Instructional Resources

Citing sources (books, journal articles, web sites)

• Cite sources ethically and accurately - Bruin Success With Less Stress; Avoiding Plagiarism 
• Consult a style manual:
  ACS style guide, a manual for authors and editors [printed version]
• Preferred journal article citation format:
  Chemistry (see Journal of the American Chemical Society)
  Biochemistry (see Biochemistry)

Q: What is the difference between the "Chemistry" and "Biochemistry" styles?


Journal article references typically include: example - Wolkenberg, S. E., and Su, A. I. "Combinatorial Synthesis and Discovery of an Antibiotic Compound". J. Chem. Educ. 2001, 78 (6) 784-785.


• author's last name and first name or initials, e.g. Wolkenberg, S. E.
• title of the journal article, e.g. "Combinatorial Synthesis"
• title of the journal in which the article appeared, usually abbreviated, e.g. J. Chem. Educ.
• date of the volume, including the year and sometimes the month, e.g. 2001
• volume, and issue, of the journal in which the article appeared, e.g. 78 (6)
• pages on which the article appears, e.g. 784-85



Writing scientific papers



• How to write & publish a scientific paper [printed version]
• Dodd, Janet S. "Writing a Scientific Paper", chapter one of the ACS Style Guide



Practice exercise: Citing journal articles

1. Select an electronically available journal article and print out the first page of the article.
2. From the SEL/Chemistry Collection available journals, photocopy the first page of an article.
3. Cite the two journal articles according to the ACS style for chemistry journals.
4. Cite the two journal articles according to the ACS style for biochemistry journals.