.
Washington: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Biological Report 93. p 73-88.
GOVERNMENT REPORT WITH AUTHORS
Welch BL, Cox CL, Sales TK. 1995. Strutting sounds and strutting posturing of
two Utah sage grouse populations. Ogden (UT): U.S. Forest Service, Intermountain
Research Station.
INTERNET SOURCES
The latest CBE edition predates extensive use of Internet sources. There are no specific examples for referencing Web pages. The following examples are based on those provided from electronic sources, in general.
- Cite as you would a print source.
- Add the URL plus the date accessed.
- Months, except May, are abbreviated with 3 letters. Dates are expressed as: year month day.
WEB SITE
Young J. 2001. The Gunnison sage-grouse (Centrocercus minimus). Gunnison (CO):
Western State College. Available from:
http://www.western.edu/bio/young/gunnsg/gunnsg.htm.
Accessed 2001 Jan 22.
FULL TEXT ARTICLE AVAILABLE FROM A LIBRARY DATABASE
Semple K, Wayne RK, Gibson RM. 2001. Microsatellite analysis of female mating behaviour
in lek-breeding sage grouse. Molecular Ecology 10 (8):2043-2048. Available from
Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost.
Section III: The Name-Year System – Citations
“In the name-year system, citations in text, tables, and figure legends of the references listed at the end of the document consist of the surname of the author, by which the reference is alphabetized in the list, and the year of publication of the document. The name and date are enclosed within parentheses” (619-620).
“A citation in the text should immediately follow the title, word, or phrase to which it is directly relevant” (627).
SINGLE AUTHOR CITATION
Gunnison Sage-Grouse produce different sounds than the Northern Sage-Grouse
(Young 2001).
TWO-AUTHOR CITATION
… but later studies on Sage-Grouse (Young and Oyler-McCance 2000) established that …
THREE-OR-MORE-AUTHOR CITATION
… although studies on Sage-Grouse (Young and others 2000) observed that …
MULTIPLE CITATIONS AT ONE POINT
Behavioral studies of lekking sage grouse (Wiley 1973; Gibson
and Bradbury 1986; Gibson and others 1991), …
