CSE/CBE Style is used by biologists, chemists and other scientists when writing scientific papers to show the sources of information used by the author in the text and in the Bibliography at the end of the paper. In the Name-Year system, citations are provided in the main text through parenthetical citations
On this page you will find information on how to correctly format CSE/CBE citations, in-text citations, and create a Works Cited page.
Note that, in CSE style, titles of periodicals (newspapers, journals, magazines) are capitalized as they normally are; book titles and article titles have only the first word of the title (and of any subtitles), as well as proper nouns, capitalized. Also note that, throughout CSE style, no commas are used to offset the author's last name from his or her initials, no space separates the first and middle initial, and periods do not, in general, follow initials.
Book Basic Format
Number. Last name Initial(s). Title of book. Edition [if other than first]. Place: Publisher; year.
Example:
Journal Article:
Number. Last name Initial(s). Title of article: subtitle. Journal Title Abbrev. Date;volume (issue):pages.
Journal Article from an Online Periodical:
Number. Last name Initial(s). Title of article: subtitle. Journal Title Abbrev [Internet]. Date [cited date];volume (issue):pages. Available from: URL
Example:
Article from an Online Database
Number. Last name Initial(s). Title of article. Title of Publication Abbrev [Internet]. Date [cited date]:pages. Name of Database. Place: Publisher; copyright year. Available from: Publisher’s URL Document No.: Number [if any].
Example:
Paper in Published Conference Proceedings:
Number. Last name Initial(s). Title of paper. In: Title of proceedings; date; Place of Conference. Place of Publication: Publisher; year. p. page number(s) of paper.
Example:
Technical Reports:
Number. Last name Initial(s). Title of report. Edition [if other than first]. Place: Publisher; date. Report No.: number. Available from: Distributor or URL
Example:
Webpage within a website
Number. Last name Initial(s) [if any]. Title of Web site [Internet]. Place: Publisher; date of publication or copyright. Title of Web page; publication date of page [cited date]. Available from: URL of Web page
Example:
Audiovisual Sources (Videos, Sound Recordings)
Number. Last name Initial(s). Title (medium). Place: Publisher; year. Physical description.
Example:
In addition to the core elements, there are a number of optional elements you may include depending on the source and your instructor's preference.
Date of Access: For online sources, including the date you accessed the material is helpful because online content can change frequently. Add the date of access at the end of the citation using the word Accessed and the Day Month Year format: Accessed 4 May 2009.
URLs: URLS may be used as the location element for an online source but are not required. Always check with your instructor see if they prefer URLs to be included.
DOIs: A DOI is a unique identifier (like a social security number) that are assigned to many new journal articles. While they are not required, DOIs make it easy to find a journal article quickly and are useful to include if the article has one. DOIs may be used as the location element of the citation for an article.