This guide contains examples of common formats of information you will use in your coursework. For a detailed discussion of CSE style, consult Scientific Style and Format: The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors and Publishers which is on reserve in the Library or your biology professor.
Sometimes at CSS we create a divide between the science and the arts, but both have a common foundation. Scientists and artists need to learn to see, to observe, in a careful manner. And that seeing & observing is the key to creating a citation. The steps are simple.
1). Understand what it is you are citing - a journal article? a website? A chapter of a book?
2). When you know what it is you are citing, find the formula, i.e. an example of the type of information you are citing.
3). Now observe the parts of the citation: the way the authors names is presented; the sequence of the elements of the citation - author, title, etc; the punctuation between each element.
4). Once you "see" the example, re-create it with the elements from the information you are citing.
If you follow the above four steps you can move between any citation style used at CSS.
NAME-YEAR SYSTEM
In the name-year system, sources are cited in the text by the author or authors’ last name(s) and the date of publication. If there are more than two authors, the first authors name is listed followed by et al. (and others) in the text. The sources are listed in the reference section in alphabetical order by the first author’s last name (list up to 10 authors and et al. for the eleventh or additional authors).
Please note: Web pages are not a stable and permanent medium like paper. Web-page authoring software adjusts page layout based on the screen size of the device accessing them. Therefore it is difficult with citations to show proper indenting. No attempt is made in these examples to indent citations. For your papers:
EndNote is software that can organize, store, and input citations into Word documents to help you with your research. The College of St. Scholastica has a site license which offers two options for you to access Endnote and you can either pick one or use both as the situation warrants.
EndNote has its own YouTube channel to learn more advanced features of this incredibly powerful program:
https://www.youtube.com/user/EndNoteTraining