Literature Cited Formats for Principles of Biology

This includes a modified version of the Council of Science Editors format using the name-year system.  Note that different disciplines and different publications may have slight variations of this method.  We will use a standardized format for this class.  All citations used in this class must follow these formats. (Council of Science Editors, Style Manual Committee. 2006. Scientific style and format: the CSE manual for authors, editors, and publishers. 7^th ed. Reston, VA., The Council).

Check with your Laboratory Instructor if you have any questions regarding citation format.

These are examples of in text citations in the correct format.

Single source to support the statement:

 .....an enzyme's activity increases with greater substrate concentration ...(Mader 2004).

Two sources supporting the statement, therefore they are separated in the (  ) with a ;

..... cyanogenesis has been reported from at least 2050 species of angiosperms (Gibbs 1974; Seigler 1976).

Two authors of a single source

... In Indiana, Mumford and Whitaker (1982) noted that the meadow jumping mouse ....

Another way of reporting this would be: 

The meadow jumping mouse in Indiana is relatively common (Mumford and Whitaker 1982).  

When there are three, or more, authors, the first author is listed and then et al. is used to indicate “and others” .  In the literature cited section, however, all the authors are listed.

....Canada goose harvest in the Mississippi Flyway includes Branta canadensis hutchinsii ... (Tacha et al. 1987). 

When citing a Web site, use the name of the author (or organization) and the date it was created, or last edited:

. . . . . . . whereas white blood cells have a variety of functions . . . . . . (WebMD 2007)

Literature Cited:

            In this section all articles, books, or sources cited in your text are listed so that others can find those materials.  It is different than a bibliography in which you list all your sources used to develop your paper.  A literature cited section includes ONLY those materials that were cited in the paper that contributed to the knowledge of the paper.  This is the standard format for the literature cited section.  Follow it exactly !!!!!!  The citations must be in alphabetical order and must be in one continuous list, NOT a list for books, another list for journal articles, etc. 

Examples of how to cite Books:

Mader, S.S. 2010. Biology. 10th ed. McGraw-Hill., New York, NY.

Mumford, R.E. and J.O. Whitaker.  1982.  Mammals of Indiana. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN.

(this includes the name of the publisher and where it was published).

Example of how to cite a chapter in a book:

Smith, C.J. 1979. Basal cell carcinomas. Pp. 278-291 in Histological Aspects of Cancer, C.D.

            Wilfred, ed. Boston Medical Press,  Boston, MA.

            (C.J. Smith is the author of the chapter entitled Basal cell carcinomas, but C.D. Wilfred is

            the Editor of the histology book).

An Encyclopedia would be cited as a book.  If there is an Editor, or Editors, then he/she becomes the author(s).  The edition and volume would be included in the citation. 

However, most of the science encyclopedias have a specific author (expert) for each section or topic of the encyclopedia.  In this case you would cite it like a chapter in a book.

Schnabel, R.R., D. Lamb, H.B. Pionke and D. Genito. 2007. Acid Rain. In: McGraw-Hill

            Encyclopedia of Science & Technology. 2^nd ed. Vol. 1. p. 230-235. McGraw-Hill, New

            York, NY.

Examples of how to cite Journal Articles:

Journal names can be abbreviated.  See numerous web sites for official abbreviation of journal titles.  One web site for biological journals is: http://www.bioscience.org/atlases/jourabbr/jfn.htm

Seigler, D.S. 1976. Plants of the Northeastern United States that produce cyanogenic

            compounds. Econ. Bot. 30:395-407.

Journal Article with three (or more) authors (this was the et al. example above)

Tacha, T.C., A. Woolf and W.D. Klimstra. 1988. Breeding distribution and subpopulations of

            Mississippi Valley Populations Canada geese. J. Wildl. Manage. 52:689-693. (Note all

                        authors are included here whereas they were referred to as et al. in the body of

                        the paper).

Examples of how to cite newspaper articles:

Rensberger, B. 1989 April 11.  CFC’s may be destroyed by natural process. Washington

            Post. (Final Edition). Sect A:2 (col 5).

If a newspaper article does NOT have a person identified as the author, then the organization is used as the author because it takes responsibility for the publication.  Here is an example:

Edinburgh Evening News. 2008 July 14. Experts study possible CJD breakthrough. Edinburgh

            Evening News (Scotland).

Example of how to cite magazine articles:

Lu, C. 1993. A small revelation: Newton has arrived at long last. Macworld: 102-6.

Example of how to cite a website

(Note: this simplified format is used for this Principles of Biology class. You may be given other formats to be used in other classes).  In this example, WebMD is the organization responsible for the web site on diabetes. The organization is the "author", the date is the date the page was created or last updated.  The title is the title of the page you consulted and the web address of the main web page is included. If a person is identified as the author, then you would use that person’s name in the author position.

WebMD (or author’s name). 2007. Types and Causes of Diabetes.  http://my.webmd.com/content/article

 Example of how to cite a video or DVD (ask your instructor for help with this if your have questions).

Johnson, D., Editor. 2004. (DVD). Evidence for life on Mars.  Marshall and Bates, Publ.

            Hanover, MD.